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GameMaker Cookbook

GameMaker Cookbook

By : Gardiner
5 (1)
Buy this Book
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GameMaker Cookbook

GameMaker Cookbook

5 (1)
By: Gardiner
Buy this Book

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
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Preface
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What this book covers
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What you need for this book
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Who this book is for
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Sections
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Conventions
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Reader feedback
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Customer support
Free Chapter
1
1. Game Plan – Creating Basic Gameplay
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1. Game Plan – Creating Basic Gameplay
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Introduction
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Animating a sprite
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Moving your player
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Adding projectiles
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Creating hazards
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Programming basic enemies
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Setting up player health and lives
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Creating scoring mechanism
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Creating win/lose scenarios
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2. It's Under Control – Exploring Various Control Schemes
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2. It's Under Control – Exploring Various Control Schemes
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Introduction
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Creating 2D movement
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Adding a Run button
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Making your character jump
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Using a point-and-click interface
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Following the cursor
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Setting up a controller
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Utilizing analogue joystick acceleration
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Adding tap control
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Using swipes
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Moving characters or objects by tilting a device
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3. Let's Move It – Advanced Movement and Layout
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3. Let's Move It – Advanced Movement and Layout
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Introduction
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Dragging onscreen objects
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Dragging objects on a grid
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Moving a character on a grid
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Setting a path
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Creating enemy pathfinding
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Controlling a character with a mouse and keyboard
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4. Let's Get Physical – Using GameMaker's Physics System
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4. Let's Get Physical – Using GameMaker's Physics System
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Introduction
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Creating objects that use physics
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Alternating gravity
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Applying force via magnets
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Creating a moving platform
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Making a rope
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5. Now Hear This! – Music and Sound Effects
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5. Now Hear This! – Music and Sound Effects
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Introduction
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Importing and playing background music
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Implementing situational sound effects
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Adding sound emitters and listeners
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Adjusting the listener orientation
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Replicating the Doppler effect with emitters
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6. It's All GUI! - Creating Graphical User Interface and Menus
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6. It's All GUI! - Creating Graphical User Interface and Menus
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Introduction
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Setting up a basic HUD with code
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Making your HUD scalable
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Using the GUI layer in full screen mode with views
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Adding a title screen
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Creating splash pages
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Adding a game over screen
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7. Saving the Day – Saving Game Data
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7. Saving the Day – Saving Game Data
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Introduction
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Creating game settings
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Making a pause screen
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Saving player selection and score
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Encrypting and decrypting save data
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8. Light 'em up! – Enhancing Your Game with Lighting Techniques
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8. Light 'em up! – Enhancing Your Game with Lighting Techniques
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Introduction
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Creating a room with a light switch
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Lighting objects with a spot light
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Changing day to night
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Creating a flashlight
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Making a flickering torch
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9. Particle Man, Particle Man – Adding Polish to Your Game with Visual Effects and Particles
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9. Particle Man, Particle Man – Adding Polish to Your Game with Visual Effects and Particles
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Introduction
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Using particles to simulate kicking up dust
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Simulating rainfall
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Creating an explosion
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Adding screen-shake
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Using slow motion
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10. Hello, World – Creating New Dimensions of Play Through Networking
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10. Hello, World – Creating New Dimensions of Play Through Networking
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Introduction
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Basic networking
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Online play
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Connecting a client to a server
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Setting up asynchronous play for a turn-based game
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Index
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Index

Creating scoring mechanism

In the days of arcades, a high score was king. It wasn't enough to beat a game; you had to get in the top 10 highest scores in order to claim local fame. Once your score was high enough to knock someone out of the top ten, the victory could be finalized by putting your initials next to it. Or a dirty word. Not that I've ever done that….

Regardless, a lot of games today don't rely on a scoring system, but focus on the story, experience, or multiplayer rankings. Let's bring back a little piece of gaming history by creating a simple scoring mechanism.

Getting ready

This recipe does not involve any new sprites or other assets but does require a new object. Call the object obj_score and leave the sprite box blank.

How to do it...

  1. In the Object Properties for obj_score, add a Create event.
  2. Drag Set Score from the Score tab to the Actions box, and have it set the score to 0.
  3. Create a Draw GUI event and drag Draw Score to the Actions tab with the following values:
    x: 32
y: 32
caption: Score:
  4. Close the obj_score Object Properties window and open obj_enemy_patrol.
  5. Add a Collision event with obj_projectile and, from the Main1 tab, drag and drop Destroy Instance to the Actions box (Applies to: self).
  6. Drag Set Score to the Actions box and change the new score to 10 relative.
  7. Close the Object Properties window and open obj_projectile.
  8. Add a Collision event with obj_enemy_patrol and drag and drop Destroy instance at Position like you did previously.

How it works...

GameMaker is again doing a lot of the heavy lifting, here. You created obj_score to keep track of scoring. Not assigning a sprite to it will allow the object to be in a room, affecting the game, without being seen. The rest of the recipe is simply placing the score counter as a GUI element, checking for collisions between projectile and enemy, and adding points and destroying the two when they collide.

There's more...

In this recipe, obj_score acted as what's referred to as a controller object. These objects are often invisible and control specific aspects of the game. Since an object needs to be active in order for its actions and variables to be used, any aspect of the game that needs to be present without interruption should be assigned to a controller. I use controllers for music, HUD, global variables, and more.

See also

Most chapters going forward will deal with controllers and their various functions.

End of Section 9
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