Published: 2013-05-08 17:13:20
These are the basic Javascript skills you will need to complete this course.
This course will walk you through the major components of building GRITS, an HTML5 game. We'll talk about how to take standard game development techniques, and use them to create high performance HTML5 applications.
What Should I Know?
Knowledge of HTML, Javascript, and how the web works is necessary for this course. There is an optional unit on the specific parts of Javascript and the DOM that you'll need for this class as a refresher, but this is not an introductory course on Javascript.
What Will I Learn?
At the end of this course, you'll understand how to develop an HTML5 game. You will gain familiarity with HTML5 features such as 2D canvas and techniques for improving performance.
Your HTML5 Game will use Javascript for it's logic and every other function. The character of your Game is defined by the wide variety of Data which makes it unique.
You can structure your Data any way you want, but JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is the most convenient way to access data within your Game's logic.
Even if you argue that formats like XML my be Superior, many of the Libraries of Code which will give you a head start on your Game use JSON, so jump on board and learn how to exploit it.
Once you decide how your Game is going to store and use Data to deliver it's Richness to the Player, you're going to want to store this Data in the Cloud so Millions of Users can load it from a central location.
This lesson outlines the basics of loading Textual Data from the Cloud into a Web Application.
Most requests from the Browser return Plain Text or more highly organized Test like HTML, XML, or JSON.
We can't "read" Sound as easily with our eyes because it's packaged in Binary Format which reproduce the original Sound Waves. But, with the knowledge you'll gain in this lesson, it's just as easy to Load Sound from the Cloud into your Game.
Now that we know how to fetch Visual and Audio resources from the Cloud, we want to boil that common Action down to a simple Function which hides all of the details. Our code will be cleaner and we can always dig deeper to see what happens under the covers.
Your HTML5 based game will run inside a Web Page within the Browser. Where most of your efforts will be contained within a CANVAS Element, you have to know the basics about how to place that CANVAS within the confines of the Hosting Web Page.
Javascript can start becoming very messy in large projects like Games if you don't take time to organize the applications's behaviors in a way that allows you to easily "vary from a common theme".
Javascript wasn't designed for Classes like C++, but it's possible to get most of the way.
