Not a Free ImpactJS but still a Lively All-In-One Web Gaming Book
Prerequisites: web programming , literal & JSON notation, purchase ImpactJS to practice with it; No Free Trial.
Code Analysis : Certain parts were difficult to understand. Code for (distance, mouse cursor calculations, ai ) need more commenting & visual examples .
I didn’t have a foreknowledge about ImpactJS’s cost until I found out in the beginning chapters. But as an experienced learner in programming, I was able to read the book successfully & understood nearly all the code. So I didn’t have to download ImpactJS. Overall, I’m satisfied & enjoyed this book because it enhanced my knowledge on gaming in different ways.
Throughout the book, the content is given to you in short sections where each, then end with a recap summary.
I consider this book an all-in-one because it covers all the essentials on web game development for mobile devices & desktop. It doesn’t teach web programming but just ImpactJS. You use ImpactJS & the integrated tools to make 2 kinds of games, RPG & side-scroller.
More specifically, here’s a main overview what to expect:
web resources (free, paid) for starting, making, distributing, selling & getting the analytics of the game
ImpactJS , its debugger (features, customizing it), level editing tool Weltmeister a briefing on unit testing the game game levels (designing, transitioning from one to another) objects , layers , z-depth, collisions entities (3 categories: dead objects, player, nonplayer) player controls (keyboard & mouse) camera (automatic & manual view, viewport) audio(music, sound) integrating Box2d (physics engine) NPC (nonplaying character)–using artificial intelligence; broken down int decision making & behavior -apply this for a single person or collectively (a hive –grouped body) in a level
coding intelligent spawn locations dialogue(back & forth) -1st the data table (specific keys for 2 people) & coverting it to JSON format for the game. -2nd use a word (wrap ) function-already defined to display text inside a rectangle data storage (cookies, DOM) ; WebSqlLite (querying this – isn’t covered) graphics (vector, avatar) ; pixel isn’t covered
The author ‘s statement “HTML & JavaScript can be interpreted by any browser”, should further point out that (from my understanding) Javascript code isn’t portable across all browsers . Instead of figuring out how to do this, you can just use libraries like JQuery in the code that help with this.
Some quick facts: Weismister, ImpactJS – sensitive in certain naming of things you do in the code. mobile phones - may not allow more than 1 sound (ex music & sound effect) played simultaneously.
Few Favorites: how to make layers have equal dimensions that contain different tile sizes AI for the non-player MarketJS – free web tool to market your game.
Beginner , but more Intermediate Student. I strongly recommend it to a friend.