Game Development Overview

This is an introductory overview of the tools used to make video games. I presented this to a group of high school students for a computing class in the Fountain City area of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Transcript

1. Game Development Overview Levi D. Smith November 2015
2. About Me • Developing games as a hobby since 1995 • Two games published on Xbox 360 • Game Jam participant • Speaker at Technical Conferences – CodeStock – DevSpace – Knoxville Game Design • Georgia Tech Computer Science graduate
3. What Goes into Making a Game • Engine – Code / Scripting – Level Design – Graphics • 2D Artwork (Sprites) • 3D Artwork (Models, Animations) – Audio • Music • Sound Effects
4. 2D or 3D Engine • Game Maker • Stencyl • Construct 2 • XNA/MonoGame • SDL • Allegro • Unity3D • Unreal Engine
5. GameMaker • Free “Studio” version • Notable games: Spelunky, Valdis Story, Hotline Miami
6. Stencyl • Based on Scratch visual programming environment • Mac, Windows, and Linux • Box2D physics
7. Construct 2 • Visual Programming • Free Version limited actions • Notable games: The Next Penelope, Airscape: The Fall of Gravity
8. XNA / MonoGame • Visual Studio / MonoDevelop • XNA for XBox Live Indie Games • MonoGame open source implementation of XNA • Notable XNA games: Dust: An Elysian Tail, Rogue Legacy, Terraria, Adventures of Shuggy, Axiom Verge • Notable MonoGame games: Bastion, Fez • Draw and Update Methods
9. SDL • Simple DirectMedia Layer • Mac, Linux, Windows • Support for many languages (C, C++, Ruby) • PyGame (Python) • Notable tools: Source Engine (Counter-Strike, Half-Life2), CryEngine • Notable games: Trine, Don’t Starve
10. Allegro • Atari Low-Level Game Routines • First version for DOS in 1995 • Compiled with DJGPP compiler • Notable tools: Multi-Arcade Machine Emulator (MAME)
11. Unity3D • C# or JavaScript • Playmaker • Notable games: Thomas Was Alone, Broforce, Hearthstone, Cities: Skylines, Kerbal Space Program
12. Unreal Engine • Epic Games (Cary, North Carolina) • Notable games: BioShock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Gears of War, Mass Effect, , Street Fighter V, Tekken 7, Shenmue III, Unreal Tournament • Blueprints
13. For Non-programmers • RPG Maker • Kodu Game Lab • Project Spark
14. 2D Graphics Tools • Paint.Net • Gimp (similar to Photoshop) • Inkscape • Spriter • Taron’s Verve Painter
15. 3D Modeling Tools • Blender • Sculptris • Clara.io
16. Music Composition • GarageBand (Mac only) • PxTone Collage • Real instruments and microphone
17. Sound Effects • SFXR / BXFR • Microphone • Audacity
18. Level Design • Tiled – TMX Maps (XML) • Mappy Tile Map Editor – Numeric Arrays • Built in editors (Unity3D, Unreal Engine) – Terrains • Modeling Tools – FBX AutoDesk format
19. Free to Use Assets* • CGTextures • CCMixter • Free Music Archive • FreeSound • Incompetech • Unity Asset Store *Check the creative commons license for each asset (attribution, non-commercial, etc)
20. Community • Ludum Dare (April, August, December) • #ScreenShotSaturday • TIG Source forums • Facebook groups – Indie Game Developers – Indie Game Chat • Reddit /r/gamedev • Knoxville Game Design (all ages)
21. Game Development News and Resources • GameDev.net • Gamasutra • Polygon • Kotaku
22. Distributing Your Game on the Web • GameJolt – Desktop and web games – Revenue Sharing, Ads • Itch.io – Desktop and web games – Can set your own price (desktop games only) – No ads • Kongregate – Web games only (Unity / Flash) – Revenue Sharing • Newgrounds – Flash games only
23. Self Publishing Your Game • Windows Store Developer • Greenlight for Steam • Nintendo Wario World • ID@XBox for Microsoft XBox One • Playstation Developer • Google Play Developer • Apple Developer Program
24. Some Advice • Start Small – Tic Tac Toe, Number Guessing, Solitaire • Build skills to make more complex games – Pong, Tetris, Pac-Man • Remake a simple game you like • Take advantage of tutorials • Don’t have to be an expert at everything • Take criticism gracefully