GameMaker

 Introduction

In the first term of school this year, the topic we covered was Game Maker.

In the first few weeks of term, we were all complete rookies at game maker.

We had to complete a number of initial tutorials from the game maker site

before we were allowed to begin our assignments. The first tutorial we 
followed was called "Your first game" and is described on the YoYo Games Website, 

 "This tutorial is meant for people that have problems getting started with 

Game Maker. In very precise steps it helps you create your first game."

The next tutorial was a neat little game called "1945" and is described as
 "an extensive tutorial to show you how to create a scrolling shooter. it also treats a number of aspects of Game Maker like the use of variables, views, an time lines."

After completing the tutorials, we were handed our assignment Task sheets.

Our task was to create a game about whatever we want, Quite a broad and fun assignment. 

Software Package

Game maker is an advanced, yet simple, game Creation program. Game maker was initially released in 1999, and is now up to v8.1. 

Game Maker is a very simple and easy to learn program when beginning, but also a very powerful tool when you become more advanced at it. The Drag and drop interface it uses is great for simple games, wheras the Game Maker Language (GML) is surprisingly powerful.

Assessment Tasks

The assessment task we were set was to design our own Game. The majority of my classmates decided to do a "Maze game". While I decided to branch out and made my own "Platformer", Which was slightly more difficult.

The basic storyline of the game is that the user plays as an adventurer, an "Unnamed Knight" who is strolling through the forest one day and sees a bunch of bandits harassing a Princess. Being the Chivalrous Knight that he is, the Unnamed Knight chases the bandits and attempts to rescue the princess.

Here are some screenshots (Click to enlarge):

Menu Screen

Instructions Menu

Beginner Tutorial Cinematic

First sight of the Princess

Cinematic of Princess being kidnapped

Fighting Bandits

Fighting Demon

Bossfight! :]

 

Personal Review

This term was by far my favourite term this whole year, out of all of my subjects. When i get older, this is exactly what i want to do, develop Video Games. So this term was very interesting and engaging to me. Because game design is what i am interested in doing in the future, this was a very useful set of skills to learn and i have already used them outside of school to a greater extent. Overall i would rate this term a 10/10.


If you're interested in game development, you might like to check out an even more powerful alternative to game maker, Unreal Development Kit. Also, if you found my blog interesting, i suggest you check out Chase Meise's GameMaker Blog.