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

Creating enemy pathfinding


In games, there are several ways to move enemies around the playable area. In Chapter 1, Game Plan – Creating Basic Gameplay, we discussed a simple way of using the x and y coordinates. In the previous recipe, we discussed setting paths, which can also be used to shuttle enemies around the screen for your player to avoid or destroy. These are both good options, depending on what you want for your game, but what about enemies that can actually navigate a level, avoid obstacles, and pursue the player? Let's add some depth to a top-down game by creating a slightly more complex enemy AI.

Getting ready

First, you'll need a character object called obj_player that can move in four directions (with collision detection), and an enemy object called obj_enemy. Once again, I've animated the player character using the 3/4 top-down sprites from previous recipes. For the enemy sprite, though, let's take a red circle and add a line (the one with the arrow) to the right side of the...