Game Development 101 - Beginning Android Games - page 68

ï?® We'll trick out the audio aspect of the game by letting Mr. Nom grunt each

time he eats an ink stain.

� Instead of going for a boring title like “Doodle Snake,� let's call the game

“Mr. Nom,� a much more intriguing title.

Figure 3-14 shows Mr. Nom in his full glory, along with some ink stains that will replace the
original block. We also sketched a doodly Mr. Nom logo that we can reuse throughout the game.

Figure 3-14. Mr. Nom, his hat, ink stains, and the logo

Screens and Transitions
With the game mechanics, backstory, characters, and art style fixed, we can now design our
screens and the transitions between them. First, however, it's important to understand exactly
what makes up a screen:

ï?® A screen is an atomic unit that fills the entire display, and it is responsible

for exactly one part of the game (for example, the main menu, the settings
menu, or the game screen where the action is happening).

ï?® A screen can be composed of multiple components (for example, buttons,

controls, head-up displays, or the rendering of the game world).

ï?® A screen allows the user to interact with the screen's elements. These

interactions can trigger screen transitions (for example, pressing a New
Game button on the main menu could exchange the currently active main
menu screen with the game screen or a level-selection screen).

With those definitions, we can put on our thinking caps and design all the screens of our
Mr. Nom game.

The first thing our game will present to the player is the main menu screen. What makes a good
main menu screen?

ï?® Displaying the name of our game is a good idea in principle, so we'll put in

the Mr. Nom logo.