Introduction

The computer game industry isn’t what it used to be. Early on, which wasn’t all that long ago, developers focused on bringing the magic of arcade games to microcomputers, which was fun, but suffered from a computing environment that was technically and artistically limiting. However, as computing power exploded, so did developers’ technical options and creativity, culminating in the sophisticated AAA titles that became so popular in the aughts. These marvels required large development teams, with complex and proprietary platforms that themselves required dedicated teams of programmers, and game development grew up; boy, did it.

In the last few years there has been a massive explosion in the growth of mobile and casual gaming, which has dramatically changed the nature of game development. Many successful products are now developed by small teams that do not have the resources to build the kind of complex tool chains AAA teams use. These developers cannot afford the luxury of specializing in one small part of a complex system. To build a modern game, typically in a web or mobile environment, you must be familiar with a wide range of technologies and techniques, and you must be able to turn your hand to meet the immediate need, which may be just about anything: one day asset management, the next capturing usage statistics, the day after passing conformance tests.

This book was written with the needs of the new developer in mind. We offer strategies for solving a variety of technical problems, both well-known and unusual ones, that our experts have encountered. There’s quite a lot about COLLADA, as well as techniques for using the Web and the cloud in your pipeline, rapid prototyping, managing your files and assets, and optimizing your GUIs. We think there’s something for everyone here and hope you agree.

Code samples are written in Java, MAXScript, Objective-C, Python, HTML, JavaScript, JSON, C, C++, C#, AngelScript, Xtext, and domain-specific languages.

We’ve divided the book into four parts:

• Asset and Data Management
• Geometry and Models
• Web Tools
• Programming

Asset and Data Management covers the critical issue of managing your assets in the game development pipeline. Two different aspects are described; both will help developers reduce their workload in the always daunting process of not only organizing original assets, but also tracking changes and versions. For example, Chris Ronchi’s “Where Is It” chapter explains why it’s important to follow a consistent and thought-through naming strategy and demonstrates how to create one. This basic but useful chapter attacks an area that involves no programming and no expenditure, but can help you save time and money just by using a basic “convention over configuration” approach.

The second section, Geometry and Models, focuses heavily on the COLLADA document format, describing how it can be used to bridge the gap between proprietary high-end tools and the requirements of small developers.

The Web Tools section offers hints on moving game development tools to the cloud as well as some particularly interesting ways in which readily available open source web development tools may be used. By adopting software like Django, for example, it’s possible to build a comprehensive web-based gameplay monitoring and tracking system.

Finally, the Programming section offers help for developers who want to create their own flexible workflows. The emphasis here is on employing programming techniques that were originally developed to solve more general problems, such as the Command Pattern and the use of domain-specific languages (DSLs), to simplify the programming task. Each programming chapter describes not only the use, but the concepts behind the particular technique, so you can identify a variety of use cases and build up your armory of skills.

Just a quick word about the development of this book. Unlike almost every game development volume out there, this one was originally published independently by a group of experimenters—people with something to say who came together to try something new; it was titled Game Tool Gems. We self-published the book in both hard copy and ebook formats and sold it through Amazon. But it was a bit bare bones: no index, tech reviewed only by each other, laid out by editor Paula B. rather than by a fancy designer. But people liked it, including Apress’s editors, and that’s how this book with its new title, Game Development Tool Essentials, was born. Apress took the basic material, tech reviewed it six ways from Sunday, added that missing index, and expanded and updated all the chapters. And for that, we are most grateful.

We feel that it’s critical to share information about the tools we use to create games. The better our knowledge, the faster and more efficiently we can work, and the more cool things we can do. That’s why we wrote this book pooling the knowledge and experience of working developers. That fragile pipeline has plagued us long enough. Let’s show it who’s boss.