Game maker

Creating a game in Game Maker does not require prior knowledge of any of the programming languages .

The Game Maker interface combines editors of sprites , objects , rooms , scripts , as well as timelines (sequences of actions with a time reference), paths (routes) of movement and constants.

A game in Game Maker is built as a set of game objects . Sprites are responsible for their appearance, and behavior is defined by describing reactions to events . To do this, you can use the graphical representation of the programs (close to the flowcharts ) in the form of a sequence of action icons. Programming using actions takes place in drag-n-drop mode . For example, in order to start a conditional statement, you need to drag an octagon with an icon indicating the type of check, and then, perhaps, enter some values ​​in the form that appears. For more advanced users, there is a GML scripting language similar to JavaScript , it is possible to create your own action libraries using the Library Maker .

The concept of an object in Game Maker basically corresponds to the concept of a class in object-oriented programming , objects can be inherited from each other. Instances of objects can be placed in the game space using the room editor , or created dynamically. If there is only one instance of an object in the current room, it can be accessed using the generic name of the object, class, if there are several such instances, to access a specific instance we need to know its numerical identifier , using it as a reference to the object.

Starting with the eighth version, there is support for the alpha channel (before that, the color of the upper left pixel was taken as transparent). The built-in sprite editor itself is a complete raster graphics editor .

The game has one or more rooms, one of which is current. Rooms have their own coordinate system, counting is from the upper left corner. In this space, there are objects. Objects can also be permanent, that is, do not disappear with transitions between rooms.

Game Maker has its own sound system that supports various file formats. However, it is not effective, which is why many libraries have been created, and a new sound system has been introduced in Game Maker: Studio .

In addition to the above, there are other types of game elements that are available when you turn on the advanced mode: particle systems , time lines, paths, scripts and fonts . In GameMaker, all code is executed on the fly, so you can execute GML scripts from external files, create new in-game objects and set their behavior. There is a type of surface containing graphic information with which you can carry out many manipulations.

The GML language includes tools for loading and using external dynamic libraries , which allows you to expand the Game Maker procedures and functions written in other languages. External DLLs, together with the GML binding, can be compiled into the GameMaker extension package.

1999 First Version

In the summer of 1999, work began on Game Maker (it was originally called Animo, because at first there was an idea to create a simple system for creating two-dimensional animation). The first public implementation was version 1.1 ( November 15 , 1999 ). This version already had a simplified built-in programming language, but DirectX was not used and it did not allow creating stand-alone executable programs - games simply started in the main program window. Quite quickly, versions 1.2, 1.2a, 1.3 were created. The program remained little known, in December 1999 Game Maker was downloaded only 366 times.

2000

Version 1.4 was the first implementation that attracted attention. The program began to be downloaded more often: (1000 in February 2000, 1500 in March 2000, 2000 in June 2000, 8000 in August 2000). Version 2.0 was released in September 2000. For the whole of 2000, the program was downloaded from the author’s site approximately 40,000 times.

2001

In version 3.0, DirectX was first used to display graphics. The popularity of the game engine grew rapidly. In March 2001, the program was downloaded approximately 14,000 times, and already in June 2001 the number of downloads increased to 21,000. In the same year, additional versions 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 were released. In January 2001, it was rewritten from scratch, taking into account the knowledge acquired by the author in previous years. The program interface was completely changed, the new implementation was not compatible with the old version. Version 4.0 was released in July 2001. Version 4.1 appeared in December 2001 (multiplayer support added). In December 2001, 32,000 downloads were recorded. For the whole of 2001, the program was downloaded approximately 270,000 times.

2002

Version 4.2 was released in April 2002. The main feature is the stability of the work. Version 4.3 appeared in November 2002. The program is more popular than ever. The program is currently downloaded approximately 2,000 times every day. The number of views on the main author’s page increased from 2000 in October 2000 to 70,000 in October 2002.

2003

Since January 2003, the author has been asking for donations because the costs of developing Game Maker and community support have been increasing all the time. Game Maker now has its own domain: www.gamemaker.nl. In April version 5.0 appeared. It includes a voluntary registration mechanism, but the program can still be used for free.

At the end of August, Game Maker was shown on TechTV, which caused an excessive load on the project’s website; 5,000 people tried to download the program at the same time. Version 5.1 was released in September, expanded, in particular, by supporting particle systems and the ability to replace resources on the fly. Some advanced features became unavailable to unregistered users. A new (paid) forum has appeared.

In December version 5.2 appeared with an improved room editor and additional actions for particles. There are functions for working with data structures. For the whole of 2003, the program was downloaded approximately 1,700,000 times (approximately 5,000 per day). The program is used in a school course in computer science in many countries of the world.

2004

In April version 5.3 appeared with an improved path editor and motion planning. The help file now has the HTML help format (.CHM). In April, work began on version 6.0, in which the graphics subsystem was rewritten using Direct3D. This significantly improved the quality and capabilities of the graphics (quick and easy support for alpha transparency, repainting sprites on the fly, etc.). The new version includes a set of functions for 3D graphics. The sound engine has also been rewritten. The registration system has also been rewritten and additional coding has been added. Version 6.0 appeared in October 2004. Due to the popularity of Game Maker, the forum was overloaded and it became impossible to use. In November 2004, the forum was moved to a new server. In 2004, the number of downloads of Game Maker was approximately 1,600,000 . Almost as much as the previous year. The author’s site is visited approximately 10,000 times a day.

2005

In May 2005, Game Maker 6.0 was released with an improved image editor, a simple mechanism for explosions and effects, surface rendering, and many small changes and bug fixes.

In July 2005, Game Maker was shown on G4TV. During the day, the number of site views and program downloads tripled (approximately 26,000 views per day).

In August 2005, the number of page views on the Game Maker site reached 10,000,000 (since October 2000). The constant number of page views per day is 11.000. Also in August, a game created on Game Maker, called Duch Doom, was shown on G4TV. They mentioned the forum, which almost led to its collapse. At one point there were more than 800 simultaneous visitors.

In September 2005, Game Maker was featured in five episodes of the Danish television program. Also, a one-day conference was held in Australia, which was largely devoted to the use of Game Maker in education.

2006

Mark Overmars and Jacob Hubgood write a book - The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners published by APress at the end of June 2006. In March 2006, the GameMaker website was transferred to a faster server. The number of page views is now approximately 25,000 per day, about 200,000 unique visitors per month. The site uses approximately 600 GB of bandwidth per month. Downloads remain constant at around 4,000 per day. Since the summer, work has been done on version 7.0. The main improvement is the extension mechanism, which will facilitate the addition of additional functionality. beta appeared in early November.

2007

On February 28th, Game Maker 7.0 was released through the new YoYo Games website.

In May 2007 www.gamemaker.nl - the official Game Maker website ceases to exist. Now the official representative of Game Maker is www.yoyogames.com .

Six months after the creation of yoyogames.com, there are more than 5,000 games downloaded, on average, 50 a day. Approximately 200,000 pages per day are viewed. Game Maker is downloaded 3,000 times a day. The forum has registered about 40,000 participants, at any time there are 200-250 participants at the forum, 1,500 topics have been created.

At the end of the year, the first competition (YoYoGames competition 01) was held, the theme of which was “winter”. The winner of the main prize ($ 1,000) was the developer of 2dCube.

2008

March. YoYo Games celebrates its "anniversary" - 100,000 registered users.

The following two competitions were held: YoYoGames competition 02 and, accordingly, YoYoGames competition 03.

2009

In the spring, YoYo Games announced the development of version 8.0. Initially, an application for developing sprites was released for open beta testing separately from the program, and a beta version of the constructor itself was published on July 3.

On December 22, 2009, the final Game Maker 8.0 was released. ^[1] . The main innovations of the new version are the updated interface with a learning panel on the side, an expanded list of functions and a graphical editor with a separately configured alpha color (before, in order to give the sprite invisible details to change its shape, one of the colors had to be invisible), as well as the correction of errors from the previous one version (for example, fixed the possibility of passing objects through each other at high speed).

2011

Version 8.1 has been released with a long list of fixes and additions. The transition to Unicode has been made, 3d functions have been accelerated, the room editor has been improved, the speed of the code editor has been increased, and new functions have been added.

Also released version of GameMaker: HTML5. This version allows you to create applications for both Windows and applications that run in browsers. JavaScript code is generated for html5 , which allows you to use applications on any browser that supports html5, without using additional plug-ins.

This is where the story of a regular Game Maker ends. Further development of the project: Game Maker: Studio .

There are also open more or less close in capabilities and purpose game designers , the most popular of them, perhaps, Construct and Game Editor . As an alternative to GM: HTML5, you can use the free Tululoo Game Maker constructor ^[2] , which generates pure JavaScript code.

The goal of the ENIGMA Development Environment ^[3] project is to create a game development environment as close as possible to the original Game Maker. Enigma translates GML scripts into C code, followed by compilation using gcc .

The concept of "programming from cubes" by the drag-n-drop method is used in a number of educational programming environments, one of the most popular is the Scratch programming language distributed by MIT .

It is worth noting such an amateur project as written in 2010 on GameMaker Noobster ^[4] - written on GameMaker as “the simplest (in every sense) constructor in the world” ^[5] .

• Game maker language
• Game Maker: Studio

• Jacob Habgood, Mark Overmars. The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners. - Apress, 2006 .-- 336 p. - ISBN 978-1590596159 .

• yoyogames.com - Official site.
  • help.yoyogames.com/home - The Official Wiki
  • forum.yoyogames.com - The official community
• gmtoolbox.com - Site of extensions / libraries-DLLs / examples for Game Maker 7th and 8th versions (partially suitable for Game Maker Studio)
• www.gmlscripts.com - Collection of various scripts
• xtreme3d.ru - Actual engine for developing 3D games on GameMaker

Russian-language sites

• www.game-maker.ru Website about Game Maker - creation of games. A huge selection of examples, source codes, lessons, articles, games created on Game Maker. As well as news, contests, books, magazines from the world of GM.
• http://forum.hellroom.ru The largest active forum. It also has its own closed school in the GML scripting language.
• mail-run.ru - Game Maker 8.0 Pro School - 17 2D lessons - platformers
• Infernal Game Maker VKontakte Active Group