Well that and file size.
Anyways seeing as there are multiple GM projects going on I thought I'd start writing up info on anything anyone asks me about so I don't have to explain the same thing to multiple people.
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Start with the basics
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I'm sorry to say this but I don't no how anything in gamemaker works, I just got it and that's why I'm having other people program my game, do you think I should learn gamemaker first? if so how long do you think it will take?
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I'm currently working alongside two people in the production of a fixed shooter game. Both of which are completely new to Game Maker. From my observations your ability to master Game Maker comes completely from your own ability to learn. Using Game Maker is really just manipulating Algebra equations to produce visual effects. So the more math strong you are the easier this will be for you.
And yes. You should learn how to program yourself. Do not bother with Drag n Drop. It's best to go directly into coding. The only features you should use for objects are the Create and Step Events. And the only Action in either of those Events should be the Execute Code Action.
The best way to learn how to program is by trying to code random things yourself. The best project for learning is a simple platform game. Though if you don't know how to program that can be problematic.
Say you want your character to move left when you hold down the left arrow here is what you would do:
In the Step Event of your character in the Execute Code Action you would write:
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if keyboard_check(vk_left) x-=2;
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Okay first off let me explain the Step Event. The Step Event means all of its actions are executed each step of the game. A step is how fast your game computes everything. The default speed of a room is 30. So there are 30 steps in one second. So if you held down the left key for a whole second then the code we wrote would be executed 30 times.
Now let me explain
if.
if tells the program to compute something only if all its conditions are met. Our condition in the above code is
keyboard_check(
vk_left). If all we put was
x-=2; then our character would move to the left forever. But by putting the condition that the left key must be held down we now have more control over our player.
Now I will explain
x-=2;
x is a variable already defined by Game Maker. If you've ever taken Algebra you'll know that anything can be a variable. MoomooActionCow could be our variable, but we'd have to define it.
x on the other hand is already defined and is a lot easier to use.
x in Game Maker refers to the
x axis. If you've ever done graphs in math then you know what the
x and
y axises are.
x is the horizontal path of left and right while
y is the vertical path of up and down. By default in Game Maker every object's
x starts to the very left and its
y starts at the very top. So adding to
x moves to the right. While adding to
y moves downwards.
x-axis
-2 -1 0 1 2
y-axis
-2
-1
0
1
2
The last part you see in our code is
x-=2;
What we're doing here is taking our object's
x and subtracting 2 from it. That way we can move it to the left. Though be careful to write it as -=2 instead of =-2
If you mistakenly wrote it as =-2 then you would be setting your object's
x to -2 instead of subtracting it by two. That would make your object teleport to the left side of the screen and just stay there.
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I hope this has helped you. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
GML: The only limit is your imagination.
It is important to make sure when you're coding that your code stays tidy, and comments are your friends! Although you may think you don't need to worry about any of that because you know what your code does, if you ask someone else for help they'll find it a lot easier to help you if your code makes sense. And remember, if you're working on a big project you may have to go back to your old code months after you wrote it, and it might not make as much sense now as it did back then.
