Anyway, download the software at:

http://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker/try_download

This give you the lite version of the software. Which means free. For more advance function such as 3D, multiple online games… play song from CD, remove the Game Maker banner, so you game look more professional… you have to get the pro version. Which is only $20. This is very cheap compare to other game making software out there.

So after you download the installer, install it to your computer.

(Later on, you should copy the contents in your Game Maker 7 folder into your USB drive. That way, we can use it in the Engineering room when we have meetings.)

After you install, run the program. It going to ask you if you want to upgrade to the pro version, click no.

*I don’t know how often I am going to update here, or teach in Tech Club, so the best way to learn is get the book that the creator of the software just publish recently, it’s really good. It is call “Game Maker’s Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners.” I saw it once in Barnes and Noble, but don’t buy it there, cost so much more…

Get it at amazon, save you like $10:

http://www.amazon.com/Game-Makers-Apprentice-Development-Technology/dp/1590596153/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1224101806&sr=8-1

Another way is the read the mannual, which is painful. But a good way to learn the different functions. I learn my GML mainly from there. And the code editor, it actually have the code show up and the bottom display box, so that is easy.

Or you can learn from the official game website. The Game Maker Community is a really good place to learn and get resources such as graphic and sound. People help each other out.

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/

Here are some great tutorials:

http://www.yoyogames.com/make/tutorials

So for those who missed the meeting, this is what we decided on:

RoboHoops – we going to enter the RoboHoops competition at Dec 6, in PennState Ablington. Admission is free, so every should participate in this. Basically this is a competition which you build a robot and have it play basket ball against the other team. More information can be found in Mr. Bauer’s share folder.

First Tech Challenge – this is a professional competition that bascially, you build a robot that go through obstacle course and  try to score points by hitting the objective objects into a region. Again, there is a detail video on this in Mr. Bauer’s share folder. We will need to raise about $500 for the club in order to participate in this event.

Game Design & Graphics - through out the year when we are not working on Robots, or for those who are not interested in robotics, we will be doing game design and graphic design. Graphic design basically deal with Photoshop, design you graphic, and mabye print it on T-shirt. Game Design is basically, you design your own computer game. We will participate in Yo Yo game’s competitions when we get good enough. It’s a team project.

Here are some ideas that are still questioning, and still have to be approve on:

Movie Nights (once every 2 or 3 months)

Model Rocket (end of year)

I forgot to mention, the Club dues this year will be $10 per person. This bascially cover our future funding for stuffs like food… and some equiments, software, materials that are not overly expensive (like the robotic kit for VEX, no way $10 per person can cover that… those we just have to find a way to get those money)

Member’s have the opportunity to work closely in groups to achieve different objectives posed to them throughout the year. The officers will work closely with other groups to help all members achieve the same goal in the end. Currently, the members of Tech Club are a close knit group but are willing to expand and include others within our group as well.

South is very fortunate to be provided with some of the best technology around. Some of the equipment we use is not even accessible at many colleges. The Technology Club learns how to use this technology to their advantage. In the tech room, there is a particular piece of equipment that gets more attention, the laser.

The laser is most commonly used to build the housing for the robots. Members of Tech Club will design pieces of their robot in a Computer Aided Design (CAD) program on the computer and then use the laser to machine a piece of plastic into the shape specified in the CAD program. The laser is accurate to 10,000th of an inch and can cut or engrave many materials. On average it takes about one-minute for the laser to cut out one side of the housing. This saves time, and is also safer than using band saws and sanding to shape the plastic because you do not need to be in the same room while the laser is running (Although you should stay in the room to monitor the progress).

Members of Tech Club also have access to an Auto-Mill and an Auto-Lathe which students will write a program with coordinates that a computer will interpret and cut out for them. This method is just as safe as the laser but is used less frequently due to it being a little slower than the laser, and also because the plastic has a possibility of fracturing, unlike with the laser.

The tech room is also filled with new Dell computers running Windows XP Professional SP2 that are hooked up to LCD monitors and a laser printer. These computers are loaded with over $10,000 of software each that is all accessible to members of Tech Club. Programs such as AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator are large factors towards the cost of the software on the computer.

*Copied from the old CR South Tech Club website

There are many things that work together to make a computer game work. And therefore, there are many departments under a game development team. Here’s how I look the basic structure of a game development team:

• General Development Department
• Programming Department
• Graphic Department
• Music Department

Every game development team will have a structure similar to this, but in different type of game being developed, there will be variation to this structure. For example, if the team is developing a 3D game, there will be a sub-department named 3D Modeling Department under the Graphic Department. If a game a majoring in music, such as Guitar Heroes, there will probably be a sub-department under the Music Department named Music Composition Department.

In later lessons, we will explores different departments, the tools that they use, and their role in game development.

Another reason why we choose Game Maker is due to it’s easiness to learn. No programming skill is needed for Game Maker to make a simple game. However, to explore the 3D world, and more advance functions, you must use the Game Maker Language, or GML. GML is a very simple programming language. All you really need is background in algebra math and some logic.

GML is very similar to the professional programming language of Java and BASIC. Therefore, by learning GML, it could help you in school if you take Computer Science class. It help understanding Object-Oriented Programming, since everything in game is an object. Game creators always think in object by nature, while other programmer don’t and have a hard time at it. GML can also help you if you decided to have a career in computer programming. In school, right now, you can use BASIC to program your calculator. The TI Calculator that school required run on the programming language TI-BASIC. TI-BASIC is a programming language that is very easy to learn, and is use for writing program for you calculator to solve certain operations.

With the games you made with Game Maker, you can also share it with your friends by emailing them the executable file.

Finally there are two version to Game Maker. The free Lite version, and the Pro version. The Pro version are currently sold for 20 USD per user. As a club, we are currently trying to get the Pro version at a discounted rate.

The first meeting date of the Game Design Department has not been set yet, but it will be soon. There we will give an introduction to Game Design. We will also offer a course in how to use Game Maker. Since we need to receive the School District’s approval for the installation of Game Maker on school computers, right now, we cannot work on the game in school. Therefore, during meetings and game design course, bring your own laptop if you have one. We will also post lessons on the Internet for you to follow at home.Later on, after we get the approval from the School District, we will start designing games in school. We are also planned to participate in a couple game design competitions.

See you guys soon,

Billy Hau
Treasurer of CR South Tech Club

______________________________________________________________________________

• February 21st, 2008 (Thursday) — Technology Club Meeting at Engineering Room
• January31st, 2008 (Thursday) — Technology Club Meeting at Engineering Room

During the 2005-06 competition season, South easily took home the gold again at Robo-Hoops for a second straight year. South also had several robots qualify for the Trinity competition in Hartford, CT, but Bryan Edwards (05-06 co-president) and Yuliy Balter’s robot finished 9th overall in their division and was the highest ranked American team in the division as well.

*Copied from the old CR South Tech Club website