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GameMaker Cookbook

GameMaker Cookbook

By : Gardiner
5 (1)
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GameMaker Cookbook

GameMaker Cookbook

5 (1)
By: Gardiner

Overview of this book

GameMaker: Studio started off as a tool capable of creating simple games using a drag-and-drop interface. Since then, it has grown to become a powerful instrument to make release-ready games for PC, Mac, mobile devices, and even current-gen consoles. GameMaker is designed to allow its users to develop games without having to learn any of the complex programming languages such as C++ or Java. It also allows redistribution across multiple platforms. This book teaches you to harness GameMaker: Studio’s full potential and take your game development to new heights. It begins by covering the basics and lays a solid foundation for advanced GameMaker concepts. Moving on, it covers topics such as controls, physics, and advanced movement, employing a strategic approach to the learning curve. The book concludes by providing insights into complex concepts such as the GUI, menus, save system, lighting, particles, and VFX. By the end of the book, you will be able to design games using GameMaker: Studio and implement the same techniques in other games you intend to design.
Table of Contents (12 chapters)
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Preface
Preface
What this book covers
What you need for this book
Who this book is for
Sections
Conventions
Reader feedback
Customer support
Free Chapter
1
1. Game Plan – Creating Basic Gameplay
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1. Game Plan – Creating Basic Gameplay
Introduction
Animating a sprite
Moving your player
Adding projectiles
Creating hazards
Programming basic enemies
Setting up player health and lives
Creating scoring mechanism
Creating win/lose scenarios
2
2. It's Under Control – Exploring Various Control Schemes
2. It's Under Control – Exploring Various Control Schemes
Introduction
Creating 2D movement
Adding a Run button
Making your character jump
Using a point-and-click interface
Following the cursor
Setting up a controller
Utilizing analogue joystick acceleration
Adding tap control
Using swipes
Moving characters or objects by tilting a device
3
3. Let's Move It – Advanced Movement and Layout
3. Let's Move It – Advanced Movement and Layout
Introduction
Dragging onscreen objects
Dragging objects on a grid
Moving a character on a grid
Setting a path
Creating enemy pathfinding
Controlling a character with a mouse and keyboard
4
4. Let's Get Physical – Using GameMaker's Physics System
4. Let's Get Physical – Using GameMaker's Physics System
Introduction
Creating objects that use physics
Alternating gravity
Applying force via magnets
Creating a moving platform
Making a rope
5
5. Now Hear This! – Music and Sound Effects
5. Now Hear This! – Music and Sound Effects
Introduction
Importing and playing background music
Implementing situational sound effects
Adding sound emitters and listeners
Adjusting the listener orientation
Replicating the Doppler effect with emitters
6
6. It's All GUI! - Creating Graphical User Interface and Menus
6. It's All GUI! - Creating Graphical User Interface and Menus
Introduction
Setting up a basic HUD with code
Making your HUD scalable
Using the GUI layer in full screen mode with views
Adding a title screen
Creating splash pages
Adding a game over screen
7
7. Saving the Day – Saving Game Data
7. Saving the Day – Saving Game Data
Introduction
Creating game settings
Making a pause screen
Saving player selection and score
Encrypting and decrypting save data
8
8. Light 'em up! – Enhancing Your Game with Lighting Techniques
8. Light 'em up! – Enhancing Your Game with Lighting Techniques
Introduction
Creating a room with a light switch
Lighting objects with a spot light
Changing day to night
Creating a flashlight
Making a flickering torch
9
9. Particle Man, Particle Man – Adding Polish to Your Game with Visual Effects and Particles
9. Particle Man, Particle Man – Adding Polish to Your Game with Visual Effects and Particles
Introduction
Using particles to simulate kicking up dust
Simulating rainfall
Creating an explosion
Adding screen-shake
Using slow motion
10
10. Hello, World – Creating New Dimensions of Play Through Networking
10. Hello, World – Creating New Dimensions of Play Through Networking
Introduction
Basic networking
Online play
Connecting a client to a server
Setting up asynchronous play for a turn-based game
11
Index
Index

Setting up player health and lives

Any action game involving a player controlled character is likely to have some sort of "health" and "life" system. These are terms long used in video games that are used in conjunction with how your character is abstractly "alive" within the game itself. In reality, health and life in games are simply numbers whereby you lose a chance to play or even the game itself when they reach zero. GameMaker makes keeping track of these numbers quite easy when it comes to the drag and drop actions, so we're going to look at how we can add these elements to our player character.

Getting ready

Since this recipe involves making additions to your existing player character, you don't need to do much. You'll need a sprite to indicate your player's lives (call it spr_life) but other than that all you need to do now is open the obj_player Object Properties window.

How to do it...

  1. In the Create event, from the Score tab, drag and drop the Set Health action into the Actions box and set Health to 100.
  2. From the same tab, drag and drop Set Lives and set it to 3.
  3. Add a Set Variable to the Actions box and set hit to 0.
  4. Click Add Event, then Collision, and select obj_enemy_patrol from the menu.
  5. Add Test Variable to the Actions box and have it check for whether hit equals 0.
  6. Below, drag and drop Start and End Block, and within that block add Set Health with a relative value of -20.
  7. Add Set Variable, setting hit to 1.
  8. Add Set Alarm 1 and set it to 60 steps. Repeat these actions using obj_hazard_spike in place of your enemy.
  9. Add an event for Alarm 1 and drag Set Variable to the Actions box, setting hit to 0.
  10. Add the event Draw GUI and, from the score tab, drag Draw Health to the Actions box.
  11. Make sure Relative is checked and, under the appropriate headings, enter the following values:
    x1: -16
y1: -24
x2: 16
y2: -34
back color: black
bar color: green to red
  12. Drag and drop Draw Life Images to the Actions box and enter the following values:
    x: room_width-64
y: 64
image: spr_life
  13. Create a Step event and add a Test Variable that checks if health is equal to 0.
  14. Below that, drag a Start and End Block and within that block add Set Variable lives to -1 relative, and Set Variable health to 100.

How it works...

Health and lives are very straightforward, with GameMaker doing a lot of the work for you when using the drag and drop actions. Essentially, GameMaker has created the variable health and you've set it to a value of 100. You've also created the variable hit, which you use to control when you can be injured. If hit is set to 0 (off) then you can be hit by an enemy or hazard. If you are hit by one of them you lose 20 health points and the variable hit is set to 1. This is to prevent contact with an enemy continuously draining your health, as it is being checked every step. An alarm is set to 60 steps and at the end of that countdown hit is set back to 0, meaning you can be injured once more.

The Step event is also constantly checking for when your health reaches 0. When it does, the lives variable is decreased by 1 and your health is reset to 100.

There's more...

In this case we set the health bar to a specific coordinate relative to the player's position. This was purely a design choice to show you that you have options. You can set the health bar to a static position on the screen, much like we did for the lives indicator. As for the lives indicator, using the Draw Lives action instead of Draw Life Images allows you to indicate the player's remaining lives with text and numbers.

End of Section 8
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