Picture Yourself Creating Video Games – Review

Video Game Design With Jason Darby and Clickteams Games Factory 2

Sep 5, 2009

Jason Darby's book, Picture Yourself Creating Video Games, demonstrates making video games with the Games Factory 2 by Clickteam.

Jason Darby, director of the independent game design company Castle Software Limited, is the author of several books on drag-and-drop game making programs. His book titles include: Make Amazing Games in Minutes, Awesome Game Creation, and Game Creation for Teens.

These books purport to serve as an introduction to game creation software packages that require little or no prior knowledge of programming, such as Mark Overmar's Game Maker, FPS Creator by the Game Creators, and the Games Factory 2 by Clickteam.

Picture Yourself Creating Video Games

Picture Yourself Creating Video Games concentrates on Clickteams game-making program, the Games Factory 2. The Games Factory 2 (also known as TGF2) is a versatile, inexpensive and easy to learn software platform for making a wide variety of 2D games without an extensive knowledge of computer game programming.

The book contains 12 chapters and 2 appendices. The first appendix is a useful list of keyboard shortcuts used in the Games Factory. The second appendix is effectively an advert for Jason Darby's other book titles.

The chapters include 2 sections on starting out in game design before introducing the Games Factory 2. The remaining 10 chapters are:

Picture Yourself Creating Video Games also provides a CD with a trial edition of the Games Factory 2 and the project files used within the book.

Uninspiring Introduction to Clickteams the Games Factory 2

The language the book is written in is flat, simplistic. While it could argued that this book is aimed at a younger audience, thus justifying the simplicity of expression, the lack of passion, of excitement, of inspiring the reader's creativity, is not so easily explained away.

The choice to concentrate on the creation of a bat-and-ball game, a very basic Arkanoid clone, undermines what the Games Factory 2 can actually achieve. In a book on such a versatile program, several games from a variety of genres – shoot 'em ups, beat 'em ups, puzzle games and platform games – should have been demonstrated in brief, to illustrate the game engines huge potential.

Video Game Design Best Left in the Hobbyist's Hands

Picture Yourself Creating Video Games is a missed opportunity. There's nothing fundamentally flawed in its presentation or content. The basics are covered in workman-like depth, and in understandable language. But the book simply lacks the wow-factor that the Games Factory 2 has inspired in so many hobbyist game creators of all ages. Picture Yourself Creating Video Games does provide an overview of the program – but then, so does the documentation supplied with the software, and there are extensive freely available user-created tutorials covering more interesting game creation concepts than an Arkanoid clone on the Clickteam website.

While the user-created tutorials might lack the presentation of Picture Yourself Creating Video Games, and for the most part, lack Jason Darby's polished grammar, they do, on the whole, contain the fundamental elements missing from Darby's book: a sense of excitement, a passion for games creation, and a need to push the Games Factory 2 software to its very limits.

As such, Picture Yourself Creating Video Games might well put a potential game developer off of investigating the Games Factory 2 further if the book was purchased before the software was trialled. And to the games developer already enamoured of Clickteams excellent 2D video game development suite, Picture Yourself Creating Video Games is bound to come as a disappointment when contrasted to the wealth of documentation, user tutorials and forum assistance included with the software or available online.

The copyright of the article Picture Yourself Creating Video Games – Review in Computer Books is owned by Nicolas McGregor. Permission to republish Picture Yourself Creating Video Games – Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.