Development Outcome 1

Transcription

1 Computer Games: Development Outcome 1 F917 10/11/12 F917 10/11/12 Page 1

2 Contents General purpose programming tools... 3 Visual Basic... 3 Java... 4 C MEL... 4 C#... 4 What Language Should I Learn?... 4 Game specific development environments... 5 JmonkeyEngine... 5 DarkGDK... 5 XNA Game Studio... 5 Unity... 5 Unreal Engine... 6 Multimedia development environments... 6 Educational games development environments... 6 Scratch... 6 Gamemaker... 7 Alice... 7 F917 10/11/12 Page 2

3 Introduction (L4, L5, L6) This document contains the on-line content for Learning Outcome One of Development Materials. The parenthesised letters and numerals to the right-hand side of each section title indicate the level for which the material is written. However, don t be constrained. If you are studying at a lower level and want to enhance your knowledge by also reading material written for a higher level, please feel free to do so. There is nothing wrong with aiming for excellence. Developing a Game Before you start developing any games, whether as a hobby or within a games development company, you need to decide which environment or language you will use. The choice is almost endless and the answer varies depending on the specific task. General purpose programming tools (L4, L5, L6) These are the traditional programming languages Java, C++, Visual Basic etc and are widely used by the professionals within the games industry. They are often complemented with specific games oriented libraries such as OpenGL or DirectX. Visual design tools are usually built into the programming development environment (IDE) or are available as separate applications. The quality of the games produced varies depending on the technical expertise of the programmer and the time and money invested. This is the final level for a games programmer, and where all students should aim for if they wish to enter this industry. However, the complexities of these languages are difficult to master and this is not the ideal starting point due to the steep and long learning curve necessary to master these languages. Visual Basic Visual Basic is a high level language and fairly easy to learn. It is good for turnbased games such as war games and board games. The main benefit of Visual Basic is that it copes well with scene graphics and games processing. F917 10/11/12 Page 3

4 Java Java is an object-oriented programming language that is good at handling motion, character movement and other speed graphics. This high level language is a bit trickier than visual basic and a better benchmark for testing your programming skills. Java is increasingly popular for interactive games. C++ C++ is the mostly widely used language for games programming as it handles objects and graphics at speed due to it being a processor based language. However the learning curve for being able to program well and with the sophistication necessary for good games programming is steep, so experience counts with C++. The program used to work in C++ is Microsoft Visual Studio's C++ compiler/debugger. MEL Maya Scripting Language for the 3D graphics program Maya. Your video game design often dictates the video game programming language, so many programmers work with all three languages, taking advantage of the best of each. C# C# is a modern, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft within its.net framework. Both C++, Java and C# have their place within the games industry. What Language Should I Learn? All languages have their place. Most games are written in C++ with Java following closely behind. C++ is renowned for its high speed games capability. C++, Java and C# are all derived from the C syntax but with Object Oriented Programming. Therefore, if you learn one of these languages, the concepts will be transferrable. F917 10/11/12 Page 4

5 Game specific development environments (L4, L5, L6) These environments are designed for enthusiastic amateurs and cover a huge range of in-game editors, level editors and graphical games development environments. The quality of the games created in these games environments is high quality with a professional feel. They are often designed to work with a specific console or mobile device such as XNA game studio, Unity or JMonkeyEngine. Typically each includes a rendering engine for 2D and 3D graphics, a physics engine, sound, animation, AI, scripting and memory management. We shall consider some of these engines JMonkeyEngine, DarkGDK, XNA game studio, Unity and Unreal engine, although there are many more. JMonkeyEngine JMonkeyEngine was made specifically for game developers to create 3D games with modern technology standards. The software is programmed entirely in Java, intended for wide accessibility and quick deployment. Further information can be found on the JMonkeyEngine website - DarkGDK DarkGDK was produced by the Game Creators, Dark GDK is included free of charge with Microsoft Visual C Express, part of the Microsoft Visual Studio Express range. They offer a large array of engines and extras which enhance your game making ability in C++ through the incorporation of additional libraries. XNA Game Studio XNA Game Studio was produced by Microsoft this is a programming environment that allows you to use Visual Studio to create games for Windows Phone, the Xbox 360 console, and Windows-based computers. Unity Unity is a game development tool that has been designed to let you focus on creating amazing games for web, console and mobile. F917 10/11/12 Page 5

6 Unreal Engine Unreal Engine was developed by Epic Games. This is a games engine developed primarily for first-person shooters. It has been successfully used in a variety of other genres, including stealth, MMORPGs, and RPGs'. With its core written in C++, the Unreal Engine features a high degree of portability and is a tool used by many game developers today. Multimedia development environments (L4, L5, L6) Adobe Flash is probably the highest regarded multimedia tool which can be used to develop complete games. The boundaries between some of these multimedia environments and the games specific ones are becoming increasingly blurred. The significant difference between these multimedia environments and the game specific development ones is that the games engines are already defined with rendering, collision detection etc built in. Flash games are very popular and are most regularly referred to as casual games. Those imbedded within Facebook have been highly successful. Educational games development environments (L4, L5, L6) These educational tools are a great place to start your games development journey. Although the quality of the games produced is lower, the skills learnt and the fast development pace make these great starter tools for games production. It takes much less effort to produce a playable game than if using a general purpose programming tool. We shall consider a few of these environments Scratch, GameMaker and Alice. Scratch Scratch was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. Working with this package teaching you fundamental programming principles while pushing you to be creative, solve problems and work collaboratively. F917 10/11/12 Page 6

7 GameMaker GameMaker was developed by yoyo games, GameMaker allows you to make exciting computer games, without the need to write a single line of code. Making games with GameMaker is a lot of fun and still teaches many of the programming concepts necessary to progress to the next level. Alice Alice was developed by a multi-university initiative to teach computer programming at an introductory level. It is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. It uses 3D graphics and a drag-and-drop interface to facilitate a more engaging, less frustrating first programming experience. F917 10/11/12 Page 7