HomeCoursesHands-On Game Development with Rust

Advanced

16h 35min

Updated 5 months ago

Hands-On Game Development with Rust
Save

Delve into Rust game development by building a complete game. Gain insights into Cargo, core functions, player management, and procedural map generation. Discover Rust's power and memory safety.

Join 2.7 million developers at

Overview

Content

Reviews

Rust is an exciting programming language that combines the power of C with modern memory safety, efficient concurrency, and various productivity boosters. With its low-level memory access and high-level support of functional programming, Rust improves power and performance while providing protection against common bugs. In this course, you’ll learn Rust with a hands-on, project-based approach through game development. You’ll be introduced to Rust as you design and build a complete, playable game. You’ll start with a development environment in Cargo before exploring Rust’s core functions and building a variable data array. With this knowledge, you’ll build a complete game with player management, scorekeeping, and the various modules of a dungeon crawler. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to capture data, use it to build loops into your code that drive the game engine, update objects, and procedurally generate maps. You’ll have a hands-on understanding of Rust.

Rust is an exciting programming language that combines the power of C with modern memory safety, efficient concurrency, and vari...Show More

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

Learn to design game in Rust.

Learn Rust's built-in functions.

Practical experience with Rust.

Understanding of game development.

Learn to design game in Rust.

Content

131 Lessons14 Quizzes

Getting Started

1 Lessons

Get familiar with Rust's power in game development, merging performance and memory safety.

Introduction

Rust and Your Development Environment

8 Lessons

Walk through setting up Cargo, creating programs, handling dependencies, and common tools in Rust.

Managing Projects with Cargo

Creating Your First Rust Program

Using Cargo to Build, Check, or Run our Project

Finding Common Mistakes with Clippy

Package Management with Cargo

Quiz: Test Yourself on Rust Basics

Exercise: Introduce Yourself

Solution: Introduce Yourself

First Step With Rust

12 Lessons

Explore Rust development fundamentals through project creation, user input handling, and data management.

Introduction to First Step with Rust

Capturing User Input

Moving Input to a Function

Rust's Built-in Functions

Storing Strings in an Array

Grouping Data with Structs

Searching with Iterators using Structs

Storing a Variable Amount of Data with Vectors

Categorizing with Enumerations

Quiz: Test Yourself on First Step with Rust

Exercise: Making a Phone Book

Solution: Making a Phone Book

Build Your First Game with Rust

12 Lessons

Apply your skills to develop a functional game with Rust, mastering game mechanics and state management.

Introduction to First Game with Rust

Understanding the Game Loop

Bracket-Lib and Bracket-Terminal

Hello, Bracket Terminal!

Creating Different Game Modes

Managing the Player

Adding the Player

Creating Obstacles

Keeping Score and Obstacle State

Quiz: Test Yourself on Build Your First Game with Rust

Exercise: Hello Game Loop

Solution: Hello Game Loop

Build a Dungeon Crawler

11 Lessons

Take a closer look at designing and implementing dungeon crawlers, emphasizing modular code and dynamic maps.

Introduction to Build a Dungeon Crawler

Design a Dungeon Crawler Game

Dividing Code Into Modules

Organizing Imports with a Prelude

Storing the Dungeon Map

Adding the Adventurer

Building a Dungeon

Graphics, Camera, Action

Quiz: Test Yourself on Building a Dungeon Crawler

Exercise: Make Cats Meow and Dogs Bark

Solution: Make Cats Meow and Dogs Bark

Compose Dungeon Denizens

12 Lessons

Tackle integrating ECS architecture with Rust, creating modular and scalable game entities.

Introduction to Compose Dungeon Denizens

Understanding Terminology

Composing Entities

Installing and Using Legion

Composing the Player

Managing Complexity with Systems

Batched and Map Rendering System

Adding the Monsters

Collision Detection

Quiz: Test Yourself on Compose Dungeon Denizens

Exercise: Compose an Entity

Solution: Compose an Entity

Take Turns with the Monsters

7 Lessons

Practice using an intent-based system for enhancing turn-based game mechanics and movement.

Introduction to Take Turns with the Monsters

Making Monsters Wander Randomly

Moving Entities in a Turn-Based Game

Sending Messages of Intent

Quiz: Test Yourself on Taking Turns with the Monsters

Exercise: Build a Calculator

Solution: Build a Calculator

Health and Melee Combat

9 Lessons

Try out implementing health and melee combat mechanics, HUD elements, and combat interactions.

Introduction to Health and Melee Combat

Making Entities Intelligent

Adding a Heads-Up Display

Managing Monsters

Implementing Combat

Waiting as a Strategy

Quiz: Test Yourself on Health and Melee Combat

Exercise: Formatting Text

Solution: Formatting Text

Victory and Defeat

8 Lessons

Get started with enhancing game dynamics by balancing victory and defeat for a rich experience.

Introduction to Victory and Defeat

Building a Smarter Monster

Building a Map

Implementing a Game-Over Screen

Finding the Amulet of Yala

Quiz: Test Yourself on Victory and Defeat

Exercise: Implement a Trait

Solution: Implement a Trait

10.

Fields of View

8 Lessons

Work your way through implementing fields of view and enhancing game entities' visibility mechanics.

Introduction to Fields of View

Defining an Entity’s Field of View

Preparing the Entities Field of View

Limiting Monsters’ Fields-of-View

Adding Spatial Memory

Quiz: Test Yourself on Fields of View

Exercise: Use a HashSet

Solution: Use a HashSet

11.

More Interesting Dungeons

10 Lessons

Apply your skills to create varied dungeon maps using procedural generation techniques and dynamic traits.

Introduction to More Interesting Dungeons

Creating Traits

Converting the Room Builder

Creating Cellular Automata Maps

Calling Cellular Automata Maps

Creating Drunkard’s Walk Maps

Prefabricated Map Sections

Quiz: Test Yourself on More Interesting Dungeons

Exercise: Use Dynamic Traits

Solution: Use Dynamic Traits

12.

Map Themes

6 Lessons

Solve problems in creating diverse map themes, implementing traits, and enhancing visual appeal in Rust game development.

Introduction to Map Themes

Theming Our Dungeon

Rendering With Themes

Quiz: Test Yourself on Map Themes

Exercise: Create a Trait

Solution: Create a Trait

13.

Inventory and Power Ups

7 Lessons

Tackle inventory systems, item design, power-ups, and pattern matching to enhance gameplay.

Introduction to Inventory and Power-ups

Designing Items

Managing Inventory

Adding Power After Receiving Inventory

Quiz: Test Yourself on Inventory and Power Ups

Exercise: Pattern Matching with If Let

Solution: Pattern Matching with If Let

14.

Deeper Dungeons

7 Lessons

Master the steps to enhance player engagement by implementing deeper dungeons and tracking progress.

Introduction to Deeper Dungeons

Adding Stairs to the Map

Tracking Game Level

Displaying the Current Level on the HUD

Quiz: Test Yourself on Deeper Dungeons

Exercise: Sorting and Iterating

Solution: Sorting and Iterating

15.

Combat Systems and Loot

7 Lessons

Step through designing data-driven combat and loot systems for dynamic gameplay.

Introduction to Combat Systems and Loot

Designing Data-Driven Dungeons

Data-driven Spawning

Extending the Combat System

Quiz: Test Yourself on Combat Systems and Loot

Exercise: Reading a TOML File

Solution: Reading a TOML File

16.

Conclusion

1 Lessons

Get started with advanced game development after mastering Rust basics and creating games.

Wrap Up

17.

Appendix

5 Lessons

Break apart Rust installation, development setup, game design docs, and key programming references.

Installing Rust

Installing and Configuring Our Development Environment

ASCII/Codepage 437 Chart

Short Game Design Documents

Rust Cheat Sheet

Certificate of Completion

Showcase your accomplishment by sharing your certificate of completion.

Course Author:

The Pragmatic Programmers

Developed by MAANG Engineers

Every Educative resource is designed by our in-house team of ex-MAANG software engineers and PhD computer science educators — subject matter experts who’ve shipped production code at scale and taught the theory behind it. The goal is to get you hands-on with the skills you need to stay ahead in today's constantly evolving tech landscape. No videos, no fluff — just interactive, project-based learning with personalized feedback that adapts to your goals and experience.

Trusted by 2.7 million developers working at companies

"These are high-quality courses. Trust me. I own around 10 and the price is worth it for the content quality. EducativeInc came at the right time in my career. I'm understanding topics better than with any book or online video tutorial I've done. Truly made for developers. Thanks"

Anthony Walker

@_webarchitect_

"Just finished my first full #ML course: Machine learning for Software Engineers from Educative, Inc. ... Highly recommend!"

Evan Dunbar

ML Engineer

"You guys are the gold standard of crash-courses... Narrow enough that it doesn't need years of study or a full blown book to get the gist, but broad enough that an afternoon of Googling doesn't cut it."

Software Developer

Carlos Matias La Borde

"I spend my days and nights on Educative. It is indispensable. It is such a unique and reader-friendly site"

Souvik Kundu

Front-end Developer

"Your courses are simply awesome, the depth they go into and the breadth of coverage is so good that I don't have to refer to 10 different websites looking for interview topics and content."

Vinay Krishnaiah

Software Developer

Hands-on Learning Powered by AI

See how Educative uses AI to make your learning more immersive than ever before.

Instant Code Feedback

Evaluate and debug your code with the click of a button. Get real-time feedback on test cases, including time and space complexity of your solutions.

AI Mock Interviews

Test your skills in a simulated interview setting. Receive personalized feedback based on your performance. Available for Coding Interviews, System Design, and more.

Adaptive Learning

At various checkpoints throughout Educative courses, you will be prompted to take a quick assessment. Receive a condensed curriculum tailored to your strengths and skill gaps.

Explain with AI

Select any text within any Educative course, and get an instant explanation — without ever leaving your browser.

AI Code Mentor

AI Code Mentor helps you quickly identify errors in your code, learn from your mistakes, and nudge you in the right direction — just like a 1:1 tutor!

Free Resources

FOR TEAMS

Interested in this course for your business or team?

Unlock this course (and 1,000+ more) for your entire org with DevPath

Hands-On Game Development with Rust Save

Hands-On Game Development with Rust
Save