Starter Series Book Resources

The Game Programming Starter Series

“I like to learn how to make simple games. I intend to eventually evolve into making more complicated games, but for starters, I want to start small…”

If this is what you think, our Starter Series will definitely meet your needs! Give yourself a strong head start in computer game design with our Game Programming Starter books, which are published fresh in 2015.

Game design is never easy. With little or no programming background, you will likely be frustrated if you don’t first learn the very basics. For a proper foundation and understanding of computer game creation, you need to learn the basic concepts of objects, events and actions. These concepts will be presented and implemented via easy-to-use visual tools so gradually that you will not be overwhelmed and can make rapid and encouraging progress.

In our starter series books, you will learn how computer games work and how simple games may be created using ready-made resources and modern drag-and-drop game engines such as ClickTeam Fusion, Construct, Game Maker, Stencyl and the like. Eventually you will also go through the most essential programming concepts such as IF THEN ELSE logics, LOOPs, object orientation and user interaction …etc.

Playing video games and programming them are two different things. In fact, in a typical game development venture there are 3 different roles. Programmers code the underlying engine but don’t design the game itself. Artists draw characters and the surrounding environment so to create the feel of the game. Designers actually plan the game level and create the game play using the engine coded by the programmers.

We have well structured lessons targeting different roles and skill sets. We also have coverage on different game types. From platformer to shoot-them-up, you will enjoy the challenge of game programming and design. By following the lessons in our books, you will have chances to go through the game development process from start-to-finish, including level planning, character creation, bug testing and final publishing. You learning programming and development skills along the process, and the ultimate goal is to create a game that works!

Why not go straight into professional languages like C++ or Java? The reason is that these professional languages are overwhelmingly difficult and abstract to pick up as a first thing. You should start with something more human-understandable. You want to learn some concepts and get a feel for what game programming does and how all of it interacts with each other to produce your desired result before moving into something more advance. The drag and drop programming engines we use for demonstration in the lessons are powerful, flexible, and easily understandable. You will love them.

To retrieve pages containing the relevant book resources, please refer to the links below:

Resources for Stencyl: http://gameengines.net/wp/?s=stencyl+resources

Resources for Clickteam Fusion: http://gameengines.net/wp/?s=fusion+resources

Resources for Construct: http://gameengines.net/wp/?s=construct+resources

Resources for GM Studio: http://gameengines.net/wp/?s=studio+resources

Resources for GDevelop: http://gameengines.net/wp/?s=GDevelop+resources