Making an Easy and Fun Game Using AdventureMaker

Where do you get AdventureMaker? Edition/ _ html Use the direct download link Unzip and install When downloading from the main sitehttp:// I had problems getting the latest versionhttp:// This gets you version Help for version 4.6 is can be reached from the main menu There is a full version with extra features that allows you to sell what you create.

What is AdventureMaker? Remember the game Myst, AdventureMaker makes games like that The player navigates by clicking on a path to move to a new location The player clicks on a hotspot to get info to solve a puzzle or collect inventory With the Panorama plug-in, it can do 360 degree pans, like Myst II It comes with lots of sample games and tutorials It can also be used for iterative presentations, magazines and educational quizzes

What's to Like about AdventureMaker? No Programming Photos can be used instead of artwork Executables can be created for Windows, PSP, IPhone and ITouch, with a single click Animated GIFs and Videos supported (Windows only) Multi-channel sound, up to 7 at the same time Easy scene transitions

How Do I Start? Imagine playing the game and write down all the places in it Take photos (or draw) each view for those places Even crude sketches can be used and swapped out later Figure out some clever puzzles appropriate for the intended audience

What's Next to Figure Out? Make a navigation map on how you get from one scene to another For each scene decide what picture, music and what transitions you may want For each scene, determine the hotspots you will use For each hotspot pick a cursor, message, sounds, inventory items and variables you want associated with it

What's the Process? You don't need all the answers to start with It's more fun to just start and add stuff on as you go Put pictures in the Frames folder and use the Frames Management window to create a frame for each picture Open Project Properties and identify the game starting frame (other settings can be set latter) Edit the start frame by adding navigation hotspots to designate what frame to go to, if clicked Do this for all the other frames Do a test preview to be sure everything is linked OK

Where's the Beef? Here's where the creative part comes in Add some hotspots to where you want to have the gamer discover things Edit in any messages, inventory and variables needed for your puzzles Fades and sounds can be added later Preview often Other features, like animations, videos, save progress checkpoints and dialog should be added at the end Then tweak, tweak, tweak