Ben Brown END USER PROGRAMMING FROM A CASE PERSPECTIVE: GAMEMAKER AS AN END USER DEVELOPMENT TOOL

 End user programming refers to software tools that allow for the creation or modification of software by “developers” who may not be versed in traditional programming skills. END USER PROGRAMMING?

 Spreadsheets.  Excel allows anyone to create simple to advanced “programs” that calculate data that it’s developers didn’t necessarily anticipate. THE CLASSIC CASE: Mass Effect 2 Character Creation MIT’s Scratch

 3d modeling and animation software  Game mod tool kits  Visual programming languages  Game development engines OTHER TYPES:

 Youth – Non experts in any field  Software focused on education – Scratch, Lego Mindstorms, AgentSheets  Content Specialist – Experts in non-programming field  Game Developer, Scientist, Accountant, etcetera DEVELOPERS:

 Why?  Money!  Game development is a $100 Billion a year plus industry  Development size and time requirements  Games are constantly increasing in scale but price hasn’t significantly increased  Development needs streamlining  Everyone is a game developer  Indie games are viable sources of income GAME DEVELOPMENT:

 Professional – Costly paid versions, used widely in industry (or aimed at large scale games)  Unity  Unreal  Torque  Godot  Hobbyist – Mostly free, genre specific tools  M.U.G.E.N – Beat ’em ups  Inform – Interactive Text Adventures  Ren’Py – Visual Novels  Arcade Game Studio – Arcade Style Games GAME ENGINES – BROAD CLASSIFICATION

 In the middle - Used on some commercial projects, likely non genre specific, emphasis on 2d, not fully free  GameMaker  Construct 2  RPG Maker GAME ENGINES – BROAD CLASSIFICATION

 Developed by YoYo Games (recently sold to PlayTech)  Currently GameMaker Studio 1.4  2d game engine, free standard edition, with paid professional and master editions  Supports development for PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, PlayStation (3, 4, Vita), and XboxOne  Primarily GUI oriented, with custom scripting language  Includes built in particle engine and physics GAME MAKER

BIG GAMES: HOT LINE MIAMI

BIG GAMES: GUNPOINT

BIG GAMES: SPELUNKY

BIG GAMES: GALACTIC MISSILE DEFENSE

LET’S BUILD A GAME!

HMM… Now What!

Rooms:  A place where objects go. Objects:  A thing that goes into a room. CREATION FLOW

Rooms:  Contains only a background and some characteristics about the room  Can be used to create a menu, a level, a splash screen, etcetera  Can hold any number of objects Objects:  May contain a graphic, normally a sprite  Can contain any number of events  Each event can contain any number of actions CREATION FLOW – SOME DETAILS

OBJECT CREATION – MAKE A SPRITE

OBJECT CREATION – ASSIGN SPRITE

OBJECT CREATION – ADD EVENTS

OBJECT CREATION – ADD ACTIONS

CREATE A ROOM

REPEAT UNTIL

 sprite_index = sprite2;  image_speed = 1;  if image_index == image_number - 1  {  sprite_index = sprite0;  } GMS – GAMEMAKER SCRIPTS Nope – Script stops execution after collision becomes false.

 In end step event  if (sprite_index == sprite2)  {  if image_index == image_number - 1  {  sprite_index = sprite0;  } GMS – GAMEMAKER SCRIPTS

NOW

 Yet  Took a surprising amount of time to make  High level of learning curve, especially for the scripting language NOT MUCH OF A GAME

 With proper tutelage the tool is powerful, can alleviate some programming  Learning curve is high  Must think like YoYo Games thinks CONCLUSIONS?