Game Programming

Game Programming

Game Engine Introduction

Eriq Muhammad Adams [email protected]

Game Genre Game Engine Game Engine Structure Game Development Workflow Terminology Tips

Agenda

Greg Costikyan : "A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal.“

Eric Zimmerman : "An activity with some rules engaged in for an outcome."

Game

To build an impressive game you have to learn game design (please read game design books).

Game design is the process of: Imagining a game. Defining the way it works. Describing the elements that make up the game

(conceptual, functional, artistic, and others). Transmitting that information to the team that will

build the game.

Game (cont.)

Ideas may came from : Dream (daydream). Other media such as television, movies, books,

etc. Other games.

Game (cont.)

Action games normally include physical challenges, puzzles, races, and a variety of conflict challenges, mostly at the personal level.

Strategy games tend to include strategic (naturally), tactical, and logistical challenges, in addition to the occasional economic ones.

Role-playing games involve tactical, logistical, and exploration challenges

Real-world simulations include sports games and vehicle simulations, including military vehicles.

Construction and management games such as Roller Coaster Tycoon are primarily about economic and conceptual challenges.

Adventure games are chiefly about exploration and puzzle-solving.

Genre

A game engine is a software system designed for the creation and development of video games.

Game Engine has several sub engines such as sound engine, graphic engine, physics engine, AI engine, etc.

Commercial Engine : Unreal Engine, C4 Engine, Unity 3D, Renderware, GameByro, etc

Open Source Engine : Illricht (C++), Ogre 3D (C++), Panda 3D (Python/C++), Jmonkey Engine (Java), Xith3D (Java), JPCT (Java), Slick2d (Java), AndEngine (android/Java), etc.

Game Engine

Game Engine Structure

Game Development Workflow

IdeaRequireme

nt Gathering

Planning Developme

nt Milestone

Development Phase

Debugging & Testing

PhaseRelease Phase

http://jmonkeyengine.org/wiki/doku.php/jme3:intermediate:best_practices

See the basic game development terminology at http://jmonkeyengine.org/wiki/doku.php/jme3:terminology

Terminology

Use Version Control to versioning codes : CVS, Subversion, Mercurial, etc.

Understanding your audiences (for core games or casual games).

Don’t reinvent the wheel In programming, do complex thing first.

Tips

New Riders - Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design

New Riders - Chris Crawford on Game Design http://jmonkeyengine.org/wiki/doku.php/jme3

References