Monday 27 February 2012
Day 4 - Logic
Nearly at the half way mark in the project and most of the students are starting to assemble their ideas, themes, graphics and logic and start constructing their games in Game Salad.
Day 3 - Game Dynamics
Today we had a look at Gamification and Game Dynamics - the essence and 'rules' of why we play games and engage with them.
Several pupils are now altering their games to take on board some of these ideas to make their game the most enjoyable it can be.
Friday 24 February 2012
Competition short list...
Progress has really accelerated in the past two weeks as the game makers have started to work out the finer details of the game logic. We have tower defence, continuous runner, canon physics, street fighter beat 'um up and joystick controller games all with a unique difference to make them stand out in the market.
One of the games dev teams has been short listed for a gaming competition. Their designs, if they win, will be made into an app by professional company. This is great news, however due to the success of this project they don't want someone else to make the game for them so they've decided to enter a different idea that won't compete with the unique game they are developing.
Next week we hope to push games to devices for testing, can't wait to see them buzzing at seeing the games on their iPhones!
One of the games dev teams has been short listed for a gaming competition. Their designs, if they win, will be made into an app by professional company. This is great news, however due to the success of this project they don't want someone else to make the game for them so they've decided to enter a different idea that won't compete with the unique game they are developing.
Next week we hope to push games to devices for testing, can't wait to see them buzzing at seeing the games on their iPhones!
Thursday 9 February 2012
Resources :: Presentation from GameSalad
http://www.slideshare.net/1ninjakitty/gamesalad-weekend-intensive
This is a nice presentation and covers a few things i have touched on previously and some i discuss in Day 3 session
Friday 3 February 2012
Day 2 - Game Design
In the second sessions students were starting to think about their themes and visual ideas for their games. By getting a rough idea at an early stage a really clear picture can start to be cemented about how the game will feel when complete.
Currently we have 2 endless runner games, 2 cannon physics games, 1 top down third person shooter and 2 platform games and several more to be decided.
The theme is most definitely action and games with pace and excitement.
Students began work on rough graphics; templates for correct sizes of backgrounds and characters and some visual ideas and sketches to aid with game design.
Currently we have 2 endless runner games, 2 cannon physics games, 1 top down third person shooter and 2 platform games and several more to be decided.
The theme is most definitely action and games with pace and excitement.
Students began work on rough graphics; templates for correct sizes of backgrounds and characters and some visual ideas and sketches to aid with game design.
Tips : Game Name
Just a quick hint/tip before you all begin making your games artwork title screens... making sure another game doesn't exist already with the same name!
Easiest way is to grab your iOS device and just go to the App Store and search ! If you don't have a device then open up iTunes and do a search , making sure you pick App Store and not music or books categories.
If the name is taken then a rethink of your title is in order - remember this is the name that appears in searches and is the actual App Name so a slight discrepancy is allowed for example Dizzy Prince Of The Yolk Folk is the game and the actual App is called Dizzy POTYF so it may not mean your game title has to change completely - however Angry Birds will of course not be allowed neither will Angry Bird etc..
Easiest way is to grab your iOS device and just go to the App Store and search ! If you don't have a device then open up iTunes and do a search , making sure you pick App Store and not music or books categories.
If the name is taken then a rethink of your title is in order - remember this is the name that appears in searches and is the actual App Name so a slight discrepancy is allowed for example Dizzy Prince Of The Yolk Folk is the game and the actual App is called Dizzy POTYF so it may not mean your game title has to change completely - however Angry Birds will of course not be allowed neither will Angry Bird etc..
Resources : Tutorials
http://cookbook.gamesalad.com/tutorials
A great set of introduction tutorials to learn your way around Game Salad and how to begin using it to turn your graphics and ideas into a game.
A great set of introduction tutorials to learn your way around Game Salad and how to begin using it to turn your graphics and ideas into a game.
Thursday 2 February 2012
Resources : Screen Resolution
iOS screen resolution is 480 by 320
iOS Retina Display is 960 by 640
I would highly recommend that you go with Retina Display dimensions of 960 by 640
If you are designing backgrounds for games that are bigger than a single screen then you will need to create the backgrounds in multiples of screens. i.e pixel width and height would be doubled or quadrupled.
iOS Retina Display is 960 by 640
I would highly recommend that you go with Retina Display dimensions of 960 by 640
If you are designing backgrounds for games that are bigger than a single screen then you will need to create the backgrounds in multiples of screens. i.e pixel width and height would be doubled or quadrupled.
Resources : Image Sizes
Ok to save you guys a lot of hassle at the beginning these are some simple rules to follow when creating your artwork for GameSalad. The main reason is to keep memory resources as lean as possible - you dont want a slow sluggish performing game. Game Salad has an option checkbox called Resolution Independence which allows for the games to look better on high res devices or to look lower res so that older devices can still run the game. However there are 3 rules to follow for art assets in your game that you should follow from the beginning.
1st
So firstly all of your images must be 72dpi - this can be set in Photoshop before you create your file and its better to begin like this rather than alter the dpi before you export. This rule is a must.
2nd.
File format is important. GameSalad can import .png files .jpg files and actually photoshop .psd files. If you choose these then gamesalad converts your images to work within gamesalad. I prefer to ensure consistency and to use the sample file format for all of your images and then import them into your game.
I personally think that .png is the best format to use (game salad converts to PNG internally so you may as well use these to start with) - making sure they have transparent backgrounds and adhere to the size specs below and they are 72dpi as mentioned above. If you are creating an animation it goes without saying to ensure your images are aligned correctly for each frame. Use Photoshop layers and just build up each frame of animation as a layer. Then hide all and only show which frame you want to export - this will ensure consistency.
3rd.
Finally file dimensions (pixel width and height) are important for both memory streamlining but also to ensure showing up lovely on devices - especially newer devices with Retina Display. As a rule of thumb i suggest making your images twice the dimensions you need them to be on screen and use the internal sizing of the actor to make it half (i.e the actual size you want it) . Your dimensions must be even numbers and be exactly divisible by 2 and still be an even whole number.
File dimensions sizes are allocated as follows based on square graphics.
2*2
4*4
8*8
16*16
32*32
64*64
128*128
256*256
512*512
If your image is slightly over one of these (for example 280*280) then it rounds up the memory and handles the image as if it was the bigger size. On a game with lots of graphics then this can eat up the memory and slow down your game so if possible make your image smaller to fit the dimensions suggested. Obviously lots of the games are likely to have different shapes other than square however all you do is ensure if its a rectangle it follows dimensions i.e 256 by 512 or 64 by 8 - that way you can really be sure the images are not using more memory than required. Also take a look at games on the AppStore and look at the screen shots - you will see that most games adhere to these rules - especially for Photoshop/Vector drawn games like Anrgy Birds and Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope and Doodle Jump
// TIP //
I would suggest that you design your game using a photoshop image of the iOS screen. A nice set of iOS screens etc are available from this download link http://www.teehanlax.com/downloads/ios-5-gui-psd-iphone-4s/ Open up in Photoshop and make a new image using the iPhone Screen as a layer and then one anew layer try out some of your assets.
This way you can position characters and see how they would look on the screen - are they too big, too small and cant see the detail etc and then you can adjust sizes accordingly.
1st
So firstly all of your images must be 72dpi - this can be set in Photoshop before you create your file and its better to begin like this rather than alter the dpi before you export. This rule is a must.
2nd.
File format is important. GameSalad can import .png files .jpg files and actually photoshop .psd files. If you choose these then gamesalad converts your images to work within gamesalad. I prefer to ensure consistency and to use the sample file format for all of your images and then import them into your game.
I personally think that .png is the best format to use (game salad converts to PNG internally so you may as well use these to start with) - making sure they have transparent backgrounds and adhere to the size specs below and they are 72dpi as mentioned above. If you are creating an animation it goes without saying to ensure your images are aligned correctly for each frame. Use Photoshop layers and just build up each frame of animation as a layer. Then hide all and only show which frame you want to export - this will ensure consistency.
3rd.
Finally file dimensions (pixel width and height) are important for both memory streamlining but also to ensure showing up lovely on devices - especially newer devices with Retina Display. As a rule of thumb i suggest making your images twice the dimensions you need them to be on screen and use the internal sizing of the actor to make it half (i.e the actual size you want it) . Your dimensions must be even numbers and be exactly divisible by 2 and still be an even whole number.
File dimensions sizes are allocated as follows based on square graphics.
2*2
4*4
8*8
16*16
32*32
64*64
128*128
256*256
512*512
If your image is slightly over one of these (for example 280*280) then it rounds up the memory and handles the image as if it was the bigger size. On a game with lots of graphics then this can eat up the memory and slow down your game so if possible make your image smaller to fit the dimensions suggested. Obviously lots of the games are likely to have different shapes other than square however all you do is ensure if its a rectangle it follows dimensions i.e 256 by 512 or 64 by 8 - that way you can really be sure the images are not using more memory than required. Also take a look at games on the AppStore and look at the screen shots - you will see that most games adhere to these rules - especially for Photoshop/Vector drawn games like Anrgy Birds and Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope and Doodle Jump
// TIP //
I would suggest that you design your game using a photoshop image of the iOS screen. A nice set of iOS screens etc are available from this download link http://www.teehanlax.com/downloads/ios-5-gui-psd-iphone-4s/ Open up in Photoshop and make a new image using the iPhone Screen as a layer and then one anew layer try out some of your assets.
This way you can position characters and see how they would look on the screen - are they too big, too small and cant see the detail etc and then you can adjust sizes accordingly.
Resources : GameSalad Cookbook
http://cookbook.gamesalad.com/
Here you can find answers to loads of questions regarding how to use GameSalad
For a full list of the definitions used by GameSalad then this link is invaluable for starting out http://cookbook.gamesalad.com/definitions You can get the descriptions of behaviours(rules) along with descriptions about device terminology. If you are not suer what rules does what - or if you need to find out more about a rule and whether its the correct way to do some of your game logic.
Here you can find answers to loads of questions regarding how to use GameSalad
For a full list of the definitions used by GameSalad then this link is invaluable for starting out http://cookbook.gamesalad.com/definitions You can get the descriptions of behaviours(rules) along with descriptions about device terminology. If you are not suer what rules does what - or if you need to find out more about a rule and whether its the correct way to do some of your game logic.
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