How Crappy Videogames are Making Better Game Programmers

3/6/2020

Videogames are Growing

It's early morning, dew is clinging to the windows. Half-awake and stumbling into my mothers office, I push the big button on the front of the computer then the fans start to whirl. I open Internet Explorer and play my favorite Adobe Flash games for hours until my parents pry my little hands from the keyboard.

Playing video games with a Dell Inspiron laptop with Windows XP limited my game library to browser games or simple 2D games. The game I played most was the Minecraft beta in the web browser. Minecraft was able to run in a web browser because it was simpler when it was still in it's beta stage. Graphics were plain, blocks were simple, and there was only crafting and mining. If you own Minecraft, I encourage you to try an alpha or beta version and compare it to Minecraft in it's current version.

Minecraft Alpha

Minecraft Beta

Minecraft Latest Release

Minecraft has gotten updated graphics and more complicated mechanics with each stage of development. Alpha was very simple, Beta introduced survival elements, the release as a final game gave us more story and things to explore.

How Schools are Making Videogames better

Kids are learning to code as early as Kindergarden and there are many programs that allow them to learn more about it. In the article "TV characters come to life at half-term gaming and coding event" written by Brad Deas, his article talks about kids attending The National Science and Media Museum to learn more about programming a game. School age children were"[designing] and [drawing] their own game in 'No Code Needed' sessions" (Deas, 2020). This is a step in the right direction for getting younger people interested in programming and computers to gain more knowledge about how things work.

An online resource that lets anyone use blocks of code to create a program is called Scratch. It is a free online coding resource that schools have been using to assist teaching code and problem solving for years. Scratch's easy to use interface has drag and drop code blocks that can change elements on the screen in real time. I created a simple game below to show an example of what you can start off making with only a few minutes of instructions.

The Scratch game I made a few years ago...

Controls
Arrow Keys and WASD

Get started making your own game by following a tutorial on their website HERE!

After playing this game you might notice how crappy it is. The controls are frustrating and there is no clear goal or win condition. This is where most people will start off in their game making career. Although it may be crappy it is a building block in the wall of any good video game. In a game like Minecraft, Mojang figured out what was good about their game and made those parts better and dropping what didn't work. It started off as a crappy game with no real goal and evolved into the second best selling game of all time.

What Helps Game Programmers Make Their Games?

Passion. Having the passion to push through making a crappy game in order to make a good one is what helps creators grow.

References

Deas, B. (2020, February 19). TV characters come to life at half-term gaming and coding event. Bradford Telegraph and Argus (England). Available from NewsBank: Access World News: https://infoweb-newsbank-com.manowar.tamucc.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=AWNB&docref=news/179361F90B6B4760.