Links...
This section largely pertains to the work we'll do later this semester, but I strongly encourage you to become familiar with these programs early. Project 3 will revolve around designing your own game, and many of the programs below focus on that. So, if you're interested in going beyond text-based games in Unit 3, I recommend becoming familiar with some of the programs below on your own time to do something cool with it when the time comes!
...To Game Creation Software
AXMA
This tool is what I will be encouraging us to use in our unit on game creation. For any Mac users struggling to get Twine to play nice, AXMA features a similar set of tools that works much better with Mac systems. I recommend attempting to use Twine first, but if you encounter the kinds of save data and malfunctioning bugs some students have had in the past, you may want to switch to AXMA as quickly as humanly possible to avoid too many headaches.
Twine
Twine uses a simple user interface and hyperlinks to allow you to create an interactive text-based story which can include images and uses hyperlinks and HTML to create interactive stories. Not only is this program far easier for the unacquainted to use, it also requires no additional software to run and can be exported as an HTML file or hosted easily online to allow any web browser to open your game. Twine allows you to create games with no need to know or learn programming skills or complex software. It is possible to add things like sound, video, HTML tags for items players must collect to progress, and more, but none of it is required.
Unity
While the recommendation for Project 3 is to create a text-based game, free tools like Unity provide anyone interested access to a full 3D game engine (the one powering Thomas Was Alone, as it were). Unity is available for PC and Mac and has been used by several major developers to bring games to life, and for anyone with game creating experience or interest in taking their skills to the next level, Unity is professional-grade game development software, completely free for non-commercial purposes, with options to pay for access to additional tools and publishing rights for iOS, Android, and other platforms. Even if you don't use it for this project, it's worth knowing it exists since it's an amazing program.
Blender
Originally designed as a completely open source 3D modelling tool, Blender has also been built to include a game engine in recent releases. Like Unity, it is somewhat obtuse in its user-interface, however, it is free, open source, available for Mac, Windows, and Linux, and allows you to perform all steps of creating their own 3D game, including modelling 3D characters, animating them, using simple game logic to program levels and AI, and a physics engine. Not recommended for anyone unfamiliar with the program and/or game development and computer programming, but an option for those interested in pushing themselves and learning something challenging and new.
Inform 7
Like Twine, this program is used to create text-based games like the earliest computer games available on home computers. Inform 7 allows users to respond using natural language like those old text-based adventure games whereas Twine uses hyperlinks to allow players to interact with the stories. The interface is a bit less clear for Inform 7 than Twine, but both allow you to make games which focus primarily on composing with text without learning complex computer coding skills or using advanced game engines. Both Inform 7 and Twine allow for text-based game creation, and both have drawbacks and benefits. I just wanted to make this option known/available as well.
Template-Based Game Makers
There are also a ton of template-based game makers that exist out there, including Construct 2, Game Maker Studio, Game Salad, and Stencyl among others I haven't stumbled upon. I have no experience with the following programs, but I do recommend looking into them for those with larger ambitions who have the determination to see them realized.
...To Game Making Guides
How to make Your First Videogame
This is a handy guide to look over for the sole purpose of getting started and thinking about what goes into making a game. We'll be working with Jesse Schell's Tetrad as a starting point, but the ideas here are worth keeping in mind as well, to get you into the mindset of making your first game.
How to Make Games with Twine
For the pragmatists among us, this guide will prove exceptionally helpful. This extremely simple guide should tell you everything you need to know to make a Twine game start functioning properly. Reference it if you feel lost in the process of making your game and/or to see how you can add in some different design features.
... To Image/Video Editing Software
Lynda.com
This is a fantastic resource you have access to through FSU, so take advantage of it! Virtually any program you could ever need to use has a tutorial on Lynda.com (though, ironically, probably not Twine...), and it's extremely helpful and thorough. For any video/audio/image editing software you might need, there's an extremely good chance you'll find the information you need here. The icon on the left will take you to a link to a guide for accessing/using Lynda.com I create during my stint as an administrator in that space this last year. I strongly urge you to make use of this resource during your time at FSU.
Pixlr
It's free, it's cloud-based, it runs in a browser, it requires no money or software installations to run (when used on Chrome or any Flash-enabled browser, anyway). What more could you ask for??? Well.... the fancy features of Photoshop, certainly, but for most users and contexts, this will fill your image editing needs very well. Being free and cross-platform makes this tool exceptionally useful.
Gimp
Tragic name, awesome software. GiMP is available for Mac, PC, and Linux, it's 100% free, it's open source, and it doesn't require an internet connection to use. It's a bit more powerful than Pixlr, but also a bit less simple and user-friendly. Worth looking into if you want photo editing software to call your own but don't want to pony up the dough to Adobe for Photoshop.
Photoshop
No, I'm not suggesting you drop hundreds of dollars on this software, however, I am going to link to the free demos available. Photoshop is professional-grade software for editing images and is insanely powerful. An amazing tool to use/access. I recommend getting familiar with it and seeking out places on campus to use it, like the Digital Studio and Strozier Library. If you want to do something involving editing an image, there's a 99.9% chance that if it's possible, Photoshop can do it.
Photoshop Express
A stripped-down version of Photoshop that's cloud-based and browser-based like Pixlr. Worth playing with for basic image editing, but nothing too fancy or remotely comparable to the "real" Photoshop.
WeVideo
Want to edit video but don't feel like downloading a program for it? Say hello to this web-based video editing service, WeVideo! I haven't used it myself but know colleagues who use it in their own classrooms. A great solution for anyone looking to edit video from the cloud, from multiple computers, without needing to copy files all over the place.
Windows Live Movie Maker
Relatively simple and easy to use, Windows Live Movie Maker will let you edit together video should you choose to do so on your Windows Computer without needing to pay any money. It's not the best video editor out there, but it is perfectly serviceable.
... For the Lulz
Because, why not.