Learning can happen in so many ways, the school is a mean for organized structured learning. This blog is a reflection of a learning experience using “Online Network”. That is, only using youtube and online forums, I tried to learn game development. Watch this short video to see how the experience was like.
Also play the game here, please wait a few seconds for the game to load!
Cannot play the game? Watch it here:
The experience
I am happy that I have learnt basics of game programming: game physics, player controlling, adding states, etc. Also I learnt of some useful tools such as Phaser, Textile.
My reflection
I think the networked learning is great way when starting to form a new knowledge. Anyone can actually practice a new skill, advance by asking others or check others’ similar questions online. There is a huge world out there and people from all around the world has been sharing their ideas, making free access tutorials, and building forums to create online communities where people really help each other, without knowing who is on the other end. It’s fantastic!
It might not be however the best solely source. The downside might be (when I think of myself at least) when wanting to advance my own knowledge in game development, I need to read news about games and changes that take place in available tools, I also need to understand some fundamentals about new tools that are usually published faster in manuals in case I want to stay on top of the game.
Another challenge is the fact that it is so easy to get distracted when in youtube. Having a clear stated goal is so important to get out with productive time online. I learnt new tactics of self discipline!
Some resources:
Here are some of the things I needed to learn:
-I leant Phaser (A gaming platform) with this intro
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRYUip1E8-a6P0HQpDLn534sLWg1dHaGl
-I needed to know how to randomize falling planets
-Physics
when i needed to check collisions, this video helped me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bygfvP1rt4
-how to increment score per collision http://stackoverflow.com/questions/30854960/cancel-collision-after-initial-detection-using-phaser-in-js
-How to create and update text object:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhCEox52gE
Note: some of these links might be challenging. For example, some of the tutorial videos assume background knowledge so you might find yourself confused, but you can always try to dig deeper to understand the skipped steps!
Hanan Alshikh 