iPhone and iPad Game Development in the Classroom Conor O'Kane

Overview Using Torque 2D to make iPhone and iPad games Why use this in the classroom? Requirements and costs.

My Background Worked as an artist making graphics for console games for 10 years. Started programming my own games, using Torque in 2007 Started teaching game development at RMIT in 2009

Torque Torque 2D is a game engine which includes a graphical level editor and a scripting language. It runs on Windows, Mac and iPhone. It's cheap and relatively easy to learn.

Torque Editor Demonstration

Why develop games in the classroom? Playing can bring an intuitive understanding of complex interactions. There are multiple levels of understanding, with verbal repetition being only the beginning. Recreating something shows a very high level of understanding of the subject.

Example of levels of understanding Level 1 - Verbal Newton's law of universal gravitation: “The force between two bodies is directly proportional to the sum of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.”

Example of levels of understanding Level 2 - Mathematical

Example of levels of understanding Level 3 – Intuitive Playing “Osmos” by Hemisphere games. hemispheregames.com

Example of levels of understanding Level 4 – Creative “What I cannot create, I do not understand” - Richard Feynman A student who can create a simulation of a gravitational system shows a thorough understanding of the subject.

What about non-mathematical subjects? Can game development be of use in non- mathematical subjects like... Social studies Environmental sciences Music

Social studies Ban This Game

Environmental Sciences Harpooned

Music Go Beryllium

Other benefits of student game development Proactive learning – seeking new information Ancillary subjects (math, programming, art, music, planning, problem-solving) Ownership and pride Teamwork and collaboration

Benefits of iPhone/iPod platform Many students will have an iPod touch Being able to take their game with them, to show to friends and family will increase their enthusiasm The small screen size and touch interaction encourages simple, achievable game designs.

Requirements and costs Torque 2D 'Indie' license – US$100*, runs on Windows and Mac Torque 2D iPhone license – US$750* An Intel CPU Mac ~ $1,000 Apple developer license – US$100/year iPod touch – AU$268 iPad – US$499 *Educational site licenses are available for Torque

Example of cross-platform development – Heat Shield You don't need to buy a room full of Macs. You only need one Mac to deploy games onto the iPod or iPad. The majority of student development time can take place on cheaper Windows PCs.

Examples of student games RMIT's iPhone game development course: 12 x 3 hour classes – 8 of which are lessons. The final 4 classes are spent developing their own original games. Aimed at 2 nd year university students.

Upcoming courses RMIT – 12 day course – June 2010 VITTA – 10 day evening course possibly in the 2 nd half of 2010

Links Torque Engine: TorqueDev script editor: Apple Developer Center: developer.apple.com Conor O'Kane: cokane.com