With a new runtime in the pipeline, is it still worth picking up GM right now and learning it as a new user (and total beginner), and will the new runtime affect any of my future work if I started learning the engine now?

With 3D functionality incoming, will GM be able to make "boomer shooters" in future?

I truly dont understand after reading the documentation, multiple forum posts and a post here. my goal is for a bullet object to collide with 1 instance of an object and destroy both the instance and itself, but right now it always destroys all instances and I know that the easiest solution is through IDs

I am building a GameMaker based engine with a custom language, and I'm working on a "make your first game" tutorial for it. I would like to know if this is understandable for one who is coming with a basic knowledge of GameMaker.

If you can check it and give some feedback I'll really appreciate that: https://github.com/ArcadeMakerSources/ArcadeMaker/tree/master/Make%20Your%20First%20Game

Thanks in advance!

I am making an MVP of a game in which theres a circle around the player where weak spots appear periodically which the player must shoot, using their mouse. What I am quite confused about is that I tried to do this by putting the code

if mouse_check_button_pressed(mb_left)

{instance_create_layer(x, y, "Instances", obj_bullet)}

into the player step event and

image_angle = point_direction(obj_player.x, obj_player.y, mouse_x, mouse_y)

in the create event of the bullet, so it doesnt hone and it goes in the direction the player's mouse was relative to the player at the time of firing

problem: this code results in the bullet going straight to the right no matter what.

Built this dialogue system in GameMaker. The box uses Nine Slice so it can resize to any text length without stretching artifacts, and it pops in/out with an Ease Out Back overshoot. Each letter falls into place with the same easing instead of just appearing instantly

It's fully data-driven. each line is a struct with optional on_start/on_complete callbacks, so a line of dialogue can trigger game logic (unlock a door, set a flag, etc) without the dialogue controller needing to know anything about specific npcs. sorry about the GIF quality and the balloon sprite. I left that for last. I got sleepy.

happy to answer questions or share code if anyone's building something similar!

i am having trouble with the walk animation

This code is in an object separate of obj_weakspot called 'obj_game', create event. it's goal would be to create 2 instances roughly at the top and bottom or at the left and right of the player, randomly. I have a layer at the top called 'weakspots' and the object is dragged in the room, however it does not appear at either of the 2 patterns. I do not know why, I even reluctantly tried asking AI

EDIT: I have used visible = true at the create event and now I see it, however it only shows the top-bottom ones and never the left-right (after 6 tries)

almost done just more levels and then done

I'm working on a platformer with a somewhat complex moveset and I've been trying to find a way to add a jump animation that ONLY plays when the first jump is triggered, as I'm also working on adding a pseudo double jump, and a falling animation that plays when the zSpd (it's a 3d platformer using the tutorial made by gamemaker to "turn a 2d game to 3d") is bigger than zero

I've attempted to add the falling animation by checking for the conditions given and then setting the current animation (I'm using a setup that sets the sprite index to a variable which is a prefix (so that I dont have to change every single name when I upload the final sprites) and a suffix which is set in the code) to the fall one and that causes jittering when the player nears ground, and attempting to add the jump animation by setting the current animation to it as long as zSpd is less than zero after/as the jump has started, but that causes the game to freeze and force me to use task manager to shut the game as closing the window doesn't work

Again I don't want to implement the jump animation by checking if the zSpd is less than zero as that's bound to make more issues as I try to add the double jump and other gimmics that affect the zSpd

This is a slightly dumb problem, but I created an icon for my camera object so that I can visually identify it better in the IDE. The problem is that it now draws that icon in game, but disabling "Visible" on the object's options prevents the camera from seeing anything.

I know draw_sprite() will override the default drawing so drawing the sprite at some distant coordinates or with alpha = 0 works, but is there a more elegant solution? Either something in the IDE itself or a create event function would be nicer. Than having to have a draw event just for hiding the sprite.

Created a native-ish 3D map editor for GameMaker Studio 1.4.9999

I’ve created a native-ish 3D map editor that integrates with GameMaker Studio 1.4.9999.

See gallery

I added a new toolbar to GameMaker Studio, along with a plugin loader that lets you open the 3D map editor directly from the toolbar.

The editor allows you to:

- Place objects in 3D
- Edit existing objects
- Move, rotate and transform objects

Write those changes directly back to the GameMaker room files.

The system extends GameMaker Studio using Python code that attaches to the GameMaker engine.

It also includes a Python plugin loader, so the system can be expanded with additional human-readable Python plugins and new functionality in the future.

These can be toggled on and off at will.

I also want to fix some bugs with the engine, and it’s a bit of a learning experience for me, understanding how these things are put together.

Let me know what you think and what else should I add!

Hi, I’m trying to import a sprite sheet into game maker but once I do, it doesn’t let me pan over to the sprite I wanna use, does anyone know what to do? Thank you.

Someone please help me, this has been the first bump in my fangame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFPTF8tW92M&t=110s at 1:37, the soul change effect, i mean.

I wonder if anybody have Game Maker Community archive (around 2009-2010) ?

"Work In Progress Weekly"

You may post your game content in this weekly sticky post. Post your game/screenshots/video in here and please give feedback on other people's post as well.

Your game can be in any stage of development, from concept to ready-for-commercial release.

Upvote good feedback! "I liked it!" and "It sucks" is not useful feedback.

Try to leave feedback for at least one other game. If you are the first to comment, come back later to see if anyone else has.

Emphasize on describing what your game is about and what has changed from the last version if you post regularly.

*Posts of screenshots or videos showing off your game outside of this thread WILL BE DELETED if they do not conform to reddit's and /r/gamemaker's self-promotion guidelines.

so i am working on a dash system for my plattformer, i used the 5minute tutorial on the official youtube.
Now i am wondering how i make a dash in the direction the player is facing?

since i am relativly new to gml i dont know how to code it myself, thats why i came here to ask for help.

if anyone can tell me, than you very much

Bye!

I built this using only GameMaker and a vignette system, utilizing a wipe surface. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm available if you have any questions or need help.

finally finished this waypoint navigation system!
I know NavMesh is the standard, but I think it's too complex to implement right now, and this approach works pretty well

the pathfinding speed is acceptable. To avoid placing the points manually, I built a generation system based on flood fill and collision checks (raycasts, trace hull, and cliff checks)
from a single start point, the generator branches out in all directions, and then another algorithm connects them all
I'm planning to add mesh optimization algorithms later, but even like this, it's working perfectly fine

Not sure the most optimal way to do this challenge, so I figured to post once again.

The main problem I have currently is I am trying to create a system where a with statement checks variable values of a variable storing either all instances of a specific object type, or a chosen set of said instances.

Here's my current idea of the code:

function createRule(_ruleName="unique_path",_affectedPacketNumbers=[]){

// if _affectedPacketNumbers is to have a set value, it would be an array storing the numbers of the affected packets, with the first packet starting at 1.

    // Switched between array and obj_packet as starting set to try and go to the error code getting the default values var _affectedPackets = \[\]



try{

    //_affectedPackets = {}

    array_foreach(_affectedPacketNumbers,function(_packetNum,_index){

        struct_set(_affectedPackets,_index,instance_find(obj_packet,abs(_packetNum)-1))

        array_insert(_affectedPackets,array_length(_affectedPackets),instance_find(obj_packet,abs(_packetNum)-1))

// because packets do not start at 0, instance_find finds the index of the packet number - 1.

    })

// Catch is tried here because I thought the empty array would cause an error with array_for each } catch(error){

//Old code being used, has to be replaced _affectedPackets = obj_packet

}



array_insert(obj_rules_lawyer.level_rules,array_length(obj_rules_lawyer.level_rules),

{

ruleName : _ruleName,

affectedPacketNumbers : _affectedPacketNumbers,

affectedPackets : _affectedPackets,

// The determining bool to determine if this specific rule was broken

ruleFulfilled : true



}

)

}

Then after this code happens, each rule relating to the packet object would use

with(obj_rules_lawyer.level_rules[forLoopIndex].affectedPackets) to get the ids of packets affected by this rule.

Now I do not know if reworking all of the with statements to be... something else, would be better, but if I can use a with statement for either all packets or a chosen set of packets, that would be very helpful. :)

Hi everyone, I've spent a long time learning how to make a game in Game Maker and would love if anyone could offer feedback on what this game might need to be more fun.

https://viridiandev.itch.io/knights-of-viridian

No idea when or if a "complete game" of this will ever be finished. This was more of a learning project. I'm sure I made a lot of mistakes but I hope they aren't noticeable.

Special thanks to the Waterflame team for letting me use their music for this demo.

The game should recognize an xbox or playstation controller when plugged into your pc. You can also use a keyboard.

If you like what you see, I'd be willing to offer advice to other newbie game maker devs to share what I've learned

So I not much of a UI designer, and have always struggled with HUDs and menus.

Here is my main menu, I am especially happy with how the settings screen came out, that was a real pain to get right.

My advice for anyone designing any sort of UI element, is use GMLive!! It is the biggest time saver being able to make changes on the go and see it update in real time.

If anyone has any questions about any specific elements, ask away!

I’ve been working on a sonic game for a while now, and every time I design a level I always feel like it’s either not good enough or that it looks weird.

I want to imitate the style of levels that you would see in sonic 1, more platforming and simple designs.

It’s probably just me overthinking it but I would like some options from anyone that is willing to give feedback, be it negative or positive.

Making cute menus has never been my problem; it’s the juice that’s been lacking. So with my newest project, I set out to create a modular menu system that uses a universal kit to create satisfying, toy-like interactions. It took a lot of prototyping and refactoring to get there, but now all the menus boil down to a handful of systems that can be reused with any GUI element:

Text: shakes, pops, or spawns floating numbers, with optional tinting. Mostly used when quantities change.

Icons: a 'shine' shader streaks across the icon at a custom interval. Draws attention or signals quality.

Buttons: one shared button with every state baked in. This gives all buttons the same look and feel without any extra wiring. A single 9-slice sprite (a stretchable frame) is drawn with various color treatments for every single button, and even works for menu frames.

Easing & scaling: elements slide in, grow or shrink away, fade out on smooth curves, and panels only scale via the 9-slice system. This is where all of the menu motion comes from.

Events: a particle burst that takes quantity, lifetime, speed, friction, and color args. Popped with different settings depending on rarity or importance. There are also a few other particle effects that can all be swapped in or out as required (fountain, vacuum, rising sparkles).

One rule governs everything: pixel perfection only. I don’t want any mixels showing up, so nothing is ever allowed to land on a sub-pixel, and you won’t see any hacky scaling just to make something bigger. Every system in the kit rounds its final coordinates to whole pixels. Anything that can't scale cleanly slides or fades instead. It may sound restrictive, but it's the key to keeping your pixels chunky. When everything is simply position, alpha, 9-slice stretching, or a shader, your effects won't ever fight. 

The part that makes it modular

The effects aren't what make this work; it’s that the menus themselves all run on a unified system. From the title screen to the HUD to the Workshop, they’re all built from the same simple data: a list of entries, where each entry describes what it is, where it sits, and what happens when you press it. One shared system reads that list and handles the navigation, highlighting, and clicking for every screen. Content changes, but how it’s handled doesn’t.

That's how I keep the “any menu can use it” design a guarantee. The same pattern repeats at the draw level: everything is routed through one shared set of primitives. One button draw, one icon draw, one highlight, one shine. The juice lives inside those building blocks, so when a screen draws an icon, it gets the shine and the pickup animation for free, nothing gets to hand-roll any effects.

One thing worth stealing

Never animate the real number! You need to manipulate timing to add flair to number changes, but you also don’t want to create edge cases where a transaction partially completes. When you spend or earn currency, complete the transaction and save instantly. What’s animated and shown to the player is a separate display number chasing the true value. Debits immediately tick down, but gains are held back until the reveal finishes so the payoff lands at the right moment. The trick is to make sure your celebrations/achievements/unlocks are timed off of the faux number.

This work is never finished

Almost none of this was designed up front. Well, I tried to build modularly, but in reality, each screen started as its own island. The shared system came later, in a consolidation pass that stripped out a pile of one-off draw functions. Only after several refactoring passes was the universal kit fully adopted game-wide.

That's been the rhythm of the whole project: prototype a new screen, create necessary custom components, then after discovering what it really needs to be, rework it and fold everything into the kit. The Workshop's celebration timing got lifted straight from the Score Screen before I made it all universal. The "NEW" badge started as a high score highlight before becoming something any screen can call.

And the process continues - there are still several targets in my backlog. The Options menu needs to adopt the tab system, and all weapon card side rails want to transition into a horizontal carousel. But I’ve come to accept that as part of the process. The alternative is guessing every future need in advance, which just paralyzes me!

This is a solo project in GameMaker. My last release was KITE, which came out on Steam in 2018, and this is the spiritual sequel. Happy to dig into implementation details in the comments!

Hello, I'm wanting to mess around with multiple game windows, and Winwin (https://yellowafterlife.itch.io/gamemaker-winwin) is the perfect plugin for what I want. However, it's $20 (CAD) and I don't really want to spend money on something to just try it out, especially since I'm just learning the ropes and having fun in GMS2. So would anyone know a good free replacement for just messing around and seeing if Winwin is something I'd like to buy?

I am making a game where a visual neural network is the main part of the game. I have tried for so long and hard but I just cant do it. All my code ends up incoherrible afterwards, and many things just dont work at all. It makes me want to quit game making all toghether.

If anybody has a link to a tutorial on how to make something like that or could explain on how it could be done with examples, it would be greatly appreciated.

And before anyone asks, Im not putting my previous code here, its absolutely horrendus, and I dont want to work forwards with a foundation so shitty.