GameMaker Programming By Example

Book excerpt: Master the development of 2D games by learning to use the powerful GameMaker Language and tools provided by the GameMaker: Studio workspace and engine! About This Book Rapidly develop games using the powerful yet easy easy-to to-use GameMaker: Studio engine Comprehensive: This is a comprehensive guide to help you learn and implement GameMaker's features. Go through step-by-step tutorials to design and develop unique games Who This Book Is For If you have at least some basic programming experience of JavaScript or any other C-like languages, then this book will be great for you. No experience beyond that is assumed. If you have no game development experience and are looking for a hobby, are an experienced game developer looking to master some advanced features, or fit anywhere in that spectrum, then you will find GameMaker: Studio and this book to be very useful in helping you create exciting games. What You Will Learn Understand the GameMaker: Studio interface and tools to quickly create the various assets used in your games Translate some of the GameMaker: Studio drag and drop functions to the GameMaker language Create games with random elements for exciting gameplay Use the basic GameMaker file I/O and encryption systems Utilize the GameMaker networking functions to create multiplayer games Give AI routines to your enemies to make challenging gameplay Create particle systems to give your game exciting graphics Understand the various debugging techniques available in GameMaker: Studio In Detail This book is excellent resource for developers with any level of experience of GameMaker. At the start, we'll provide an overview of the basic use of GameMaker: Studio, and show you how to set up a basic game where you handle input and collisions in a top-down perspective game. We continue on to showcase its more advanced features via six different example projects. The first example game demonstrates platforming with file I/O, followed by animation, views, and multiplayer networking. The next game illustrates AI and particle systems, while the final one will get you started with the built-in Box2D physics engine. By the end of this book, you have mastered lots of powerful techniques that can be utilized in various 2D games. Style and approach A This step-by-step guide that follows and with details ons different topics throughout the creation of various examples.