How 'newbie' friendly is it?

[Guest User]

Hello,

I have been gifted a copy of Game Maker Studio and before I used it I thought I'd pop along to the forums and ask how tough the learning curve is.

sorry to bore you, but a bit of background:- I'm 60 (yes, that old!) and the last time I did any 'programming' whatsoever was back in 1982-83 on my BBC Model B computer and a little bit on my Atari 800XL. I was never really fluent in Basic but I could do very very simple things (also back in those days magazines used to print game listings that you typed in line by line!)

I am very interested in creating some 2d games of my own but the downside is I am not really that bright, I totally failed maths at school and even today, although I can add and takeaway, you ask me what pi, sin or cos mean and you might as well be talking in martian to me. I'm utterly clueless and my slow and old brain simply refuses to learn any maths things whatsoever (like it refuses to learn metric, and to this day I'm still thinking in imperial!)

also I get discouraged very easily, its with not being very bright, its really easy to give up than struggle on and on and get nowhere. very frustrating.

So, as much as creating my own little games sounds really fun and exciting, I'm very wary of it being far too complex and too hard to learn for me.

Should I quit before I even start or is there hope for an old uneducated fool who still is a passionate gamer?

 

[Nocturne]

Should I quit before I even start or is there hope for an old uneducated fool who still is a passionate gamer?

Never quit before you start! So, GameMaker is quite "newbie" friendly, although PERSONALLY I would start straight away using code and leave the D&D actions. They aren't as complete and you'll have to change from D&D to code later as you get better... that said, don't discard them straight away and play around with them to see what suits you! We've seen some amazing games made with D&D.

As for intelligence and maths, etc... I don't think that necessarily has anything to do with one's capacity to make games. Maths is certainly a plus for certain things (3D for example) but I rarely find myself using cos or sin or anything like that. I would sday that the only really important thing is to be able to think logically about a problem. Logic plays a very big part in things...

My suggestion would be to download the free version of GMS, go through a couple of the beginner tutorials, and then sit down to make a really simple game like Pong, or asteroids. Cloning classic games with simple gameplay mechanics is a great way to learn the basics and prepare you for creating your own original projects in the future.

Also note that most of the users around here are incredibly friendly and helpful, so you will almost always get help from someone if you post any issues or question in the Programming forum.

All the best and have fun!

 

[Bingdom]

Game programming is NOT easy to get into but's really fun once you know how to program.

I think a lot of people that want to get into game development stop when they realize how hard and overwhelming programming is. My advice is to not push yourself, only do the things you are capable of. If you are ready, move on to the harder stuff. Need any help to understand things, ask the forums!

I like to think of learning to program as a tree. Once you are able to learn the core basics of programming (which is the hardest stage, the hardest part of a tree is the stem), everything becomes easier to understand (which are the branches of the tree, easiest to break).

There were many points in my learning stage that I wanted to give up, and forget about everything. I stayed committed and here I am now, capable of releasing apps to Google Play. I may not make much money, but it's really awesome seeing people enjoying the game and seeing a fully functional game on the store. I'm sure everyone can do that! It's a great experience and worth the time learning to program.

My advice is to never give up! Programming is something not learnt overnight, it requires dedication.

 

[EncomLab]

I started programming in 1983 on a Ti99-4/A - welcome to the club! As Nocturne said working through the tutorials is really the best place to start. You will find tons of users that immediately dive into a huge project, get overwhelmed and quit - to avoid that I'd really suggest starting with a very small, simple project.

 

[Dirtygamemaker]

Also, you are not *that* old!
This guy made his first game with 59 years old!

 

[Dirtygamemaker]

Game programming is NOT easy to get into but's really fun once you know how to program.

I think a lot of people that want to get into game development stop when they realize how hard and overwhelming programming is. My advice is to not push yourself, only do the things you are capable of. If you are ready, move on to the harder stuff. Need any help to understand things, ask the forums!

Exactly!

People here tends to be very friendly too.

Programmers tend to grow an strange kind of ego, or lack of memory, and forget how hard it was to start programming.
It's not easy, it's hard, period.
But it's *soooo* gratifying, being able to create something from nothing, being able to actually show your thoughts in the form of something, that once you learn it, you'll probably never leave.

Word of advise:
So, learn with caution, it can steal a bunch of your time!
Even after my 07:00 - 17:00 programming day job, I keep coding until 22:00 at home.
Thinking about it, it doesn't seems too healthy.. :x

 

[Mr Magnus]

I was 12 years old when I started using it with absolutely no programming experience on my back. I could hack together simple game with ease. sure, I wasn't making masterpieces but I progressed and learned and Game Maker acted as a stepping stone to get me into theoretical computer science now, a decade later. It's very easy to use and is fairly intuitive. I'd strongly recommend you maybe watch a tutorial or two and *always* keep the manual (F1) near. it's your best friend, it lists up every function and feature and examples of using it.

Also, you're not old in my honest opinion. You're around the age of my dad. you're at a fantastic age to develop a new hobby to pass the time and I hope you have fun with the software!

 

[Guest User]

Thanks for the superb comments and feedback. I have been reading some tutorials and I have to admit it does look very daunting but I'm going to give it a crack. I'm sure I'll fail but I'll give it my best shot and for my first game I figured I'd try to recreate an old favourite game of mine, 'Circus Atari' for the Atari 2600. I guess most people won't know it but its a single screen game where there are 3 rows of balloons along the top of the screen moving and you move a clown on a seesaw at the bottom of the screen and bounce the clown off the seesaw to burst the balloons.

In theory it sounds easy to do, we'll see.

Thanks again

 

[Lukan]

Well, I went from making games like:

(literally my first game, omg it sucks, circa 2011-2012)

To making games like:

My current project of awesomeness.

I learned the language within six months of getting 8.1 for my 15th birthday, and I haven't used another engine for a full project since.
GM is easy once you get the hang of it, and though it's not the most powerful engine, you get more than what you pay for.(at least I did, they've raised the price a few times, lol)

 

[Galladhan]

I'm sure I'll fail

Don't be a pessimist, mate.
I started with BASIC too, when i was a kid, and i abandoned it quite soon cause i thought i wasn't able to understand programming at all. Since then, i've never touched a single line of code anymore, also cause i suck at maths and i thought it was essential (but it's not, at least until a certain level, as @Nocturne pointed out).
This until 2 years ago, when i stubbornly decided i wanted to learn a bit of GML.
I've been swinging between moments of total obsession with the code to other moments in which i abandoned it, exhausted, for weeks or even months (in this sense, i would suggest you to do something every day, if you can, cause i've noticed i tend to forget what i've learned pretty quickly, if i take very long breaks).
Now, after 2 years, i'm still very far from being a "game developer", but i can do things i would have never imagined i was able to do, when i started, and it gives me a huge satisfaction.
Of course, if you want to create very complex games it will take you several years (in the best scenario), but if you're happy with Atari 2600-style games, for now, i think it won't take you too much time to learn how to do them. Just a good dose of patience and curiosity.
If you don't give up, you might find yourself able to remake Circus Atari, or even Konami's Circus Charlie, way before you imagine

 

[Guest User]

Wow! Lukan, that is super impressive indeed!
That 2nd game looks absolutely awesome and kind of looks like a harvest moon type game? wow... fantastic!

 

[Yal]

Yeah, GM is pretty easy to pick up and use... you'll need to learn some basic programming concepts before you can do anything noteworthy, but those are pretty much needed for any game design software out there and GM are pretty light on them. For instance, once you learn about variables and conditional statements, you will be able to do a LOT of advanced stuff. (Those two were the stuff I had the hardest to grasp when I was new to programming). Just take it slow and don't forget Shaun Spalding and Heartbeast have a bunch of tutorial videos on Youtube you could check out - Shaun Spalding's "my first game" tutorial should walk you through all the basics, like movement.

 

[Guest User]

Don't be a pessimist, mate.
I started with BASIC too, when i was a kid, and i abandoned it quite soon cause i thought i wasn't able to understand programming at all. Since then, i've never touched a single line of code anymore, also cause i suck at maths and i thought it was essential (but it's not, at least until a certain level, as @Nocturne pointed out).
This until 2 years ago, when i stubbornly decided i wanted to learn a bit of GML.
I've been swinging between moments of total obsession with the code to other moments in which i abandoned it, exhausted, for weeks or even months (in this sense, i would suggest you to do something every day, if you can, cause i've noticed i tend to forget what i've learned pretty quickly, if i take very long breaks).
Now, after 2 years, i'm still very far from being a "game developer", but i can do things i would have never imagined i was able to do, when i started, and it gives me a huge satisfaction.
Of course, if you want to create very complex games it will take you several years (in the best scenario), but if you're happy with Atari 2600-style games, for now, i think it won't take you too much time to learn how to do them. Just a good dose of patience and curiosity.
If you don't give up, you might find yourself able to remake Circus Atari, or even Konami's Circus Charlie, way before you imagine

Thanks! Thats very interesting and helpful too.
btw.. love the 3D Monster Maze avatar, that game scared the hell out of me. hehe

 

[Galladhan]

that game scared the hell out of me. hehe

Don't tell it to me, i was 6yo when i played it the first time. I was terrified and attracted at the same time though

 

[makas]

Everybody knows circus , I teach gamemaker to kids around 12 that dont have any programming knowledge at all, and its incredible to see what they can do a week later... I think gamemaker is the best tool for beginners but that at the same time have the potential to create incredible complex games... Im realtively new to this forum and every time I come here I see things that I though would be impossible t make in gamemaker... give a go and dont give up, you will be very happy when you play your first game

 

[JacobV]

I learned how to develop games pretty much 100% on Gamemaker. I started around 1 1/2 years ago when I was 14, with a programming course in school that introduced me to the program; since then I've been hooked. I'm not going to say making a full game is easy (in all my time working on stuff, I've yet to release anything) but it is certainly rewarding, especially when you start getting good at it. And Gamemaker really helps streamline the process, giving you almost all the tools you need built right in and providing plenty of learning material. I'd say that if you're determined to make a game...go for it!

 

[jackhigh24]

lets be fully honest with him here, it will feel very hard and you will feel like giving up, but even if you don't understand it don't give up, after a few weeks maybe a month, you will suddenly click and get the hang of it, ye what you make then will be basic but just keep plugging away and in a few months you will be so impressed with what you have achieved, as for cos sin and anything complex, luckily GML is very versatile and you will find the easy way that you can understand and make it do what you want, so just never give up and keep messing about with it, you will succeed that's guaranteed.

 

[Guest User]

Thanks.

is there an irc channel for game maker? it would be really helpful if there was some online channel I could join to learn more and ask for help when I'm stuck. (I don't really want to make a thread on here asking for help when I'm stuck as I'd probably be banned for making 3-4 threads a day. hehe)

 

[Nocturne]

There are no official chats or IRC for GM I'm afraid. There are a few non-official ones that have topics in off-topic, but you enter them at your own risk. As for posting topics, don't worry about posting many topics as long as they are all for different things! That's what this forum is for after all!!!!

 

[Guest User]

Thank you.

 

[Andy]

Hello,

I have been gifted a copy of Game Maker Studio and before I used it I thought I'd pop along to the forums and ask how tough the learning curve is.

sorry to bore you, but a bit of background:- I'm 60 (yes, that old!) and the last time I did any 'programming' whatsoever was back in 1982-83 on my BBC Model B computer and a little bit on my Atari 800XL. I was never really fluent in Basic but I could do very very simple things (also back in those days magazines used to print game listings that you typed in line by line!)

I am very interested in creating some 2d games of my own but the downside is I am not really that bright, I totally failed maths at school and even today, although I can add and takeaway, you ask me what pi, sin or cos mean and you might as well be talking in martian to me. I'm utterly clueless and my slow and old brain simply refuses to learn any maths things whatsoever (like it refuses to learn metric, and to this day I'm still thinking in imperial!)

also I get discouraged very easily, its with not being very bright, its really easy to give up than struggle on and on and get nowhere. very frustrating.

So, as much as creating my own little games sounds really fun and exciting, I'm very wary of it being far too complex and too hard to learn for me.

Should I quit before I even start or is there hope for an old uneducated fool who still is a passionate gamer?

With resources like this forum, books, videos you can find on YouTube, etc... I believe anyone can learn to make games with GM.

Just don't quit trying, as you play around things will continue to get easier. Don't let your age discourage you, many of the people who work at YoYo are old.

I never took algebra, hardly passed high school, can't spell without the help of a computer, etc... And I have been able to learn many things with GM. You can to!

Some good YouTube channels for you to check out:
https://www.youtube.com/user/999Greyfox
https://www.youtube.com/user/uheartbeast

 

[Guest User]

again, thanks for all the feedback and help guys.
I did start a game (I changed it to a simple space invaders game though) and it went pretty well and I had mostly a great time and really enjoyed it.
Thead here:- https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/invaders-an-old-fools-first-game.11834/#post-77740

I guess this thread has served its purpose as I listened to you all and I am now 'trying' to learn to use GMS and gml. So if the mods want to, they can remove or lock this thread.

again, thanks to everyone who posted!

 

[Carnivius]

Hello,

I have been gifted a copy of Game Maker Studio and before I used it I thought I'd pop along to the forums and ask how tough the learning curve is.

sorry to bore you, but a bit of background:- I'm 60 (yes, that old!) and the last time I did any 'programming' whatsoever was back in 1982-83 on my BBC Model B computer and a little bit on my Atari 800XL. I was never really fluent in Basic but I could do very very simple things (also back in those days magazines used to print game listings that you typed in line by line!)

I am very interested in creating some 2d games of my own but the downside is I am not really that bright, I totally failed maths at school and even today, although I can add and takeaway, you ask me what pi, sin or cos mean and you might as well be talking in martian to me. I'm utterly clueless and my slow and old brain simply refuses to learn any maths things whatsoever (like it refuses to learn metric, and to this day I'm still thinking in imperial!)

also I get discouraged very easily, its with not being very bright, its really easy to give up than struggle on and on and get nowhere. very frustrating.

So, as much as creating my own little games sounds really fun and exciting, I'm very wary of it being far too complex and too hard to learn for me.

Should I quit before I even start or is there hope for an old uneducated fool who still is a passionate gamer?

Change some minor details like BBC Model B to Amstrad CPC and 60 years old to 37 (though I was in my 20's when I first found Game Maker) and that sounds pretty much like me especially when it comes to all the maths stuff. It took me a while but thanks to practice, experimentation and lots of help from this lovely community I'm now capable of producing the kind of games I like to make and only rarely run into stuff that's beyond me but that again is what this place is for. And judging by your Space Invaders clone you're already learning way faster than I did. Keep it up and have fun.

 

[MstrPBK]

I too am a newbie; and also like the original poster learned by BASIC language over 40 years ago in high school! But unlike the OP I did have a professional skill at the language so my question is a little different; and hence I know I'm going to have to learn another variant of BASIC, and learn a new mindset for program composition.

My questions go as such:

• Would GameMaker handle the design of a retro crawler game where characters move one 'square' at a time?
• I've looked at a good dozen game engines to choose from to begin this monstrous endeavor, and what I am not seeing in any of these game engines is the ability to integrate menus or UI structures for turn to turn control; or for tutorial and game information?
• Would GameMaker be able to manage as matrix system of p,x,y,z,D1,D2,D3,D4,D5,D6,D7 for each of its playing fields. In this case p = playing field number, and where D = data reference encoding? We can debate better data structures later if GameMaker is what I am looking for.

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[Yal]

Would GameMaker handle the design of a retro crawler game where characters move one 'square' at a time?

I'm pretty sure @Nocturne is working on one right now (called Skein), and it definitely doesn't sound too impossible. Menus and stuff can also be made in a multitude of ways... I personally prefer a structure where you create menu objects that send "signals" to the in-game objects and let menus handle all the input, and everything is governed by a control object that keeps track of the game state (take player input, move stuff around, wait for an animation to end, handle AI character decisions, and so on). Separation of concerns is one of the main advantages of OOP, and while GM doesn't quite provide 'real' OOP, it still nails that part.

 

[Nocturne]

I'm pretty sure @Nocturne is working on one right now

I am indeed! (cue shameless plug...) http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=519655043

You can even follow how I made it here: http://www.indiedb.com/games/skein/articles

 

[MstrPBK]

To Yal, and Nocturne (and anyone else)

Nocturne looks like he has something good going with Skein. Will have to look at their promotional clip a second time. Hope he makes it to the end of their thread on the project!
(smirk) With the premise of Skein, and the name itself, I would have expected you to 'sheepishly' say something ... (ducks fast).

You've begun to show me that maybe what I'm think might be able to be done!

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

Nocturne - I've looked very closely at the Skein promotional - a few times, and then looked at your Indie site. Between the two I'm seeing even better signs that what I want to do is likely to be achievable with the GameMaker engine. I've gone from 'think' to being optimistic about the project. (a good sign)

General Comments: From the posts here I am getting the sense that GameMaker has a friendly and supportive community to deal with development questions. I've seen some good videos that are tutorials for the game engine, and I am hoping that the initial documentation for the engine is somewhat complete. Mind you I have been in dev. groups where the answers are nearly hostile ... even though they claim to be ... friendly. So the last thing I want to ask about at this point is does or could the GameMaker community help me find a mentor for those really difficult questions I might have. I'm not a needy person, but am a person who learns better when I can turn to that 'specific person', and ask questions, or solve problems with, when all else fails. A Full Promise to the Community: I can assure the community that when I have competently learned the GameMaker engine I will help the next new game maker with their questions. What goes around comes around as one might say.

Anyone game to be a Mentor??

Peter Kelley
St. Paul, MN USA

 

[Matthew Hill]

Paul, there are certainly other engines out there that can "out simplify" Game Maker's interface in a lot of ways. But like anything, you must first learn how to use it before you can truly grasp, and understand the full capabilities of the engine itself. Game Maker: Studio is by all means a fantastic, and wonderful program. I've been using it for two years now, and I'm just starting to get the hang of it. But what I've learned from my experiences, is that it takes perseverance, and patience in order to completely master something new.

The forums prove to be an excellent resource when you may find yourself stuck. There are so many talented individuals on this website, so you shouldn't have much of a problem learning more about Game Maker, but I digress.

Although Game Maker is user-friendly in a lot of ways, it still does take a considerable amount of time to learn. I hope this helped you out.

This is my first post by the way!