Beginning game programming course

[Vigo]

It's pretty empowering. They should teach kids this stuff in school and not worry so much about date memorization and map colouring.

Heck, I think this should qualify as a math course in school.

[Elbaid]

They teach python language at some senior schools in UK these days. Don't know much about it though

[JDFan]

Was a bit bored today so redid the video with a background added.

[Generic Eric]

Was a bit bored today so redid the video with a background added.

Neat.

How do you think you would approach adding twinkling stars to background?  Or giving a planet a slow rotate?  Too soon?

[JDFan]

Neat.

How do you think you would approach adding twinkling stars to background?  Or giving a planet a slow rotate?  Too soon?

Shouldn't be too difficult figure just make one or 2 more background pics with the stars a different brightness and rotate through them as the game updates just like the movement of the sprites and it should look like twinkling for planet rotation placing the planet as a separate sprite image and rotating it a few degrees each update

Since you mentioned it had to try rotating the planet so here you go :

[Generic Eric]

Cool.

[JDFan]

OK since Eric made me do it here is another update of assignment 2 with rotating planet background.

[Generic Eric]

OK since Eric made me do it here is another update of assignment 2 with rotating planet background.

Made you

That looks great.  I need to  get cracking.  I was just thinking about the twinkling stars and I was reminded of a minute physics or vsauce vid about being at the center of the universe no matter which direction you looked.

[arquillos]

Is it just me or anybody else would like to read the "Teddy Bear" class from Week 2?

[JDFan]

Is it just me or anybody else would like to read the "Teddy Bear" class from Week 2?

You can download his code - there are icons for the code and other things he uses like the slides and the videos themselves in the section where the videos are - just click on the code icons and the code he uses will download (most have both the initial code and final code for that lesson) - First download the relevent lecture final code - unzip the package to you VS projects folder - Launch VS - go to open project and navigate to the sln file of that project (you'll get a prompt warning to only open projects from reliable sources - click OK ( might get warning a second time if you do click ok again) that will open the project and you can then click on the TeddyBear.cs in solution Explorer and view the TeddyBear class. ie here is a pic of the code from lecture 5.4  opened on my system :

[arquillos]

Thanks JDFan!
I really didnīt bother about that set of icons in the video lectures download page

[eds1275]

What are everyone's opinions on using a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or even Gamemaker? Do you consider it cheating?

[lordnacho]

Not cheating at all.  Why recreate the wheel when others have invested so much time.  Then you can focus on content.
Bigger companies use these, so why shouldn't independents.

Granted, I haven't looked at these engines, but maybe should.  How are they for 2d?

[JDFan]

What are everyone's opinions on using a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or even Gamemaker? Do you consider it cheating?

Nope -- all major games do it either using one of those or one that has been built over the years in house or a hybrid of the 2 -- why reinvent the wheel every time you want to do something 

[eds1275]

Well, Unity just changed it's name from Unity 3d to Unity. When you begin a project it lets you select 3d or 2d, and you can change the selection at any time. I have only run through the example project but it seems pretty good.

Space shooter:
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/space-shooter
Roguelike:
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/2d-roguelike
Tower Defense
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/2d/2d-overview

The reason I asked was because in the lectures Seņor T discussed writing that game from the ground up including custom tools that I think are found in any game engine.

[yotsuya]

Good question, eds1275!

I don't think it's cheating. Sure, it's awesome to be able to build it from scratch, and I'm sure learning the fundamentals of coding will assist in development, but in the end, if these tools allow you to create the game you've always wanted to create... go for it!

[melvinbates]

What are everyone's opinions on using a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or even Gamemaker? Do you consider it cheating?

It's easier to reach higher when you stand on the shoulders of giants .  I've always considered the real art of game making (and programming in general) in using tools at hand to tell your unique story, solve a problem or create a new world.  If the reward is in the challenge then we should be using assembler or machine code to create them.   

I don't begrudge construction workers using front loaders instead of shovels...

[eds1275]

I don't begrudge construction workers using front loaders instead of shovels...

...slackers lol

I have been busy all week and have 2 bands in the studio tomorrow but I just read the assignment 2 notes and it looks like it will be a piece of cake compared to the first one. I want to get to all the labs if I can though!

[lordnacho]

This got me thinking, I'm going to check out Unity for my 2d game.  My kid was pretty into it and was drawing pics and planning stuff but lost interest pretty fast.  He's too young to look at programming so doesn't get why it's taking me so long to get a jump or fireball working. 

[shponglefan]

What are everyone's opinions on using a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or even Gamemaker? Do you consider it cheating?

Not at all.  Game design and asset creation is usually going to be somewhat engine independent.  So whether one builds their own or uses a pre-made one, the majority of the work doesn't change.

[shponglefan]

Well, Unity just changed it's name from Unity 3d to Unity. When you begin a project it lets you select 3d or 2d, and you can change the selection at any time. I have only run through the example project but it seems pretty good.

Space shooter:
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/space-shooter
Roguelike:
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/projects/2d-roguelike
Tower Defense
http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules/beginner/2d/2d-overview

The reason I asked was because in the lectures Seņor T discussed writing that game from the ground up including custom tools that I think are found in any game engine.

Just took a look at those and I'm very impressed at the engine's flexibility.  I may have to give Unity a spin and see what it's like.

[Generic Eric]

What are everyone's opinions on using a game engine like Unity, Unreal, or even Gamemaker? Do you consider it cheating?

I assume you mean after coursea.  If so, absolutely not.  Something  like unity allows cross platform distribution right?

[eds1275]

Yeah, spits out to 21 different platforms. It's not quite as easy as clicking go, but not too difficult. Setting and configuring touch inputs is the worst part of it. Then for each asset you can specify different parameters, for example when you build to android use this type of file compression etc etc and this style of efficient lighting.

[lordnacho]

I started a 2d project in Unity.  Yeah it's awesome. 
And definitely not cheating, I'm still writing code in C# but in a more structured way. 

In less time than I spent in XNA, i've got my wizard jumping around platforms.  I'll stick with the coursera course, since it's still relevant to learn but definitely going to keep running with Unity.

[eds1275]

careful, it's addicting... also (not sure if this will apply to you in a 2d game) the new lightmapper is crazy buggy. It looks good when it finally works though.

[shponglefan]

Week three is up!

[JDFan]

Week three is up!

Thanks for the heads up !

Also for those outside the US that don't follow Daylight Saving Time  - remember week 2 needs to be turned in by 11:00 tomorrow evening and we lose an hour tonight (Since Pacific time follows Daylight Saving Time ) so don't wait till the last minute to submit your work !

[Vigo]

I'm not sure if I used the most effective programming, but I think I did assignment 2 just fine.

[DaOld Man]

Ive finished assignment 2, but haven't made a video yet.
I downloaded fraps (?) (per Dr T's suggestion), but haven't tried it yet.
Im working today but hopefully will get a chance to test it later tonight.
Ive watched all the lecture videos for week 3 (Thanks to a slow day at work.)

EDIT: That looks real good Vigo! I think I may have done mine correctly now, after watching yours.

EDIT AGAIN: My submitted project:

 

[JDFan]

Ive finished assignment 2, but haven't made a video yet.
I downloaded fraps (?) (per Dr T's suggestion), but haven't tried it yet.
Im working today but hopefully will get a chance to test it later tonight.
Ive watched all the lecture videos for week 3 (Thanks to a slow day at work.)

EDIT: That looks real good Vigo! I think I may have done mine correctly now, after watching yours.

EDIT AGAIN: My submitted project:

Looks Good - If you want and have time to reupload here is a zip of your images with the white background removed so they'll look a bit better moving around the screen.

[DaOld Man]

Looks Good - If you want and have time to reupload here is a zip of your images with the white background removed so they'll look a bit better moving around the screen.

Thanks! Video above is now fixed. How did you remove the backgrounds?

[shponglefan]

@DaOld Man: Can't see the video, it says it's set to private.

[DaOld Man]

@DaOld Man: Can't see the video, it says it's set to private.

DOH!! Forgot to publish it. See if it works now.

[shponglefan]

^ All good now! 

[JDFan]

Looks Good - If you want and have time to reupload here is a zip of your images with the white background removed so they'll look a bit better moving around the screen.

Thanks! Video above is now fixed. How did you remove the backgrounds?

In photoshop just opened a screenshot from your full window movie in a new window with Transparent background - outlined the image including background to get the size - cropped the image so just the sprite and white background where there - then used the Magic Wand tool set to contiguous (so it selects only the contiguous area not the entire window pixels in the selected color) to select the white background (yours were easy as the sprites had a black outline so did not have any white on the edges so the magic wand could be set with a decent tolerance and just select the whole background (sometimes you have to manually adjust the selection or tolerance to get just the background) then once it selects properly just press delete to get rid of the white leaving the sprite on a transparent background ( Sounds harder than it was as the entire process takes less than a minute or 2).

Then just had to send as a zip because posting to the forum adds back in the white background when you download!!

[shponglefan]

Crack at Assignment #3.  Admittedly I cheated and used an array for the rock variables instead of individual variables.  But using an array is just cleaner.



And here is a keener version of the same assignment.  I was inspired by JDFan's rotating planets, so I added some random rotation as well as more random direction of movement.

[lordnacho]

Right off, I'm not feeling this assignment.  Too similar to the last one and forcing bad design on us

[shponglefan]

Right off, I'm not feeling this assignment.  Too similar to the last one and forcing bad design on us

Agreed, although I think it's largely a consequence of trying to introduce things in the order the course is structured.

[eds1275]

Just finished the assignment 2. I thought it was tough, I just had a few syntax errors but what I was doing was right. Just couldn't spot the problems...I drew my own crappy sprites. I also didnt have any screen cap software on this computer so I just set up a DSLR and took a short video that way.

[Generic Eric]

Well, I'm behind.

Not sure I'm gonna figure it out in time.  I wonder how big of hit I'm gonna take on this.