In this two-part tutorial, I'll walk you through building a winter-themed Angry Birds-style game, from scratch, using the free GameSalad Creator tool. No previous programming or game development experience is required, and you can follow along whether you're on Windows or OS X!
Play the Game
You can play this game on the GameSalad Arcade.
Use the arrow keys to aim the cannon, and the space bar to fire. (Hold it down to add more power to your shot.) Destroy all of the blocks to win!
Download GameSalad Creator
GameSalad Creator is a tool for creating games without needing to write any code. The free version allows you to develop games for the web (as seen above) and for Mac - and even for the iPhone App Store, if you have an iOS Developer account.
There's also a paid version, which lets you export your games for Android, add iAds and in-app purchases, tweet players' scores to Twitter, and more. For this tutorial, all you need is the free version.
Download the free version here. It only requires an email address and confirmation that you are over 13, and is available for Mac OS X Lion (and above), Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
Note for Windows Users
Although GameSalad for Windows is, for the most part, the same as GameSalad for OS X, there are a few issues. There is a detailed post on the GameSalad forums listing these problems, with tips explaining how to get around them.
You may also like to check out my side-by-side comparison video of the two versions.
Watch the Screencast
Watch in full screen at 720p (use the Cog icon) for best quality.
Download the source file zip for this tutorial - it contains the graphic files, image files, and final project files for the game.
Part Two...
In the second part of the series, we'll add destructible scenery and add polish (such as camera panning). Watch the video here!
