Welcome to Quarter 2 of Game Design! Do you need to go back to Quarter 1? Forward to Quarter 3?

Day 46

1. Watch the video “Refining the Spine.”
2. Watch the video “Connecting Ideas and Character.”
3. Work on developing your idea sheets. Did you remember to write down whether your game will be 1st person or 3rd person? Will it be a side scrolling platformer? Top down? See if you can figure out how to connect characters with the story. Is your antagonist a character or an outside force (like snowy woods full of wolves)? Check and see if you’re answering all 8 questions from the previous videos.

• Where are we? Where does the story take place?
• Who are we following? Who is the protagonist and why is it them?
• Who or what force is opposed to that protagonist? Who stands in the way of the hero, and, importantly, why?
• What do these characters want to accomplish? What’s at stake for them?
• What’s the ensuing conflict, and why does it exist?
• How does the action rise? How do you keep things moving, and getting more tense as you go along?
• What’s the final crisis, and how does it play out?
• How do things resolve? How do they wrap up?

Day 49

1. Today read the story synopsis for “The Shooter.”
2. Work on your story spine brainstorming document. Try to complete it today. (For it to be complete, you need to have an answer to the 8 questions listed yesterday and a beginning, middle, and end. You will still be able to add and change things later, so don’t worry!)

Day 50

1. Okay! Now that we’ve spent some time brainstorming, we’re going to begin working on a Game Design Document for your game. This is really just to combine things in one place, in a logical order, so you can see and understand your plan. Watch the intro to game design documents.
2. Create a document titled “(Your Game Title) Game Design Document.” Begin organizing your brainstorming info into it.
3. It’s important to remember that there’s no set format for a GDD. This will just be you, organizing your plans, into a format that works for you. It’s your master plan, laid out and organized. Let’s look at some examples of Game Design Document templates.

• Example 1
• Example 2
• Example 3

Day 51

1. Watch the video “Diving Deeper into the Document.”
2. Continue working on your Game Design Document. Do you have any concept art for your game? This can be included in your document OR in a physical collection somewhere, just make sure it’s organized and somewhere you can find it. Do you have music in mind? A style or specific song? Any details, ideas, or vibes you have in mind for your game – where it’s played, how many players, examples of mobs, obstacles, levels, settings, set pieces, weapons or equipment – if you have it in mind, it’s smart to write it down in an organized way so that you don’t forget about it.

Day 52

1. We’re going to take a little break from designing your game and learn a little about one way to build it. Visit gDevelop and click “try it online.” Then choose ‘create an account’ and log in with your gmail account.
2. There are a series of tutorials to learn build game mechanics under the heading “start making games.” Today complete the tutorials for:

• Joystick controls
• Health bar
• 3D box

Day 53

1. Let’s do more tutorials today. Complete the following lessons:

• Background
• Timer
• Score Multiplier

2. Now we are going to begin putting your skills into practice by making a simple platformer! This game does not have to be the one you were planning, we’re just learning how to use the tools GDevelop has to create a game. Complete the first two steps in the tutorial (although you should not need to download GDevelop, you should be able to work in your browser):

• Getting Started
• Create a Playable Character

Day 52

1. Continue working on your platformer. Today:

• Create Platforms
• Animate the Playable Character
• Add Collectible Coins to the Game
• Add Enemies to the Game
• Make Enemies Kill the Player (And Player Kill the Enemies)
• Add Checkpoints to the Game

Day 53

1. Today click on the ‘learn’ tab and complete the following lessons.

• Top Down RPG Pixel Perfect
• Fire a Bullet
• The Basics of Multiplayer

Day 54

1. You’re going to start making a simple project to put the principles you have learned into practice. We are going to be following the directions in “How to Make a Video Game – GDevelop Beginner Tutorial.”
2. Today follow the directions for Initial Setup and Platforms (Stop before Pickups.) Be sure to save your work.

Day 55

1. Continue following the directions in “How to Make a Video Game – GDevelop Beginner Tutorial.”
2. Follow the directions for Pickups and Enemies. (Stop before Death.) Be sure to save your work.

Day 56

1. Continue to work your way through the GDevelop Beginner Tutorial. Today do the section called “dying.”

Day 57

1. Continue working your way through the GDevelop Beginner Tutorial. Today do the section called “text.”

Day 58

1. Continue working your way through the GDevelop Beginner Tutorial. Today do the sections called “animations” and “sound.”

Day 59

1. Create an ending for the video game you made. Share it with someone!

Day 60

1. Let’s take a break with some Crash Course! Watch:

• Nintendo and a New Standard for Video Games
• Sega and More Mature Video Games

Day 61

1. Now we’re going to start a new project and learn how to make a “Roguelike” game. This is sometimes defined as:

Any of a genre of computer role playing games loosely characterized by various characteristics such as randomised environment generation, permadeath, turn-based movement, text-based or primitive tile-based graphics and hack-and-slash gameplay.

2. There are a lot of free resources in the GDevelop Shop. Using premade resources can help you to create a game with more detail and depth more quickly than if you make all your own art. You can click the ‘filter’ button to the right of the search bar and select ‘free’ to filter out any paid assets. (Make sure you save the information of any resources you use to include in the credits section of your game. If they are listed as ‘CC0’ or ‘Public Domain,’ you are not required to credit them, and you are allowed to change or build off of them.) For this project, try searching for the following resource packs:

• Retro Pixelart UI
• RPG Items
• Pixel Art Spell Magic FX
• 16×16 RPG Weapons
• RPG Character
• Dungeon

3. Let’s check out the tutorial video: How to Make a Roguelike in GDevelop (part 1). Follow the directions to get your game set up.

Day 62

1. You’ve got your game started, now it’s time to add some enemies! This video is pretty long, it’s okay if you don’t get through it all today.

Day 63

1. Continue following the directions in yesterday’s videos. Try to make it to the end.

Day 64

1. Today you have a new video tutorial! It’s going to cover the spawning system to create waves of enemies. Follow the directions in the video to proceed. (It’s okay if you don’t get through it all today.)

Day 65

1. Today we have an even longer tutorial than the last one, about weapons in your game. Begin following the directions in the video.

Day 66

1. Continue working through the video about weapons in your game.

Day 67

1. Finish working through the video about weapons in your game.

Day 68

1. Get ready: this video is even longer than the last one! (You may want to split it up into 3 days of work.) Begin working through the tutorial on making bosses.

Day 69

1. Continue working through the tutorial on making bosses.

Day 70

1. Continue working through the tutorial on making bosses.

Day 71

1. Try to finish working through the tutorial on making bosses.

Day 72

1. Now things are getting even more complicated! It’s time to add cards and health to your game. Begin working through the tutorial today.

Day 73

1. Continue working through the cards and health tutorial.

Day 74

1. Continue working through the cards and health tutorial.

Day 75

1. Keep going! Continue working through the cards and health tutorial.

Day 76

1. Continue working through the cards and health tutorial.

Day 77

1. Finish working through the cards and health tutorial.

Day 78

1. Today go over adding easy RNG and random level design.

Day 79

1. Watch the video “How to Make a Boss Fight for Your Game.”
2. Watch the video “How to Add Melee Beat ’em Up Combat to Your Game.”
3. Add anything from these videos to your game that you feel would improve them.

Day 80

1. Watch the video “How to Create Dynamic Health Bars for All Enemies.”
2. Watch the video “Creating an Intelligent AI Targeting System.”
3. What can you add to your game from these tutorials?

Day 81

1. Begin learning how to create your own inventory system.

Day 82

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.

Day 83

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.

Day 84

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.

Day 85

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.

Day 86

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.

Day 87

1. Continue working on how to create your own inventory system.
2. Here’s some info from Gdevelop about inventories.

Day 88

1. Begin finishing up this project. We will start a new game project on Day 90.

Day 89

1. Finish up your game project today. Show someone else what you have done!
2. Check out this video about how to make your game feel “done.”

Day 90

1. Today you’re going to begin building a new game of your choice. Begin by planning what kind of game you want to make and what it will be about. You can create a new project on gDevelop and put the basics in place if you want.