Indie Developer Playbook: Creating 2D Games and Assets

Begin a breakout clone in SpriteKit with Xcode and Swift, building a simple 2D game with bricks, a paddle, and a square ball.

Learn to build a breakout clone in sprite kit by creating a game scene, adding nodes and labels, and configuring physics for collisions. Implement touch controls to move the paddle.

In part one, set up the main game scene by adding the paddle, ball, and nine bricks as sprites, and configure physics bodies and collision masks.

Initialize scene variables and an edge boundary, configure bit masks for collisions, and set up paddle, ball, and bricks, then test the did begin contact behavior.

Implement touch-driven paddle movement and brick removal in a 2D breakout-style game, using physics collisions to remove bricks when hit by the ball and keep the ball in play.

Implement game over logic by defining win and lose conditions, tracking brick count, displaying you win or you lose labels, pausing the scene, and resetting the game on touch.

Fix collisions in a SpriteKit breakout game by refining didBeginContact, applying opposite impulses, and stabilizing velocity to prevent slow-speed slides against edges, bricks, or paddles.

Create a breakout clone in Swift with SpriteKit by setting up paddle, ball, bricks, and edge collisions, plus game state logic for win, lose, and restarts.

Build a pong-style game in SpriteKit with Xcode and Swift 3, implementing paddle movement, ball physics, scoring, and simple texture creation while following a tutorial on creating a Pong clone.

Learn to build a pun game from scratch in SpriteKit, creating scenes with label nodes, adding touch interactivity and opponent movement using actions, plus scoring and win-loss logic.

Build a SpriteKit scene in an sks file by laying out the player paddle, opponent paddle, ball, and score labels, and configuring physics and collisions before moving to Swift.

Initialize five nodes (play paddle, opponent paddle, ball, player score label, opponent score label), add edge physics body, set bit masks and collisions, and apply impulse to the ball.

Move the player's paddle by touch to the x position, keeping the y constant, while the opponent paddle follows the ball's x position with a short delay.

Score points when the ball touches the top or bottom edge. Update both scores, determine win or lose at max score, then pause and reset on touch.

Fix slow moving collision issues in a 2d breakout game by applying impulses during contact to reverse velocity. This update ensures edges and paddles bounce correctly at various speeds.

Update the pong game by replacing the ball with a texture sprite, use an alpha mask for an accurate hitbox, and wire in basic paddle movement and collisions.

This bonus clip demonstrates adding variable paddle collisions and directional serves: track last scorer, launch the ball toward the opponent or toward you, and adjust impulse angles.

Build a Space Invaders clone using SpriteKit and Swift 3, covering basic scene setup, player and alien movement, shooting, destroying aliens, and adding textures for polish.

Build a space invaders clone from scratch, using the scene build file, looping actions for alien movement, touch-based control, and bullet spawning to interact with nodes.

Set up the scene by building a background node, a bottom-positioned player ship, and nine alien nodes with basic physics bodies. Add textures later to enhance visuals.

Finish setting up the game scene in Swift by initializing the player ship and an edge physics body. Define collision categories with a bit mask enumeration for edges, bullets, aliens.

Explore implementing player and alien movement by converting touch x coordinates into the player position, and by animating aliens with left, down, and right actions that loop for continuous motion.

Spawn bullets when the user touches the ship, fire them upward, and detect collisions with the edge and aliens, setting up a future contact function to remove bullets and aliens.

Implement bullet contact handling with physics contact delegates to remove bullets on collision with the edge or an alien and remove the alien when hit, preparing endgame logic.

Learn to implement end game logic for a 2D game by coding winning and losing conditions, pausing the scene, and restarting on touch.

Set up a pixel art workspace in Photoshop, configuring a 1-pixel grid, nearest-neighbor interpolation, and a one-pixel brush and eraser to start painting a pixel spacecraft.

Create a pixel art ufo by layering and painting the base shape, refining with color, shading, and highlights, adding windows and lights for a polished 2d game asset.

Design and refine a pixel art spacecraft for a 2D game, building a rocket-shaped ship with wings, cannons, and decals through layered editing.

Apply glow effects to pixel art ships, using inner glow (and under glow if needed), adjust colors and pixel size, then resize from 20x20 to 3200% and export transparent pngs.

Create an earth-like space background for a 2D game in Photoshop by building layers: ocean, landmasses, atmosphere, and clouds, then fine-tune with glow, blur, hue-saturation, and opacity.

Import and apply textures for background, player ship, and aliens; resize and switch to alpha-mask physics for precise collisions; then run and recap the complete game-building process.

Add bonus features by speeding up aliens over time and enabling them to fire downward bullets. Randomize firing targets and update speeds to reveal new gameplay challenges.

Learn how to download game maker, activate a free license, create your first project, and explore sprites, objects, rooms, and event-driven actions to build basic 2D games.

Learn the Game Maker workflow from creating rooms and sprites to event-driven logic, using variables and image angle to rotate a smiley in a 2D game.

Set object movement using speed and direction, explore x and y coordinates, and learn to wrap sprites on screen while cloning and destroying instances with instance_create and instance_destroy.

Learn to use Game Maker Studio to create events and actions. Implement movement and keyboard input for jumping and bullets with sprites, objects, and rooms.

Explore friction to slow movement, wrap the screen with the step event, and use jump and create moving bullets to spawn and shoot objects in a 2d game.

Learn to manage object lifecycles by destroying off-screen bullets, swap sprites with enter, adjust scale and color blending, and control timing with alarms via a game controller.

Learn how actions and events govern game logic with conditions and chances, alter the ghost's color and size, draw on-screen text, and manage collisions to destroy targets.

Explore basic Game Maker coding by building a tank game: create sprites and objects, set up a room, and implement movement, collision with walls, and screen wrap.

Master tank movement and rotation using left and right keys, adjust direction and image_angle, and fire bullets via instance_create in Game Maker's 2D tutorial.

Create wall and target sprites, define wall and target objects, and implement collisions in Game Maker so bullets destroy on wall contact and targets on hit, building a tank level.

Create a beginner shooter in game maker by building a ship sprite and object, placing them in a game room, and wiring left-right movement with screen warp.

Create and instantiate bullets from the ship with centered anchors, set speed and direction, then design enemies, move them downward, and resolve bullet and enemy collisions by destroying both.

Learn to spawn enemies dynamically with an alarm-driven timer, scale speed with increasing difficulty, and manage spawn duration. Implement collisions, game over state, restart timing, and on-screen game over text.

learn to build a roller ball game in game maker by setting up a project, creating a roller ball sprite and object, and enabling movement and coin collection.

Design coins and walls, center the origin of coins, and enable collision-based collection with wall bouncing for a rollerball level. Create objects, adjust collision masks, and craft a playable track.

Create an invisible game controller object and a gui with a custom font. Draw text in yellow, count remaining coins, and trigger game over with an auto restart via alarms.

Learn to build a simple platform game in Game Maker: create player and block sprites, assemble a room, and implement movement, gravity, and collisions.

Implement player movement in a platformer by reading keyboard inputs, calculating horizontal and vertical speeds, applying gravity, and handling pixel-perfect block collisions with jump logic.

Add a collectible orb to your platformer and implement collision-driven game over messaging using fonts, global flags, and a game controller to display and restart.