Foundations of Game Development

View all Courses

Foundations of Game Development

Comprehensive introduction to fundamental skills for 2D game development.

Sequence: Digital Arts and Animation

Grade: Seventh: Game Dev Track

Hours of Instruction: 60 - 70

Print Share Preview
Quote

Course Description

Students develop polished 2D digital games that offer well-crafted narratives within a skillfully conceived technical framework.

Students review fundamental skills of digital design during the pre-production process of a 2D video game, focusing on creating a coherent look, feel, and narrative flow. Students develop custom backgrounds and sprite sheets, and select background music and sound effects that align with the feel of their game. Students program game events including collision detection, win/lose conditions, score monitors, and hit counters, which trigger physics reactions and game logic responses that advance the game. Students will integrate proper logic and coding strategies throughout, so that game events execute smoothly. Students apply their skills to the production of targeted assignments, including endless runner and platformer games. They will conclude the class by working independently to conceptualize a novel game, beta-test their product, and refine and ultimately present a polished, working game by the end of the course.

Educational Standards

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS)

Chapter Subchapter Course Application
126.38.c.1 D Demonstrate an understanding of the fundamentals of game art, including the look and feel, graphics coordinate system, basics of color, and color palettes.
126.38.c.1 F Create backgrounds, including solid, image, and tiled backgrounds.
126.38.c.1 H Create games using sprites by evaluating the role of sprites, creating sprites, and managing sprites.
126.38.c.1 K Find, create, and edit game audio sound effects and music.
126.38.c.1 L Implement game sound mechanics, including playing, pausing, and looping.
126.38.c.6 G Demonstrate an understanding of the role of game events, the animation loop, and game timing.
126.38.c.6 M Demonstrate an understanding of decision making and types of decisions.
126.38.c.6 N Demonstrate an understanding of game events, including listeners, triggers, and timed events.
126.38.c.6 O Demonstrate an understanding of and implement collision detection, including bounding boxes and sprite collisions.

 

Key Objectives

Students will:
  • Integrate premade art assets including sprites and backgrounds.
  • Apply preproduction skills to the creation of custom background images and spritesheets.
  • Identify complementary sound effects and music tracks which match the feel of the game.
  • Acquire understanding of when to use a listener, trigger, or timed event to kickstart a game action.
  • Implement collision detection, score-keeping, and behavior randomization code.
  • Design well-rounded and complex games via expert use of conditional logic flows.
  • Apply effective debugging and user-testing techniques to iterate upon game logic and flow.

Materials/Supplies

  • Foundations of Game Development Classroom Activity Kit

Other Required Resources

  • Computer, one per student
  • ClickTeam Fusion

Compatibility

Apple Windows