Book Image

Construct Game Development Beginners Guide

By : Daven Eric Bigelow
Book Image

Construct Game Development Beginners Guide

By: Daven Eric Bigelow

Overview of this book

Construct Classic is a free, DirectX 9 game creator for Windows, designed for 2D games. Construct Classic uses an event-based system for defining how the game behaves, in a visual, human-readable way - you don't need to program or script anything at all. It's intuitive for beginners, but powerful enough for advanced users to work without hindrance. You never know when you'll need a helping hand exploring its inner workings, or harnessing its raw power to do your bidding.Construct Game Development Beginner's Guide is the book for you if you have ever felt the urge to make a game of your own. Reading this book will not only teach you to make some popular games using Construct, but you'll also learn the skills necessary to continue on and bring your game ideas to life.Starting as a beginner to Construct Classic, you'll be learning to make platform, puzzle, and shooter games, each styled after popular games of their genre. This guide covers everything from creating animated sprites, to using the built-in physics and shadow engines of Construct Classic. You will learn the skills necessary to make advanced games of your own. Construct Game Development Beginner's Guide will lead you on your journey of making games.

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Construct Game Development Beginners Guide
Daven Eric Bigelow
May, 2012 | 298 pages
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Table of Contents (16 chapters)
Construct Game Development
Construct Game Development
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Our First Look at Construct
Our First Look at Construct
The first step: downloading and installing Construct Classic
Time for action — getting Construct Classic up and running
Step two: creating a game project
Time for action — starting a game project
Step three: navigating the interface of Construct Classic
Time for action — clicking our way around Construct Classic
The final step: an introduction to objects
Time for action — creating some objects
Summary
2
Hello World! Construct Style
Hello World! Construct Style
Sprites revisited
Time for action — creating a player sprite
Tiled backgrounds: defining the world
Time for action — make some tiled backgrounds
Attributes: telling Construct more about our objects
Time for action — adding attributes to our objects
Behaviors: teaching objects how to act
Time for action — getting our player moving
Variables: private and global
Time for action — giving our player a life
Textboxes: giving the player a heads-up
Time for action — showing our player their health and score
Events: setting the rules and goals of a game
Time for action — very eventful games
Summary
3
Adding the Challenge
Adding the Challenge
Before we start
Reaching the goal
Time for action — making the game winnable
Avoid the hazards
Time for action — bestowing more challenges on a player
Putting some bad guys in
Time for action — adding an enemy and making him move
Improving our interface
Time for action — creating a background for the GUI
Summary
4
Making Noise
Making Noise
A game and its music
Time for action — add some music to our game
Modules of music
Time for action — play some mod music
Sounds: describing the action
Time for action — adding sounds
Exporting our game
Time for action — exporting our game
A note on sharing our games
Summary
5
Practical Physics
Practical Physics
Creating physical objects
Time for action — creating our objects
Event sheets and groups
Time for action — creating and using Event sheets and groups
Adding a physical force
Time for action — creating forces
Adding special pegs
Time for action — creating specialty pegs
Portals: a way of getting from A to B
Time for action — teleporting the ball
Particle objects: creating a fireworks finale
Time for action — creating fireworks
Playing the sounds and music
Time for action — adding the sounds and music
Creating another level
Time for action — making another level
Meet the debugger
Time for action — looking through the debugger
Summary
6
Custom Levels
Custom Levels
The user friendly INI file
Time for action — creating an INI file
Loading levels
Time for action — load custom levels
The Game Over screen
Time for action — creating the Game Over layout
Making a level editor
Time for action — creating the objects
Time for action — loading and saving levels with events
Time for action — creating events for the interface
Summary
7
Platformer Revisited, a 2D Shooter
Platformer Revisited, a 2D Shooter
Before we start
Multiplayer: getting your friends involved
Time for action — creating the game assets and title screen
Time for action — designing the level
Time for action — creating player characters and conveyor belt objects
Time for action — creating the HUD objects
Time for action — creating the main game events
Time for action — creating the Game Over layout
Shooting bullets
Time for action — adding some guns
Parallax: giving the impression of depth
Time for action — creating parallax scrolling
Lights and shadows: illuminating the darkness
Time for action — using lights and shadow casters
Enemies with guns: slightly more challenging
Time for action — making some enemies
Summary
8
I'm Throwing a Grenade!
I'm Throwing a Grenade!
Grenades — bouncing, timed explosives
Time for action — throwing grenades
Explosions — big bright lights
Time for action — explosion flashes
Effects — distortions and other nice things
Time for action — adding some distortion
Objects — completely blown away
Time for action — blast the robots away
Summary
9
Our Final Moments
Our Final Moments
What we've learned
Extending our games
Tips and tricks
A note on Construct 2
Summary
Pop quiz Answers
Pop quiz Answers
Chapter 3: Adding the Challenge
Chapter 4: Making Noise
Chapter 5: Practical Physics
Chapter 6: Custom Levels
Chapter 7: Platformer Revisited, a 2D Shooter
Chapter 8: I'm Throwing a Grenade!

A note on Construct 2

This book focuses on Construct Classic, but Construct 2 existed at the time of its writing. It's worth knowing that our games cannot be ported over to Construct 2, as they work on different engines (Construct Classic is DirectX-based, while Construct 2 exports to HTML5 and WebGL).

However, the knowledge we've gained will help very much if you ever migrate to Construct 2, as it has a similar interface and event editor and will be much quicker to learn with a foundation in Construct Classic.

Should you ever need extra help with migrating to Construct 2, there is also an included manual that documents all of the features of Construct 2. This manual can also be read online at the Scirra homepage.

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