This week's lecture introduced some fundamental programming terms and explanations as a continuation from last week's game tutorial (Tic-Tac-Toe) and reading homework of Chapter 12 in The Game Maker's Apprentice (GML: Become a Programmer). These are terms you will need to know not only for next week's test, but for your career dealing with programmers in the game industry.
The lab this week focuses on Tutorial 13: creating a First-Person Shooter (FPS) game using Game Maker. There is a lot of code to write and explore this tutorial, so this will greatly build upon last week's Tic-Tac-Toe game and 'programmer mumbo jumbo' you learned from it writing scripts. In this week's game, Slightly Less Doomed, much of the code concerns how the artwork is calculated and drawn, so that should keep you interested!
Next week also features the second exam at the beginning of the class period. It is worth up to 15 points and covers the material from weeks 1 through 4 (including Chapters 11 and 12 from The Game Maker's Apprenetice textbook, Game Maker Tutorials 10 through 13 (3D Techniques, Tank Wars, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Slightly Less Doomed), and the required reading sections for those weeks on this web site.
The link below is the homework assignment due at the beginning of the next class session.
These links feature the supplemental material that you are responsible for knowing before the second exam (that takes place at the beginning of Week 8). Be sure to click on every link in this section!
None
These supplemental links are worth pursuing only if you wish to really learn the subject matter of game design in the broadest possible sense. This material will not be directly included in the exams, but if you're serious about being a game designer and delving deeply into the subject of game design art, craft, and science, here's some more lessons from others who have also "been there."
Game Art: Doom Animated .GIFs by Phidias
Here's a lot of artwork from Doom that you can use in your own 3D FPS in Game Maker.
Game Art: Floor, Ceiling, Wall, and Blood Textures by David Gurrea
Here are some free downloads of a texture artists' early works. Hopefully these files are not only something that you can cadge in the short run, but they will inspire you to create your own textures in the future.
Bibliography: General Course References
