Game Maker Tutorial

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Game Maker Tutorial
2
Where to Get..

• Game Maker Tutorials
• http//ictmindtools.net/gamemaker/tutorials/
• Introduction   Clickball  
• Where is it?   Shooting  
• Maze Game  Monsters  Maze Game 2  
• Scoring Lives   Sprites   Platform Moves  
  Jumping  
• Ladders   Backgrounds   Variables  
• Programming   Challenges
• Game Maker 8.0 Download
• http//www.yoyogames.com/

3
Introduction

• User Interface
• rooms the scenes (levels) in which the objects
  live
• backgrounds the images used as background for
  the rooms
• objects the things in the game
• instances one particular occurrence of an object
  
• sprites images that are used to show the objects
  
• sounds these can be used in games, either as
  background music or as effects
• scripts small pieces of code that can be used
  to extend the possibilities of your game

4
Your First Game

• Step 1 Set up the Game area
• Start Game Maker and create a room where the
  action will happen
• Click the 'Add Room' icon
• Choose a background colour
• In settings, make the room caption 'Catch the
  Ball'

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Your First Game

• Step 2 Add in the Sprites you need - a ball and
  a wall
• Click the 'Add Sprite' icon
• Name it sprBall
• Click Load Sprite, and find the ball image.
• We also need a wall sprite.
• Find it in the Pacman folder.
• Name it sprWall
• Naming Sprites, Sounds Objects
• every sprite ? sprXXXX
• the sounds ? sndXXXX
• the objects ? objXXXX.

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Your First Game

• Step 3 Create the objects
• create ball and wall objects
• need an object to put in your game. 
• A sprite just represents the object.
• Click the Add Object icon
• Name it objBall
• Choose the Ball sprite to represent the object
• don't make it solid. (It's best not to make
  moving objects solid.)
• It interferes with the Game Maker collision
  detection system and your object may become
  'stuck'
• Add in a wall object. 
• Name it objWall, choose the Wall sprite, and make
  it solid.

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Your First Game

• Step 4 add them to the room
• Put it in the room and add a wall
• Open the room
• Add in a ball (left click)
• Delete (right click)
• Add in walls (hold Shift and click)
• Copy Multiple Object (Shift Left click)
• Move Object (Ctrl Left Click)

8
Your First Game

• Step 5 Set up the Events for when your game is
  played
• Events are the things that happen in your game.
• We want the ball to start moving in a random
  direction.
• Open the properties for the ball object
• Add in an Event for when the ball is created.
• Choose start moving in all directions at speed 8
• the ball moves 8 pixels for each step of the
  game. 
• If the game is running at the normal speed of 30
  frames per second, then there will be 30 steps
  every second. 
• You can change the game speed in the settings tab
  of the room properties    

9
Your First Game

• Step 6 set a bounce action for when the ball
  collides with the wall.
• Add in an event for when the ball collides with
  the wall.
• Set the ball to bounce.
• Step 7 add score
• Add in an event to the ball object for when the
  left mouse button is pressed.
• Set the score to 1, but make sure you choose
  Relative.
• Left Button vs Left Press ??
• Relative vs Absolute ??

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Your First Game

• Step 8 add alarm
• Approx every second we will make the ball change
  direction. 
• setting an alarm clock to trigger an event every
  second.
• set the alarm clock when the game first starts,
• each time the alarm goes we will make the ball
  change direction
• reset the alarm.

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Your First Game

• Step 9 add sounds
• set a sound(sndBeef1) for when the ball collides
  with the wall.
• set a sound(sndGunshot1) to the ball object for
  when the left mouse button is pressed.
• Create beef1 and gunshot1 sounds
• the collision event with the wall
• Play sndBeef1
• the left button press event
• Play sndGunshot1

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Your First Game

• Step 10 setting a background
• improve the appearance by setting a background.
• Step 11 add information
• add information to tell the user how to play the
  game

13
Your First Game

• Step 12 Ending your Game
• Let's say we want the game to end when the
  player's score is 20.
• Each time we add to the score, we will check
  whether the score is equal to 20 Ending the Game
  more Gracefully
• Extension
• improve the Ending Game by creating a text object
  and putting it in an ending room

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Your First Game

• Extension
• Making your Ball Bounce Accurately off Walls
• you need to treat horizontal and vertical walls
  separately. 
• Create sprites and objects for a ball, a
  horizontal wall block and a vertical wall block.
• Add a room and draw a box around the ball using
  the sprites.
• start the ball moving in a random direction and
  set events to make the ball bounce

15
Shooting

• In this exercise we are going to have a monster
  that shoots a bullet.
• Create a new game with a bullet and monster
  sprite and a bullet and monster object.
• You can find the sprites in the Breakout folder
• Place the monster object in a room

16
Shooting

• Open the properties window for the Monster
  object.
• Add a keypress event for when the space bar is
  pressed.
• Choose the Main1 tab, and choose the 'Create an
  Instance of an Object'
• Select the following options

17
Shooting

• Now we need to make the bullet move.
• Open the properties window for the objBullet.
• Add a create event.
• From the movement tab, choose Set the Vertical
  Speed
• Set the speed to be -6 
• Making the vertical speed -6 means the bullet
  will move upwards

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Shooting

• After the bullet disappears from the play area,
  even though we can't see it, it is still in the
  game moving upwards forever
• adding an event to destroy the bullet after it
  leaves the play area.
• Open the properties for objBullet.
• Add an 'Other' Event gt Choose Outside Room
• From the Main1 tab, choose Destroy the Instance

19
Shooting

• Making an explosion when the bullet hits
  something
• Add bullet and animated explosion sprites and
  objects to your game
• Place the bullet at the bottom of the room and
  make it move up the screen
• We want the bullet to explode when it is 50
  pixels from the top of the screen.

20
Shooting

• Blocks of Code
• You will notice in the code above the actions for
  starting and ending a block of code
• if the question at the top is true,
• the entire block of code (all the actions) will
  be executed,
• otherwise if the question is false,
• none of it will be executed.

21
Shooting

• Changing Direction of Sprites
• this plane appears to be flying upwards
• When you change directions to fly left, it does
  not look right, so you need a sprite that looks
  like this
• To do this you must first create the sprites to
  face in each of the directions. 
• change the sprite for the object whenever the
  left, right, up or down keys are pressed.
• stop your object to stop  moving when you are no
  longer pressing a key and you would like the
  object to change to a 'stopped' sprite.   

22
Shooting

• Extension
• Shooting in the Direction You are Facing ??
• It can be quite challenging to make your
  character shoot in the direction it is facing.

23
Maze Game

• Add 2 rooms Set the room size to be 480x480
  pixels and set the grid to be 32x32 pixels
• adding 3 sprite
• sprWall sprPerson sprTarget
• Create objects
• Now create a wall object Name it objWall
• Use the wall sprite
• Make it solid (so things can't pass through it)
• Create the person object Name it objPerson
• Use the person sprite
• Create a target object Name it objTarget
• The target object should not be solid, as the
  player needs to be able to move on top of it. 
  When the player collides with the target object,
  the game will continue on to the next room.

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Maze Game

• Set up movement for the person
• Add an event to the person object for the
  Keyboard  ltLeftgt
• Add the action from the Control tab 'If instance
  is aligned with grid
• Set the snap horizontal and snap vertical to be
  32 pixels.
• Add a start moving in direction
• Set the direction to be left and speed to be 4
• Add actions for the up, down and right keys. 
  (You can use the duplicate event option to make
  this job easier)
• To stop the person moving
• add actions for the ltNo Keygt event
• Click the centre block in the 'Start moving in a
  direction' options.

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Maze Game

• Set up collision handling
• If the person collides with a wall it should
  stop, so add a collision event
• Add a collision event to the target object for a
  collision with objPerson

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Maze Game

• Draw 2 maze-like rooms
• making sure that you have walls all around the
  outside. 
• Place the person and target at the beginning and
  end of your maze

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Monsters

• Add in 2 sprites
• one facing left and the other facing right
• objMonsterleft, bjMonsterRight
• Make a monster object objMonster
• Add a create event for objMonster
• Add in a Start Moving action
• make it start moving to the right.
• Add a collision event for objMonster
• add in the following actions

Paths are another way of doing the same thing,
but without using collisions with blocks to turn
the monster around.
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Maze Game 2

• To make the maze more interesting, we should be
  collecting diamonds along the way. 
• A door stops the person from getting to the
  target.  When all the diamonds are gone, the door
  disappears.
• The target does not appear in the room until all
  the diamonds are collected. 
• Add 2 new sprites
• sprDoor and sprDiamond 
• Add 2 new objects
• objDoor and objDiamond. 
• Make the door solid as it acts like a wall

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Maze Game 2

• Add sounds
• for picking up the diamonds sndDiamond
• for opening the door sndDoor.
• Place diamonds around your maze.
• The objDiamond should have a collision event with
  the person
• It should then play the diamond sound and destroy
  itself

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Maze Game 2

• Place the door so that it blocks access to the
  target
• Don't put any diamonds on the other side of the
  door!
• In the person object
• add a collision event with the door object,
  stopping the person and aligning it with the
  grid. 
• Just the same as you did with the wall object
• When all the diamonds are gone, the door should
  play a sound and destroy itself. 
• Add the step event to the door object
• Add the 'If the number of instances is a value'
  action.  (On the Control tab) Choose these
  options

Step event occurs once for every step of the
game, which is usually 30 times a second.
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Maze Game 2

• play a sound and destroy the door if there are no
  diamonds left
• add block markers to our actions
•  Save and play your game to test whether it works
  as expected.

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Maze Game 2

• The Target Marker
• use a target that does not appear in the room
  until all the diamonds are collected
• Create a marker sprite and object. 
• Call them sprMarker and objMarker. 
• Make it invisible by unchecking the Visible
  option.
• use the step event
• add an action 'If the number of instances (of the
  diamond) is zero,  Change the Instance to change
  the marker to the actual Target object
• Place the target marker in the room where you
  want the target to appear.

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Reference

• Reference
• http//ictmindtools.net/gamemaker/tutorials/
• http//www.yoyogames.com/make/tutorials
• http//forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic3251.0
  
• http//www.learningplace.com.au/deliver/content.as
  p?pid35421
• http//madebyluke.com/gamedesign/tutorials/index.h
  tml
• http//en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Game_Maker_Programmin
  g
• http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Maker
• http//gamemaker.info/en
• http//www.gmlscripts.com/gm8help/help/index.html