Creating Games with Game Editor/Forward

From Game Editor

This book is about game creation with Game Editor. I discovered game editor a couple of years ago and after the per-functionary two minute review dismissed it as “not for serious” work. Recently though I decided to make a game as a Christmas present for my friend’s Smart Phone. I figured given the state of PC software that there must be a lot of tools available for smart device game development. What I discovered was that that the available tool sets were:

1. Game Editor

2. Programming with either Microsoft’s SDKs

3. Programming with Sun’s Java J2ME.

Both Microsoft and Sun’s SDKs work but they have their roots in the business world not the game or creative world. In business programming you generally design a structure based on the client’s business model. In essence you are solving a “known” problem. Game programming is not about solving a known problem. It is more of a creative undertaking, like writing music or painting a painting. Imagine what it would be like of if Beethoven had to use a compiler and text editor to write symphonies. This may in fact explain why there are so few ‘good’ games available at any point in time. What I found out was that game editor is easily a professional level development system which can produce game for many different platforms not simply the PC or Mobile phone.

Game editor works much like a musical instrument for a musician; you can create your game visually adding actors, events and actions. And just like creating music, with instruments, notes, scores, and so on you can concentrate on “what you want” your game to do not “how to do it”.

Game editor is available for purchase from http://game-editor.com/. A free demo version is available if you want to try before you buy.

How this book is arranged

This book is written from the view of someone creating a game with game editor. As much as possible I have tried to cover topics in the order that you would encounter if you were creating a game with game editor. As with all advanced tools some topics end up having to be mentioned ahead of time.

I am a firm believer in the “learn by doing” approach. Through out the book I have provided examples and step by step tutorials. Additionally in Appendix C all of the tutorials are listed step by step in abbreviated form. Each chapter in this book is based on a theme. The table below (the cover page for the book) details the content of each chapter.