Great 2D games do not always need complicated artwork. A small character made from a few carefully placed pixels can feel memorable when it moves smoothly, reacts clearly, and fits the visual style of the game. In GameMaker, these images are usually stored as sprites. A sprite can represent a player, enemy, collectible, projectile, interface … Read more
When you look at a 2D game, nearly everything visible may begin as a sprite. The hero running across the screen, a spinning coin, an enemy waiting behind a wall, and even a menu button can all use sprite assets. However, sprites in GameMaker do more than display pictures. They can contain multiple animation frames, … Read more
A game does not feel like a game until the player can actually move. Whether you are creating a top-down adventure, a puzzle game, or a fast arcade shooter, movement is usually one of the first systems you need to build. Fortunately, creating basic player movement in GameMaker does not require hundreds of lines of … Read more
Making a video game involves more than drawing characters and designing levels. The game also needs instructions that determine how the player moves, when enemies attack, how points are calculated, and what happens when someone reaches the end of a level. In GameMaker, many of those instructions are written using GML. But what is GML, … Read more
Choosing a game engine can feel like choosing a vehicle before you have learned how to drive. Some engines offer almost unlimited power but surround beginners with complicated menus, unfamiliar terminology, and technical systems they may not need. For anyone interested mainly in making 2D games, GameMaker provides a much more focused starting point. GameMaker … Read more