“The best way to learn games is to play games. The best way to make games is to work.” – Alan Emrich
Game Maker Tutorials:
1. Since we did not complete Game Maker Tutorial 7 (The Maze Game) in class, the first part of your homework is to complete that tutorial lesson on your own. You should have downloaded this lesson (along with all of the other Game Maker Tutorial files) from Mr. Emrich’s space on the school web site, but if you didn’t, send Mr. Emrich an email requesting this lesson and he will send it to you.
2. [Optional] You may also do the game tutorial from Chapter 7 (Koalabr8) from the Game Maker’s Apprentice textbook on your own. The materials are included on the CD-ROM included with the book – assets can be found in Resources / Chapter 07; and sample game builds are in Games / Chapter07. This bonus tutorial lesson will help you a great deal with this week’s homework assignment and preview with some lessons from next weeks’ in-class game tutorial, including the use of a Tile Set.
3. Build at least 6 gameplay Levels for The Maze Game: In addition to adding any new ideas that you want (see the list below), you must create at least 6 gameplay levels (i.e., not counting the Splash and Cheese screens at the beginning and end of the game). I want to see some real work produced by you for this game. You should carry the information from this week’s lecture on Digital Game Rules with you and bring your homework reading this week (see below) on Level Design to the table. Important: I expect so see some game design thought in your homework this week as your levels gradually get trickier and slowly introduce new features. You can make more game levels, if you want, and this will be considered when this assignment is graded.
Some ideas for adding new features and building levels in The Maze Game, might include:
Objects that open certain, specific doors.
Transporters that move you from one place in the maze to another.
Bullets that the player can acquire to shoot monsters with.
Monsters / traps that shoot bullets along the maze.
Doors that open and close from time to time.
Power-ups for weapons, ammunition, health, damage repair, bonus points, or an extra life.
A graphics upgrade for the walls, pits, and background. If you do the Koalabr8 tutorial, there is a set of its wall tiles already made to conform to The Maze Game. See maze_5_tiles for a couple sample Rooms featuring this new look.
Experiment with new monsters; graphics are included that have several subimages on their Sprites (so you will want them to ‘change facing’ as appropriate).
Adding a better front end (Splash Screen) and a back end (Cheese Screen).
Some documentation the <F1> is needed for this game. You can copy and paste the documentation that you find in file maze.gm6 as a starting point. Note that Game Maker has automatic Save <F5> and Load <F6> game features, so be sure that’s in the documentation.
But most of all, you need to make Rooms – lots of ‘em: about 50 to make a good Maze Game. Just be sure that there are more and more surprises introduced and tougher challenges to face each level.
Those levels could be on different themes with a story woven into the game. This can be accomplished with different background images and thematic Sprites and Sounds, exposition (“narrative”) screens between certain levels to advance the plot, and so forth.
You owe me at least 6 original gameplay levels for The Maze
Game
(although more than 6 can improve your grade for this assignment).
Make sure that your email includes 1) the game’s .gm6 file; and 2) an
explanation in the Game Information display (i.e., the <F1> key) or the
body of the email explaining to me any new features, major modifications or
story elements that you’ve added to the game (so that I can focus at those
features in particular when I grade this assignment for up to
10 points).
You can check out a great maze game by clicking here. Megan Parks made this devilishly thoughtful maze for this homework assignment. It adds a few clever twists and features. Use this as an example of what my expectations are for you with this homework assignment.
The Game Development
Essentials Textbook:
Chapter 7, Level Design: Read pages 202-223 on creating the world. A good deal of the material in this chapter relates directly to this week’s homework (building maze levels). Much of this chapter also foreshadows the kinds of games you’ll be building (and things you’ll need to think about) in Advanced Game Prototyping – so heed its lessons!
Exam #2 is next week:
Next week features the second exam. It is worth 15 points and covers the material from weeks 4 through 6: including the lectures, lessons from the Game Maker tutorials, the required reading sections for those weeks on the course web site, and Chapter 5 in The Game Maker’s Apprentice and Chapter 7 in the Game Development Essentials textbooks.
