So you wanna make a game.

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So you wanna make a game.

• Chris Becker

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• Which ones my game?

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(No Transcript)
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Why its hard

• You dont have lots of money.
• You dont have the expertise.
• You dont have total hardware expertise.
• Most likely, youre not an programmer/artist/sound
  technician/animator/movie maker/robot
• You can only do so much by yourself.

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OOD Is Your Friend?

• Oh no! Its so slow!
• Only if used incorrectly.
• Benefits can outweigh the costs.
• Use a profiler, youre probably just a bad coder.

based on actual facts
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Design Patterns

• Proven solutions to common design problems.
• A.K.A. Little nuggets of knowledge that can make
  life so much easier.

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Strategy

• For Algorithm Switching
• Dynamic optimization
• For Game Rules
• Include hooks inside your code to generate
  important events.
• Like Car A collides with Car B
• Or Car D hit Triangle 32
• New game play can be defined simply by
  implementing the GameRule class differently.

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Screen Stack

• A Screen is a cohesive canvas that the player
  views during the game.
• Stack allows for pushing and popping of screens
  to create different effects.

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Wheels Been Invented

• Dont try to reinvent something
• (at least not the first time)
• There exist very good algorithms for
• Rigid Body Motion
• Collision Detection
• Collision Response
• Most Graphical Eye Candy
• Sound
• Do the research, then do the code.

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Not Just The Game!

• Game play is only a small piece of the project
• Configuration
• Manual
• Screens
• Main Menu
• Options
• In Game Menu
• HUD
• Website?
• Bug report venue
• Support

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But Im A Coding Wiz!

• Ok, say you have all the technical stuff down.
• Why is it that youre still probably not going to
  make Half-Life 3 in your mothers basement?
• Organization
• Content
• Time

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Organization

• If its your game, know exactly what you want.
• Detail every last bit about it before you start
  anything.
• Make use cases.
• Create a class diagram.
• Assemble your team, establish a project vision.
• People are going to constantly be asking you what
  to do if you dont document what it is you want.

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Time

• You can be the best coder, but you cant slow
  down time.
• Divide up what youre coding by use case or sub
  system.
• Plan in slack time.
• People working for free rarely work as hard.
• So dont plan on everyone giving 200 until
  things start to heat up.

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Content

• Without it, youre sunk.
• Make good friends with
• Modelers
• Texture Artists
• Musicians
• Sound Artists
• Never demo your game with place holders.
• If you need to show it off, finish at least one
  level. 100, no less.

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Content

• Start out with design sketches.
• Assign a content leader.
• Someone who understands the game youre trying to
  make as well as you do.
• Doubles as content quality assurance guide.
• Dont micro manage!
• Motivation is important (and hard)
• Overlap assignments, pick the best work?

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Questions?