Create Computer Games

PUT DOWN YOUR CONTROLLER

Why just play videogames when you can build your own game? Follow the steps in this book to learn a little about code, build a few graphics, and piece together a real game you can share with your friends. Who knows? What you learn here could help you become the next rock-star video- game designer. So set your controller aside and get ready to create!

• Decipher the code – build some basic knowledge of how computer code drives videogames
• Get animated – create simple graphics and learn how to put them in motion
• Update a classic – put your knowledge together to put your modern twist on a classic game

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Patrick McCabe teaches animation, programming, editing, and 3D printing at The Digital Arts Experience in Scarsdale, New York. When not teaching how to build games, Patrick loves to play games and dispense knowledge about all things Star Wars.

Introduction ix

About This Book ix

Foolish Assumptions ix

Icons Used in This Book x

Where to Go from Here x

Chapter 1: What Is Game Design? 1

Thinking about What Makes Fun Games Fun 2

Asking the Right Questions before You Begin 4

Creating Your Game on Paper 7

Chapter 2: Unity: The Software You’ll Use to Build Your Game 9

Getting Organized 10

Creating a New File 12

Understanding How Unity Is Laid Out 12

Navigating the Scene 16

Creating a Game Object 17

Creating and Using Prefabs 20

Chapter 3: Creating Level 1 23

Understanding the Importance of Level 1 24

Designing Your First Level 25

Creating the Gray-Box Level 29

Giving Your Level Objective and Direction 37

Chapter 4: Camera, Character, and Controls 41

The Three Cs of Game Development 42

Creating a Character Stand-In 44

Thinking about Code 46

Adding Rigidbody Component and Understanding Box Colliders 48

Coding Your Player 50

Coding Advanced Movement 57

Coding Pickup 60

Creating Tags and a User Interface 64

Coding Your Camera 67

Chapter 5: Making Your “Game” into a Game 71

Thinking About What a Game Is 72

Creating and Coding Your Obstacles 74

Creating Respawn Points 81

Coding Respawn Points 87

Chapter 6: Play Testing 91

Defining Play Testing 92

Knowing When to Start Play Testing 93

Deciding Who Should Play Test Your Game 93

Knowing What to Look For 94

Handling Feedback 96

Finding the Problems in Your Game 96

Chapter 7: Fixing and Adjusting Your Game 99

Turning Criticism into Construction 100

Punishing Your Player Less 101

Creating a User Interface Tutorial 102

Preventing Wall Climbing with Raytracing 105

Chapter 8: Animating in Blender 107

Mixing Things Up with Blender 108

Downloading Blender 108

Opening Blender for the First Time 109

Creating a New File in Blender 111

Figuring Out the Blender Interface 111

Navigating the Interface 117

Editing Your Object 120

Chapter 9: Creating Your Assets 129

Thinking about Theme and Style 130

Creating Your First Character 133

Creating the Enemy Grunt 140

Creating an Environmental Hazard 144

Creating the Coin Pickups 153

Customizing on Your Own 157

Chapter 10: Animating Your Characters 159

Defining Animation 160

Learning Animation 160

Animating Your Player Character 165

Animating the Enemy Grunt 179

Animating the Environmental Hazard 183

Animating a Moving Platform 186

Animating the Coins 188

Chapter 11: Coloring and Lighting Your Game Level 191

Changing the Ground Color 192

Editing the Environmental Lighting 195

Understanding Lighting 197

Creating Fog 200

Chapter 12: Importing Your Characters into Your Game 203

Fixing Your Player Character for Importing into Unity 204

Importing Your Player Character into Unity 207

Importing the Other Characters and Objects 219

Chapter 13: Play Testing (Again) 227

Testing the Second Time 228

Fixing Your Game 230

Wrapping Up the Noticeable Issues 233

Chapter 14: Finalizing Your Game 235

Creating Multiple Levels 236

Resetting the Level 239

Exporting Your Game 242

Continuing Your Game Design 243

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The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.