In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a simple game.
The objective of the game will be to hit a moving target with a projectile fired from a shooter!

Requirements:
Visual C++ 2008 express
The "Dark GDK" add-in for VC++ 08
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First Steps: Create the sprites

You will need to create the sprites that will be used in the program, I am going to use sprites without animations for this tutorial.

First I will design the background of my game, the background image can be anything from a simple colored canvas to a 3D world!

Ok, somehow I managed to come up with this beautiful creation!!! (not really!)

 Backdrop.bmp ( 977.62k ) Number of downloads: 3686


Next, the target

 target.bmp ( 1.44k ) Number of downloads: 2437


the shooter

 shooter.bmp ( 1.44k ) Number of downloads: 2428


and last but not least, the projectile!

 PROJ.BMP ( 1.65k ) Number of downloads: 2171


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Now that we have our sprites ready, we are ready to start on the coding part of our game!

1. Start VC++ 08
2. Click "File->New->Project"
3. Under wizards, select "Dark GDK - GAME"
4. Set the name & storage location
5. Click Ok.

1. Delete all the code in "main.cpp".
2. Insert the following starting code into the main.cpp file:


Now, we have a simple game going! No I mean like REALLY Simple!

So let's add in the code that loads and displays the target and the shooter:

between dbSetImageColorKey ( 255, 0, 255 ); & while ( LoopGDK () ) Insert this code:


Now the target will be displayed at the top of the screen!

Insert the shooter:

before the while ( LoopGDK () ) line, Insert this code:


This will load the shooter onto the screen when the game is started!


After that, we are ready to create the part of the game that controls the animation and movement of the target!

Let's add the variables to our project:
beforewhile ( LoopGDK() )
add this:


this code will load the projectile sprite and prepare the variables

To make the target move back and forth, add this code after the LoopGDK() statement:


Now, if you run the game, the target will bounce back and forth at the top of the screen!

We want the user to be able to move the shooter back and forth at the bottom of the screen. After //END target animation// add:

Then, after that, add the control that will enable the user to "Fire" the projectile:



This will make the program fire the projectile when the [SPACE] bar is pressed. The seconde part () will make the projectile move up untill it hits the top of the screen


Now that that's done, The game is almost done, if you run it, you should be able to move the shooter and fire the projectile. Also, the target will move from back to forth.

Finally, we will add the part of the game where, if the projectile hits the target, the game will complete and exit:

After //END User input controls//
Add this code:


Now, the game should be fully functional! You should be able to fire at the target and, if you hit it, the game will display a message box, and exit!

We are now pretty much done, there are just a few things that can be edited: The first thing is the difficulty level, do you see in the code int DIF = 5;//The difficulty of the game, *Make sure this number is either 1, 2, 5, 10, or 50!;
This code controls how fast the target moves, by default, it is set to 5, the higher the number, the harder it is to hit the target. *Remember: If you change the difficulty, it MUST be set to either: 1, 2, 5, 10, or 50, or the game will not work properly!

The second thing is the screen sync rate: dbSyncRate ( 100 ); , I have it set to 100, if this number is lower, the actions of the game will be slower, if higher, the actions of the game will work faster, but the game will require more system resources. In this game, there is not much to worry about, since it is not that complex, but in a very complex 3D game, higher sync rates will greaty affect the system resources required.

And that's about it, enjoy your new game!

-AJ32

You should probably rename it to say that it uses the DB GDK.

Thank you very much for your game tutorial Aj. And it taught me alot.

But i have an error. When i debug the project, the sprites dont ,move like you said they would.
Hope you understand?

Please help! I'll try and fix to untill i get a reply.

Kind Regards,

Owen.

This post has been edited by Owen -> A: 2 Dec, 2008 - 12:00 PM

Hey Aj, Awesome tut ! Thanks a lot, it really shows basic outlines of a game and how to put it in Dark GDK, but the game isn't fully functional. The sprite just won't move. Tried to figure it out, but I couldn't. Would be nice if you can see what might be wrong.

Thanks again !

-Sas1ni69

YO AJ...thanks for putting up a great tutorial. Everything came out great and I'm going to try and add some additional elements to this project. I look forward to seeing more of these gaming tutorials from you.

~Peace

Thanks AJ, great tutorial!

There are a couple of things that I wanted to clarify based upon a couple of things I ran into during this tutorial.

First off, the bitmap images (.bmp files) should be saved to C:\Users\Scott\Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\Dark GDK - 3D Game Tutorial\Dark GDK - 3D Game Tutorial\. (FYI - I named the project Dark GDK - 3D Game Tutorial and Create directory for solution was checked during project creation.)

Lastly, the complete tutorial code looks as follows (as I have it):