Video Games Part 1

Dear, Mind Readers

I just had the thought to let you in on something that most general people don't know.

                                           How to make a video game!

 Welcome to how to make a video game part one.  (Don't worry there wont be that many parts.)

Most people do not know what a game is, well after this you should be able to tell your friends as if you've made one your self. OK, what is a video game: a video game is an interactive computer program played by electronically manipulating images on a screen display.
So, we've got the definition of it but what is it made up of? Well, it's made up of computer code and general media if you want to get down to the point. By general media I mean pictures, videos, and animations. Everything that you see is the media: images and animations, it's the code that makes them move on the screen. Most media is CGI (computer generated imagery) which is more attractive to players. Here is an example of coding a video game:

OK, we've already talked about what code is and where it comes from. So lets just get down to what we need to do. The code starts out by creating what's called classes. A class is a blueprint of a data type. It doesn't define data it defines what an object of the class will consist of and what operations can be performed on such an object. So in a word you are setting boundaries on objects by telling them what they can do. The 3 main classes that the code develops first are the GAME class, the LEVEL class, and the DRAW ENGINE class.  As you can see to the left the game class holds everything, everything is in the game. The level which is in the game holds the draw engine for that level. Now most games have multiple levels but we are just going to stick to the basics. The Game class sets the boundaries and contains the levels, each level contains it's objects and it's draw engine. A Draw engine draws one or multiple sprites, the sprites jump to the position of certain objects so that you can see the objects. A sprite is an image or an animation. So the sprites are made for the game, and imported in to the program, the classes create the game and draw the sprites then the code tracks what keys the player pressed and performs an action accordingly. Thus creating a video game which we know is an interactive computer program played by electronically manipulating images on a screen display. So you see it's really actually simple.  Now days a game is commonly developed in what is called a game engine. A game engine enables you to skip the classes and just program the objects. This speeds up time a great deal. There are lots of free game engines on the web. Here are a few that you can download: Gamemaker, Unity, Blender, and Scratch. Scratch is the least professional program on that list. Gamemaker is the most highly recommended for a free game engine. You can pay and get Gamemaker pro and Gamemaker studio if you want to.  Now that we've got the code down and we know what a game engine is and where to get one, lets continue. The other elements of game development are art and design. Doing the art is as simple as the art looks. If you want to make complex art the making it will be complex, if you want to make simple art then making it will simple. Designing a video game well takes real skills. Level design is the most important. When you design a video game you need to make sure that the player is constantly feeling as if their in control. The levels should slowly get harder and harder, and the players abilities should grow with the difficulty. This is called the flow and progression of the game. Keep things balanced through out the game. Make sure that the game art matches each other. The main menu should represent what the game is going to be like and excite the player for the game. The buttons should work well with the background of the main menu. Keep everything with in a theme. The theme should be designed before the art is created.  The music should match the look and fell of the game. As should the sound effects. Make sure that you test the game over and over again and then perfect anything you didn't like or you thought should change. The background music should be exhilarating and exiting or low and sad depending on the game. powerful base works well for both sides.  You might be wondering how I know all of this, (as anyone you reads my mind must do) and at first you think that I've done it before, but then you think again because of what you are reading. Then you realize that I was playing you and that I actually have made a video game. Then you read my thoughts again and read that I have made over 40. Then you wonder why I'm writing like this, and then I answer you with my thoughts. Because it's fun. So yes I have made video games (So I do actually know what I am talking about), and I have had thousands of people play my games. But know I will not tell you what my games are. Just where to find them: Simplegamings.com Well thanks for reading my thoughts again! Catch ya later Mind Readers!