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A novel approach for the classroom or self-study, Learn to Code with Games makes coding accessible to a broad audience. Structured as a series of challenges that help you learn to code by creating a video game, each chapter expands and builds your knowledge while providing guidelines and hints to solving each challenge.

The book employs a unique problem-solving approach to teach you the technical foundations of coding, including data types, variables, functions, and arrays. You will also use techniques such as pseudocode and process mapping to formulate solutions without needing to type anything into a computer, and then convert the solutions into executable code.

Avoiding jargon as much as possible, Learn to Code with Games shows you how to see coding as a way of thinking and problem solving rather than a domain of obscure languages and syntaxes. Its practical hands-on approach through the context of game development enables you to easily grasp basic programming concepts.



Table of Contents

Our Hero Is Stuck!

Goals

Required Files

Demo

Unity Game Engine

Challenge: Make Luna Move

Hint: Visualizing the Game World

Hint: Visualization and Code

Hint: Position

Problem-Solving Techniques

A Note about Example Solutions

Example Solution: Make Luna Move

Bonus Challenge: Make Luna Move Faster (or Slower)

Bonus Hint: User Input in Unity

Summary

Reference

Characters and Characteristics

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Data Types

Hint: Data Type Descriptions

Hint: How Computers Think

Challenge Extension: Data Types

Example Solution: Data Types

Challenge: Defining Variables

Hint: Access Levels

Hint: Naming Variables

Hint: Declaring Variables

Challenge Extension: Defining Variables

Example Solution: Defining Variables

Challenge: Initializing Variables

Hint: Initialization

Hint: Unity's Start ( ) Function

Hint: Comments

Example Solution: Initializing Variables

Summary

References

The Bounds of the World

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Detecting Boundary Collisions

Hint: 2D Collisions

Hint: Operators

Hint: Expressions

Hint: Screen Size in Unity

Example Solution: Boundary Collisions

Challenge: Accounting for the Character

Hint: Origin Point

Hint: Game Components in Unity

Example Solution: Accounting for the Character

Summary

Reference

Sprinting and Sneaking

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Making Luna Sprint

Hint: Function Calls

Hint: The Unity Update ( ) Function

Hint: Conditional Statements

Hint: Increment and Decrement Operators

Hint: Getters and Setters

Hint: Unity's GetComponent Command and Dot Notation

Example Solution: Making Luna Sprint

Challenge: Making Luna Invisible

Hint: Boolean Flags

Hint: Boolean Operators

Hint: Unity's Time.time Command

Hint: Local Variables

Example Solution: Making Luna Invisible

Summary

References

Collectables

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Collecting Objects

Hint: Primitive and Composite Data Types

Hint: Unity Tags

Hint: Axis-Aligned Bounding Box Collisions

Hint: Unity Destroy ( ) Function

Example Solution: Collecting Objects

Summary

Reference

Spawning Objects

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Spawning Collectables

Hint: Unity Prefabs

Hint: Unity Prefab Instantiation

Hint: Random Number Generation

Hint: Parent Objects in Unity

Hint: for and while Loops

Example Solution: Spawning Collectables

Summary

References

Taking Inventory

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Keeping Track of Collectables in an Inventory

Hint: The using Directive

Hint: The C# List

Hint: Add and Remove Functions

Hint: Access by Index

Hint: The Count Property

Hint: Function Argument Usage

Example Solution: Keeping Track of Collectables in an Inventory

Summary

References

A Party of Heroes

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Managing a Group of Heroes

Hint: Unidimensional Arrays

Hint: Unity Tags for Multiple Objects

Hint: foreach Loops

Example Solution: Managing a Group of Heroes

Summary

Reference

Generating a Tile Map

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Generating a Tile Map

Hint: Tile Maps in Games

Hint: Multidimensional Arrays

Hint: Nested Loops

Hint: Nested Loops with Multidimensional Arrays

Example Solution: Generating a Tile Map

Summary

Reference

Spawning Objects on a Tile Map

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Spawning Objects on a Tile Map

Hint: Functions

Hint: Functions with Return Values

Hint: Functions with Arguments

Example Solution: Spawning Objects on a Tile Map

Summary

References

Level Generation

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Generating the Map Scene

Hint: Coupling and Cohesion

Hint: Refactoring for Better Management

Example Solution: Generating the Map Scene

Summary

Game State Management

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Managing the Game State

Hint: Singleton Design Pattern

Hint: The Unity Awake ( ) and DontDestroyOnLoad ( ) Functions

Hint: The Unity Application.LoadLevel ( ) Function

Hint: Unity Physics 2D Collisions

Example Solution: Managing the Game State

Summary

References

Gameplay

Goals

Required Files

Challenge: Bringing the Gameplay Together

Hint: Obstacles and Artificial Intelligence

Hint: Game State and Score

Hint: More Collisions

Hint: More Spawns

Hint: Reset the Game

Example Solution: Bringing the Gameplay Together

Summary

Appendix A: Pseudocode Reference

Appendix B: Process Mapping Reference