How to Program Games bundle (2 full video courses, example code, 550-page digital textbook with source)

Used by over 9,000 students, this 5 hour video course includes example code for every step, and the full 550-page full-color digital textbook. This course builds directly on our free course, Code Your First Game (used by over 300,000 people), all the video and code from which is also fully included here, so you can do both courses back-to-back without needing to create an account on Udemy.

In the first course in this package, Code Your First Games, you'll learn to:

• Display, position, and move filled shapes for retro and prototype gameplay

• Move a ball around your game space such that it bounces off boundaries

• Handle real-time mouse input

• Detect and respond to simple collisions

• Program very basic artificial intelligence

• Keep and display score during play

• Understand the subtle, key difference between a classic game in this style which is fun to play versus one that isn't

• Define and code a win condition and end state for your game

• Write game code in a way that's fairly universal across standard programming languages (note: although this course shows and includes examples in JavaScript and HTML5, it is not intended for someone who is focused on learning HTML5/JS for web page design)

In the second, main course, How to Program Games you'll learn to:

• Create, display, and play with a 2D tile world that supports optimized collision (a central concept for generations of games in a variety of genres!)

• Program games in JavaScript for HTML5 Canvas without using any external libraries or plug-ins

• Create, load, display, and rotate image graphics in games

• Break game code into multiple files to better manage large projects

• Define a class and use it to create multiple instances of gameplay objects in unique positions (note: only using the very basic first concept of object-oriented programming, it doesn't dive deep into that rabbit hole)

• Handle mouse input for a one-player game, or keyboard controls for both one and two-player games

• Implement basic item pick-ups (keys) and trigger their usage upon collision (open doors)

• Develop and adapt gameplay for basic platformer movement, digital board/strategy games, simple matrix formations for retro arcade-style enemies, and worlds larger than the screen viewed by scrolling camera

• Apply simple trigonometry calls to move game objects at arbitrary angles

Implement basic loading screen functionality in HTML5

A few notes about what you'll need:

• Any plain text editor like Notepad will do, however one which supports features for programmers such as multiple file tabs, code highlighting, line numbers, and smart/auto-indentation can be handy for later phases as the code grows in length (Notepad++ is free for Windows, TextWrangler for Mac, or Sublime Text 2 which I use has a fully functional free trial for either)

• Any common web browser should work fine, although I use Google Chrome (free) so you may prefer that one just to see on your side exactly how it shows up in the videos

• To follow along the few steps for drawing art you'll need a program that lets you draw and save images with transparency. I use a slightly older version of Photoshop, although free alternatives exist and the steps are similar, such as the site Photopea.com I also attach all art files that I create, so if you prefer to only focus on the coding steps you can download the images that I create in the videos.

This course has proven to be a great fit for...

• Anyone who wants to learn practical skills to program their own games at home

• People who may already be familiar with programming concepts but are new to applying that knowledge to making real-time computer games

• Creators who have only ever tried drag-and-drop tools but are interested in learning more about how to make games by programming for an deeper level of control over the details

• Developers interested in getting practice with a more traditional "code only" approach to core gameplay programming before moving on to major engines and tools (which are not covered in this course) like Unity or Unreal

• People looking for a technical game design foundation based in indie-style games or classic gameplay as a starting point

• New developers who completed the free course "Code Your First Game: Arcade Classic in JavaScript on Canvas" elsewhere online (also fully included here!) and are looking to further build upon their game development skills in JavaScript on HTML5 Canvas

• Please note that advanced topics like object-oriented programming are only very briefly touched upon - software engineering patterns are generally outside the scope of this course. The included digital textbook, Hands-On Intro to Game Programming, includes additional examples and information on the practical fundamentals of this topic.

About the included digital textbook: Hands-On Intro to Game Programming is the basis of both introductory programming courses here. Code Your First Game covers the first game from the book, How to Program Games covers the next few games, but substantial other material is textbook-only, and can't be found in the video courses: two more game types (Space Battle, RTS), sound and music implementation, and 100 practice exercises to apply to the games started in the book and courses. The textbook also includes starter code files for all the projects it covers.