Sean Harding and Gideon Williams

How to Create a Simple Platform Game with

2DIY
2PLAT1: Getting Started......................................................................................2
2PLAT2: Parts of the Screen................................................................................3
2PLAT3: Changing the Character........................................................................4
2PLAT4: Character Features................................................................................6
2PLAT5: Making the Background.........................................................................7
2PLAT6: Making the Platform..............................................................................9
2PLAT7: Collecting the Prizes............................................................................12
2PLAT8: Adding Features to the Prizes.............................................................13
2PLAT9: Adding Baddies!..................................................................................17
2PLAT10: Adding Things that do Nothing at all!................................................19
2PLAT11: Saving the Game...............................................................................20
2PLAT12: The Instruction Screen......................................................................21
2PLAT13: Testing and Saving the Game...........................................................22
2PLAT14: Going Further ...................................................................................23

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2PLAT1: Getting Started

1. First step is to load 2Do It Yourself.

2. Go to Start > “2simple Software” > 2DIY > “2Do It Yourself”

3. Once this has loaded, you get screen like:

4. Click OK to go to the next screen:

5. There are two options – a simple platform game or a Scrolling game

6. Below are some video helpsheets and an example of an actual game

7. Select Simple and press OK

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2PLAT2: Parts of the Screen

1. The screen loads up looking like this – again very similar to the others

2. Click on the 3 little people at the top to alter the number of lives, message and
sound message

3. Click on the Clock to alter the time and add a sound message:

Count Up or
Count

4. Click on the Score to alter the Target you want people to get to and the
message (and the sound)

Auto means when the game should end eg when all the items have been collected
instead of just getting to a certain number of points

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2PLAT3: Changing the Character

1. To draw the jumping avatar click on the small picture to get the large editing
box:

2. You can either DRAW a character or you can IMPORT one from an image you
have saved

3. To import, RIGHT CLICK twice and choose Import Picture from the drop down:

4. Select an image from the Clip Bank and drag it into the box:

5. Then choose LETTERBOX or CROP

6. To import your own image press Browse and select an image and press Open:

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7. Make sure you have an image with no background and one that fits most of the
page
8. To make your own image just click on the box and click the + sign to make it
bigger:

9. Then use the range of tools on the left hand side to create your character:

The left hand toolbar has TWO different menus.

The toolbar on the left is probably the one you will start with but
to change to the right toolbar click the RED ARROW in the bottom right
hand corner of the toolbar.

The left toolbar is just a selection of felt tips but the right hand
tool bar where the designing begins.

The tool bar starts with the felt tip and pencil tools which can be used to
draw anything you want. The next four buttons are used to create circles
and square which are filled with colour or are just the outline of the shape.
After these tools, we get the basic Paint tools like the line tool; fill tool,
text and rubber tools.

The only tools which are a bit different would be the tools that look like a
weird star and cloud. These can be useful for applying a textured feel to
your objects and characters. The rest of the tools are just colour palettes
and brush sizes.

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2PLAT4: Character Features

1. When you have finished the design of your character it may look like this:

2. Click the Green swirly arrow to alter its movements:

3. Clicking the Sound will let you add music to the character – maybe not a great
idea?

4. You can use the built-in sounds or click on the More icon to get many more in
groups:

5. To import your own sounds click on the Folder icon and import from your
computer:

You can have mp3

files and wav files

6. Click on the Keys button to choose what keys you want to have for movement:

Probably no need
to change these?

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7. Click OK when finished

2PLAT5: Making the Background

1. The background can be made in two different ways

2. You can import a background or make one up.

3. To import a background you right click to highlight and right click to get the
Import Picture Menu:

4. The software does not have many “background style images “ so you may
import your own eg

Make sure you

have an image big
enough to reduce
the distortion

5. Make sure you choose the CROP options to fill the page

6. To make your own background use the tools Here is a simple design I made
myself (I’m sure you can do better):

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2PLAT6: Making the Platform

1. To make the platform you need to use brick icon:

2. Simply click on the icon and then DRAG or CLICK to make platforms:

3. You can use the Erase wall/platform icon to click on a brick and rub out any
mistakes:

4. To give the platform colour and shape you need to draw inside the wall icon:

5. It is best to use the MAGNIFY tool (+ sign) to make the icon bigger and then
drawn in it:

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Here is how I did this:

Step One
Selected Brown colour. Selected Paint Pot. Filled in the box with brown

Step Two
Chose black colour. Medium thickness. Drew black rectangle round outside

Step Three
Selected medium thickness. Black colour. Line tool to draw the rows of bricks

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Step Four
Drew separating lines and different places using same line tool

Final Design
Think I should have used the same line thickness throughout and the separating
bricks look a little odd

I have made bricks – I am sure with a bit more imagination

you can make more interesting platforms!

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2PLAT7: Collecting the Prizes

1. In the platform game there should be various prizes to collect. These are the
APPLES you see on the right hand side of the screen:

2. You can have all the Prizes the same OR you can have them different.

3. You can draw the prizes yourself or you can import an image.

4. To draw the prize, click once on an apple shape to highlight it then click the +
icon to magnify:

5. To import an image, click to highlight then RIGHT CLICK and select Import
Image then drag in the picture you want to use (or click Browse to import your
own):

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2PLAT8: Adding Features to the Prizes

1. To assign features to a prize click on the swirly arrow to get this:

2. To add a sound when you capture a prize click on the speaker and choose a
range of sounds:

3. Use the built-in sounds or click on the More icon to get many more in groups:

4. To import your own sounds click on the Folder icon and import from your
computer:

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You can have mp3

files and wav files

5. The Animation feature can be added to the prize to make it move about:

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6. Clicking on adv lets you add in your own Action Script with some guidance

7. Clicking on Points lets you assign how many points for the prize:

8. The icon appears on the top right of the stage and you can drag it into the start
position:

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9. If you are setting all the prizes to be the same, you can DUPLICATE the
properties.

10. Click on the object you want to duplicate, and then right-click on the drawing
area for that object.

11. Select Duplicate from the drop down area:

12. All objects of the same type will get the same properties as the one you are
editing.

13. You can then change the pictures for each one

13. I have made a TIMES TABLE game and have made prizes for multiples of 8:

14. I can then drag them on to different parts of the stage:

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2PLAT9: Adding Baddies!

1. To baddies are the funny looking robot men:

2. You can change their appearance in the same way as the prizes (see previous
helpsheets).

3. I am making mine into different numbers that are not multiples of 8 eg:

3. Because they are baddies they have slightly different controls. Click on the
green arrow:

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4. The Sound and Animation features are the same as before. The difference
being the last box:

5. The Advanced features allows you to alter more controls and write your own
scripts (see previous)

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2PLAT10: Adding Things that do Nothing at all!

1. To sunshine characters do nothing at all but can be added for….?

2. You can change their appearance and design in the same way as before.

3. I have added in some just to put people off:

4. Again you can change their sound and animation by clicking on the green
arrow:

5. Drag them on to the stage where you want:

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2PLAT11: Saving the Game

1. It’s a good idea to save the game at regular intervals

2. When you save the game for the first time you get a screen like this:

3. Click the more… button to save to your computer:

4. When the game is saved it produces TWO files – one file is used by the software
and the other is a FLASH (SWF) file to use on your VLE, Blog or link to
PowerPoint etc.

5. When you save again the computer remember your file and location.

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2PLAT12: The Instruction Screen

1. The next thing to do is to create the instruction screen for when the game
loads.

2. First save your game so the computer remembers the images.

3. Now click on the i button at the top of the screen.

3. When pressed you get screen like this pop up:

4. The computer assigns random images around the Instruction page. You can use
the < and > buttons to change the images (or have none)

5. You can also type in what they are if this is important to your game?

6. Clicking on the Sound icon will let you add in sounds for your page

7. The bottom right corner is the border image you want to have. Clicking on the
down arrow lets you choose different types of borders eg border (static),
circulating (moving round) etc.

8. You can alter the Title page by clicking on it,. You can also change the font, size
and colour

9. You can alter the instructions by clicking in this section too.

10. In the end it may look like this:

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2PLAT13: Testing and Saving the Game

1. Now to test the game. You do this by clicking the at the top of the screen.

2. This will play the game as real.

3. You can go back and make changes and then save.

4. When the game is saved it produces TWO files – one file is used by the software
and the other is a FLASH (SWF) file.

5. The game works on its own as a FLASH file so it can be used in many different
ways:

• Stand alone file you play

• Added to your VLE
• Added into a Blog or Wiki
• Added into a PowerPoint
• Added into a website

6. My finish game looked like this:

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2PLAT14: Going Further

1. If you feel like you want to do more with 2Do It Yourself then here are a few
little things you can change and edit.

2. Firstly, when you are in the software, right click on the play button at the top of
the screen and you should get a screen like this:

3. This box allows you to edit the functions that run the game. As you can see
from my catching game, I have the ability to change four things:

Hit Distances (5-60)

This is the function that controls how sensitive the game is to collision between
the player and the objects. If the value is low then the game is less sensitive.

Max Falling Speed (1-24)

This is the function that controls how fast the object falls off the platform.
Higher the number the faster they fall

Max JumpSpeed (-10 to -25)

How high the player can jump. Bigger (negative) the number the higher they
jump

Dx (5-50)
This is the speed at which the player moves. The bigger the number the quicker
you move

4. Changing these values allow you to completely customise your game to how
you want it to run.

5. Different games have different functions that are linked to that specific game.

6. These can be found in the User Guide that comes with the software

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