CH. 00 Introduction [JS Game Dev Tutorial]

What to expect and work environment

How much should you know?

I will assume people that read this tutorial have at least the basics of any industry-used language (C, C++, C#, Java, JS, Lua, and the likes).
If you don't know the following, I suggest reviewing or waiting until you reach these topics: functions, classes, objects, containers, loops, and conditionals. I will NOT be going over them, maybe just briefly, unless it has to do with the topic.

Also, understanding of algebra and physics would be ideal (it would be an RPG so no advanced knowledge is needed [Varies depending on the route this tutorial goes]).
Work Environment

This is the way I do things, so do what is most comfortable for you! You generally need an IDE for ease of coding (plain text editors work fine as well, however IDEs make the job easier), image editor (preferably one that can edit to the pixel), and a DAW (for audio).

Some people like to use an asset packager/compiler (similar to Win32 res files). They help hide assets to prevent editing (great aide in preventing "game mods").

For IDE, I use Brackets at the moment, simply for its minimalistic design and live updating (has other plugins but I dont use them); other IDEs include Atom, Sublime Text, Visual Studio Code, and Notepad++. Read their features and decide which is best for you! VS Code is looking good IMO.

For image editing, I use Paint.NET; it is free, lightweight, supports transparency, and not too bloated. You can use Photoshop, MS Paint (no transparency, but you can mask colors in your code like magenta), Piskel, Lospec, and Aesprite, to name a few.

For audio I use either Ableton Live, Reason, or FL Studio; FL Studio being the most go-to. I have used MilkyTracker and FamiTracker for close to genuine 8 and 16-bit era sounds, but they slow down the work vs. a DAW like mentioned above.
Others include BeepBox, PulseBoy, Cubase, Sonar, REAPER, LMMS, Pro Tools, and Logic.

My file structure is as follows:
./Project_name
└─index.html
└─./res
    └─./img
        └─sprite_sheet.png
    └─./snd
        └─bkgd_music.mp3
        └─snd_effect.wav
└─./src
    └─SomeClass.js
    └─main.js
    └─myutils.js

Ideal structure for big projects, but if it's a small project, everything can go in the same folder.
RPGs tend to get big, so the top file tree is recommended! If its HUGE, you can add extra directories, especially in the src directory to make the structure cleaner (think packages in Java).
Final Words

Hope this helps!
Since this is the first installment, please don't be afraid to give any feedback in regards to explanation, styling, font sizes, font styles, or anything else you wish to see or not see. Anything goes!

Next chapter I will introduce the graphics plane and we can start drawing on the canvas! Thank you and see you then!!

Ch. 00 Introduction

What to expect and work environment

How much should you know?

Work Environment

Final Words