Exploring the Tools of the Trade

Before embarking on any game development project, it's important to assemble a set of tools that you will use to construct the game. Although there are a variety of different tools that could feasibly factor into the development of a complex game, the most critical tools are as follows :

• Compiler

• Graphics tools

• Sound and music tools

The next few sections take a look at these tools in greater detail.

Compiler

Regardless of what programming language you're using to develop games , you will likely need a compiler to turn the programming code into an executable game application. Because this book focuses on using C++ as the programming language for creating games for Windows, you'll need a C++ compiler that is capable of creating Windows applications. C++ compilers range from high- powered commercial development environments such as Microsoft Visual C++ and Borland C++Builder to free compilers such as DJGPP. Appendix B, "Selecting a Game Development Tool," provides more details on selecting a compiler for game development. The example games presented throughout the book can be compiled using any of these compilers .

Graphics Tools

Similar to compilers, graphics tools range from high-end commercial tools to tools that you can download free; you can also use graphics tools built into Windows such as Paint. If you decide to draw your graphics by hand, you will need to scan in the artwork and clean it up in a special tool. Of course, you'll need a scanner to scan in artwork, but those are fortunately very affordable. Even if you don't plan on drawing game graphics by hand, you'll need an image editing program, or paint program, as they are often called. Paint is the standard image editor built into Windows, which is surprisingly useful for creating and editing basic game images. At the other end of the spectrum are tools such as Adobe Photoshop, which are used by graphics professionals to perform extremely powerful special effects on images.

Sound and Music Tools

You learned earlier in the lesson that sound effects used in games are typically sampled, which means that you record them using a microphone or maybe from an audio CD. The sound card on your computer likely already has a line-in port and a microphone port, both of which can be used to sample sounds. You can use the built-in Sound Recorder application in Windows to sample sounds, or you can invest in a fancier commercial tool such as Cool Edit Pro. Either way, the process is very straightforward: just hook up the sound source (microphone, CD player, and so on) and start recording using the sound editing software. You'll need to perform some cleanup on the sound after recording, such as removing extra noises that appear before and after the sound.

In addition to sampled sound effects, you might want to experiment with creating your own MIDI music. To do so, you must use another special tool known as a MIDI authoring tool. This kind of tool is different from a sound editor in that it is designed so that you enter musical compositions similar to what you see on a sheet of written music. You then assign instruments to different notes as if a band was playing the tune. A more intuitive approach to using a MIDI authoring tool is to connect a MIDI music keyboard to your computer and play the music on it. If your sound card has a MIDI port, and most of them do, the music you play will be recorded by the MIDI software and saved. You can then further arrange the music and alter the way it sounds .