Hello World! - Absolute beginner advice needed.

[ThatMellon]

Hello everyone!

(Apologies in advance if i'm not following guidelines properly, i couldn't see an introduction page)

I downloaded a trail version GMS2.3 which i'm planning on buying when i next get paid. So far i'm loving it, yet to use the drag and drop system as i've heard writing code can save you a few headaches down the line (plus i like a challenge... sometimes...) . The truth is; i'm an absolute beginner when it comes to code. GML is the first official code i've started to learn. I've heard its fairly flexible with other types of coding platforms (in terms of understanding how code works) which is absolutely fantastic. As things stand i probably know more on how to make a simple platformer in GML than i do using D&D (i took a look but i'd rather learn to use code, makes me feel far cleverer-er that way).
So if you've got this far; you probably know what's coming...

Whats the best way for an absolute beginner (like me) to learn to use GML?
Any books, courses or video recommendations you would suggest?
Any specific mathematical disciplines i should pursue before diving in fully? (might save me a few headaches)
What are some simple to make game ideas i could make for educational purposes?
Who am i!?

I'll give a little background of myself since you've come this far (also; thanks for reading all the way to here, you're an absolute legend!!).

So far; i've accomplished making brick breaker, thanks to YoYo Games's Youtube channel and Friendly Cosmonaut's amazing way of explaining things! Shaun Spalding has also taught me a few cool mathematical shortcuts. Needless to say i've subscribed to both their channels and will continue to watch their content.
I have to say though, i feel like i'm just copying and pasting at the moment. I'm yet to make anything i could call my own (other than some questionable sprites...). (i've also read select parts of the manual; which i will continue to refer to for the rest of time). I'm pretty dedicated to learning as much as i can, in whatever space of time it takes me. I'm more than prepared to start simple (after all i'm a beginner) but eventually i'd like to acquire the skills to create a turn based RPG on the lines of Final Fantasy 6 (uh-oh!) lets say... In 5 years time... Is that realistic? Okay maybe 10...

This next part is a bit of self advertising. (if you're not interested in what i have to offer then feel free to ignore this next bit)

I'm incredibly passionate about making music. The reason for that stems from video games. Sonic The Hedgehog 2 was the first game i ever played and honestly, when i die; i want the game over tune to play as they either lower my coffin or close the curtains. (The only part i'll regret about that is that i won't be there to see it.) I'm also a massive lover of most music in JRPG's like Final Fantasy, especially anything made by Nubuo Uematsu (FF7 nerd alert!!) (seriously though; how good was the remixed music in the FF7 Remake!?, don't even answer, it was great and you know it!). I'd like to practice creating more music like that rather than slapping the bass in a local unsigned band. If you want some music creating for your video game, give me a shout!! I'll be more than happy to help out, and for free too!! I just love making music and being creative. That actually one of the reasons i want to make a video game, i'd love to hear my music in a video game.

Anyways...
Thanks for reading all this way, you truly are the god of reading!
(i really hope i haven't overstepped the boundary's of what's in the community guidelines with this spiel.)

Thanks for reading guys, looking forward to communicating with you all and hopefully someday; help someone in the same position as me (or make an absolutely banger of some boss battle music!)

Take care, stay awesome!

 

[TsukaYuriko]

Hello and welcome to the GMC!

Organisatory stuff first:
You can introduce yourself in our introductions topic.
Also feel free to post a portfolio of your music in the Collaboration forum, so that people looking for a musician will be able to find you more easily than in some random topic!
I'll move this topic to the Programming forum, as it's mostly about programming (or learning) advice.



Now, let's get started... with getting you started!

Whats the best way for an absolute beginner (like me) to learn to use GML?

There's no single "best" way to learn GML, or to learn anything in general, for that matter. Different people find it easier to learn in different ways.
Personally - and that's coming from someone with 16 years of experience with GameMaker - the way I learned how to use GML was... using GML. A lot, frequently, and in different ways.

I had wonderful ideas of games I was going to make. Spectacular, massive games that I'd be playing for weeks after finishing them... and I postponed those far off into the future. More than wanting to make a game, I wanted to know how to make a game. Reading the manual, some things like checking for keyboard input, adding to a variable and drawing things to the screen seemed familiar enough to me that I was able to combine them to create a player object I could control.

I kept going from there. Tried to add something new, change something, see what sorts of challenges I can come up with. I was just experimenting around with adding new features. I built some stages, only to come up with more ideas of what else I could add that could let me design stages with different mechanics and gimmicks. Maybe there could be a powerup for the player to collect... if they touch enemies, it's not instantly game over, but they have health... eventually, I had put together the foundation for a full-fledged game without even realizing it. The stages were essentially debug rooms, but rearranged into a proper stage, it was a playable game by all means.

This way, I didn't only constantly learn new things by challenging myself with more and more things I had sort of an idea how to do, but also got a playable result at the end. It was a total catastrophe of bad game design choices by all means, but hey! It had dreams and inspiration into it, and most importantly, I became so familiar with everything I used to make it that I could use it again to build something similar, or something different...


The more you just experiment around with it, the more you'll learn. I was often watching videos of games, drawing inspiration and trying to re-create some of the features, powerups, enemies... anything from any other game, just to see if I can figure out how it works and make something that works like it. This varied exposure to all sorts of game content automatically forced me to look up and research various features of the language, some of which branched off into their own experiment projects... one new discovery leads to the next, and once curiosity and the eagerness to learn new things takes over, you know you're on the right path.

I can't guarantee that this is the way that will lead you onto that path, but give it a try and maybe it'll work out for you too.

Any books, courses or video recommendations you would suggest?

I recommend the official manual for a simple reason: You have total freedom of what you want to do. These are potentially suitable resources when you're looking to learn (one of many ways of) how to do something very specific, but unless specifically geared towards it, not suitable for learning how to program in the first place. They tend to revolve around very specific topics or examples, and you more or less have to stick to the examples provided to follow them through until the end. Meanwhile, the manual is like this collection of Lego bricks you can put together and assemble in any way you want. It only tells you how to use them, not what to use them for.

Any specific mathematical disciplines i should pursue before diving in fully? (might save me a few headaches)

Addition and subtraction. If you're feeling adventurous, multiplication and division.

As in: Save yourself the headache of overthinking what sorts of arcane formulae you'll need until you need them, if ever.
Take a look at the Expressions and Operators page of the manual - this lists all the available operations in GML. Don't try to forcefully learn all of these - that's not required by any means - just give it a quick look so you'll hopefully remember that they exist and can look them up whenever they will be helpful to you.

What are some simple to make game ideas i could make for educational purposes?

You can't really go wrong with anything here unless you pick something way above your league and cause yourself a lot of unnecessary pain and frustration.

The classics are games along the lines of "move around and collect stuff", "click on things that randomly appear all over the screen to collect them", "move around and shoot stuff", remakes of old classics such as Pong... or just about any game that's simple but entertaining enough to keep a 5 year old entertained for a couple of minutes. Every step you make counts, and the first step is arguably the hardest - so make this one as simple as possible to level the ground for what's to come.

 

[ThatMellon]

Thanks so much for the speedy reply TsukaYuriko! I really appreciate it!

(I was beginning to think the tittle of the thread ("Hello World!") may have auto assigned me into the programming!

I'll start with making PONG using what i've learnt from brick breaker. I think that would be the best way to start, in my; head they seem fairly similar. I'll set myself the challenge of not using any Youtube tutorials but instead; narrow down the code i've used with brick breaker to create it (with a few minor tweaks). Another copy and paste job in a way but hopefully that'll prove i know my way around manipulating code. Once i'm done i'll mix the two together and see if i can come up with some interesting power up ideas... Like... Erm... Hmmm... Okay, maybe i'm not so great at being creative at the moment...

I've added a few power downs (in opposition to the power ups) in brick breaker and they worked exactly how i was hoping. Had a little bit of fun increasing the speed by a silly amount. Its probably only something small to someone with 16 years of experience but simple things and i'm at a simple stage.

I also found some specific physics for imitating classic Sonic the Hedgehog on Sonic Retro, watched a youtube tutorial but i'm clearly not at that stage just yet. Baby steps.

Thanks for the link to posting Music. I've got a couple of tracks what would probably work for various video games. I'll certainly get some tracks up within the next week. Currently working on a piece but its not quite finished yet.

Thank you very much for the warm welcome!

Take care!

 

[Rob]

Practice, practice, and more practice man.
Try and make small changes to the code.
Be brave and try and add something new.
Make bugs, try and fix them (a very necessary skill!). If you get stuck you can ask for help here, reddit or in many discord servers.
Put comments on code if you know that X does y.
Copy that code and can you do something else with it?
I started off copying video tutorials too, and making small changes and lots of mistakes helped me.