Game Development with TouchDevelop
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This document discusses using TouchDevelop to build mobile games and apps. It introduces TouchDevelop and some important coding concepts like objects, functions, parameters, variables, and conditional statements. The agenda includes a TouchDevelop tour and lessons on these concepts, as well as loops and using "on every frame" to continuously check conditions. Resources are provided for teaching TouchDevelop, including pre-built games and tutorials that can be customized.
Game Development with TouchDevelop
- 1. Sage Franch | @theTrendyTechie Building a Game with TouchDevelop
- 2. Meet Sage Franch | @theTrendyTechie • Technical Evangelist – Interfacing with developers – Bringing Microsoft’s technology to you! • Proud geek and “Trendy Techie” – Find me online at my blog trendytechie.ca • Advocate for equality in technology • Student at Dalhousie University
- 4. Why TouchDevelop? • It’s a snap to learn. • You learn coding concepts without worrying about semantics. • It makes building mobile games and apps easy. • It runs on anything (laptop, desktop, tablet, phone). • You can share your code and creations with friends. • It’s free • All you need is a browser.
- 5. Which browsers can I use? • TouchDevelop is supported on the latest versions of most browsers. • To avoid a delay in your classes, make sure ahead of time that the browsers are updated • For a full list of supported browsers, see here: https://www.touchdevelop.com/app/current.browsers
- 6. The Agenda • TouchDevelop tour • Important Coding Concepts: – Objects, Functions and Parameters – Variables – The TouchDevelop coordinate system – Conditional statements – On every frame – Loops • Play time! :D • Resources for teaching and learning
- 10. What You Need to Know Important Coding Concepts
- 11. Objects, Functions and Parameters object function parameter • Object: a representation of something in the game • Function: performs an action on the object it is associated with • Parameter: specifies the value of the function
- 12. Variables • A variable holds data that can be used throughout a script. • Every variable has a name, a type, and a value. • A variable’s type describes the kind of data the variable can hold. – For example: A number, a string, a sprite • In TouchDevelop, a variable’s type is determined when it is initialized.
- 13. The TouchDevelop coordinate system (0, 0) x axis y axis yINCREASING 1234567…
- 14. Conditional Statements A conditional statement is special code for making decisions based on some condition. So what’s a condition? Anything statement that can be either true or false. If I am hungry, then I eat. The action taken if the condition is false. The action taken if the condition is true. Otherwise, I sleep. The condition. (It’s either true or false.)
- 15. In code, conditional statements are also called if-then-else statements Condition Code to execute if the condition is true goes here. Code to execute if the condition is false goes here.
- 16. BUT you have to pay attention to when the condition is checked…
- 17. Computer games are a series of very fast frames Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3 Frame 4 Frame 5 Frame 6
- 19. Use “on every frame” to perform checks continuously
- 20. Loops A loop is a special tool in coding that lets us write code once and repeat it as many times as we’d like Repeat the following block of code X times: End of repeated block You get to specify this value. Whatever code you put here gets repeated X times. Tells the program that any code after this isn’t part of the code to be repeated.
- 21. The syntax for a loop… The number of times the code is repeated. The code that will be repeated.Tells the program that any code after this isn’t part of the code to be repeated.
- 23. So how do I get started? It’s easy! 1. Go to http://www.touchdevelop.com 2. Click . 3. And .
- 24. Resources for Teaching and Learning
- 25. Two Recommended Formats One-Day Event • Provide students with a “half- baked” game to fix and customize • Jetpack Jumper prompted tutorial • Estimated time: 2 hours maximum Multi-Day Event • Build a side scroller game from scratch • Use CODExist MVA as reference • Estimated time: 6-12 hours (flexible)
- 26. Pre-course checklist • Will you provide students with devices or will they bring their own? • Do you have a reliable internet connection? • If the students will be watching videos or working with tutorials, have you asked them to bring headsets?
- 27. When teaching TouchDevelop • Emphasize the excitement of coding • Be prepared to handle students with different levels of coding experience • Make sure to leave time for customization • Encourage students to share their games, both in show-and-tell in person and online on social media • Provide NEXT STEPS – how can they continue once the program is over? Publish their game to app stores, build more games, etc.
- 28. TouchDevelop Resources • Jetpack Jumper Tutorial with prompts: aka.ms/startcoding • “Broken” Jetpack game without prompts: aka.ms/jetpackstarter • Complete Jetpack Jumper: aka.ms/jetpackcomplete • Hour of Code video: http://channel9.msdn.com/events/Hour-of- Code/2014/LearningToCode • CODExist: The Birth of Bot course on Microsoft Virtual Academy (build a side scroller game from scratch): http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training- courses/codexist-the-birth-of-bot