Welcome

So glad you are here! We've got a fun packed week of learning about computer science and how to make a game using Game Maker.
 

Course Content

Course notes, videos, software, books, and more! Get access to all the course content right here!
 

2011 Games

Here are some of the games created in 2011! You should be able to run these executables on Windows without downloading the Game Maker software.

• Banana Bonanza
• Bob Eye
• Eggtastic
• Energy for the Castle
• Explorer Maze
• Fun Game
• Haunted House Maze
• Indiana Jones
• Lily
• Mario
• Mario Platform
• Mario Shooter
• Maze Game
• Pacman
• Platform Plus
• Platform Plus Plus
• Purple Guy Maze
• Ringette

Friday

Polish your games today, then bring them to put on my laptop by noon.

Pizza party in the afternoon! (Meet in the classroom at 12:30pm.)

Links

• Video of Watson on Jeopardy (YouTube)
• Turing Test Activity (CS Unplugged)
• Treasure Map Activity (CS Unplugged)
   

Thursday

Today: Work on Your Game

Here are some more great web sites with game sprite and sound resources:

• The Spriter's Resource
• ShyGuy Kingdom (sprites)
• VGMusic

Links

• Uncanny Valley video (YouTube)
• Human Interface Design activity (CS Unplugged)
• Raster Image Representation activity (CS Unplugged)
• Go Make Me a Sandwich (blog about female game characters)
   

Wednesday

Today's Agenda

1. Take a moment and write out a preliminary design for your game. Think about story, colour, rules, goals, gameplay, etc. You can look at the Game Design slides if you need more ideas.
    
2. Start working on your game!
   • If you need some more time with the tutorials, feel free to work on them a little bit longer, but you should definitely be starting your game today.

Try these websites for free sprites to use in your game:

• http://www.yoyogames.com/make/resources
• http://www.videogamesprites.net/

And these sites for free sounds and music:

• http://www.soundjay.com/
• http://www.pachd.com/sounds.html

Interesting Links

• A few articles about female video game characters:
  • Now that’s what I’m talking about: the women of Cataclysm (Alliance edition)
  • I'm a dude. No, really.
  • World of Warcraft Fanart Profiles: Troll women
• Video: Video Games and the Female Audience
  • All 'Extra Credits' videos on Escapist Magazine
• Check out some of the cool projects people are doing with the Kinect!

Tuesday

Today's Game Maker Tutorial

1. Finish yesterday's tutorial if you haven't had a chance to do so yet.
    
2. Download the Chapter 3 resources for the next tutorial onto your E: USB key, and "Extract All."
    
3. Go through the Chapter 3 tutorial.

Monday

We're using a free piece of software called Game Maker to make games.

You can safely download Game Maker and use the free version at home.

CS Unplugged: Programming Languages

By the time you read this, we'll have completed the CS Unplugged activity about programming languages. You can click here to see the whole activity if you want to. When we make our games in Game Maker, we have to be careful to use the right instructions in the right order. But don't worry, it's not as hard as it sounds!

Game Maker Tutorial

1. Open Game Maker 7 or 8 by opening the Windows Start menu and typing Game Maker in the search box. (Note: Our tutorials use Game Maker 7 but you should be able to use either since they are pretty similar.)
    
2. Download and save the resources for the tutorial onto your USB key. You should save your work on the key and occasionally back it up on the Z:/ and at home.
    
3. Open the tutorial file from the online book Game Maker's Apprentice: Chapter 2: Your First Game: Devishly Easy. You will be able to access this file on campus only.
    
   
4. Work through the entire chapter.
    
5. When finished, you can experiment with some of the codes in your game and try new ones, or try switching around the sprites to change the game's look altogether.
    
6. If you'd like, you can look at other chapters from the online book, clicking "Download PDF" in this list.