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

Following the cursor


As long as we're using the mouse, we may as well look into further uses for our favorite peripheral. Some games, like the brick breaker subgenre, may use the mouse without relying on the mouse buttons. As you move your mouse left and right, your paddle moves correspondently onscreen, allowing you to bounce a ball upwards toward bricks. You know…the ones you want to break. Tennis-style games like Pong work on the same basic principle, only on a different axis. If you've ever wanted to revisit this classic control scheme, now is as good a time as any.

Getting ready

We won't get into creating a full Pong or brick breaker style game at this point; we only want to learn how the paddle moves. In this case, we'll make a paddle that moves along the x axis. That said, all you need is a sprite and object named in the vein of _paddle and you're set.

How to do it...

Get ready for this one, it may take a while.

  1. In obj_paddle add a Step event.

  2. Place a code block in the Actions box and enter...