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A while back, I learned about a little thing called Game Maker. It's basically a very flexible tool from a website called yoyogames, that allows you to create your own games. It's pretty simple, and pretty neat. I played around with it and made a few things. I made a really basic schmup just to get used to using Game Maker, then a platformer engine that I planned on developing into a full game (but didn't because I lacked direction, and got bored of it). Then, my computer broke. It took me a while to get it fixed, and I haven't done anything on GM yet.
The other day I was playing through some of my favorite indie games, and I got inspired. I decided to start making a game, and to blog about it. Unlike my previous attempts, this time I am planning ahead. I already have a basic idea of all of the game's functions and enemies and levels and storyline, etc. It's going to be an adventure/platformer (my favorite type of game) and the main character is going to be a wizard. As the game progresses, he will learn more spells that will all need to be used as the enemies and obstacles get tougher.
I was debating whether to have it be an big-leveled, action-oriented game like Cave Story, or a more concise, arcade-y game, like one of my favorite indies, Ninja Senki (it's a lot like Mega-man). I decided to make a hybrid. Most of the storyline and many of the quests will take place in large, open levels, with friendly NPC's to interact with, while the ultimate destination of many of the goals will be various temples (kinda like Zelda). The temples will be small but intense, requiring timing, precise jumping, and other things like that.
I don't really have the details of the storyline yet, but the gist of it is going to be an epic battle between good magic and evil magic. And, oh yeah... you'll be able to choose which side you're on. Basically there will be a "good" version of the storyline and a "bad" version that will play out differently, depending on which one you choose. Essentially, I plan on making it two games in one. You will choose between good and evil within the first 15 minutes of the game, right after being thrust into the a battle.
I decided the first place to start with this game should be the artwork. I'm not much of a pixel artist, but I have done a bit with my previous games, so I decided to go for simple 16x16 sprites. I've made tentative sprites for both the good and bad version of the character.
Good Sprite
+ Show Spoiler +
Evil Sprite
+ Show Spoiler +![[image loading]](http://i52.tinypic.com/2hhg9iu.png) sorry that this one is twice as big D:
That's all the real work I've done so far, but I have a lot of great ideas and a plan of attack to get this thing done. It will probably take a few months, it really depends on how long I want the game to last (I want it to be very long) but I'm ready for the challenge. The next step is going to be animating the sprites, and then making an engine for my game! I'll probably make a blog post after each chunk of progress that I make to keep me inspired to keep going.
Oh yeah, as the game has not taken shape yet, I'm open for ideas as I begin to make it!
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If you're going to do something like this I advise you to use Unity over game maker, its a lot better
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Game Maker was is really easy to learn, I originally learned to use it when I was 10.
I can bug test your game if you need  Alpha / Beta or w/e.
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I feel like the storyline and game flow is gonna take the longest. :o
Any insight on that some more?
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On June 13 2011 12:19 Phrost wrote:
If you're going to do something like this I advise you to use Unity over game maker, its a lot better
I don't really have the technical knowledge to use any complex tool. That's why I love using GM. It's not hard to figure out, but it is still very very powerful.
I really have no experience with programming, other than simple stuff like GM and the old BW map editor (triggers are kind of like programming). My strength does not lie in my complete knowledge of any programming language, but my ability to think creatively and do a lot with what knowledge I have.
I can bug test your game if you need Alpha / Beta or w/e
It's quite a long way off, but I'll keep it in mind
I feel like the storyline and game flow is gonna take the longest. :o
Any insight on that some more?
Storyline is definitely what I'm working on first. It might take me a while because I really want to come up with a great, fun story. The engine won't be too hard (I've already done one of those), it's just a lot of grunt work. After that, I think the thing that will take the most time is making some simple AI for a variety of enemies, as well as designing fun and challenging levels. All the while though, everything needs to be married with the story, as that is what brings it all together. So I don't have any great specific ideas yet, but I plan on making the story a very essential part in the game.
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Wow! This seems pretty cool. I think i might try it myself!
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On June 13 2011 12:46 Junbugger wrote:
Wow! This seems pretty cool. I think i might try it myself!
Yeah there are some great tutorials on the website, and a wiki and a decent forum community in case you ever get stuck.
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United States24773 Posts
A big chunk of one of my grad classes was to make games in game maker actually haha... it was fun and yea, pretty easy to use overall.
I eventually paid for the pro version so that I could make the demo doom-like game... was pretty sick.
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Learn C#
then learn XNA
realize how much better it is than game maker
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I personally love game maker although I find that single player games are very hard to make, but maybe that's just my lack of ambition to finish them. I've also found that whenever I try to remake games that already exist (like mario or zelda) that my version is inevitably shorter and less fun since I am not a professional team of programmers. With that in mind, the games I make are ones that require very little front end work on my part and have a multiplayer aspect that takes the place of any npcs. For example, the game my friends all agree is the most fun one I've made is a multiplayer version of asteroids where the players aren't on the same team and with a twist: in the center of the map is a star that heavily influences all objects on screen and forces them into orbit around it. It makes for a very interesting meta game since no one can move in a straight line.
So I'm not sure how dedicated you are to finishing this as a single player game, but whether or not you are willing to put in a lot of time in, I suggest that you do something a little different from what is expected of a game of the type you are making. As an amateur working only in spare time on game maker, you will not be able to make a game of professional caliber. You can, however, make a game that is just as fun or more fun than a professional-level game by having some sort of unexpected game play twist that heavily influences how the player thinks about the game. Usually stuff like that is not hard to program and is the difference between a mediocre copy of some other game and a really cool home-made game.
Another example of a game I've made with game maker with a sort of twist is an rts in space where all ships are customizable at the start of the game in that ships are made of hexagons of the armor type or the gun type. You have a certain number of hexagons of each type and when they are adjacent they are considered one ship. So you can arrange your hexagons however you want and have ships of any shape or size.
TLDR:
Your game will not have good graphics, could have an OK storyline and probably will not be very long. But you have the most control over the actual gameplay aspect and if you make it fun and simple, yet with many possibilities to take the metagame further after thinking it out, then it will be a fantastic game.
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Ohhh Game Maker. Maybe I'll download you again. Thanks for this blog, I remember messing around with it many years ago.
I'll definitely look forward to seeing your progress and maybe even playing it. ^.^
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i55.tinypic.com/339pspc.png)
