Games Development

This page is designed to help support those teaching the NPA Computer Games Development and associated units. This is a personal page operated by Colin Maxwell and it is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, any organisation.

General links

1. Skillset – Computer Games Industry
2. LTS – Game Design Resources
3. Game genres
4. Computer games 1960-2000 (BBC Video)

Design

Level 4 unit | Level 5 unit | Level 6 unit

Emerging Technologies

1. New feedback controller from University of Utah
2. HIVE - Highly Portable Immersive Virtual Environment by NASA
3. Neurosky brainwave sensors
4. Gaze Interaction – eye tracking systems
5. Google Glasses prototype – data in front of your eyes
6. Project Fiona – Razer’s prototype gaming tablet
7. Near Field Communication technology in the Wii U
8. Unity gaming platform built into TVs
9. Mind Reader control devices with thoughts (BBC Click)
10. The Promise of Augmented Reality (BBC Click)
11. Sony 3D headset
12. Nintendo Wii U
13. Ocosmos Gaming Tablet
14. Real guitar controller
15. Augmented Reality boardgame
16. Location based game
17. Augmented Reality game
18. Social and location based game
19. Gaming without a console

Recent Technologies

1. Sony PSVITA
2. Onlive cloud gaming
3. MS Kinect Gameplay video
4. Other Kinect features video
5. More Kinect Gameplay video
6. Playstation Move video
7. Playstation Move gameplay video
8. More Playstation Move gameplay video
9. Nintendo 3DS intro video
10. Nintendo 3DS hands-on video
11. Sony 3D TV commercial
12. Sony 3D TV review

Designers

1. Shigeru Miyamoto
2. Hideo Kojima
3. Charles Cecil

Games Industry

1. Career Profiles
2. Interactive Storyboard about the Games Industry
3. Games Industry Value Chain
4. Job roles in Computer Games
5. Super Mario Galaxy – list of credits
6. The Beginnings of Rockstar Games

Suggestions for integrating numeracy

Data visualisation of game platform ownership and popularity

The Power of 2 Rule for game textures

External factors affecting game design

1. Age rating games (BBC video clip)
2. ESRB – game ratings system
3. BBFC – game and film classification
4. A History of Video Game Controversy
5. Battlefield 3 plot angers Iranian gamers
6. Wii – health & safety
7. Repetitive strain injuries
8. Video games and epilepsy
9. The Rise of Casual Games (pdf)
10. Religion and games

Design Tools

Flowcharts

1. Flight Control
2. Bingo
3. Wii Baseball

Sketches and concept art

1. Star Wars: The Old Republic – spaceship design
2. Video game art (BBC Video)
3. Terry Paton’s game design sketchbook
4. 50 examples of game concept art

Generating ideas

Creativity & Games – Guardian article

Behind the scenes

1. Concept Artist – Mass Effect 2
2. How games are made (Discovery Channel)
3. Silent Hill – Making of 1. Production team and visuals.
4. Silent Hill – Making of 2. Character design & motion capture.
5. Silent Hill – Making of 3. Creature design, music and sound.
6. Silent Hill – Making of 4. Creating moods and evoking emotions.
7. How games are made at Ubisoft Newcastle (BBC Video)

Media Assets

Level 4 unit | Level 5 unit | Level 6 unit

Media Assets are the graphics, sounds, animations, videos and text that are used in the creation of a computer game. As well as having a development tool (see later) you will also need tools to create and edit the media assets.

Some pre-made media assets can also be licensed for a fee or for free.

1. Creative Commons licensing
2. Royalty Free
3. Digital Economy Act 2010
4. Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Planning Tools

Gantt Project – free scheduling tool

Editing and Creation Tools

1. GIMP – Gnu Image Manipulation Program. Free.
2. Audacity – Free audio editor and recorder.
3. Blender – Free 3D modelling and animation, with a game engine.
4. Photoshop – Adobe’s industry-leading image editing tool.
5. Soundbooth – Adobe’s multi-track audio editor.
6. Musescore - free music composition software.
7. Any Video Converter (free version available) – great for converting between video formats.

Sound Effects and Music

1. Sound FX Now
2. CCMixter- Creative Commons licensed music
3. Freesound – registration required
4. Sound Bible

Media Search Engines

1. Compfight – Flickr search engine
2. search.creativecommons.org – searches various sites for CC licensed work

3D Textures

1. maxTextures
2. CGTextures
3. 3d Texture

Development

Level 4 unit | Level 5 unit | Level 6 unit

Development tools

There are many different game development tools to choose from. Some are free and some are expensive. Some require lots of programming to create games and others use a drag-and drop interface. Some tools create 2D games and others can handle 3D. Some tools are also made for creating specific types of games. You will need to choose a tool carefully to meet your requirements.

1. Scratch – Free. Designed to help teach programming and capable of making simple games
2. Construct 2 – Free HTML5 game maker
3. Flash – Adobe’s animation and applications tool is widely used for games.
4. Gamemaker – Free lite version. Lots of tutorials available.
5. Blender – Free. 3D modelling and animation tool with a game engine.
6. GtkRadiant. Free. 3D gamelevel editor from id games.
7. Unity. 3D game development tool.
8. Unreal Development Kit. Free for educational use, commercial quality game engine.
9. XNA – Microsoft’s games development tools for Windows and XBOX
10. Kodu – Microsoft visual programming tool for games. Unfortunately can’t import external files and objects.
11. Mission Maker – 3D game creation designed for education.
12. Game Salad – create web, Mac and iOS games. Mac only
13. Stencyl – iOS and Flash games. Scratch style coding.
14. Greenfoot – making games with Java.
15. Cube 2 Sauerbraten – make first person and multiplayer shooters.

Tutorials

1. Gamemaker official tutorials
2. Learn Scratch
3. Blender tutorials
4. Flash Platform Game Technology Center

Promotional Activities

• Promotional items for games at Dare to be Digital 2011