Introduction To Game Design & Programming in GameMaker Studio 2
Page 1
Introduction To Game Design
&
Programming
In
GameMaker Studio 2
©2019 Ben Tyers
LearnGameMakerStudio.com
Special Thanks to The Following, Who Pre-Ordered This Project & Made It Possible:
Michał Kamiński
Corey Cuhay
Honey
Pedro Santos
Mark Porter
Dean Radcliffe
Mickey Everett
Vasco
Mike Cowel
Gaven Renwick
Thanks Also to The Following People:
Yellow Afterlife – Thanks for your help
Nathan Brown
Loukas Bozikis
Alesia Buonomo
Kehran Carr
Arik Chadima
Rom Haviv
Zachary Helm
ISBN: 9781795199537
Copyright 2019 © Ben Tyers
First Edition
If you find any issues of problems with this book (such as omissions or mistakes) please drop me an email:
Ben@LearnGameMakerStudio.com
Educational Use
I am more than happy the this or material from it being used in an educational setting, such as schools or clubs. As an educator, I am sure you appreciate how much effort and time goes into making a book such as this, therefore I ask that one copy is purchased (ebook or paperback) for every 10 students using it. If you have any questions, please email:
Ben@LearnGameMakerStudio.com
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Graphics In Main Chapters: GameDeveloperStudio.com
All Audio In Main Chapters: SoundImage.org
Assets are not needed to enjoy this book
If you wish to make the game covered in this book, you can access assets from the above sites.
No assets are included with this book project, except for Chapter 7 Introduction, which is optional, and the appendix.
Chapter 7 Introduction Project:
Buttons: DaButtonFactory.com
Heart: OpenGameArt.org cdgramos cc0
Monster: OpenGameArt.org bevouliin.com cc0
Appendix 4 Cloud BananaOwl / opengameart.org CC-BY 3.0
Appendix 4 Gun sight Lucian Pavel / opengameart.org CC0
Appendix 6 Brick and ball Zealex / opengameart.org CC0
Appendix 7 Rotating coin Puddin / opengameart.org CCO
Appendix 7 Character rileygombart / opengameart.org
Appendix 7 Horse reivaxcorp / opengameart.org CC-BY 3.0
Appendix 9 Audio http://soundimage.org
Appendix 12 Songs http://soundimage.org
Appendix 13 Car sheikh_tuhin!
Rock - Jasper / OpenGameArt.org CC0
Appendix 15 Bird bevouliin.com / OpenGameArt.org CC0
Appendix 20 Chess Sprites: mr0.0nerd : https://2dartforgames.wordpress.com/
Appendix 21 Crosshair: Red Eclipse / OpenGameArt.org CC-BY-SA 3.0
Appendix 21: Sounds: SoundImage.org
Appendix 22: Cards Kenney.nl
Includes text taken from Wikipedia, some of which is edited CC-BY 3.0
Creative Commons
Some of the resources used in the appendix is licensed in Creative Commons.
Some extracts from Wikipedia is also in Creative Commons.
See https://creativecommons.org/ for full info
The Main Ones Are:
License Conditions
Creators choose a set of conditions they wish to apply to their work.
Attribution (by)
All CC licenses require that others who use your work in any way must give you credit the way you request, but not in a way that suggests you endorse them or their use. If they want to use your work without giving you credit or for endorsement purposes, they must get your permission first.
ShareAlike (sa)
You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and modify your work, as long as they distribute any modified work on the same terms. If they want to distribute modified works under other terms, they must get your permission first.
NonCommercial (nc)
You let others copy, distribute, display, perform, and (unless you have chosen NoDerivatives) modify and use your work for any purpose other than commercially unless they get your permission first.
NoDerivatives (nd)
You let others copy, distribute, display and perform only original copies of your work. If they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Disclaimer.
You are free to:
•Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
•Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
•for any purpose, even commercially.
•The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
________________________________________
Under the following terms:
•Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
•No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0)
This is a human-readable summary of (and not a substitute for) the license. Disclaimer.
You are free to:
•Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
•Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
•for any purpose, even commercially.
•The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
________________________________________
Under the following terms:
•Attribution — You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
•ShareAlike — If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.
•No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Public domain
Our licenses help authors keep and manage their copyright on terms they choose. Our public domain tools, on the other hand, enable authors and copyright owners who want to dedicate their works to the worldwide public domain to do so, and facilitate the labeling and discovery of works that are already free of known copyright restrictions.
CC0
Use this universal tool if you are a holder of copyright or database rights, and you wish to waive all your interests that may exist in your work worldwide. Because copyright laws differ around the world, you may use this tool even though you may not have copyright in your jurisdiction, but want to be sure to eliminate any copyrights you may have in other jurisdictions.
•Learn more
•Use this tool
Public Domain Mark
Use this tool if you have identified a work that is free of known copyright restrictions. Creative Commons does not recommend this tool for works that are restricted by copyright laws in one or more
jurisdictions.
You can download resources & completed project here:
www.learngamemakerstudio.com/assets.zip
Introduction
Welcome
Game Resources
Main Book Contents
About GameMaker
Chapter 1 Starting With An Idea
Initial Idea
Infinite Scroller – Survive as long as you can
Parallax Backgrounds – Give a sense of depth to the game
Moveabe Player – Move the player and allow to shoot weapons
Basic Enemy – Moves across the screen
Advanced Enemy – Moves in circular path and shoots at the player
Boss Enemy – Formiddable enemy
Multiple Weapons – Player can collect upgrades to their weapons
Set Health – Player has set amount of health, game over when all lost
Highscore System – Save and display the player’s best score
Game Aim – Survive as long as possible and get the highest score
Chapter 2 Initial Planning & Preparation
Chapter 3 Software & Financing
Working with Different Budgets
Cost of software
Development
Graphics
Free Graphics Software
Paid Graphics Software
Audio
Free Audio Software
Paid Audio Software
Pre-Made Graphics
Free Graphics
Paid Graphics
Ways of raising funds
Crowd Funding
Patreon
Social Media
Steam Early Access
Chapter 4 Game Assets
Chapter 5 Refining Resources
Graphics
Audio
Chapter 6 Beta Testing & Debugging
Beta Testing
Graphics are too large
Not responsive enough
Too easy
Player weapons are too slow
HUD is not in keeping with the rest of the game
Aspect ratio should be changed
Collision masks are impresise
GUI life and dots not in keeping with game style
To visually show damage to player
Debugging
Chapter 7 Programming
Programming Introduction
Game Programming
Scripts
Objects
Rooms
Paths
Audio
Chapter 8 Final Testing
Chapter 9 Publishing & Game Promotion
Social Media
YoYo Games Forum
Steam
Itch.io
GameJolt
Google Play
Chapter 10 Summary
Target Audience
Pricing
Working as a Team
Useful Links
Crediting Creators
Educational Use
Where Next
Conclusion
Appendix
Appendix 1 Variables
Appendix 2 Conditionals
Appendix 3 Drawing
Appendix 4 Drawing Continued
Appendix 5 Keyboard Input & Simple Movement
Appendix 6 Objects & Events
Appendix 7 Sprites
Appendix 8 Health, Lives & Score
Appendix 9 Mouse
Appendix 10 Alarms
Appendix 11 Collisions
Appendix 12 Rooms
Appendix 13 Backgrounds
Appendix 14 Sounds
Appendix 15 Splash Screens & Menu
Appendix 16 Random
Appendix 17 AI
Appendix 18 INI Files
Appendix 19 Effects
Appendix 20 Loops
Appendix 21 Arrays
Appendix 22 DS Lists
Appendix 24 Scripts
Introduction
Welcome
A note from the author:
Congratulations!
You are about to learn the basics of GameMaker Studio 2, and potentially start a career in game making.
This book is an introduction to the game making process, an introduction to GameMaker Studio 2, and other considerations when making your first game.
GameMaker Studio 2 is a powerful piece of software for making games. This book only covers the basics, but is a great place start.
Best of luck with you game making endeavours,
Ben
Over the last ten years or so I have written many books on game programming and have completed over two-hundred game projects. During that time I have learnt GML coding to a reasonable level, and have picked up many skills, tips and tricks and methology for making games in GameMaker & Game Maker Studio 2.
The purpose of this book is to provide you with some of the knowledge that I have acquired. I make no claim that I’m the best coder or designer, but I do have a proficient understanding that I would like to instil on other budding game makers.
Through my website, I set up a number of polls and gained feedback on what game to make and which graphics to use, in total over 500 people have voted on my site, and chose a side-scrolling war zone themed shooter. Thanks to everyone who voted. This book covers my approach to make said game.
Unlike previous books of mine that focused mainly on the actual GML code, this book covers the full design progress, with some code thrown in. It focuses on:
Starting With An Idea
Initial Planning & Preparation
Software 7 Financing
Game Assets
Refining Resources
Beta Testing & Debugging
Programming
Final Testing
Publishing
Game Promotion
Additional Considerations
Summary
+An Appendix Of Commonly Used GML Coding
I will be the first to admit that the process of making a game is dynamic and fluid, and as such may not follow the order above. This will change depending on your level on GML, whether you have made a similar game before, the genre, and the complexity of the game. That said, the above order is a great place to start.
So, you have GameMaker Studio 2 installed. Let’s start it up and start making a game. Then again, let’s not. Jumping straight in is a bad idea, not least for the following reasons:
You have no idea at this stage what the game will be about
You have not yet decided on the look of the game
You have no idea what the objects will be and how they will interact
Jumping in blindly will make the whole game creation process more difficult for you
You will come up with extra ideas for the game, and adding them when the basic game has been made will make this confusing and difficult
That said, if you just want to create one game element to see what it looks like, or how a certain feature works, or basic player movement, I consider that perfectly OK. Attempting the whole game with no planning is a big no-no, especially if you are quite new to GameMaker or the game making process.
GameMaker Studio 2 is a very powerful and adaptable software for making 2D games, I would go as far as to say that if you can make pretty much any 2D game that you can think of.
Game Resources
This game will consist of graphics and audio from a couple of sites, due to licensing restrictions I can’t provide them as a download, but I will include a link so you can access them should you decide to make the game covered in this book. The main focus of this book is on the design and programming considerations, with some of the more prominent coding dissected and explained. You will not need the assets to enjoy this book.
All game graphical assets used in the main game are from the great website GameDeveloperStudio.com. If you wish to remake the game made in the book, you can access the assets directly from this site. The site does have several free assets, so you can swap them in instead of using purch
ased assets if you are working on a low budget.
Main Book Contents
The main areas covered in the book are:
1 Starting With An Idea
This section covers what you need to do with your initial ideas and how to take them forward.
2 Initial Planning & Preparation
Take your ideas forward, design the basic game layout, what objects will be present, and how they will interact.
3 Software & Financing
Software and resources cost money, this chapter covers some of the options available when funding your game.
4 Game Assets
Possible design issues, and how to tweak your ideas.
5 Refining Resources
Setting up and editing resources so they are ready for your game,
6 Beta Testing & Debugging
Testing the game, fixing bugs, and implementing feedback.
7 Programming
Covers some of the coding required to implement aspects from your game design. This also covers a way to make the game in small chunks, so you can test it as you go.
8 Final Testing
Polishing off the game and making it ready for publication.
9 Publishing & Game Promotion
Where to publish your game.
10 Game Promotion
Summary of the book.
About GameMaker
(Edited From Wikipedia) CC-SA 3.0
GameMaker Studio (formerly Animo until 1999, Game Maker until 2011, GameMaker until 2012, and GameMaker: Studio until 2017) is a cross-platform game engine developed by YoYo Games. I’m showing my age here, but vagely remember Animo, and have followed it’s progression since then.
GameMaker accommodates the creation of cross-platform and multi-genre video games using a custom drag-and-drop visual programming language or a scripting language known as Game Maker Language, which can be used to develop more advanced games that could not be created just by using the drag and drop features. GameMaker was originally designed to allow novice computer programmers to be able to make computer games without much programming knowledge by use of these actions. Recent versions of software also focus on appealing to advanced developers.