Think Space Studio

Class Description

Learn the fundamental game development patterns and techniques common to nearly all platforms. Animation, tweening, sprites & sprite sheets, particle systems, physics, audio, and screen management are a number of the topics we'll cover.

We will start out with a review of JavaScript best practices, and then move into an introduction to the game library we'll be working in.

Students will work towards creating a fully functional game by the end of the session - we will decide on the specific game we want to make as a class.

Prerequisites

This is an intermediate/beginning level class. Some programming experience is required, but it doesn't need to be with JavaScript.  If you have worked with variables, functions, and loops then you will do well!  We will spend the first class or two covering the JavaScript language and how it fits into our goal of creating online games.

If the code below makes sense to you, then you'll be fine!

function test( what )
{
	if ( what == 'cheese' ) {
		console.log( what + ': yum!' );
	}
	else {
		console.log( what + ': meh.' );
	}
}

var items = [ 'bagel', 'fruit', 'cheese', 'cabbage' ];
for ( var item in items ) {
	test( items[item] );
}

Please call or email if you aren't sure if this class is for you.

Software

We will do all of our coding using the application, Sublime Text. Although this is a commercial application, it has a liberal evaluation period, and can be used for free for the duration of the class. This is one of the go-to editors for front-end coders.

Computers

Students should bring their own laptops to class. Please download and install Sublime Text beforehand!  Note that if you already have a code editor installed on your laptop that you are comfortable with, they by all means you can use it for this class!  Some other very good editors include BBEdit (Commercial, Mac OS only), WebStorm (Commercial), Notepad++ (Free, Windows only).

If it is not possible to bring your own laptop, students are welcome to use one of ours! Make sure to bring a USB Flash Drive to save your work.