The Game Maker's Apprentice : Game Development for Beginners

The Game Makers Apprentice shows you how to create nine exciting games using the wildly popular Game Maker game creation tool. This book covers a range of genres, including action, adventure, and puzzle games complete with professional quality sound effects and visuals. It discusses game design theory and features practical examples of how this can be applied to making games that are more fun to play. Game Maker allows games to be created using a simple drag-and-drop interface, so you don’t need to have any prior coding experience. It includes an optional programming language for adding advanced features to your games, when you feel ready to do so. You can obtain more information by visiting book.gamemaker.nl. The authors include the creator of the Game Maker tool and a former professional game programmer, so you’ll glean understanding from their expertise. The book also includes a DVD containing Game Maker software and all of the game projects that are created in the book—plus a host of professional-quality graphics and sound effects that you can use in your own games. Cover......Page 1 Title Page......Page 2 Copyright......Page 3 Contents......Page 8 Foreword......Page 15 About the Authors......Page 17 About the Technical Reviewer......Page 18 About the Illustrator......Page 19 Acknowledgments......Page 20 Introduction......Page 21 PART 1 Getting Started......Page 24 Installing the Software......Page 26 Registration......Page 28 Running a Game......Page 29 What’s Next?......Page 31 Designing the Game: Evil Clutches......Page 32 Sprites......Page 33 Objects......Page 36 Rooms......Page 43 Save and Run......Page 45 Demons, Baby Dragons, and Fireballs......Page 47 Backgrounds and Sounds......Page 56 Congratulations......Page 59 PART 2 Action Games......Page 62 Designing the Game: Galactic Mail......Page 64 Sprites and Sounds......Page 65 Moons and Asteroids......Page 68 Flying Around......Page 73 Winning and Losing......Page 79 Finishing Touches......Page 83 Congratulations......Page 86 Designing the Game: Lazarus......Page 88 An Animated Character......Page 89 A Test Environment......Page 95 Falling Boxes......Page 96 Finishing Touches......Page 101 Congratulations......Page 106 What Makes a Good Game?......Page 108 Interactive Challenges......Page 110 Challenges......Page 111 Interactivity......Page 115 Summary......Page 119 PART 3 Level Design......Page 122 Designing the Game: Super Rainbow Reef......Page 124 A Game Framework......Page 126 Bouncing Starfish......Page 130 Biglegs......Page 136 Parent Power......Page 139 Lives......Page 140 Blocks......Page 143 Polishing the Game......Page 146 Congratulations......Page 149 Designing the Game: Koalabr8......Page 150 The Basic Maze......Page 151 Save the Koala......Page 159 Creating Hazards......Page 160 Tiles......Page 163 Adding Additional Hazards......Page 166 Finishing the Game......Page 170 Congratulations......Page 171 Selecting Features......Page 172 Designing Levels......Page 177 Applying It All......Page 183 Summary......Page 186 PART 4 Multiplayer Games......Page 190 Designing the Game: Wingman Sam......Page 192 Variables and Properties......Page 193 The Illusion of Motion......Page 196 Flying Planes......Page 197 Enemies and Weapons......Page 199 Dealing with Damage......Page 202 Time Lines......Page 205 More Enemies......Page 207 End Boss......Page 209 Finishing Touches......Page 211 Congratulations......Page 212 Designing the Game: Tank War......Page 214 Playing with Tanks......Page 215 Firing Shells......Page 218 Secondary Weapons......Page 222 Views......Page 228 Congratulations......Page 233 Competition and Cooperation......Page 234 Balanced Beginnings......Page 237 Balanced Choice......Page 241 Balanced Computer Opponents......Page 243 Summary......Page 244 PART 5 Enemies and Intelligence......Page 246 CHAPTER 12 GML: Become a Programmer......Page 248 Hello World......Page 249 Variables......Page 251 Functions......Page 253 Conditional Statements......Page 255 Repeating Things......Page 257 Arrays......Page 260 Dealing with Other Instances......Page 262 Scripts As Functions......Page 263 Debugging Programs......Page 265 Congratulations......Page 267 Designing the Game: Tic-Tac-Toe......Page 268 The Playing Field......Page 269 Let the Computer Play......Page 274 A Clever Computer Opponent......Page 277 Adaptive Gameplay......Page 279 Congratulations......Page 280 Designing the Game: Pyramid Panic......Page 282 The Basic Framework......Page 283 Creating the Maze and the Explorer......Page 286 Expanding Our Horizons......Page 288 Reactive Behavior......Page 290 Time for Treasure!......Page 292 Movable Blocks......Page 293 Rule-Based Behavior......Page 294 Dealing with States......Page 300 Let There Be Light......Page 307 Looking to the Future......Page 312 Creating Resources......Page 314 The Game Maker Community......Page 317 Good Luck......Page 319 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 320 INDEX......Page 322 If the book has a mention of a CD,please look for its contents in extras.springer.com . The link is included in the copyright page of the book. The Game Makers Apprentice shows you how to create nine exciting games using the wildly popular Game Maker game creation tool. This book covers a range of genres, including action, adventure, and puzzle games complete with professional quality sound effects and visuals. It discusses game design theory and features practical examples of how this can be applied to developing games that are more fun to play. Game Maker allows games to be created using a simple drag-and-drop interface, so you dont need to have any prior coding experience. It includes an optional programming language for adding advanced features to your games, when you feel ready to do so. You can obtain more information by visiting book.gamemaker.nl. The authors include the creator of the Game Maker tool and a former professional game programmer, so youll glean understanding from their expertise. The book also includes supplementary materials (on Apress.com) containing Game Maker software and all of the game projects that are created in the bookplus a host of professional-quality graphics and sound effects that you can use in your own games. "Game Maker allows you to begin creating games almost immediately, using a simple drag-and-drop system that makes learning to program much easier than traditional programming languages. This book brings together the expertise of Game Maker's creator with a professional game developer to present a complete guide to designing and programming games that are fun to play."--Jacket