This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Moving On
Let’s create a short list of your Kodu Game Lab skills to this point. You know how to add objects to a world, including objects controlled by players and objects that simply sit still and make good targets. Speaking of targets, you’ve learned how to program player objects to shoot missiles or other projectiles, and you’ve learned how to create a simple scoring system. You know how to change colors and sizes of objects, and how to make multiple copies of objects that you’ve programmed.
As for the terrain, you now know how to add, modify, and remove terrain as needed. You know how to select different colors/styles of terrain that can best be used in certain types of games you might have planned, and you’ve gotten quite good at using the Move Camera tool (the Hand) to rotate your world and zoom in and out.
If I’m correct, you are ready to create a game—maybe not the most advanced Kodu game ever made, but certainly something that is fun and can provide some entertainment to you and your friends. (And I have to add, you’re also ready to design a game that will impress your family, your teachers, pretty much anyone you want to show off your game to.)
So, in anticipation of the upcoming chapters in which you’ll learn more advanced programming features that give your games even more punch and power, I want you give you a few extra tasks to try and perform before moving on, okay?
Here’s what I want you to do before moving on to Chapter 7, “Difficult Targets to Hit: Increasing Game Difficulty and Path Following”:
- Use the Ground Brush and similar tools and create a big world. Make it round or rectangular-shaped, but give it four or five different terrain types—maybe a grassy inner terrain surrounded by a more urban cement-and-steel look. You decide, but give yourself some time to experiment with the world design tools until you’re confident with adding, removing, and editing terrain.
- After you’ve created a new world, drop in Kodu or Rover and add basic programming to steer it around your new world. Take your object for a spin, zoom in a bit, and roll around your terrain. Did you add any hills or mountains that prevent Kodu or Rover from moving on or over? If not, do so now. Try to find out just how steep of a hill you can add before Kodu or Rover are blocked and cannot roll up.
When you finish this homework, click the Home Menu button and save your newly created world before selecting Exit to Main Menu. From the Main Menu, select Quit Kodu to close down Kodu Game Lab.