Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
A Game Prototyping Tool
For our purposes, a game prototyping tool is a specialized, limited version of a game authoring tool. Its goal is to allow
the validation of a game idea; the program does not facilitate the creation of a full game. Some examples of complete
authoring tools are UDK by Epic Games, Unity Engine by Unity Technologies, and GameMaker by YoYo Games. The
tool you will develop in this chapter was envisioned with GameMaker in mind. I'll show a minor feature set in this
chapter, and you can take it further in the direction that suits you best.
Scope
A prototyping tool is made up of many parts, among them a scripting engine, and an entire book can be written just
about that. To keep both the text and the code short, some compromises have to be made. First of all, the reader is
expected to possess knowledge of certain tools, programming languages, and APIs. Most concepts are not explained
from the ground up. Second, since the focus is on functionality, the resulting application's user interface will be
minimal and will allow for 2D prototypes. Third, optimization and best practices in coding are not a priority. Fourth,
not every snippet of code is written out. Most notably, all Java import and C/C++
#include
statements have been left
out. However, the complete source code is included in the download pack on the topic's page at
www.apress.com
.
Finally, implementing features that are not essential to understanding the system are left as an exercise for the reader.
Even though our scope is limited, after finishing this chapter, you will have a powerful tool in your hands. You will
be able to add and remove game objects in a scene, as well as give each scene object a script to follow at runtime. After
the initial setup, a different screen will allow the scene to be played, paused, and stopped. During playback, game
object scripts will control the action. Each object will be capable of modifying its own properties, a feature that should
be sufficient for testing various styles of gameplay.
Purpose
This article was written to give the reader a low-level glimpse into the world of game creation tools in a mobile
environment. While the subject is massive, I will boil it down to essentials by developing a tool of limited capability.
Hopefully, the article will spark an interest and you will explore the subject matter further. It would be interesting to
see the end result being improved with unique contributions.
Tools
It is not uncommon for game development tools to rely on other tools, and to build your Android application you'll
need the help of the software listed in Table
12-1
.
Table 12-1.
Tools Required to Create the Game Prototyping Tool (GPT)
Software
Purpose
Android SDK
Java APIs for developing Android applications
Android NDK
C++ APIs for developing native Android libraries
Eclipse
IDE for building and debugging Android applications
ADT Plug-in
Allows Eclipse to work with Android applications
Cygwin
Unix-like environment that runs on MS Windows
AngelScript
Library for building and executing game object scripts
