Computers/Programming/Games Open the book and find: •An overview of Gamestar Mechanic components •Tips on creating an account, navigating the site, and more •The lowdown on playing games and completing missions •Complete game design instructions •Info on earning ranks and badges •How to balance and improve your games •Ten pitfalls to avoid in Gamestar Mechanic projects Cover Images: Courtesy of Jacob Cordeiro Go to Dummies.com ® for videos, step-by-step examples, how-to articles, or to shop! Jacob Cordeiro is a math and gaming enthusiast attending the Stanford Online High School. He was a panelist at the Games for Change conference in 2012, and taught classes in the Gamestar Mechanic platform in the same year. Jacob is the author of Minecraft For Dummies, Portable Edition. Want to build great games but keep getting stuck? This comprehensive guide to Gamestar Mechanic will get you up and running in no time! Perfect for game designers of all ages, and with no experience necessary, this book provides the aspiring designer with all the tools needed to start using the Gamestar Mechanic website to build great games today! •Divein—getacompleteoverviewofGamestarMechanic,including theQuest,theWorkshop,thetoolbox,andGameAlley •Theinsandouts—jumpintogameplaying,completingquests, andthefirststagesofdesigningyourowngame •Thatwinningpersonality—takepartintheGamestarcommunity byreviewinggamesandmeetingothermechanics •Designamasterpiece—understandwhatmakesagreatgame, howtoredesignagame,andhowtouseadvanceddesigntechniques •Godeep—findoutaboutpremiumsitecontent,additional designoptions,andtakingclasses Your complete, easy-to-use guide to creating great games with Gamestar Mechanic $29.99 USA / $35.99 CAN / £21.99 UK 9 781118 832127 52999 ISBN:978-1-118-83212-7 In Color GamestarMechanic Cordeiro Jacob Cordeiro Author of Minecraft For Dummies®, Portable Edition •U se this popular game design website to develop game-building techniques •Create your own game with drag-and- drop technology •Publish your game for others to play IN FULL COLOR! Learnto: Gamestar Mechanic Making Everything E asier! ™ www.it-ebooks.info Start with FREE Cheat Sheets Cheat Sheets include •Checklists •Charts •CommonInstructions •AndOtherGoodStuff! Get Smart at Dummies.com Dummies.com makes your life easier with 1,000s of answers on everything from removing wallpaper to using the latest version of Windows. Check out our •Videos •IllustratedArticles •Step-by-StepInstructions Plus, each month you can win valuable prizes by entering our Dummies.com sweepstakes. * Want a weekly dose of Dummies? Sign up for Newsletters on •DigitalPhotography •MicrosoftWindows&Office •PersonalFinance&Investing •Health&Wellness •Computing,iPods&CellPhones •eBay •Internet •Food,Home&Garden Find out “HOW” at Dummies.com *Sweepstakes not currently available in all countries; visit Dummies.com for official rules. Get More and Do More at Dummies.com ® To access the Cheat Sheet created specifically for this book, go to www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/gamestarmechanic www.it-ebooks.info by Jacob Cordeiro Gamestar Mechanic www.it-ebooks.info Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies ® Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com Copyright © 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise, except as permitted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the Publisher. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions. Trademarks: Wiley, For Dummies, the Dummies Man logo, Dummies.com, Making Everything Easier, and related trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and may not be used without written permission. Gamestar Mechanic is a trademark of E-Line Media. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. LIMIT OF LIABILITY/DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY: THE PUBLISHER AND THE AUTHOR MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCURACY OR COMPLETENESS OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS WORK AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION WARRANTIES OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954110 ISBN 978-1-118-83212-7 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-83213-4 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-83214-1 (ebk) Manufactured in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 www.it-ebooks.info Contents at a Glance Introduction 1 Part I: Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World 5 Chapter 1: What Is Gamestar Mechanic? 7 Chapter 2: Getting Up and Running 17 Part II: Playing and Designing Games 41 Chapter 3: The Basics of Playing a Game 43 Chapter 4: Completing Quest Missions 55 Chapter 5: Designing and Publishing YourFirst Game 75 Chapter 6: Understanding Sprites 105 Part III: Participating in the Gamestar Community 143 Chapter 7: Reviewing Games 145 Chapter 8: Earning Ranks and Badges 157 Chapter 9: Meeting the Mechanics 171 Chapter 10: Making Yourself Known within theCommunity 181 Part IV: Designing Masterpieces 191 Chapter 11: Understanding What Makes a Good Game 193 Chapter 12: Designing and Redesigning Games 211 Chapter 13: Seeking True Mastery in Game Design 223 Part V: Going Deeper in the Gamestar World 245 Chapter 14: Examining Premium Content 247 Chapter 15: Entering Game Design Contests 261 Chapter 16: Teaching and Learning through Gamestar Mechanic 277 Part VI: The Part of Tens 299 Chapter 17: Ten Types of Gameplay 301 Chapter 18: Ten Pitfalls of Gamestar MechanicProjects 309 Index 319 www.it-ebooks.info www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents Introduction 1 About This Book 1 Foolish Assumptions 2 Icons Used inThis Book 2 Beyond theBook 3 Where toGo fromHere 3 Part I: Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World 5 Chapter 1: What Is Gamestar Mechanic? 7 Gamestar Mechanic: An Introduction 7 The Quest 8 The Workshop 9 Game Alley 10 Exploring What You Can Do onthe Site 11 Playing games 11 Designing games 11 Reviewing games 12 Teaching and Learning viaGamestar Mechanic 14 Developing skills throughgame design 14 Examining therole ofteachers 16 Chapter 2: Getting Up and Running 17 Creating anAccount 17 Navigating theWebsite 19 Exploring theheader toolbar 20 Examining thefooter toolbar 21 Editing Your Account Settings 22 Getting toKnow theMain Page: The Lobby 23 Understanding thenews feed 24 Reading themessage box 25 Starting Off onthe Quest 26 Exploring theWorkshop 27 The Build a New Game button 28 Mechanic prole 29 Exploring therest ofthe Workshop 30 www.it-ebooks.info Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies vi Finding Games toPlay inGame Alley 32 Exploring Game Alley 33 Searching forgames 35 Interpreting a game’s ratings and stats 36 Writing a Mechanic Bio 38 Part II: Playing and Designing Games 41 Chapter 3: The Basics of Playing a Game 43 Understanding How toControl YourAvatar 43 Top-down controls 45 Platformer controls 46 Effectively Navigating a Level 48 Navigating a top-down game 49 Navigating a platformer game 50 Understanding theGoals and Rules ofa Game 50 Introducing system sprites 51 Understanding thesystem sprites ina game 53 Chapter 4: Completing Quest Missions 55 Introducing the“Story” Told throughthe Quest 55 Exploring theThree Quests 56 The Pacing ofthe Quest 59 Chapter 5: Designing and Publishing YourFirst Game 75 Understanding Sprites—the Building Blocksofa Game 75 Taking a Look atthe Structure ofa Game 78 Introducing theFive Elements ofGame Design 79 Space 80 Rules 80 Goals 81 Components 82 Mechanics 83 Dening theGameplay 84 Building a top-down navigation game 84 Arranging a platformer-shooter game 86 Constructing a racing game 87 Touring theToolbox Interface 89 Exploring thesidebar 90 Examining thetools 91 Building a Game inthe Toolbox 92 Adding sprites 92 Moving sprites 94 www.it-ebooks.info Table of Contents vii Editing sprites 94 Cloning sprites 95 Deleting sprites 96 Editing universal game features 97 Editing levels 98 Saving and Publishing a Game 101 Save 101 Publish 101 Analyzing Your Game’s Reception 102 Reviews and ratings foryour game 103 Game statistics 103 Chapter 6: Understanding Sprites 105 Introducing theProperties ofSprites 105 Perspective: Denes how sprites interactwiththelevel 105 Collisions: Interactions betweensprites 107 Examining theCharacteristics ofIndividualSprites 108 Discovering avatars and their functions 109 Understanding enemies and their possibilities 116 Examining blocks and their attributes 131 Distinguishing items and their effects 136 Applying System Sprites Effectively 139 Energy Meter 140 Frag Counter 140 Health Meter 140 Population Counter 140 Score Keeper 141 Timer 141 Timer (Survival) 142 Part III: Participating in the Gamestar Community 143 Chapter 7: Reviewing Games 145 Using theReview Interface 145 Viewing reviews and comments 146 Submitting a review or comment 147 Rating a Game 148 Understanding thestar rating system 149 Getting toknow thegear rating system 150 Adding Gameplay, Story, and Visual Components toa Review 151 Implementing thegameplay component 152 Adding a story component 153 Integrating a visual component 153 www.it-ebooks.info Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies viii Learning fromReviews ofYour Games 154 Reading a low rating 154 Reading a high rating 155 Writing a Constructive Review 155 Chapter 8: Earning Ranks and Badges 157 Gaining Experience Points and Ranks 157 Obtaining Badges 161 Gamestar badges 161 World badges 166 Completing Challenges 167 Chapter 9: Meeting the Mechanics 171 Making a First Impression inthe Community 171 Embracing theGamestar Mechanic Community 173 Building relationships 173 Reporting users forunacceptable behavior 174 Learning fromOther Designers 177 Getting inspiration 177 Avoiding stealing someone else’s work 177 Adding a citation when using someone else’s unique content 178 Chapter 10: Making Yourself Known within theCommunity 181 Directing Gamestar Mechanic Players toYour Games 181 Keeping your games onthe Game Alleymain page 181 Leading players toyour workshop 182 Directing Non–Gamestar Mechanic UserstoYourGames 183 Publicizing your games outsideGamestar Mechanic 183 Sharing games online 184 Gaining Followers 189 Part IV: Designing Masterpieces 191 Chapter 11: Understanding What Makes a Good Game 193 Building withthe Five Elements ofGame Design 193 Dening a good game space 194 Developing thegoals ofyour game 196 Setting appropriate game rules 199 Selecting good components foryour game 200 Building your game’s mechanics 202 Balancing theDifferent Aspects ofa Game 203 Balance ofdifculty 204 Balance ofpacing 205 www.it-ebooks.info [...]... toolbox to design games ✓ Become a member of the Gamestar Mechanic community www.it-ebooks.info 2 Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies ✓ Master the elements and metrics of fun games ✓ Compete in game design contests ✓ Teach (or learn from) Gamestar Mechanic classes Don’t worry if you have trouble mastering some of the concepts in this book Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies can help you become aware of these concepts... Lastly, Part VI contains other helpful pieces of information that you might find interesting www.it-ebooks.info 3 4 Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies www.it-ebooks.info Part I Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World Visit www .dummies. com for more great Dummies content online www.it-ebooks.info In this part . . ✓ Find out what you can do with Gamestar Mechanic ✓ Get to know the main areas of the site:... This Book Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies, which supplements your Gamestar Mechanic experience, contains information for readers of every skill level You can see the basic principles of navigating and using the site, teaching classes, publishing games that are fun to play, and understanding the core concepts of game design If you have never used Gamestar Mechanic, you can find introductory information... Mechanic as a reward for completing other work You can even use Gamestar Mechanic as a supplement to a job or class, by designing games based on the subject you have to work on Of all the time-consuming activities available, Gamestar Mechanic is a constructive choice www.it-ebooks.info 13 14 Part I: Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World Teaching and Learning via Gamestar Mechanic Gamestar Mechanic is built... can access the Gamestar Mechanic website At the top of every Gamestar Mechanic web page (except for the home page and the pages at http:// gamestarmechanic.com/teachers), you see the two toolbars shown in Figure 2-2 These toolbars let you navigate the major sections of the website www.it-ebooks.info 19 20 Part I: Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World Figure 2-2: Navigate Gamestar Mechanic with ease... Quest, the Workshop, and Game Alley ✓ Set up a Gamestar Mechanic account ✓ Navigate the website www.it-ebooks.info 1 What Is Gamestar Mechanic? In This Chapter ▶ Introducing Gamestar Mechanic ▶ Distinguishing the main components ▶ Navigating the interface with ease ▶ Exploring the skills you can acquire from Gamestar Mechanic T he website Gamestar Mechanic, created by E-Line Media and the Institute... This safe, friendly system provides a way for users to indirectly discuss game design (See Chapter 7 for more on reviewing games.) www.it-ebooks.info Chapter 1: What Is Gamestar Mechanic? Figure 1-4: When you’re done playing a game, you can review it to tell the designer what you thought of it The time commitments of Gamestar Mechanic In short, Gamestar Mechanic has no time commitments While working... looking for specific information If you’re just starting out with the Gamestar Mechanic site, I highly recommend Parts I and II for introducing you to the site The other parts can be read in any order you like If you’re interested in the more interpersonal components of Gamestar Mechanic, see Part III If you want to gain a deeper understanding of game design, focus on Part IV If you’re looking for a... assign projects for students ✓ Leave feedback on students’ games and projects Teachers may have as many or as few class meetings as they want, online or offline, but always provide hands-on work for students, enabling classes to provide a combination of fun and education Gamestar Mechanic offers extensive resources for active teaching and lesson plans at https://gamestarmechanic.com/teachers For more on... shows up in Game Alley, sharing the game with other players Gamestar Mechanic is a safe environment for sharing and discussing and is a useful resource for all ages Figure 1-1 shows the first page you see when you log in to the site Figure 1-1: This is Gamestar Mechanic In the following sections, I discuss the three main areas of Gamestar Mechanic and what you can do there: ✓ The Quest ✓ The Workshop . for this book, go to www .dummies. com/cheatsheet/gamestarmechanic www.it-ebooks.info by Jacob Cordeiro Gamestar Mechanic www.it-ebooks.info Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies ® Published by: John. of information that you might find interesting. www.it-ebooks.info 4 Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies www.it-ebooks.info Part I Introducing the Gamestar Mechanic World Visit www .dummies. com for. literacy, and creative skills. About This Book Gamestar Mechanic For Dummies, which supplements your Gamestar Mechanic experience, contains information for readers of every skill level. You can see