This course will get you started with casual game development for the Web. Flash with ActiveScript is an ideal first technology to use for getting down the process of creative development. In this course we will create a first project game, understand various genres, and consider different creative processes by which to create engaging game play. Attractive design is optional, but understanding how your artwork can be incorporated in video games is a key learning objective of our time together.
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Date
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Topic
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Assignment
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February 15
morning |
Course Overview
Character Sprites
Clean Animation
Arrays and Vectors
Incorporating Rules
Automata
Artificial Intelligence
- Introduction
- Course Objectives
- Motivation
- Creating and using artwork
- Our Development Process
- Scripting versus
programming versus languages
- Ideas brainstorming session
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February 15 afternoon
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Inputs and Outputs
for a Game
- The class project overview
- Driving keyboards, mice,
and other peripheral devices
- Directory hierarchies for
game resources
- Accessing resources in
Flash-based games
- Examples with discussion
- Free play time
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- Practice our second day exercises
- Investigate Storyboarding
- Look at the Flash Games on-line
- Build your resource hierarchy.
- Bring your resource files into a very
basic project structure.
- Continue to dream up a project you want
to work on.
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February 16
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Building Game Characters
- Sprites
- Personalities
- ActiveScript character
support
- The character state machine
- In class student character critique and
assessment
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- Review the third day exercise.
- Create artwork for your character
- Map out the behaviors for character to
input devices
- Work on your game
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February 16
afternoon
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Scripting Animation Sequences
- Tying animation to computer peripherals (keyboard and mouse)
- Investigating Pong
- Animating chinese checkers starting with CCheckers6.fla
- In-class animation play
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February 17
morning |
Incorporating Arrays
- Scaling up to larger game component
- Evaluating memory and hard drive requirements
- In class student data structure critiques and assessment
- Coordinated play time
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February 17 afternoon
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Understanding
Games as State Machines
- Basic data structures
- Markov game theory (just a beginner's
overview)
- The testing process as suggested by the
game state machine
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- Warm up with the sixth day exercise.
- Map out the state machine for your game
- Be ready to present and justify your character
as a persona
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February 18
morning
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Adding Rules to your Game
- Adding rules to Chinese Checkers
- The value of rules in good story telling
- Game learning objectives for serious games
- Example storyboard critiquing if you want to present your story
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February 18 afternoon
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Advanced Physics
- Physics as a powerful gaming specialty
- In-class student rules presentation and critique
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February 19
morning
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Computer automata and artificial intelligence for advanced game play
- The mathematical beauty of computer automata
- Approaches to artificial intelligence
- Putting our games on a Web server
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