GameMaker

Studio For Dummies

Michael Rohde

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781118852101
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Programming Games
• Index: Computer Science

Get gaming faster with the official guide to GameMaker: Studio

GameMaker: Studio allows you to create your own games, even with zero coding experience, and GameMaker: Studio For Dummies is a complete guide to the ins and outs of the program. Create the game you've always wanted to play in record time and at a fraction of the cost of traditional game development methods. You'll have the flexibility to develop 2D games for Android, iOS, desktops, and the Web. Gain a professional perspective on this revolutionary path to game creation and publishing.

Using GameMaker: Studio may feel like play, but it's a serious tool that allows you to create, design, develop, and publish your very own games. With the push of a button, the program produces real, executable code for your very own "app store"-ready 2D game, complete and ready for market. GameMaker: Studio For Dummies provides complete and accurate information on how to create classic games and special effects, written in the characteristically easy-to-read Dummies style. Topics include:

• An overview of Studio, and how to get started
• The basic tools and techniques at the core of your design
• Advanced techniques for more seasoned game designers
• An inside look at what the premium upgrades have to offer

GameMaker: Studio makes game design 80% faster than coding for native languages, so you can take your game from concept to market in a matter of weeks. Why waste time and money doing it any other way? Whether you already have great ideas or just want to dabble, GameMaker: Studio For Dummies is the guide that will take you straight to guru status.

Part I

Getting Started with GameMaker: Studio

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.

In this part …

• Get to know GameMaker: Studio.
• See how Sounds, Sprites, Objects, and Rooms work together.

Chapter 1

Introducing GameMaker: Studio

In This Chapter

Coding without coding using Actions

Coding by coding with GameMaker Language

Getting your game into players’ hands

Identifying the major features of GameMaker: Studio

Looking at the main steps of creating a game

GameMaker: Studio software, from YoYo Games, is a game development tool that enables you to make video games. At the Game Developers Conference (GDC), I had an opportunity to meet with key players from YoYo Games. I saw firsthand the level of excitement this team from Dundee, Scotland has. It’s as if each of them embodied the spirit of a magical dragon, circling high overhead a misty mountaintop, ready to breathe down green flames of magical energy to level up all game developers with enhanced game-making attributes.

All game developers can benefit from GameMaker: Studio. Whether you’re a professional developer looking to enter the videogame community, or a university student interested in breaking into the videogame field, or a 10-year-old with no coding experience at all, GameMaker: Studio has the tools you need to make your vision a reality.

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Looking to the future

When I met with members of the YoYo team during GDC, I walked away with the feeling that this is a team with a dream. While I spoke to them, in the background, they had a PS4 setup running games made with GameMaker. They were telling me that it’s only a matter of time before everyone with a PS4 will be able to purchase and download those games. These are exciting times when a person with a Sony developers license can make her own games, whether it be from the office or the kitchen table, and then play it on a major console.

YoYo Games sees a day when any self-starter, of any age, can make a game with GameMaker: Studio, play it on his Nintendo 3DS, show it to his friends, and then possibly put it up for sale on the eShop. This is the direction we, as a gaming community, are headed: Independent developers have a spotlight shining on them, and it’s time to show the world what you can do.

As you start to think about your own possibilities for making games, keep these words of inspiration fresh in your mind:

• Start with the free version of GameMaker: Studio, and then keep growing and adding on as you make your way to becoming a professional.
• Hard work is what it’s all about — you’ll get out of it what you put into it.
• Include your own special touch in each of your games to make them unique and special.
• You can work your way up in the game development industry. Start out as a tester and then climb the ladder to becoming a developer.
• You don’t have to join a big company anymore to make a living making games. You just need the passion and desire to make the best game you can. The exploding indie scene opens game development up to everyone.

YoYo Games is looking forward to seeing the games you make so it can feature them on www.yoyogames.com. The YoYo Games website has a Showcase of games, along with YoYo Labs, where you can find open-source games. It also has a lively community in the forums and Help pages. Who knows? One day you might even see your game available for sale on your favorite console or handheld device!

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Dragging and Dropping Your Way to Making a Game

You can make games with GameMaker: Studio without knowing code! That’s because GameMaker uses the drag-and-drop Actions (see Chapter 4). You use Actions to tell GameMaker how, what, when, and where you want something to happen during your game. When you create an Action, GameMaker creates the code for you in the background. For example, say you create an Action so that when the player presses the spacebar, she shoots bullets from her plane. When you make that Action, GameMaker creates the code that causes the plane to shoot a bullet when the player presses the spacebar. In that way, using the drag-and-drop Actions enables the non-developer to develop code.

The drag-and-drop Actions are also good for developers who do know how to code but want a quick and efficient way to write large blocks of code. For example, a developer could sit down and write out the code by hand, which can be timely and can lead to typos and errors. Or, she can use the drag-and-drop Actions to create those same blocks of code, which can take seconds instead of hours.

Understanding the GameMaker Language

The drag-and-drop Actions provide a quick and easy way to create code. But you should start your game-making adventure with an open mind for learning how to code because, ultimately, it will benefit you and your games. Plus, by learning code, you gain a better appreciation for how the Actions work.

I’m not a developer, but I’m f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Getting Started with GameMaker: Studio
• Part II: Basic Tools and Techniques
• Part III: Creating Special Effects
• Part IV: Coding Physics, Mobile Controls, and More
• Part V: The Part of Tens
• About the Author
• Cheat Sheet
• More Dummies Products
• End User License Agreement