Games have always been my passion. Creativity and production have always been on my mind. I love talking about production and I hope you enjoy reading about how to make games. This book will give beginners a first-hand knowledge of how to make games in Construct 2. I made my first game in 1997 when I was attending university.
In this book, you will learn how to make several games and learn the secrets of game development. After reading this book, you should have several playable games to build a foundation and move forward. It is important that you actually make the games instead of just reading the book. Game development and entrepreneurship is not a spectator sport. The best developers actually release their games instead of just thinking about making games.
This book is laid out so that anybody can pick it up and make a game. It is also recommended that you go through the chapters in order. This book is best suited towards beginners and people who have never made a game before. Construct 2 is a visual programming language. This means that you don't have to hand code every single detail. Because of this, most of the logic is presented in images. The book is written this way because people who like visual programming languages love images.
Before we continue, let me introduce myself. My name is John Bura and I have been programming since 1997 and teaching since 2002. I have released several games for console and mobile platforms. You can check out my website at www.mammothinteractive.com. I hope you get a lot out of this book. This book is designed for beginners who have never programmed before. If you have done some programming, you will be amazed at how easy game development is in Construct 2.
Chapter 1, Getting Started with Construct 2, is an introduction to the book. You can learn about HTML5 games, Construct 2, and general game design in this chapter.
Chapter 2, Inputs and Controls, teaches you how to implement inputs and controls in Construct 2. Inputs and controls are the first and most important part of game design.
Chapter 3, Variables and Arrays, shows you how to store data in variables and arrays.
Chapter 4, Game Mechanics, covers the mechanics of a game, which are extremely important to learn and understand in order to make a great game. In this chapter, you will learn how to implement them.
Chapter 5, Making a Simple Shooter, covers shooters, which is one of the most popular game genres out there. You will learn the mechanics of making a simple shooter in this chapter.
Chapter 6, Making a Tower Defense Game, teaches you how to make one of the most popular and addictive game genres.
Chapter 7, Making a Puzzle Physics Game, teaches you how to incorporate physics and puzzle elements into a game in Construct 2.
Chapter 8, Exporting Your Game, covers how to export your game. People need to play your game. Construct 2 has many different areas to which you can export your game.
Appendix, Where to Go from Here, wraps up everything you have learned in the book. There are also tips on how to start your own game studio.
For this book, you will need Construct 2. In order to get Construct 2, you need to go to www.scirra.com and download it. Construct 2 only works on a PC right now. You will also need a PC to run Construct 2.
This book is meant for complete beginners. I assume that the people reading this will know nothing about computers or game development. If you are an experienced developer or you are knowledgeable in coding, this book might be too basic for you.
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Code words in text, database table names, folder names, filenames, file extensions, pathnames, dummy URLs, user input, and Twitter handles are shown as follows: "This is called an if statement, and all it does is check for a condition to be true."
A block of code is set as follows:
GameObject.Speed = 10; GameObject.Move.Right;
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "To add an event, all you have to do is click on the Add event button."
Feedback from our readers is always welcome. Let us know what you think about this book—what you liked or may have disliked. Reader feedback is important for us to develop titles that you really get the most out of.
To send us general feedback, simply send an e-mail to <[email protected]>, and mention the book title via the subject of your message.
If there is a topic that you have expertise in and you are interested in either writing or contributing to a book, see our author guide on www.packtpub.com/authors.
Now that you are the proud owner of a Packt book, we have a number of things to help you to get the most from your purchase.
Although we have taken every care to ensure the accuracy of our content, mistakes do happen. If you find a mistake in one of our books—maybe a mistake in the text or the code—we would be grateful if you would report this to us. By doing so, you can save other readers from frustration and help us improve subsequent versions of this book. If you find any errata, please report them by visiting http://www.packtpub.com/submit-errata, selecting your book, clicking on the errata submission form link, and entering the details of your errata. Once your errata are verified, your submission will be accepted and the errata will be uploaded on our website, or added to any list of existing errata, under the Errata section of that title. Any existing errata can be viewed by selecting your title from http://www.packtpub.com/support.
Piracy of copyright material on the Internet is an ongoing problem across all media. At Packt, we take the protection of our copyright and licenses very seriously. If you come across any illegal copies of our works, in any form, on the Internet, please provide us with the location address or website name immediately so that we can pursue a remedy.
Please contact us at <[email protected]> with a link to the suspected pirated material.
We appreciate your help in protecting our authors, and our ability to bring you valuable content.
You can contact us at <[email protected]> if you are having a problem with any aspect of the book, and we will do our best to address it.