Introduction

COS 170 - Introduction to Game Design

Who are we?

Professor:

• Dr. Jonathan Denning
• Ph.D. from Dartmouth College
  • Computer Science
  • focus: Computer Graphics
• Taylor
  • Associate Prof, Dept Co-chair
  • Coordinator of CSDM Degree
• CG Cookie
  • Developer: RetopoFlow
• Video Games

Who are we?

Students:

• Who, Where?
  • Name, Location
• Why...
  • Why CS?
  • Why Game Design?
• What...
  • What languages have you programmed in?
  • What games have you made before?
  • What is one thing you would like to take away from this course?
• Food restrictions or allergies?

Resources

All resources will be made available in class or on the course Canvas page

Link: course LMS page

• PICO-8
• Learning PICO-8
• Programming in Lua
• YouTube videos and Websites
• Course slides
• Assignment/Project Write-ups

A quick Note

I use these slide decks mostly to remind me what to talk about next and to help me stay on task. I may deviate from time-to-time on what shows up here.

Do not write down what you see up here. Instead take notes on what these slides prompt you to think about or question. You can get copies of these slides from the course Moodle page.

overview

What we will do:

• introduce to...
  • basic programming (PICO-8 Lua)
  • basic game design (PICO-8)
  • basic useful maths (algebra, trigonometry, geometry)
• develop computational problem solving and critical thinking skills
• play some (classic arcade) games to understand structure
• write a few games from scratch
• have fun!

overview

What we will not be doing:

• play or create modern video games
• use industry standard game engines (ex: Unity, Unreal Engine, Lumberyard)
• learn the entirety of Lua
• learn the entirety of game design

overview

General structure of course for this week:

• 2 hours of lecture

  • some will be using slide decks (like this)
  • some will be interactive
  • questions will be asked
  • work on computers some
  • will break half-way through

• 2 hours of lab

  • homework (reading + activities)
  • coding up examples or projects
  • playing some games to learn

Next week, we will spend more time on developing and coding games

overview

Expectations

• Arrive on time or early
• Pay attention in class (no mobile, surfing, chatting, sleeping, etc.)
• Do your homework and work on project during lab
• Ask questions!
• Answer questions!
• I will give you a minimal structure of a project. Turn it into something that you are interested in and would share with your friends and family
• Have fun!

If you find yourself distracted, losing focus, or falling asleep, stand up!

Critical Thinking Skills

• Asking Good Questions
• Consulting an Expert
• Similar Problems / Fewer Variables
• Edge Cases
• Developing Subgoals

“

Computer Science is not about machines, in the same way that astronomy is not about telescopes. There is an essential unity of mathematics and computer science.
—Michael R. Fellows

”

Questions

• What makes a game a game?

Questions

• What makes a game a game?
• What makes a video game a video game?

Questions

• What makes a game a game?
• What makes a video game a video game?
• What is a game engine? / What does a game engine do?

Questions

• What makes a game a game?
• What makes a video game a video game?
• What is a game engine? / What does a game engine do?
• What classic arcade games have you played?

Questions

• What makes a game a game?
• What makes a video game a video game?
• What is a game engine? / What does a game engine do?
• What classic arcade games have you played?
• Why is learning game design and game engine design important?

pico-8

“

PICO-8 is a fantasy console for making, sharing and playing tiny games and other computer programs. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a shell for typing in Lua commands and provides simple built-in tools for creating your own cartridges.

”

pico-8 specifications

“

The harsh limitations of PICO-8 are carefully chosen to be fun to work with, encourage small but expressive designs and hopefully to give PICO-8 cartridges their own particular look and feel.

”

pico-8 creative tools

“

PICO-8 has tools for editing code, music, sound, sprites, maps built right into the console. Create a whole game or program in one sitting without needing to leave the cosy development environment!

”

pico-8 Shareable Cartridges

“

PICO-8 cartridges can be saved in a special .png format and sent directly to other users, shared with anyone via a web cart player, or exported to stand-alone HTML5, Windows, Mac and Linux apps.

”

HTML5: The Lair, Dusk Child, Stray Shot

pico-8 license

We own a license of PICO-8 that can be used here on Taylor machines.

If you would like to purchase a take-home license of PICO-8 for your laptops, let me know, and you can get it for an 80% discount (regularly $14.99).

Link: Schools and Workshops

To do

• Log in to Windows / Linux
• Start PICO-8
• Type PRINT("HELLO, WORLD") in the console and press ENTER
  • Notice that the command is executed immediately and the results are printed to the console!

To do

• Press ESC to switch from PICO-8 console to code editor
  • Type PRINT("HELLO, WORLD") and press ENTER
  • Notice that this code is not run immediately as it did before
• Press escape to switch back to console
  • Type RUN and hit ENTER
  • Now, your program runs and HELLO, WORLD is written to the console
  • You can execute the previous command from the console by pressing UP and ENTER
• You can run your program at any time by pressing CTRL+R

basics of pico-8

basics of pico-8

Here are just a few important notes about the PICO-8 language

• Uses Lua 5.2 language
  • There are a few differences, but covering them is beyond the scope of this course
• Character case
  • All lower-case characters are shown as upper-case
  • All upper-case characters are special (more later)
• PICO-8 (Lua) reserves certain keywords, cannot use as names
  • AND, BREAK, DO, ELSE, ELSEIF, END, FALSE, FOR, FUNCTION, GOTO, IF, IN, LOCAL, NIL, NOT, OR, REPEAT, RETURN, THEN, TRUE, UNTIL, WHILE
• Code chunks are typically indented using a single space. Most other languages and conventions use 4 spaces, 8 spaces, or a tab.

to do

• Open web browser
• Log in to https://canvas.cse.taylor.edu
  • You should have received CSE log in credentials from our computer administrators, Tim Lehrian and William Slauson
  • Note: these CSE credentials are different from your Taylor credentials. You will have the same username, but your password will be different!
• Click Courses, then COS 170 - Intro to Game Engine Design (Su19)
• Notice all of the resources currently available to you under Resources link. More will be added.
• ...

to do

• Click Assignments > A00_LuaIntroPart0, open write up in tab
• Switch to PICO-8's code editor (press ESC)
  • Select all and delete the previous code (CTRL+A, DEL)
• Start reading through the Learn PICO-8 Guide
  • Notice that the guide uses lower-case characters
  • Note: The guide is written as real PICO-8 code!
• Answer questions; Solve problems
• Save your code as a p8 file
  • Type save my_program in the console
  • This will create a my_program.p8 file in your carts folder
• Save your code as PNG cartridge
  • Type save my_program.p8.png in the console
  • This will create a my_program.p8.png file in your carts folder
• ...

to do

• Open the carts folder
  • Default carts folder location
    • Windows: C:/Users/YourUserName/AppData/Roaming/pico-8/carts
    • Linux: /home/yourusername/.lexaloffle/pico-8/carts (usually)
    • OSX: Users/YourUserName/Library/Application Support/ pico-8/carts
  • Type FOLDER in PICO-8 to open the folder in browser
• Submit your PNG cartridge to the Canvas course page