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General free software downloads are found
here
Gamemaker is a program that students can use to make simple 2D and more
advanced 3D games, and is an educational package used by
many teachers around the world.
These are some lessons and tutorials that I have written in a
practical sense for students to use to understand the concepts of game
design.
Most files are zipped and require the usual unzipping program to open
them. They come with the graphics needed to create the game, and a final
copy of the game. The tutorials are in Microsoft Word format
Please don't expect them to be works of art, they are mere functional
test pieces for teaching gaming, I would expect students to move from
these clunky lessons to designing their own with their own graphics and
game play.
Sometimes deliberately making them look clunky, by using a clown
sprite for example, encourages the students to make a better game
without fear that they can't do better than their dumb old teacher.
To make these games you need the free program
Gamemaker. Click on the link to
visit the site and download it.
Introductory tutorial
for Gamemaker 605.39KB
This attempts to take the user from first principles in making a
Gamemaker game.
It includes some instructions from the official Gamemaker manual
(a copious tome to read) as well as introductory lessons to make the
small game right.
It goes to the level of single person movement and collisions.
(sheep must avoid homicidal clowns and eat the grass)The lessons end
with a simple introduction to scoring and lives.
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 Bugs.
1038.64KBBugs is an attempt to get away from standard shoot-em up
space invaders type games to pander to the educational PC brigade
who tend to tap their pencils and tut tut at such excesses.
As a result of a creative fit I substituted aliens and spaceships
for fly spray and bugs.
OK its still derivative, but its more an exercise in mechanics
rather than a full on game. It includes scoring in games as well.
The downloaded free game is a zip file containing all the
pictures you need and some lessons in Microsoft Word on how I made
it.
The game hasn't been turned into an exe yet, so you need to
download the Gamemaker program to
see how I made it, and run it.
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Kill the jellyfish
1300KB
 This
is my first attempt at making a downloadable game, so its quite
derivative.
The goal is to move the little fish to kill the jellyfish.
Along the way the octopuses try to eat you, you have to hide in
the weed to escape them, but then the weedeater fish eat your weed!
Horrors! you have to kill them as well.
Killing the jellyfish open the way to the next level. Sometimes I
can't get past Level 2 myself ...
The green bar on the bottom is health and when you run low you
need a recharge, (click on the picture for a bigger version)
Download the Gamermaker version
here
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Here are some Gamemaker sites with quality materials
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