Make Amazing Games E-Book

Jason Darby

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 589

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This course is designed for aspiring game developers with no prior experience or programming knowledge. It provides a step-by-step guide through the game creation process using drag-and-drop game creation software available on Steam. The course begins with basic game design concepts and an introduction to the Fusion software, progressing through various stages of game development.
Understanding game development is essential for those who want to turn their creative ideas into playable games. This course covers the creation of four fully playable games: a platform game, a bat-and-ball game, a mouse-clicker game, and a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up game. By completing these projects, users will gain practical experience and confidence in their game development skills.
The journey continues with advanced features such as porting games to the web, debugging, and publishing. The companion files include game demos, graphic libraries, and source code, providing all the resources needed to successfully create and distribute your games. This comprehensive guide ensures that by the end of the course, you will have the knowledge and skills to create and publish your own games.

Leseprobe

MAKE AMAZINGGAMES

Using Fusion 2.5

Third Edition

Jason Darby

Copyright ©2021 by MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION LLC. All rights reserved.

This publication, portions of it, or any accompanying software may not be reproduced in any way, stored in a retrieval system of any type, or transmitted by any means, media, electronic display or mechanical display, including, but not limited to, photocopy, recording, Internet postings, or scanning, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Publisher: David Pallai

MERCURY LEARNINGAND INFORMATION

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J. Darby. Make Amazing Games Using Fusion 2.5, 3/E.

ISBN: 978-1-68392-700-6

The publisher recognizes and respects all marks used by companies, manufacturers, and developers as a means to distinguish their products. All brand names and product names mentioned in this book are trademarks or service marks of their respective companies. Any omission or misuse (of any kind) of service marks or trademarks, etc. is not an attempt to infringe on the property of others.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021933057212223321     Printed on acid-free paper in the United States of America.

Our titles are available for adoption, license, or bulk purchase by institutions, corporations, etc.For additional information, please contact the Customer Service Dept. at 800-232-0223(toll free).

All of our titles are available for sale in digital format at academiccourseware.com and other digital vendors. Companion files for this title can also be downloaded by writing to [email protected]. The sole obligation of MERCURY LEARNING AND INFORMATION to the purchaser is to replace the book, based on defective materials or faulty workmanship, but not based on the operation or functionality of the product.

This book is dedicated to my wife Alicia and my children Jared, Kimberley, and Lucas, who are all awesome.Hello to my cats, crazy “Dexter,” fur ball “Penny,” and nose kissing “Sammy.” Never a quiet moment to do work when they want feeding or fussing.

CONTENTS

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1   Video Games

Why Make Games?

2D or 3D Games

Game Genres and Types

Third Person/Third-Person Shooter

Adventure Games

Arcade

Arena

Bat and Ball

Board Games

Card Games

Casual

City Builders

Co-Op

Driving

Endless Runners

Fighting Games

First Person/First-Person Shooter

Flight/Flying

God Games

Hidden Object

Horror/Psychological

Isometric

JRPG

MMO

Music Based

Party Games

Platform

Puzzle Games

Racing Car

Real Time Strategy

Retro

Roguelike/Roguelite

Role-Playing Games (RPG)

Side-Scrolling Shoot-’Em-Ups

Sims

Simulation

Sports Games

Stealth

Steampunk

Strategy

Survival

Turn Based

Visual Novels

Walking Simulators

War Games

Software Used in This Book

About Clickteam

Summary

Chapter 2   Basic Game Design Concepts

Why Design?

Keeping it Simple

Product Design and Planning

The Ideas

Tool Choice

The Story and Game Mechanics

Prototyping

Screen Design

Paper Testing

Graphics

Sound and Music

Summary

Chapter 3   Basic Programming Concepts

Traditional Programming Languages

Traditional Programming Versus Fusion

Programming Terms and Concepts

Arrays

INI Files and Data Files

Flags

Local and Global

Loops

Random

Variables

Pseudocode – Programming in English

Summary

Chapter 4   Fusion Basics

Structure of A Game

Game Creation Process in Fusion

Graphics and Objects

Event Editor

Summary

Chapter 5   Finding Your Way Around

System Requirements

Installation Requirements

Runtime Requirements

Program Installation

Starting Fusion for the First Time

Fusion Tour

Menu Text Bar

Menu Button Toolbars

The Editors

Storyboard Editor

The Frame Editor

The Event Editor

The Picture Editor

The Expression Evaluator

Making More Space

Summary

Chapter 6   Working With Objects

What Are Objects?

Adding an Object

Objects in Fusion

Object Manager

Object Instances

Summary

Chapter 7   Configuring Properties

Properties Explained

Property Tabs

Application Properties

Frame Properties

Object Properties

Application Properties in Depth

The Settings Tab

The Window Tab

The Runtime Options Tab

The Values Tab

The Events Tab

The About Tab

The HTML5 Tab

Frame Properties in Depth

The Settings Tab

The Runtime Options Tab

The About Tab

Object Properties in Depth

The Settings Properties Tab

The Size/Position Tab

The Display Options Tab

The Event Properties Tab

The About Properties Tab

Summary

Chapter 8   Fusion Coding Basics

Introduction to the Event Editor

Coding Concepts

Events

Conditions

The Order of Conditions

Negating Conditions

Actions

The Order of Actions

Functions

Code Comments

Code Groups

Groups within Groups

Loops

Runtime Order

Qualifiers and Behaviors

Qualifiers

Behavior

Summary

Chapter 9   Backing up Your Games

Why Back Up?

Time and Effort

What Systems Are Available?

Backing Up Using Fusion

Media Backups

Summary

Chapter 10   Movement

Movement Basics

Applying Movement

Movement Type Examples

Bouncing Ball

Path Movement

Mouse Controlled

Eight Directions

Race Car Movement

Platform Movement

Summary

Chapter 11   Graphics and Animation

Graphics Creation

Importing Graphics

Drawing Graphics in Fusion

Animations

Summary

Chapter 12   Creating A Bat-and-Ball Game

About the Lab

Graphics Library – The Lab

The Lab – Initial Setup

Creating the Frames

Changing Application Settings

The Lab – Main Menu

The Lab – The Game Screen

The Lab – High Score

The Lab – Programming

Programming the Main Menu

Programming the Game

Making the Ball Move

Bat and Ball Off-Screen

Destruction of Bricks

Destruction of Special Bricks

Destroy Bonus Items If Missed

Collecting Bonus Items

Ball Leaves Play Area

Player Dies

All Bricks Destroyed

Bullet Events

Sticky and Shoot Mode

Programming the High Score

Bat and Ball Retro

Summary

Chapter 13   Scrolling Game Concepts

Scrolling Techniques

Standard Scrolling

Setting up the Screen

Programming the Scrolling

Fake Scrolling

Summary

Chapter 14   Creating A Side-Scrolling Shoot-’Em-Up Game

About Amazing Fighter Pilot

Graphics Library – Fighter Pilot

Fighter Pilot – Initial Setup

Creating the Frames

Changing Application Settings

Fighter Pilot – Main Menu

Fighter Pilot – The Game Screen

Fighter Pilot – Hi-Score

Fighter Pilot – Programming

Programming the Main Menu

Programming the Game

Scrolling

Player Movement Events

Bullet Management

Creating Plane Waves

Red Plane Code

Blue Plane Code

Green Planes

End-of-Level Boss

Destruction of Enemy Planes

Enemy Fire

Player Collisions

Player’s Health

Final Game Events

Programming The Hi-Score

Summary

Chapter 15   Creating A Platform Game

About Robin Hood

Robin Hood – Initial Setup

Robin Hood – Main Menu

Robin Hood – The Game Screen

Robin Hood – Hi-Score

Robin Hood – Programming

Programming the Main Menu

Programming the Game

Frame Initialization

Basic Player Events

Player Blinking

Game Over

Programming the Hi-Score Frame

Summary

Chapter 16   Creating A Mouse Clicker Game

About WhackEm World Tour

WhackEm – Initial Setup

WhackEm – Main Menu

WhackEm – The Game Screen

WhackEm – Hi-Score

WhackEm – Programming

Programming the Main Menu

Programming the Game

Frame Initialization

Game Events

Programming the Hi-Score Frame

Summary

Chapter 17   Bug Finding And Fixing

What Are Bugs?

Why Find Them?

Bug Fixing And Product Releases

The Debugger

Starting the Debugger

Adding Items to the Debugger

Testing Run-Through

Summary

Chapter 18   Additional Concepts

Menus

Basic Menu Configuration

Programming for the Menu

Web Browser Games

Before You Create a Game for the Web

Creating a Game for the Web

Uploading a Game to Your Website

Icons

Summary

Chapter 19   Distribution and Publishing

Distribution Methods

DVD Disk

Internet

Publishing

Self-Publishing

Finding a Publisher

Marketing

Taking People’s Money

PayPal

Copyright Issues

Summary

Chapter 20   Fusion 2.5+

What Is Fusion 2.5+?

Key Features

Profiler and Optimizations

Child Events

Debugger Output

Find All

Summary

Chapter 21   Help and Resources

Who Needs Help?

Fusion Help

Landing Page

Help Files

Help About

Tutorial

Examples

Clickteam Website

Clickteam Store

Keyboard Shortcuts

Patches & Service Packs

Useful Websites

Support & Game Sites

Games Research, Games Stores

Summary

Index

PREFACE

Having always been fascinated by video games, I used to go to the local book shops as a teenager to buy gaming books. Though in many cases I didn’t understand the complex coding syntax or the concepts they were talking about, I was just excited by the prospect of making my own games.

When I got the chance to write my very first book, the 1st Edition of Make Amazing Games way back in 2003 and 2004, I was writing it because of a love of video games that had been with me ever since I was a child, but also the immense satisfaction I had picking up a book that could contain the secrets to a hobby that I loved. Little did I know that after writing that first book I was going to go on a journey where I would end up writing books on different game genres and where I would work in the AAA games industry, working as a designer on multiple F1 games. Then, where I’d work on two flight simulator games and I would actually get to learn to fly a Cessna 152, taking off and landing (scary stuff let me tell you). Working on a Career mode for a Fishing game, learning all about trains for a Train Simulator, and finally working on a PS4 VR game for Sony (before it unfortunately got cancelled).

So even though the 3rd Edition comes from a place where I am now more experienced and knowledgeable about making games, the core of the book is still as relevant as it was when I wrote it back then.

“If you love video games how can you make your own?”

I hope this book can provide the same inspiration that video game books in the 1980s and 1990s gave me, and even if you don’t release a game of your own to the public or work for a games company, you get to fulfill some part of the dream of making a video game.

Good luck!

Jason DarbyMarch 2021

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

There are a number of people I would like to thank who have helped me write this book and have hopefully made it interesting for you, the reader. Firstly, my wife Alicia for being very understanding of all the time I have spent on my computer and gaming consoles over the years, as well as doing the editing of my text to make it as accurate as possible.

To Clickteam the creators of Fusion (as well as many other games making programs over the years) who have made such great products, that have allowed myself and thousands of like-minded others to really enjoy games creation.

Christian Burfelt, who created some of the original games that came with “Make Amazing Games,” 1st Edition that we will be using as a base for the third edition. Thanks!

To Adam Lobacz who many years ago created the original graphics for Whack Em World Tour, which is the fourth game example in this book.

My son Lucas Darby, who started off using Clickteam Games Factory when he was 6 years old and can now program and create art. Lucas has redrawn all of the artwork for the example games so that they are relevant to today’s higher resolution screens.

A lot of thanks must go to David Pallai, who was the president and founder of Charles River Media who gave me the chance to write the first edition of this book all those years ago (way back in 2003-2004). Without whom I would not have written so many books following that.

Finally, to my kids, Jared, Kimberley, and Lucas who have grown up a lot since the 1st edition and have been a constant source of nagging about finishing books and my indie games over the years. . . they have provided me with the inspiration I needed to get this new book written.

C H A P T E R 1

VIDEO GAMES

In This Chapter

Why Make Games?

2D or 3D Games

Game Genres and Types

Software Used in This Book

About Clickteamw

Games have been one of the most interesting aspects of computers since they began appearing in the home over forty years ago. Alongside spreadsheets and accounting programs (which were originally the core reasons for owning the PC), games began to quickly appear to take advantage of this new technology. Nothing is more satisfying than loading up your favorite game and, for example, being transported to a world that no longer exists, visiting a certain time in history and getting a sense of how people may have lived; flying an aircraft or driving a racing car; being a soldier fighting in a war; or even taking part in a sport you could never conceive of doing in real life.

Today’s games bear no resemblance to the first simple games of the late 1970s and 1980s. They now have high-quality graphics and sound, complex stories and, in many cases, multi-million-dollar budgets, making the games industry more like the movie industry (and in fact the industry makes more than the movie and music industries combined). Games are big business, and one of the leading industries in which to find work.

Unfortunately, making games is still considered by many as a difficult thing to do, in which you have to spend years learning how to design and program in complex languages before you can even get a simple graphic moving across the screen! Even with today’s advances in video game engines (which were extremely limited in both choice and ease of use way back in 2004 when the first edition of the book was released), it can still be overly complex. Doesn’t sound like much fun if you’re just starting out, does it? Most of us want some immediate response from the computer, not spending time to get “Hello World” written on the screen (the first thing most traditional programming books still try to teach, and not very exciting) or figuring out what a vector, material, or primitive shape is in a 3D game engine (if you don’t know what that means, don’t worry; we won’t be talking about them in this book).

Many game programming books are aimed at the more professional user market–for example, games programming with C++, learning C# using games, and so forth. Typical game-loving people don’t fit into the professional category or don’t have the skills and, more importantly, the patience to learn traditional coding languages but would love to fulfill their dreams of making a game. In fact, many aspire to make games, but don’t know if it’s possible and don’t know where to start.

This book shows you how it is much easier than you may have thought to make fun and exciting games. It also allows you to progress quickly and take an idea from concept into a fully playable game by the end of the book. In the later chapters, we look at adding more complexity to games with additional things like scoreboards, putting them on the Web, and building for different platforms. This book is squarely aimed at a beginner, a beginner at game creation or someone who has never used Clickteam Fusion 2.5 before. Game making can be a lot of fun, so you don’t need to have aspirations to make a career of it or sell games that you’ve made (though many people do sell their games made in Fusion); you might just want to create a fun project for yourself or perhaps for your children. In fact, many game creators are actually just doing it for the excitement of other people playing the games they’ve created!

So, let us begin our journey in learning how to make and design games the easy way!

Why Make Games?

You may have many reasons why you want to make games, and using Fusion 2.5 is a great way to achieve many of them. Some reasons why you may want to make games include:

You wish to make games as a hobby.

You want to learn a new skill.

You want to make games for your friends and family.

You want a job in the games industry and want to create a portfolio of work to go with your CV.

You wish to sell your own games.

Perhaps you have an idea that you feel no one has done justice to yet, and you want to make that idea because it excites you.

You are a teacher looking at getting students to learn useful skills such as storytelling, mathematics, art, and design while keeping them interested in the lesson.

As you can see, there are many reasons why you might want to make games (this list isn’t definitive), but whatever your choice, it is important to ensure you enjoy the experience.

2D or 3D Games

Games can be classed as 2D, 2.5D, and 3D. The D stands for dimensions, and this relates to how graphics are drawn on-screen. So, a 2D game is usually where the game is presented on a flat surface (imagine looking down on a table from above and the table surface is your game area). This flat surface has two dimensions, an X and Y coordinate. You can see an example of a sprite within a 2D world/screen in Figure 1.1

.

   A sprite is an image within your game that can also contain animations (moving parts).

To move objects around in this world, you have to use an X or Y coordinate. In Figure 1.1, you can see we have marked the direction of the coordinates, where X goes from left to right and Y goes top to bottom. So, if you want an object to be placed in the top left-hand corner of the screen, you would place it at 0,0. Depending on the screen resolution for your game (the size of the screen)–for example, a common screen resolution is 1920 x 1080–if you wish to place it on the top right, you would specify the X coordinate as 1920 and the Y coordinate as 0.

2.5D is a game that is in 2D (i.e., it only has X and Y coordinates) but the sprites are drawn in such a way to make you feel like it is a 3D game. Games using isometric graphics are considered 2.5D. You can see an example of this in Figure 1.2, whereby we have a cabin in the woods drawn at an angle; though it looks 3D the pieces are still only moving in a 2D plane (X and Y). Using such techniques can make your 2D game more interesting visually.

FIGURE 1.1

 Zombie clown sprite – Trebuchet Games.

FIGURE 1.2

 Cabin in the woods – Trebuchet Games.

3D is a game that has three dimensions. Most modern games that you’ll play on a PC or console are most likely in 3D. That doesn’t mean making 2D games is a waste of time, as they are still very popular for Websites and indie-style games, especially when using 2.5D. Certain genres can also be popular in 2D, such as platform or side-scrolling games (see Game Genres later in this chapter).

You can see an example of a 3D snow globe made using the Firefly plug-in for Fusion in Figure 1.3. You still have the X and Y coordinates, but now you also have the Z coordinate, which goes into the screen. You can move into and around the objects rather than have just a left to right view.

This book is all about making 2D (two-dimensional) games and does not touch on 3D game creation aspects. You can create 3D for Fusion 2.5 by using a specific paid-for plug-in (a separate piece of content) called Firefly 3D (go to www.clickteam.com for more details on the 3D Firefly object). The Firefly object isn’t something recommended for beginners; get to know Fusion 2.5 before deciding to jump into 3D game creation.

FIGURE 1.3

 Firefly 3D diorama – Clickteam

.

   3D is more complex in Fusion than 2D-based games, and as such is more complicated and time-consuming. For that reason, 3D games are outside the scope of this book. If you are interested in working in 3D in Fusion, you will need to learn the basics of how to create games before moving on to 3D.

   Different game engines will use alternative dimension letters for the screen location within a game. They will all use X, Y, and Z but can change their position within the game world; for example, Y could move forward into the world while Z could be moving in a downward direction. For Fusion we are only concerned with X and Y, where X is left to right and Y is top to bottom of the screen.

Game Genres and Types

Before we look at how to develop and design our own games, we are going to take a quick look at different types of games that you could make. This list isn’t definitive but includes most of the game types and genres that you might be considering for your next project; most can be made in Fusion in some way, and some are listed for completeness and to kick-start some ideas of what you might want to make (even if it’s not possible to make a particular genre or type, you may be able to take some features and put them into your own game)

.

   The games we have detailed are mostly ones that fit into 2D game creation. There are additional game genres and types that are listed that would be more suited to 3D game engines.

   Some of the genres or types in this list could exist in multiple categories; for example, bat and ball could also be an arcade or retro game, but these are listed as separate entries.

Third Person/Third-Person Shooter

The types of games that you make might have various perspectives, for example, side-scrolling (from the side), top-down (from above looking directly below), or aerial (from the air). Third person is a term that refers to looking at the player-controlled character from a third person (i.e., not from the eyes of a character). This generally means looking at the player-controlled character from behind, sometimes directly behind or behind their shoulder. Many games use a third-person view, from racing games where you can see the driver’s head to action games such as Uncharted or God of War.

A third-person shooter still uses the camera view from behind the player- controlled character but focuses on the shooting aspect of the gameplay.

Unless you are using the 3D add-on for Fusion, it’s unlikely that you will be making a third-person game, and though in most cases this would be true if you were making a game involving a 3D world, you can definitely make a fake 3D third-person shooter using 2D elements.

Adventure Games

Adventure games have been around since the early home computers were available and are still extremely popular today. You’ll find them on many different platforms, such as mobile devices, PCs, and consoles.

Early adventure games were called “text adventures,” as they only displayed text on screen and the player had to use a bit of imagination to conjure up the image of the world they were in (an example of a text adventure can be seen in Figure 1.4).

FIGURE 1.4

 Moon Traveler 3D – Trebuchet Games.

It wasn’t long after text adventures where they made the next logical step in gaming, and that was to include images to set the scene of the player’s current position; these were called graphic adventures. From a design point of view they are the same as text adventures, but with graphical elements to help with directions and story. You can see an example of a graphic adventure in Figure 1.5.

From early graphic adventures the next step was a point-and-click interface where you could control a character and its interactions within the world using the mouse cursor. This would also include picking up objects and then using those objects within the world. You can see an example of a point-and-click adventure game made in Fusion in Figure 1.6.

FIGURE 1.5

 Wild West – Trebuchet Games.

FIGURE 1.6

 Sherlock Bones – Trebuchet Games.

There have been other variants of adventure games over the years, as CD media became more popular; this allowed videos to be included within the games production. These adventure games were called full motion video (FMV) games. FMV adventure games use video to provide movement, animation, or actions within the game.

Arcade

Arcade games is a general term for games with a certain type of aesthetic and style that mainly originated from the late 1970s and 1980s, whereby you would put a few coins into a coin-operated machine (arcade machine) to play the latest games. The noise and sound of a room filled with arcade machines is something that cannot be easily explained, but it was an experience like no other. The games on these machines became very popular, and it was only a matter of time before they got recreated on home computers, and it was a massive part of the home computer revolution in the 1980s. Unfortunately, the arcade cabinet business is not what it used to be and, except for in places like Japan, it has mainly been taken over by gambling and slot machines.

Today when someone says a game is an arcade game, it has a certain type of retro/old-school gameplay; for example, the side-scrolling shoot-’em-up PS4 game Resogun felt very reminiscent of the game Space Invaders.

Arena

Usually called arena battle games, these are usually multiplayer based games within an enclosed environment where you battle with other players (PVP – player vs. player) or with bots (PVE – player vs. enemies).

Bat and Ball

A very popular type of game on the early 8-bit and 16-bit computers was the bat and ball style of games (an example is shown in Figure 1.7). You usually control a paddle and have to destroy blocks using a bouncing ball. There have been several variations of this type of game over the years in which several things have changed: the direction of the paddle/balls, various positive and negative effects when destroying certain blocks, and even 3D versions. As a game type there certainly are a lot of options for improving and adding new features, and you shouldn’t have too many problems thinking up new ideas. As a starting point for making games, it’s one of the easier game types to get to grips with and one of the first games we will explore in our game called “The Lab” (as shown in Figure 1.7).

FIGURE 1.7

 The Lab – Trebuchet Games.

Board Games

Chess and checkers are just two examples of traditional board games that have been converted to the computer game format (a board game example can be seen in Figure 1.8). Though the classics are still extremely popular (they are also found on consoles such as the PS4), board games with more complicated story and depth have appeared over the last few years, and this is something that hasn’t yet fully moved over to the gaming world.

Board games are more complicated than many genres because they require more complex coding for how the computer will respond to the players moves, so board games shouldn’t be an early game type that you pick to make. It is recommended that you move onto board games once you have a better understanding of Fusion and have more experience of programming in the Event Editor.

FIGURE 1.8

 Reversi – Clickteam.

Card Games

There are two types of card games; first we have the traditional card games such as poker, blackjack, patience, cheat, rummy, and spider (an example of a card game is shown in Figure 1.9). These can be played solo with a computer-controlled AI or with another person. These types of games are also popular with online casinos.

The second type of card game is the “battle card” game. Over the last few years these have become extremely popular, and there are a number of high-profile games currently on different platforms and some with very high development budgets. This is where you collect cards and do battle with another player or computer-controlled AI. Your cards will determine the outcome of the battle. Cards will have different abilities, skills, or powers, some which will add certain advantages to you or give a disadvantage to the other player.

FIGURE 1.9

 Card game – Trebuchet Games.

Battle card games do require a lot of design work to get right and can become complex, while in traditional card games the rules are already set out. So, if you are thinking about a card game, you might want to initially focus on the traditional card game, as it is easy to find the rules on the Internet. Once you have made a set of card pack graphics, you can also apply this to the many different card games that are available. So, one set of graphics can equal many different games.

Casual

Casual games are sometimes stated mistakenly as games that appeal only to non-gamers (the types of games your non-gaming parents or family members would play). The (incorrect) perception is that from a gameplay point of view, they are easy to play and don’t contain any complex systems. That classification isn’t really a fair argument, as they can be both complex and have a lot of depth. Casual games are usually about subject matters that are less serious and broader in appeal, and they could be said to primarily be on mobile platforms, but this isn’t always the case. Puzzle games, card games, hidden object games, and endless runners can be classified as casual games.

City Builders

The clue to what a city builder is like is in the name. You are given a task to build a settlement, town, or city which may be in the past or in the future. These games involve strategy and moral-based systems (usually with regard to how the populace considers your city management skills). They usually contain research trees and collecting resources such as food, money, and mining. In Fusion, these games would be isometric or top-down.

Co-Op

In co-op games you play a game with another person for a common aim and work as a team. You can have more than a two-player co-op, and another term you’d see along with co-op is multiplayer (meaning multiple players playing the same game within the same server/world). The distinction between the two is that both are more than one person playing the same game within the same world, but co-op is working together as a group.

Driving

Elsewhere in this list is Racing, but driving games can also be noncompetitive games where the aim isn’t to be first past the post to win a race. A popular type of driving game is more about the driving experience or completing a task. For example, Jalopy is a game where you take a drive across the former Soviet Union in a rusting old car; it’s more about the journey and how you get there than driving fast from point to point. Other games which involve driving are Truck Simulator and Bus Simulator (you’ll notice the word simulator mentioned later); driving and simulator are two game types that can be combined.

Endless Runners

Endless runners became popular on mobile and tablet devices. These are games that are exactly how they are named. You have a character who must traverse down a path, a path that never ends and will get more dangerous as you proceed. If you die you have to start again; the further you get, the more points you accrue. Either you score points by collecting items or it’s based on time, though most games have multiple paths and something to collect (e.g., coins), as that is more interesting (as it provides a reward) than just a time-based scoring system that is just a number.

Fighting Games

There are two types of fighting games worth mentioning in this book; one type is side-scrolling beat-’em-ups. This is usually a left-to-right scrolling game, from point A to point B, with a story element attached to it. You fight multiple enemies at a time with different attack skills. These were extremely popular in arcades in the 1980s and could also contain platforms. In one particular game called Renegade, you could pick up weapons, do jump kicks, throw enemies off ledges, and kick enemies off their motorcycles, as well as face the boss (boss battles) at the end of a level.

The other types of fighting games are those that are currently popular on consoles. These allow the player to move to the left and right and are usually one on one or two on two. Though these fighting games give the appearance of 2D, there are normally 3D environments behind the players which can be interacted with. Still, it is possible to emulate much of a modern-day fighting game within Fusion.

First Person/First-Person Shooter

Earlier in this chapter we talked about third-person perspective, which was from behind the player-controlled character, so it makes sense that first person is from the perspective of the player character’s eyes, looking out into the world. These types of games are not the standard types of games you would make in Fusion if you were thinking of a Call of Duty game, as Fusion is mostly a 2D engine, but there are games that create a fake 3D environment that presents the view as if it were from a person’s perspective. A good example of this would be a game like Five Nights at Freddy’s, whereby you play the job as a night security guard in a pizza parlor. You are viewing the world from a first-person point of view and can switch to viewing a security camera within the world. You aren’t moving around the world in a traditional first-person game, but it’s a great compromise and works really well.

A first-person shooter is a game such as the aforementioned Call of Duty, which involves the first-person perspective and gunplay. These are extremely popular and not really the type of game you should be attempting with an engine such as Fusion.

Flight/Flying

These games involve flying, either an aircraft or animal such as an eagle. In many cases these games could also be classed as simulators (mentioned later). There are a number of different types of flying games, such as side-scrolling and top-down (like the game we make in this book); these could be considered arcade or retro-styled games. In Fusion, you are looking predominantly at 2D for flying games, but a very skilled Fusion user could in theory make an old-school 3D-based game.

God Games

These types of games were extremely popular in the late 1980s and 1990s. Many people attribute the creation of this genre to the company Bullfrog and in particular Peter Molyneux. The main aim of a god game is to take the role of a god or have the powers of a god, in particular being able to hold sway over the populace and change the environment that these people live in. So in these types of games you can change the landscape, make rivers, move trees, affect the weather, and cause lightning and fires. Two extremely well-known god games are Populous and Black &White.

Hidden Object

Hidden object games have been a very popular casual game in the last fifteen or twenty years. A scene is displayed with many different objects on-screen, perhaps a kitchen, for example. The player’s role is to find the objects that are asked of them, so the word “Kettle,” for example, might be highlighted, and the player needs to look over the scene to find the kettle; once they have clicked on it, the next object is then asked for. The whole task is usually timed, and if the player makes a mistake, they will lose some of their allotted time.

Initially, hidden object games were quite basic and were only about finding an object among a lot of other objects, but over time they have had stories added and more complex puzzle mechanics.

Horror/Psychological

Jump scares and scary bedtime stories are exciting and terrifying at the same time. Horror and psychological games are an interesting genre. Unlike some of the other types mentioned which might cover a particular type of gameplay experience, horror games can easily be a platform game, an adventure game, and so on. In some cases, it’s more of a setting rather than a game type, but in the last few years there have been games that have created their own niche in the horror section.

A good example of this is a game called Five Nights at Freddy’s, which was made in Fusion and became a massive hit. You star as a security guard who uses a security camera system and has to survive against animatronic characters.

Isometric

This is a graphical style that sits between 3D and 2D. It is generally a 2D game style but can also be done in a 3D game engine. It’s putting the perspective of the player’s view above an object and to the side so that you can see more than just a single flat plane; rather than just seeing the front of a building, you see the roof and two of its walls. It is a nice graphical style that lends itself to retro and indie game development very nicely.

JRPG

This is an RPG (role-playing game) in the Japanese style (see RPG for more information).

MMO

MMO stands for massively multiplayer online, which means many people playing online on the same world at the same time. Though many games are multiplayer, MMO is a big scale, whereby you can meet up with people from all around the world and take part in many quests and adventures. One of the biggest MMOs is World of Warcraft, where you can travel to different areas via boat, riding a creature, or by flying animal. The game has a massive amount of content that has been added to over the years with content expansions.

In Fusion, you will not be able to make a game like World of Warcraft because its scope, scale, and graphics are beyond what any small group can do, but it is possible to create a 2D MMO game, and this has been done by a few users over the years. It’s not a simple or easy undertaking and not something you should attempt early on in your game creations.

Music Based

Music based games have been popular for a quite a few years now. We’ve had games where you can sing along to your favorite pop stars, play a plastic guitar or drum kit, do dance moves on dance mats, and even become a DJ. Though plastic instrument music-based games have come and gone, music themed games are still very popular; one such major success was the game Beat Saber.

Party Games

You might for a moment think party games are games with a group of friends, so isn’t that just co-op or multiplayer? Party games is a term generally used to describe sitting around the sofa with a group of family or friends playing a game that contains many mini games to keep the party entertained, just like you would at a party.

Platform

Most gamers at some point have probably played a 2D-platform game (an example is shown in Figure 1.10). These are games that have the player navigating through an environment which contains ladders (to move up and down), platforms (to provide jumping between points), and traps. Using a combination of these can create an addictive and challenging gameplay experience.

Platform games have had a bit of a resurgence over the last few years in both 2D and 3D game worlds. It’s nice to see some classic remasters such as Crash Bandicoot make an extremely successful return and a number of new games appearing on consoles that take a nod back to the classic games of the 1980s and 1990s.

Making platform games in Fusion isn’t difficult from a code point of view, but to make a good platformer from a design point of view can be quite time-consuming, especially when taking into account difficulty levels within the game, as it can involve precision placement of objects such as traps and enemies to get the platform feeling right.

FIGURE 1.10

 Robin Hood – Trebuchet Games.

We will be looking at how to make the platform game Robin Hood later on in the book (as shown in Figure 1.10.).

Puzzle Games

This is quite a broad subject and covers many different game types in both 2D and 3D. Puzzle games are games where you have to use logical thinking to figure out a particular solution. In terms of 2D games, you’ll find many puzzle games on mobile devices and tablets. The most popular ones are games such as Threes, Candy Crush, and Candy Crush Saga.

Do not be deceived by puzzle games just because they might initially seem straightforward graphically. To make a successful puzzle game can take a lot of work. The game will need to be graphically enticing (rewarding to the viewer). They can contain many levels and you’ll need to keep adding new features as the player progresses through the game; this can be additional graphical styles or story levels. There are many puzzle games on the market, so even if you are making a puzzle game for fun, you’ll need to make it interesting to get people to play it

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   Some puzzle games can have thousands of levels.

Racing Car

One favorite type of game on old computers such as the Commodore Amiga and Spectrum was top-down view racing car games. Various tracks, bonuses, and great computer AI (Artificial Intelligence) would make for an exciting and increasingly difficult set of racing tracks. The great thing about racing car games is that you can add a lot of depth to the gameplay by adding items such as weapons to destroy other cars, weather conditions, car upgrades to make them faster, single races, or tournaments. So, you shouldn’t get stuck thinking of things to add to make it more interesting

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   When considering what genre of game you are going to make, consider a type of game that ideas flow easily from. If you are struggling for ideas early on in your game creation, then it may be better to pick another game genre; you can always come back to your other ideas at a later stage if you have more ideas to add to them.

Real Time Strategy

Real time strategy games are games whereby you need to make tactical decisions within the game in real time. Initially these games were war games but soon moved onto games that involved 2D/3D units, such as Dune, Caesar, and Command and Conquer. These games mix real time decisions with unit creation and deployment.

Retro

The term retro changes with each decade, but it basically means games that are old and in an old style (and probably a style that is no longer being made). So, if you are forty years of age a retro game to you might be Space Invaders or Pong, while if you are a little younger you might consider games on the PlayStation 1 as being retro. Usually, games that are fifteen to twenty years old or more can be considered retro.

Roguelike/Roguelite

Roguelike games have become popular in the last few years, mainly due to their size and difficulty. In many cases they are dungeon-based games (dungeon crawler is another term you may hear), with levels of various difficulty. The dungeons are usually procedurally generated; this means that the levels are automatically created by the computer and will change on every playthrough. This means you get a fresh dungeon every time you play. Difficulty wise the games also have permadeath, so once you are dead then it’s game over.

Roguelite is very similar to Roguelike and so may still have procedurally generated maps, but it may not be as harsh in terms of permadeath or have as complex strategy systems, meaning that it’s a bit more casual and easier to play.

Role-Playing Games (RPG)

Role-playing games (RPG) originate from the time when people used to play traditional pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons. You would have a DM/GM (dungeon master or game master) who would tell the story, and then the players would tell the dungeon master what they intended to do. The key aspect of role-playing games was the player characters were generally very detailed, with information on when they were born, where, what happened to them, and why they were like they were. This information provided players the background in how to play the character in certain situations, much like an actor taking a role of someone they’ve never met but knowing precisely what they would be like in a particular situation.

Two other key components to role-playing games are that the character’s attributes were finely detailed, including how much health, luck, and dexterity they had as well as a set of abilities or skills. This is where player characters do a particular task well; in a Call of Cthulhu game, for example, that might be reading ancient text or pistol skill, while in a medieval style game it might be lock picking, the ability to read Latin, or skill at short swords. RPGs are considered stat heavy, which means lots of different bits of data can have an impact on the player’s game and how they may go about doing a particular task, such as whether a character can wear heavy armor, carry lots of equipment, or use a particular weapon or spell.

You can make a side-scrolling, top-down, or isometric-styled RPG in Fusion, and keeping track of stats and skills can be done through a number of different methods such as arrays, INI data files, and variables, which will be discussed in Chapter 3.

Side-Scrolling Shoot-’Em-Ups

This was a favorite type of game in the 1980s, and it’s still a popular format of game for indie game makers. In fact, a 3D scrolling shooter called Resogun was very popular at the launch of the PS4.

This type of shoot-’em-up game would normally have the gamer playing a space fighter pilot defending the earth against wave after wave of alien invaders (an example shown in Figure 1.11 is Fighter Pilot, which you’ll be making later). The game could scroll from left to right or bottom to top and it also could include bonuses for destroying a wave of enemy fighters,including shield and weapons upgrades. Very predictable stuff but entertaining all the same. These types of games are relatively easy to create; in fact, once you have done the scrolling, most of the hard work is done (except for having some original graphics, of course).

FIGURE 1.11

Fighter Pilot – Trebuchet Games.

   You will see the word “indie” throughout this book, which relates to the term independent. In the games industry there are a number of meanings to this, such as ownership of a company. For the sake of this book, it means a game made by one or a small number of people who are not necessarily professional and not necessarily selling their game.

Sims

Don’t confuse the term sim games with the game Sims from EA (though there is a connection) or modern simulation games. The word sim was used as shorthand for simulation on the early Amiga/PC computers, though in today’s context it’s not the same as a “simulation” game that you’ll see in the marketplace. “Sim games” was a term coined in the 1990s, whereby a games core feature would be doing something that mimics real life, and can mostly be attributed to legendary game designer Will Wright. He made games such as SimCity, SimEarth, and SimAnt as well as the aforementioned The Sims. These games would contain calculations behind the scenes to work out how your choices would impact the world that you were playing in.

Simulation

Simulation games are about trying to depict a real-life scenario in a video game format. They may not 100% accurately represent real life but take parts of it, either because of complexity or because certain aspects are not interesting to play. You can play the more serious simulation games that, for example, accurately depict the inside of a boat and mimic the controls in real life or more mundane tasks such as working in an office or restaurant. The term “simulator” has changed over the years; originally it would be related to more serious activities, but recently it has seen a surge in more comedic settings. You can now play simulation games such as Job Simulator, Cleaning Simulator, Car Mechanic Simulator, and Goat Simulator to name a few.

Sports Games

This group is a catchall for single or team-based sports such as football, baseball, basketball, running, horse riding, and so on. You can also mix sports games with strategy games, but for this group it’s more about performing the sport (e.g., physically kicking or hitting the ball with a character rather than telling the player what to do and managing the team).

   Though certain car racing events are considered a sport, we’ve kept that in its own dedicated group, as it’s a common 2D game that can be made in Fusion.

Stealth

Many games contain elements of stealth, though very few are based solely on the concept. On the whole, making stealth games (or at least as part of a game) is an extremely complicated task, and many modern games don’t seem to be able to strike the right balance. Games such as Assassin’s Creed and Spiderman both have stealth sections, and many people agree that they are not the most enjoyable parts of the game. There have been a few games built entirely around stealth as the core mechanic, but these are few and far between.

Steampunk

Steampunk has been quite popular in the last few years. Taking artistic style from the late 1800s and early 1900s, it then mixes this up with futuristic weapons and devices. It’s a weird combination that just seems to work. The Order 1886 is an example of this genre, whereby it took the grim environment of London in the 1800s and added in high-tech weapons and werewolf-type creatures mixed in with a narrative of the Knights of the Round Table. Though some would have preferred a realistic representation of London in the 1800s (including the life and times of such people), it was an interesting concept with great art style, which unfortunately just couldn’t make it all gel together in a cohesive package.

Strategy

Strategy games involve thinking about a particular situation and working with and amending stats to get a positive outcome. Common strategy games can be war games where you move units on a map and engage the enemy (battles then take place based on unit strength and locations) or management games such as a football game where you try to put the best players into positions and watch the game unfold.

Survival

These games focus on harsh realities of the environment or world they put you in and how you might try to survive. Food and resources can be scarce, and there are elements of grinding the resources to make your situation better. Normally you can combine resources to make tools or equipment, such as a better shelter or the ability to make or mine other objects.

Turn Based

These are games that require you to take a turn and then wait for someone else to take their turn before you continue. Some games have elements of turn-based mechanics within them, while others may make this the core gameplay element. Board games are usually turn based; in terms of other types of video games, military or war games are usually highly turn based.

Visual Novels

Visual novels sit in two camps, one which has very little gameplay and just tells a story where the player may make decisions; it’s mainly about the story. The other may include some elements of decision making and multiple endings. On the whole they are extremely text and graphic heavy, much like a graphical adventure game, but generally with less complicated game mechanics.

Walking Simulators

Walking simulators are games that strangely involve lots of walking. It’s a term that has appeared over the last few years for games in which the player will inhabit a character and move around an environment solving puzzles. Examples of such games are What Remains of Edith Finch, The Stanley Parable, and Gone Home. In Gone Home, you arrive home to find that there is no one there. So, you move around the environment, reading messages, and so forth to figure out what has happened. These games are generally more about the narrative (story) than complex gameplay puzzles.

War Games

There are a couple of different types of war games that are available to play; one type is the strategy, map-based movement of units which can then turn into a battle within a 3D environment, such as the excellent Total War series. You then also have the old-school, hex-based war games, which are unfortunately not as popular these days, where you move your 2D units on a hex-based map grid and see the battle unfold in real time.

Software Used in This Book

The product that we will be using to create our games is Clickteam’s Fusion 2.5 (an example game loaded into Fusion is shown in Figure 1.12).

There are other game creation tools that you could use to make games which will not be covered in this book (as otherwise this book would be many thousands of pages). We have selected Fusion as the software to use for a number of reasons:

The product is relatively cheap to use (there is a free version which you can use to test out your game ideas).

It is relatively easy to use (especially for the beginner game makers who are reading this book).

You can create commercial software with it, which is a bonus if you do decide to continue with making games and decide you want to make a business out of it.

Development time is a lot quicker than using scripting or traditional programming languages for the beginner.

FIGURE 1.12

 Fusion – Clickteam.

About Clickteam

What is Clickteam? Clickteam is the development group behind The Games Factory, Multimedia Fusion (now just called Fusion), and Install Creator (as well as many other programs). Having used Clickteam’s games creation programs for many years, I wrote the first edition of this book way back in 2004. Creating a third edition made it an easy decision to write about the latest version, Fusion 2.5. Using its event-based programming language (which has been mimicked by many other game creation tools over the years), it’s a quick and easy way to get your games up and running extremely quickly.

Clickteam provide a limited feature free version of their software so that you can make your own games and then build a HTML version that you can upload to your Website. So, you can get to learn the product before deciding if you want to purchase the full version.

You can find out more information about Clickteam and its products at the Website www.clickteam.com.

   The book covers the Windows Steam edition of the limited feature free software version. There are also separate download files for windows and Mac available in the companion files. Please note that the Mac edition works only on specific versions of the Mac OS. Visit https://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-free-edition for more information.

Summary

Now that we have touched upon game types and the tools that we are going to use to create our games, hopefully the creative juices are starting to flow and you have some idea of what you would like to make. Don’t rush off just yet to begin making your game, as in the next chapter we will be looking at how to grow those simple ideas into full-blown games. Most people have more than one idea, so we will also be looking at getting you to make a decision on the type of game you want to make based on set criteria.

C H A P T E R 2

BASIC GAME DESIGN CONCEPTS

In This Chapter

Why Design?

Product Design and Planning

In this chapter, we look at why you might want to spend a little more time thinking about what type of game you want to make, and how you would go about considering how to choose what to create.

Why Design?

You’re probably itching to make your first game and to just get on with it. That’s not all bad, as it’s good to be enthusiastic about a subject you are involved in. But before you get on with making your own game, let’s ask a simple question–“How many people do you think start making a game and then give up?” Unfortunately, there are no stats for such a question, but we can guarantee that the world is filled with people who have had an idea for a game but never got it past the starting blocks of just an idea; there is also an ever-growing number of games that have stopped being worked on before they were completed. Making games is no different than any other creative medium; you could say the same for writing a book, writing a song or album, and so on. Many people have aspirations but ultimately fail to start or finish a project.

Not finishing a project is a problem that occurs quite often, and Fusion users have even given it its own name, the “Click Curse.” Many games being made with these types of programs get dropped because:

The idea was too complex for the skills of the developer at that time, and they got stuck and couldn’t get past the current issues and so gave up.

Badly written code, which means that the developer has probably taken the long route to making their game. They notice that it could have been easier to write a little way into development and decide to make the game easier by replacing their old code with the new, super-efficient program, but then realize it’s too big a job.

They find that the game doesn’t work as well with the original story after they have begun making it and prefer another idea and decide to make a new game.

Being too ambitious. Someone who has made no games before and hasn’t done any design but tries to make an online role-playing game first is likely to run into problems.

While working on their project they have a hardware failure and lose some of their work and give up because they then find it too much effort to recreate work they’ve already done.

Even though many people who have wanted to make a game have failed, there is also a large number of people who have succeeded; some of these people have been able to make their games easily, while it might have been a struggle for others, and they may have been close to giving up one or a number of times through the development of the game. Making games (depending on the size and complexity of the game) can be difficult. Gaming Websites have mentioned “crunch” and “burnout” among issues affecting people who work in the games industries AAA market, but these issues can also be seen by people who are trying to make a game in a small team or on their own.

Making a game (even for fun) can be:

Tiring: If you are working full time and come back from work, you don’t necessarily want to come back and work. You probably want to spend time with family, watching TV or playing games. Time is precious and sometimes you just want to relax.

Lonely: If you are working on your game alone and are working on it full time, then it can become quite lonely doing everything yourself and not being able to talk to anyone about the technical details of what you are doing and how you should do it.

Distracting: