Book Image

GameMaker Cookbook

Book Image

GameMaker Cookbook

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 (17 chapters)
GameMaker Cookbook
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Introduction


If someone gives you a videogame controller and asks you to play the game, your first question would likely be "How do I play?" This is a simple way of asking "How do I control what I see on the screen?" A game's controls are a major part of the gameplay as your player's input essentially determines everything. An otherwise good game can be rendered unplayable by an awkward or overly complicated control scheme. This is compounded by the push toward touch controls that, especially in the mobile game market, demand a simple interface with a lot of developers opting for a one-touch gameplay.

Just because game controls are trending toward simplistic, it doesn't mean you need to shoehorn your game to work in this fashion. The most important thing about your control setup is that it needs to fit to your game's style. You won't see one-touch controls on a first-person shooter just like you won't see a memory game that requires two joysticks and eight buttons; it just doesn't make sense...