Kathy Ceceri - Video Games: Design and Code Your Own Adventure

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Copyright 2015 by Nomad Press. All rights reserved.

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ISBN Softcover: 978-1-61930-300-3

ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-61930-291-4

Illustrations by Mike Crosier

Educational Consultant, Marla Conn

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Thanks to the following for sharing their passion for video games with me: David Schwartz of Rochester Institute of Technologys School of Interactive Games and Media, rit.edu/gccis/igm Andy Phelps, Chris Egert, and Jenn Hinton of RITs MAGIC center, magic.rit.edu Jon-Paul Dyson and Shannon Symonds of the Strong Museums International Center for the History of Electronic Games, museumofplay.org/about/icheg Melissa Coons, Erin Wasik, Mark Christoforetti, Gabe So, and Ed Rodrigues of Vicarious Visions, vvisions.com Tobi Saulnier and Justin Candeloro of 1st Playable, 1stplayable.com Lance Priebe of Hyper Hippo Games, hyperhippo.ca Amy Kraft of Monkey Bar Collective, monkeybarcollective.com Jamey Stevenson of the Tech Valley Game Space, techvalleygamespace.com Greg Wondra, gregwondra.wix.com/gamedev John Ceceri III, jciii.me

And thanks to my playtesters and their families! Olive Revis Zephan Conway Jack Diligent V.I. Post

CONTENTS

INTERESTED IN PRIMARY SOURCES?

Look for this icon. Use a smartphone or tablet app to scan the QR code and explore more about video games! You can find a list of URLs on the Resources page.

If the QR code doesnt work, try searching the Internet with the Keyword Prompts to find other helpful sources.

Almost every boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 17 living in the United States has played some kind of video game .

WORD TO KNOW

video game: a game that is played by controlling images on a screen. Also known as an electronic game or digital game.

Toddlers play Doc McStuffins games on their LeapPad tablets while their older siblings bop around to Just Dance on the Wii U in front of their TVs. Teenagers join multi-player games that can last for days or weeks! Even adults can be found playing solitaire on their desktop computers or Candy Crush Saga on their smartphones. Wow! Thats a lot of gaming!

Video games, which are also called computer games, electronic games, or digital games, have been around for a while, but theyve never been as widespread as they are today. Back in the 1970s and 1980s, companies advertised home computers as learning and game machines for boys to use, although plenty of girls used them, too. Now, thanks to the availability of devices, its easy for almost everyone to enjoy video games.

You could say that pretty much everyone is a gamer !

Think about all the ways people could be spending their free time, from watching movies to reading books to riding bikes to collecting rocks. Its pretty amazing to realize that one particular activity has captured the interest of so many different people.

BONUS POINTS

Before video games were invented, people went to arcades to play coin-operated games of skill. These games include pinball machines, where players use flippers to knock rolling marbles into bumpers to earn points, and Skee-Ball games, where the goal is to throw balls at a target.

WORD TO KNOW

gamer: someone who loves to play games.

arcade: an amusement area with games you play by inserting money or tokens. Arcade games sometimes award tickets you can exchange for toys and other prizes.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

In 2014, the game company Hasbro decided to update the job choices in The Game of Life. So the company did a survey that asked 400 children ages 8 to 12 in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Mexico, South Korea, and Australia what they want to be when they grow up. The top answer? Video game designer!

WHAT IS A GAME?

To understand why gaming is so popular, it helps to know what a game really is. Here are some things youll find in almost every game.

Interactive features. Unlike other forms of entertainment, such as comic books or movies, games make you part of the action. One thing every game has to have is a controller that a player uses to play the game. Each time you play its a different experience, and the outcome of the game depends on you.

Goals. The object of the game might be to win or to get a high score or to advance to the highest level. In world-building games, the goal is to keep your characters alive and happy. The goal helps you decide what moves to make next.

WORD TO KNOW

controller: a part or device that players use to interact with a game.

object of the game: what you have to do to win or reach the final goal, also called the objective.

world-building: designing an imaginary setting for your game to take place in, including the people or creatures that live there, how they move and communicate, and what the buildings and landscape look like.

Challenges. Games make you work by challenging you on your way to the goal. These have to be the right kind of challenges. If a game is too easy, players will quickly become bored. If its too hard, theyll give up. And if only certain players can win, such as those who are richer or taller or older than the rest, then players will feel that the game is unfair.

The best games offer challenges that the average player can achieve with the right combination of skill, luck, strength, and knowledge. Many games also let you change the level of difficulty so that the challenge is just right for your skill level but gets harder as you get better.

Rewards and surprises. Winning a game feels awesome! But the best games also give you smaller, unexpected rewards along the way. You might get extra points for shooting down a passing UFO, temporary protection from attack, or mini games within a game that earn you useful items.

DO GAMES HAVE TO BE FUN?