Train2Game Games Developer

This course is designed to appeal to those students aspiring to enter the world of computer gaming.

This is not a course for pure gaming fanatics, however. In addition to a love of games, students of our Computer Games Developer course, will have the extra drive, need and the ambition to go beyond just playing; they will have a desire to work hard to create games of their own and display a real desire to become part of this most exciting and dynamic of industries.

Students on the course are taught every step involved in the programming of computer games, as it is done in the real world. The course is conceived and taught by industry experienced veterans, programmers who continue to push the boundaries of computer gaming in today's market. Endorsed and recommended by TIGA, this course is unique in the industry and represents the gaming industry's preferred induction model.

It is presented in a unique format, heavily influenced by gaming technology to aid learning, retention and importantly, add fun to the whole process of gaining these important new skills.

From gaming concepts to the processes and methodologies behind every computer game, it covers the basics of C++ programming, 2D underlying principles and finally 3D gaming.

The course is taught through a series of lessons and examples, backed up and underpinned by a wide range of practical work. Most of the coursework is targeted directly at writing computer games.

We hope you enjoy learning it as much we do teaching it.

Start a new career as a Computer Games Developer.

Computer gaming is not just a job, it's a life full of challenges, fun and great rewards.

Get the life you want, the future you deserve.....

....and have fun doing it.

Contents:

Section 1 Part A

Intro 1

• An Introduction to Game Creation
• A Scrolling Game Example

Intro 2

• A Maze Game Example
• A Platform Game Example

Intro 3

• A Brief History of Time
• What is C++?
• What is Object Orientated Programming?
• Introduction to Visual Studio Express Edition
• Your First Program

Lesson 1

• C++ Language Introduction
• Exploring the Language Syntax
• Variables
• Initialisation
• Numeric & String Types
• Arrays

Lesson 2

• Structures & Unions
• Typedef & Enum
• Notation & Casting
• Variable Lifecycle & Scope

Lesson 3

• Proram Flow
• Loops
• Decision-Making
• Operator Precedence

Section 1 Part B

Lesson 4

• Creating Functions
• Passing Arguments by Value
• The Reference Operator
• Passing Arguments by Reference
• Default Parameters

Lesson 5

• Function Overloading Rules
• Operator Overloading
• Prototypes
• Headers
• Recursion

Lesson 6

• Introduction to Classes
• Designing a Class
• Methods, Members & Membership
• Friends

Section 1 Part C

Lesson 7

• Static and Const
• Static Member Functions & Variables
• Destructors
• Overloading Default Constructors
• Operator Overloading in Classes
• Inheritance

Lesson 8

• Memory Allocation & the Heap
• New and Delete
• Pointers
• Dereferencing
• References

Lesson 9

• Style
• Common Conventions
• KISS Principle
• Comments
• Compiler Directives
• Verbosity

Section 2 Part A

Lesson 10

• Games Programming (Part 2 - Simpler Games)
• Introduction to 2D maths
• Coordinate Systems
• 2D limitations

Lesson 11

• Libraries
• Standard Libraries Overview (CRT)
• String Library Functions
• File IO Library Functions
• Making our Own Library

Lesson 12

• Building a 2D Platform Game
• Goals of the Game
• Game Flow Diagram

Lesson 13

• Windows Programming
• Creating Windows
• Responding to Window Messages
• Terminating the Window
• Performance Counters
• Creating Timers

Section 2 Part B

Lesson 14

• History of Graphics Hardware
• DirectX Part 1
• Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
• Render Surface
• Full Screen

Lesson 15

• Image Formats
• Graphics Compression
• Sprites
• Sprite Animation

Lesson 16

• A Scrolling Scene
• Tile Maps
• Parallax Scrolling
• Transparency
• Double Buffering
• Hardware Assistance

Lesson 17

• Managing the World
• Scene Graphs
• Clipping
• Collision Detection

Section 2 Part C

Lesson 18

• Linked Lists
• Hash Tables
• Sorting
• Sorting methods

Lesson 19

• Controlling Games with a State Machine
• Identifying States for Our Game
• Building a State Machine
• Applying the State Machine to Our Game
• Creating a UI
• Responding to UI Events

Lesson 20

• Adding the Player
• Responding to Player Input
• Playing Sound
• Positional Audio Part 1

Lesson 21

• Simple AI
• AI Types
• Adding Enemies
• Conclusion

Section 3 Part A

Lesson 22

• Games Programming (Part 3 - 3D and More Complex Games)
• Introduction to 3D maths
• Vectors
• Matrices
• Quaternions

Lesson 23

• Building a 3D Platform Game
• Goals of the Game
• Game Flow Diagram
• Creating a Base Object Class

Lesson 24

• Vertex Buffers
• Index Buffers
• Primitives
• Skeletons

Lesson 25

• Transformations
• Cameras
• Lighting
• Normals
• Materials

Section 3 Part B

Lesson 26

• Path Finding
• Collision Detection
• Adding the Player
• Adding Player Abilities

Lesson 27

• 3D Scene Graphs
• Picking & Ray Casting
• Skeletal Animation

Lesson 28

• DirectX Part 2 & Open GL
• Vertex Shaders
• Pixel Shaders

Lesson 29

• Mixing 2D & 3D
• Particle Systems
• Post Process & Other Visual F/X
• Skinning
• Shadows

Section 3 Part C

Lesson 30

• Dynamic Environments
• Background Interaction
• Triggers and Regions
• Non-Player Characters (NPCs)

Lesson 31

• AI Revisited
• Adding Behaviours to NPCs
• Even More Route-Finding
• Spawning Enemies
• Positional Audio Part 2
• Adding Audio Triggers

Lesson 32

• Keeping Track of Players
• Selecting and Switching Profiles
• Localisation
• Saving Player Profiles
• Loading Player profiles

Lesson 33

• Debugging Problem Code
• Optimising Code
• Programming for Consoles

Lesson 34

• Enhancing the Game
• Power Ups
• Scene Switching
• Depth Buffers
• Other Programming Languages
• Next Steps
• 12