by Ben Tyers
Menu Objects
Allow player to select game, credits or how to play. Control using mouse middle wheel or keyboard. Click to select option. We could use a sprite with sub images for each option and display / rotate them based on the player’s interaction. Take the player to appropriate room when selection is made.
Credits
Game credits displayed. We’ll have the text move up the screen and gradually get smaller. We could do this by adding all the text to display into a list and take each and display. Scaling text can be simply done using transform text function.
How to Play
Explain how to play. Display a scrolling info that explains how to play the game. This can be a duplicate of the system used to display the game credits.
Chapter 3 Software & Financing
Costs mentioned in the chapter are the full price at the time of publishing. Software pricing and functions may change.
Working with Different Budgets
Depending on your available budget, your game design and creation process will vary. I am approaching this chapter based on the options available as an indie-game-developer (an abbreviation of independent video game development). I see indie game development as a game created by a small team or an individual, typically with a small (or zero) budget.
The budgets I consider for this chapter are:
Zero (or as close to $0 as possible)
A medium budget (which I set at $500)
A big budget (which I set at $1000)
Zero (or as close to $0 as possible)
It is totally feasible to make a game (even quite a good one) with practically no cash at all. There is a plethora of free assets available (both for graphics and audio) for making your game (see chapter 4 on game assets) which creators have made and are happy for you to use in your game projects (ensure to check what usage restrictions there are – usually just giving credit is enough but do check).
Software for making audio and graphics is available for free.
The Creators version of GameMaker Studio 2 is available for a mere $39, which allows publishing of games that can be played on Windows.
Therefore, it is possible to start making indie-games for under $40.
A medium budget (which I set at $500)
Spending a little more on assets can improve the look of your game, as much as I respect sites such as OpenGameArt.org, an do use it a lot when prototyping games, it has the problem that the style of the artwork varies a lot, so trying to make a game with matching assets can be difficult. A site such as Robert Brooks’ GameDeveloperStudio.com, has assets that can be used in unison, so all assets follow the same theme. The assets on his site are fairly priced and he has a simple licence for reuse.
A budget of this size also allows for software that allows you to make your own graphics, a great example is Sprite Pro, which will set you back $59. You also may consider purchasing Spine for $69 which can work in unison with GameMaker Studio and do some pretty cool things with your graphics resources. If you are also looking to create your own audio, a budget of this size allows purchasing a DAW (such as Cubase for around $70) or one of my favourites, Fruity Loops (available for around $215)
A big budget (which I set at $1000)
A budget of this size allows you to outsource parts of your game development to freelancers, whether that be audio, graphics or code. A budget of this size should also allow you some $$ for promoting your game, or upgrading GameMaker Studio with exports, allowing you to export your game to consoles, tablets and mobile devices. Outsourcing can be a great way to get artwork or other assets done exactly as you want them but does involve a bit of project management.
A word of caution – I have outsourced before several times, mostly for graphics. On several occasions the so-called freelancers had just copied graphics from various sites on the net. I would strongly suggest that you only hire freelancers who have a good track-record / good feedback.
Cost of software
Development
GameMaker Studio 2
The current cost of GMS 2 is:
Trial - $0 But has limitations
Creator - $39 – Great for making games for Windows
Developer:
Desktop $99 – Publish to Windows, Mac & Ubuntu
Fire $149 – Publish games to the Appstore
Web $149 – Publish in HTML5
Mobile $399 – Publish to Android, Amazon and iOS
UWP $399 – Publish to Xbox One and UWP
Console:
UWP $399 - Publish to Xbox One and UWP
Nintendo Switch $799 – Publish to Nintendo Switch
PS4 $799 – Publish to PS4
Xbox One $799 – Publish to Xbox One
Ultimate $1500 – Publish to all platforms
YoYo Games also offers an educational licence for schools and colleges. I do not have current prices, but this is available on their website.
Graphics
Free Graphics Software
GIMP
It is often used for making logos, making photographs bigger or smaller, changing colours, making many pictures part of one picture, making pictures nicer to look at, and changing file formats.
GIMP is often used as a free software alternative for the most popular Adobe Photoshop, but it is not made to be an Adobe Photoshop clone. GIMPs mascot is named Wilber.
GIMP was started in 1995 by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis and is now taken care of by a group of volunteers as part of the GNU Project. The newest version of GIMP is v.2.8 and it was available since March 2009. GIMPs license is the GNU General Public License, so GIMP is free software.
If you are looking to edit graphics resources from other sources, GIMP has all the tools you need.
Inkscape
Inkscape is a vector graphics (pictures made from lines instead of dots) drawing program published under the GNU General Public License. Its stated goal is to become a really good drawing tool while being able to fit in with standards for SVG graphics. Inkscape was first made for Linux, but now it is cross-platform and runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and other Unix-like operating systems. As of 2007, Inkscape is actively being made better, and new features are added all the time.
If you are looking for free entry-level software for making your own game assets, Inkscape is an excellent place to start.
GameMaker Studio 2
GameMaker Studio 2 has it’s own sprite editor, Chapter 5 shows some of the cool features. If you are looking at making basic for testing game features, or need to edit a sprite or two, this editor allows you to do so quickly.
Paid Graphics Software
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a raster graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Inc. for macOS and Windows.
Photoshop was created in 1988 by Thomas and John Knoll. Since then, it has become the de facto industry standard in raster graphics editing, to the point that Photoshop has become a generic trademark leading to its use as a verb such as "to photoshop an image," "photoshopping" and "photoshop contest", though Adobe discourages such use. Photoshop can edit and compose raster images in multiple layers and supports masks, alpha compositing and several color models including RGB, CMYK, CIELAB, spot color and duotone. Photoshop uses its own PSD and PSB file formats to support these features.
In addition to raster graphics, it has limited abilities to edit or render text, vector graphics (especially through clipping path), 3D graphics and video. Photoshop's feature set can be expanded by Photoshop plug-ins, programs developed and distributed independently of Photoshop that can run inside it and offer new or enhanced features.
Photoshop's naming scheme was initially based on version numbers. However, in October 2002, following the introduction of Creative Suite branding, each new version of Photoshop was designated with "CS" plus a number; e.g., the eighth major version of Photoshop was Photoshop CS and the ninth major version was Photoshop CS2. Photoshop CS3 through CS6 were also distributed in two different e
ditions: Standard and Extended. In June 2013, with the introduction of Creative Cloud branding, Photoshop's licensing scheme was changed to that of software as a service rental model and the "CS" suffixes were replaced with "CC". Historically, Photoshop was bundled with additional software such as Adobe ImageReady, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Bridge, Adobe Device Central and Adobe Camera RAW.
Alongside Photoshop, Adobe also develops and publishes Photoshop Elements, Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop Express, Photoshop Fix, Photoshop Sketch and Photoshop Mix. Adobe also plans to launch a full-version of Photoshop for the iPad in 2019. Collectively, they are branded as "The Adobe Photoshop Family". It is currently a licensed software.
It is my understanding that Photoshop is one of the most widely used graphic editing and creation software.
The current price of the software is about $155, though they do offer a student version, and the possibility to pay a monthly fee.
Illustrator
This software is also provided by Adobe, it is a vector-based graphics creation tool.
It been can be acquired for a monthly fee.
If you are looking to make your own game graphics, then both above software is a great investment.
Note: You can get access to Photoshop and Illustrator for a single monthly fee. If you will be using both these pieces of software, you should consider this. For students and Teachers, the price is around just $20 a month.
Audio
Free Audio Software
Audacity
Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor and recording application software, available for Windows, macOS/OS X and Unix-like operating systems. Audacity was started in the fall of 1999 by Dominic Mazzoni and Roger Dannenberg at Carnegie Mellon University and was released on May 28, 2000 as version 0.8.
As of October 10, 2011, it was the 11th most popular download from SourceForge, with 76.5 million downloads. Audacity won the SourceForge 2007 and 2009 Community Choice Award for Best Project for Multimedia. In March 2015 hosting was moved to FossHub and by September 2018 it had exceeded 62.5 million downloads there.
Features and usage
Audacity's main panel annotated. All the components that have been labelled are custom for Audacity.
In addition to recording audio from multiple sources, Audacity can be used for post-processing of all types of audio, including podcasts by adding effects such as normalization, trimming, and fading in and out. Audacity has also been used to record and mix entire albums, such as by Tune-Yards. It is also currently used in the UK OCR National Level 2 ICT course for the sound creation unit.
Audacity's features include:
Four user-selectable themes enable the user to choose their preferred look and feel for the application (version 2.2.0 and later)
Four user-selectable colorways for waveform display in audio tracks (version 2.2.1 and later)[16]
Recording and playing back sounds
Scrubbing (Version 2.1.1 and later)
Timer Record [19] enables the user to schedule when a recording begins and ends to make an unattended recording
MIDI playback is available (from version 2.2.0 onwards)
Punch and Roll recording - for editing on-the-fly (from version 2.3.0 onwards)
Editing via cut, copy, and paste, with unlimited levels of undo
Features of modern multitrack audio software including navigation controls, zoom and single track edit, project pane and XY project navigation, non-destructive and destructive effect processing, audio file manipulation (cut, copy, paste)
Amplitude envelope editing
Precise adjustments to the audio speed (tempo) while maintaining pitch in order to synchronize it with video or run for a predetermined length of time
Conversion of cassette tapes or records into digital tracks by splitting the audio source into multiple tracks based on silences in the source material
Cross-platform operation — Audacity works on Windows, macOS/OS X, and Unix-like systems (including Linux and BSD)
Audacity uses the wxWidgets software library to provide a similar graphical user interface on several different operating systems
A large array of digital effects and plug-ins. Additional effects can be written with Nyquist, a Lisp dialect.
Built-in LADSPA, VST(32-bit) and Nyquist plug-in support
Noise Reduction based on sampling the noise to be minimized
Vocal Reduction and Isolation for the creation of karaoke tracks and isolated vocal tracks
Adjusting audio pitch while maintaining speed and adjusting audio speed while maintaining pitch
LADSPA, VST (32-bit) and Audio Unit (macOS/OS X]) effects now support real-time preview (from version 2.1.0 onwards). Note: Real-time preview does not yet support latency compensation
Saving and loading of user presets for effect settings across sessions (from 2.1.0 onwards)
Multitrack mixing
Support for multi-channel modes with sampling rates up to 96 kHz with 32 bits per sample
Audio spectrum analysis using the Fourier transform algorithm
Importing and exporting of WAV, AIFF, MP3 (via the LAME encoder, downloaded separately), Ogg Vorbis, and all file formats supported by libsndfile library. Versions 1.3.2 and later supported Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC).[39] Version 1.3.6 and later also supported additional formats such as WMA, AAC, AMR and AC3 via the optional FFmpeg library
Detection of dropout errors while recording with an overburdened CPU
A full downloadable Manual[41] (or available online without downloading)
Audacity supports the LV2 open standard for plugins and can therefore load software like Calf Studio Gear
I personally love this software, it is quick to use and it’s basic features require little skill or knowledge. I use it often for my projects.
Anvil Studio
Anvil Studio consists of a free core program with optional add-ons. The free version is a fully functional MIDI editor/sequencer which loads and saves standard MIDI-formatted files, and allows individual tracks to be edited with a:
Staff editor
Piano Roll editor
Percussion editor
TAB editor
MIDI event list editor
The program uses the standard MIDI Sequencer-Specific event (FF 7F) to control items not specifically defined by the MIDI standard, such as:
the font to use when rendering lyrics
the position of notes or staff notation
links to Pulse-code modulation formatted audio files for audio tracks
By default, Anvil Studio uses a General MIDI software synthesizer for playback, but also allows tracks to be assigned to VST instrument or external MIDI devices. It processes audio using Core Audio, ASIO, DirectX or WDM or enabled drivers.
If you are looking for entry point to make your own music, I recommend this software as a starting point.
Paid Audio Software
Fruity Loops (FL Workstation)
Fruit Loops is currently priced around from $100 to over $1000, depending on the edition you acquire.
It is a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) developed by Belgian Company Image-Line. It features a GUI based around a pattern-based music sequencer. It’s available for Windows & macOS.
I love this software, I have been using it for years, and I am impressed how quickly you can get some awesome music playing.
Cubase
Cubase in another great piece of audio software, priced at from about $100 to about $600.
I see this more suited for the professional music creator and editor. Although an extremely capable piece of software, it contains lots features that you wont need if you’re just using it for basic audio editing.
Pre-Made Graphics
Free Graphics
GameDeveloperStudio.com
One of may favoutite graphic sites!
Although the website offers a lot of free graphics, most are paid. See the Paid Graphics section later in this chapter for my thou
ghts on this site.
OpenGameArt.org
A great site with thousands of images for game developers. The majority of the sprites are CC-0 or CC-BY. The best thing about the site is that all the images are free. There are however a few downsides, mostly that some sprites need editor or backgrounds removed, and that the graphics are in many styles – so trying to find matching styles for your game can take a bit of work.
Paid Graphics
GameDeveloperStudio.com
I just love this site!
The game made in this book was made exclusively using graphical assets from this site.
What I like about this site:
Easy to navigate
Huge range of graphics
Fairly priced
Most graphics in the same style, so multiple assets can be combined
Downloads are of high quality
Provided in PNG format
New assets added regularly
Easy to understand licence
If you making a game, or just want some free assets to play with, then checkout Useful Links in Chapter 11.
Ways of raising funds
Unless you are making a project on $0, you are going to need same funds for software assets. You could of course use your own hard saved cash, but fortunately there are many gamers out there will to support your projects. I have seen many projects successfully funded using some of the methods on the following page. Which method you use will depend on your game and features.
Don’t expect your project to magically fund itself, it is not enough to create a funding and raise funds overnight – it does require effort on your behalf.