Overview of games, the game industry (esp. in Israel), challenges unique to game programming, and tips on where to start. Lecture for women at She Codes event in Google Campus TLV.

1. Introduction to Game
Development and the
Game Industry
NATALY ELIYAHU

2. Who am I?
 Programmer with some army experience
 Freelance Game Developer
 Making my own games in free time
 (very) Part-time psychology student

3. Why Games?
 Passion for games
 Tech and Creativity
 Games have power
 More women in games!
Better representation
Break the myth

4. What is a Game?
 Interactive Experience
 Usually - goals, rules
 Active Participation
 Reasons to Play
 Potential for art and change
 Many kinds…

5. What is a Game?

6. What is a Game?

7. What is a Game?

8. What is a Game?

9. Platforms
 Mobile
 Web Based / Flash
 PC
 Consoles
 Portables
 VR

10. Games – A Varied Industry
 AAA / Big budget games
 Small budget games with Publishers
 Indie games – self publishing / Kickstarter
 Free to Play model - Startups
 Freelancers / Dev Houses
 Israel – Mobile, Web, some indie PC

11. Recipe for a Game
 Game Designer
 Programmer
 Artist + Animator
 Musician + Sound
 QA
 Business + Marketing
 Most important role?
Players!
Fireside Tales Playtest

12. Game Dev - Programming
 Engines
 Languages
 For every genre and every platform

13. Unique Dev Challenges
 Physics

14. Unique Dev Challenges
 Pathfinding

15. Unique Dev Challenges
 Artificial Intelligence

16. Unique Dev Challenges
 Animation – A Living World

17. Unique Dev Challenges
 Music – Rhythm Games

18. Unique Dev Challenges
 Procedural / Random Generation

19. Unique Dev Challenges
 Level Design

20. Unique Dev Challenges
 Tools

21. Unique Dev Challenges
 Multiplayer

22. Unique Dev Challenges
 Integrating Services

23. What to Learn?
 Know a language? Make a game!
 Unity Engine (C#)
 Unreal Engine (C++)
 Android / iOS Native
 C++
 Web – HTML5 Canvas
 (Board Games!)

24. What to Learn?
 Video: https://youtu.be/z06QR-tz1_o

25. What to Learn?
 Game Design and Industry Language
Win condition, polygons, frame rate, assets, real-
time, turn-based, free-to-play, spritesheet, lip-sync,
etc…
Read game news / reviews / articles
Extra Credits
 Play Games!
 Make a game by yourself!

26. Where to Start?/Homework
 Choose an dev environment
Unity C#
HTML5
Another language
Modding Existing games
GameMaker / Stencyl / Construct 2
 Choose a SMALL idea
 Join the community

27. Resources
 Extra Credits
 Books
 The Art of Game Design – A Book of Lenses
 Game Programming Patterns
 Tech
 Unity Tutorials
 HTML5
 Pygame
 Processing
 Advanced – Handmade Hero (C game from scratch)
 Game news&articles – Polygon, Gamasutra
 Facebook Groups + Meetups
 GameIS
 Unity3D Israel
 Google :)

28. Questions?
 Email me or find me on Facebook :)
 nataly@natalycreates.com