MULT 110 Basic Game Programming I

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MULT 110Basic Game Programming I

• Introduction

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Flash MX 2004

• Flash MX 2004
• For the web designer, interactive media
  professional, or subject matter expert developing
  multimedia content.
• Emphasis is on creation, import, and manipulation
  of many types of media (audio, video, bitmaps,
  vectors, text, and data).
• Flash MX 2004 Professional
• For advanced web designers and application
  builders.
• Includes all the features of Flash MX 2004, along
  with several powerful new tools.

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Flash MX 2004 Environment

• Menu bar
• Main toolbar (Window lt Toolbars lt Main)
• Tool palette (options)
• Timeline
• Layers
• Frames
• Keyframes (keyframe vs. blank keyframe)
• Stage
• Panels and panel sets MULT 110
• Properties
• Actions

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Flash MX 2004 Vocabulary

• Tweening
• Motion
• Shape
• Scenes
• Library (Window lt Library)
• Common Library (Window lt Other Panels lt Common
  Libraries)
• Buttons
• Objects

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Flash Programming Best Practices

• Intuitive name for each layer
• Frame names rather than use frame numbers
• Layer for frame names (framenames) top
• Layer for actions (actions) top
• Scenes avoid
• All timelines compiled into one in .swf
• Locating scripts
• Consistent, intuitive naming scheme
• Version names -- Do not use spaces,
  capitalization, or special characters. Only use
  letters, numbers, dashes, and underscores.

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History of Video Games

• Tennis for Two (1958) William Higginbotham
• Spacewar (1961) Steve Russell
• Home Magnavox Odyssey (1966) Ralph Baer
• Archade
• Nolan Bushnell and Atari tried to bring Spacewar
  to archades as Computer War
• 1972 Atari founded Pong brought to archades

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Consoles

• Atari and the 2600
• Not quite the first cartridge-based home game
  system
• Open architecture allowed easy development
• First to introduce licensing of a system
• Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto
• Donkey Kong archade machine in 1981
• Released Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985
• In 1980s, owned 90 of market
• Nintendo Ds

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Consoles

• Sega
• Created in 1952 in Japan to sell amusement games
  of US Army bases
• Released Sega Genesis in 1990
• Final console was 1999s Sega Dreamcast
• Now dedicated to software

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Consoles

• Sonys PlayStation
• Created out of an attempt to launch a CD-ROM
  based system with Nintendo
• Released PlayStation in 1994
• Released PlayStation 2 in 2000 maintaining
  backward compatibility with PS1

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Consoles

• Microsoft and the XBox
• Release XBox in 2001
• Based on a PC-like architecture
• Most popular games Halo and Halo 2

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Home Computer Games

• Apple Computer Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak
• Commodore 1981 -- Low price
• IBM 1981 moderate pricing

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Game Genres

• What? Category, type, style
• How? Defined by the game that established it
  (ex. Wolfenstein and Doom FPS)
• Why?
• Easier to describe a game
• Identifies market / audience for a game
• Identifies similar games of interest

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Game Genres

• Adventure Games
• Action Games
• Role-Playing Games (RPG)
• Real-Time Strategy Games (RTS)
• Simulations
• Sports Games
• Platform Games
• Stealth
• Genres and Projections

• Fighting Games
• Casual Games
• God Games (Software toys)
• Educational Games
• Puzzle Games
• Online Games
• First-Person Shooter
• Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game (MMORPG)

http//www.ihobo.com/gaming/genres.shtml
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Game Designer vs. Developer

• Designer
• A visionary who crafts an interactive experience
  to evoke the desired emotional response from the
  player
• Developer
• One who builds the game engine and drives it to
  implement the designers vision.

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Assignments

• In-Class
• Help lt Using Flash lt Table of Contents lt Getting
  Started lt Getting to Know the Workspace Getting
  to Know the Workspace . . . Using Panels
• View MULT 110 Games (MathCs lt AComins)
• Outside Class Due at next class
• Purchase textbook and read Chapter 1
• Purchase storage media (original / backup)
• UNIX account Create a mult110 folder (named in
  all lowercase letters and without spaces)
• Favorite Game Assignment Due Present at next
  class

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Favorite Game Assignment

• Prepare a 3-minute presentation about your
  favorite game
• Bring an object to show
• Name the publisher, developers, designers
• Name the genre
• Name the projection (point of view)
• Describe the object of the game
• Describe the rule set
• Share some strategies you have found successful
• Share what it is about the game that keeps you
  coming back to play.