GameMaker All direction dragonball laser beam

[1up Indie]

GM Version: GMS2
Target Platform: All

Summary:
This video tutorial shows you how to make a laser beam in gamemaker studio for all directions. You will get an insight how particles systems work and how to utilize lengthdir to draw the laser on the screen towards the direction of the mouse position. The tutorial is very detailed so beginners and veterans can use (and hopefully understand) it alike.

Tutorial:

Object laser ->
Create:

xEnd = 0;     // breakpoints
yEnd = 0;
length_laser = 0; // total length used to determine and draw laser




// change here to change color and glow type
color = 1;  //  0 blue, 1 orange, 2 violet, 3 pink, 4 red, 5 green
whatImage  =  spr_Laser_Hard_glow_38px;  // spr_Laser_Hard_glow_38px   or   spr_Laser_Soft_glow_38px   or   spr_Laser_No_glow_38px




// change here to ajust to your needs for "refresh" rate of laser collision check
    // memory space saver, less checks per step
    refresh_hit = false;
    refresh_hit_time = 20;  // 3 times per second
    refresh_hit_timer = refresh_hit_time;

Step:

// grab start position and direction/angle
x = o_Player.x;
y = o_Player.y;

direction = point_direction(o_Player.x, o_Player.y, mouse_x, mouse_y );


 #region // define how long the laser can get max plus when hitting something
var max_length = 900;  // change if camera is bigger or smaller then 900
for (i = 0; i < max_length; i++ ) {

   xEnd = x + lengthdir_x(i, direction);
   yEnd = y + lengthdir_y(i, direction);
  
   length_laser = i;   // how long the laser is in the end
  
   // breaking point change here object to break to or add multiple breaking points
    if (collision_point(xEnd, yEnd, o_Wall,0,0 ) ) {
      
        part_particles_create(o_Particle_Setup.particleSystem, xEnd, yEnd, o_Particle_Setup.particleType_Hit_Blue, 1  );
        part_particles_create(o_Particle_Setup.particleSystem, xEnd, yEnd, o_Particle_Setup.particleType_Spark_Blue, 10  );
  
  
  
  
    break; // stops loop and sets new xEnd and yEnd values
    }
  
}  // end of for loop
#endregion


#region    collision  -> with global enemy to change its values (hp or something)

 if (instance_exists(o_enemy)) {

      // add
      if (refresh_hit == true) { refresh_hit = false;
    
      var _list = ds_list_create();
      var hits = collision_line_list(x,y, xEnd, yEnd, o_enemy, 0,0, _list,0 );
    
         if (hits > 0 ) {
        
               for (var k = 0; k < hits; ++k;) {
                  
                   _list[| k].hp = _list[| k].hp -1;
              
               }
        }
     ds_list_destroy(_list);

     } // end of refresh check
 }  // end of enemy exist check




 //Memory save , "switch"
 if (refresh_hit == false) {
  refresh_hit_timer--;
  if (refresh_hit_timer <= 0) {   refresh_hit_timer = refresh_hit_time; refresh_hit = true;   }

                             }



#endregion

draw:

for (j = 0; j < length_laser; j++ )  {
    var flicker = random_range(0.6,1.4); // change to make diffrent flicker, or delete flicker and set y_scale back to 1
  
    // variables set in create to ajust to need!
    draw_sprite_ext(whatImage, 0, x + lengthdir_x(j, direction), y + lengthdir_y(j, direction), 1, flicker, direction,c_white, 1 );

                                     }

//draw_line(x,y, xEnd, yEnd);     not need, just good to check for collisions

and how the player can fire that thing, objPlayer -->


create:

pressed_Mouse = false;

step:

// laser beam create
if mouse_check_button(mb_left) { 
       
    if !(instance_exists(o_Laser__Green)) {
    instance_create_layer(mouse_x , mouse_y, "Instances",o_Laser__Green  ); }  }
   
   
    //laser beam kill if no input
if !mouse_check_button(mb_left) { instance_destroy(o_Laser__Green);  }

 

[Totofer77]

Thanks, but Where can I actually find the assets for the Laser? Because without the Laser Assets, I don't think I can do this tutorial...

 

[Ced30]

Good tutorial!
Glad you talked about while loops, there are so many tutorials out there using them when they are not needed most of the time.