"The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."

G-Man from Half-Life 2

Summary

Conclusion

Hey, nice work! You have come a long way and had a small taste of what game development is. You have tipped your toe in programming and making art and started learning about game design. Let's take a quick summary of what we’ve just learned:

  1. A first look of Microsoft Visual Studio and coding "Hello World!".
  2. Coding your first simple game: rock, paper, scissors.
  3. Creating your first pixel character.
  4. A small look on game design and analyzing the gameplay

Game Programming

Many game programmer starts learning through tutorials and internet is full of those. But the "Hello World!" is the one almost everyone starts with.

A good way to get further with the code is the "Rock, Paper, Scissors" -game. It doesn't need any visual elements and can be run by the Visual Studio on its own.

Even in the modern era, some games are entirely text-based and are popular with adventure-genre players.


Exercise: Programming Language

Exercise: Programming Language

Pixel Art

It could be said that a game's soul is the code, and the skin is the art. The majority of the games nowadays have visual elements and pixel art is one of the oldest art styles. During the course you had the chance to make your own pixel character and maybe in the future you will be making more pixel art.

Dead Cells from 2018 uses pixel art on top of 3D models. Bubble Bobble from 1986 used colorful pixel art.

Exercise: Pixel Art

Exercise: Pixel Art

Analyzing Games

Looking closer at games and us to understand why the developers did things this and that way and learn the design behind the game. When you have grasped the reasons behind the design decisions, it's easy to use that knowledge when designing games of your own.

Designing the game mechanics at the beginning makes implementing them easier during the game development when compared to coming up with them at the later stages. Adding game mechanics later might change the game entirely and could even make the game unplayable.

You had the chance to analyze three games during the course (like Bastion, shown in the image). The aim was to get some new insights on game analysis and through that to help you further understand the game design. You can always expand your knowledge by playing all kinds of different games, even once outside of your comfort zone. You can learn a lot of things, even from games and genres that may not be your favorites.

Great job! You have almost finished with the chapter, but you still have a couple of things to do. Next up is the knowledge test. Before taking the test, it’s a good idea to revise the course material. Good luck!