Created: 2026-03-08 10:48
Tags: #notes #gamedevelopment

🗒️Notes:

• Who knows who this guy is?????
• Who knows what these little squares are called?
  • And why did they make art with these? Why not just draw straight lines?
• How many people play mobile games?

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• Picture it: the year is 1989. I'm in 4th grade. For my birthday, I get this game
  • And I'm obsessed with it for the rest of my life
  • Flash forward 10 years, and I have a computer and I want to make improvements to this game
  • Eventually, I want to make it into a different type of game
• Anyone ever heard of a mod?
  • Who has ever used a mod?
  • Who has ever had an idea for a mod?
  • Who has actually made a mod?

• I honestly don't know what the mod is on the left
• I do know what the mod is on the right--anyone ever heard of a game called Portal?
  • Pretty cool concept, I hope they remake it

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• Notice this word "vanilla"--that just means unmodded

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• A lot of game designers start by making levels before they ever write code. Levels are “the playground” of a game 🏟️
• Watching someone else play your level teaches you a lot. If everyone gets stuck at the same jump… that jump might be unfair 😅
• Games with creators can last forever because players keep making new content 🔥
• “Creator mode” games turn imagination into something other people can actually experience. That’s powerful 🧠➡️🌍

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• each one of these is a job
  • multiple jobs in fact! the bigger the game, the more of these jobs there are

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• Now thing about all the elements we talked about:
• Level design
  • how does this level work?
  • Bowser jumps up and down, shoots fire
  • the platform moves back and forth
  • the axe when you touch it cuts the chain and sends Bowser into the lava
• Gameplay programming
  • which blocks are solid?
  • which ones can you walk on?
  • which sprites cause death when touched?
• Art
  • every pixel has to be designed, just like the first example
• Audio
  • can you think of the Mario music in your mind?
  • who can "sing" it for me?
• Management
  • someone has to be in charge!
• over on the right, the picture of the developers
  • the guy in the middle is probably the most famous game developer of all time
  • the only one i recognize by sight

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• So you've decided to make a game, right? Everyone has reached that decision?
• So you have a choice to make--build your own engine or use one that exists
• Two of the most popular are Unreal and Unity
  • At Newman, our coursework uses Unity
• Both of these are free to use by the way
  • You can try them out tonight on your computer
  • In fact, do that. That's your homework.

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• Before we look at Unreal and Unity, I want you to think about a modern game and how complex they are
• Anyone recognize this game?
• Systems to account for:
  • walking, jumping, rolling, attacking
  • for you, for the enemy
  • life bar, stamina bar, magic bar
  • items in your inventory
  • terrain: grass, water
  • music
• So most of this stuff, you can accomplish with Unreal or Unity

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Unreal Editor

• Viewport = the big window showing the world (what you’re building) 🎥
• Assets = saved stuff like models, textures, sounds (assets = “game ingredients”) 🧱🎨🎵
• Super detailed scene = lots of objects + lighting + materials (materials = what surfaces look like, like metal or wood) ✨

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Unity Editor

• Scene/Game view = build mode vs play mode 🎥▶️
• Hierarchy = a list of everything in the level (characters, lights, trees) 📋
• Project/Assets = your files and game ingredients 🗂️
• Code window = scripts (scripts = code instructions that tell objects what to do) 💻

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❓Questions: