newby to game development,,

[vamptastic]

im vamptastic, newby to game development and choosing gamemaker studios as my engine.; because the others suggested had too much done for me and i want to learn my own way in programming not all drag+drop.;

which game is best to start on for newbys,, as i would like to graduate up to making visual novels (programmed myself) at some point?; would hybrids with an easy-for-newby gametypes (suggest these types,,,please) and some few novel choices be aimed too high for a beginner?;

+i have no programming skill, never looked at codes
keep it in mind!;

 

[RangerX]

The key is to make small prototypes as you learn to code GML. Sometimes not even a full game. What's important is that you learn the concepts, the terms and words and then you learn to write. Its also identical as learning a language...
Some types of games that are usually easy to make:

- traditional shooters (stuff coming at screen, moving ship that shoots stuff, top view or side view)
- brick breaker
- simple platformer (a bit harder than the 2 first choices)

I might add that a visual novel should also be simple to make. As long as you stay in the "point-and-click" style.

 

[vamptastic]

The key is to make small prototypes as you learn to code GML. Sometimes not even a full game. What's important is that you learn the concepts, the terms and words and then you learn to write. Its also identical as learning a language...
Some types of games that are usually easy to make:

- traditional shooters (stuff coming at screen, moving ship that shoots stuff, top view or side view)
- brick breaker
- simple platformer (a bit harder than the 2 first choices)

I might add that a visual novel should also be simple to make. As long as you stay in the "point-and-click" style.

thank you for that swift reply!; i see,,i may start with a tiny bullet-hell then.;

and correcto, at first point-and-click with dialogue or story branches that divide and converge.; to drawing board i go!;

 

[RangerX]

Sounds good. Branching stories are much more easy to program than write!

 

[Electros]

Agree with the small prototypes, and getting a grip of the concepts - the more you do, the more you learn (just working through Data Structures myself currently after putting it off).

A wealth of resources out there, a couple I have found userful:

http://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/categories/202590228-Learn
http://www.yoyogames.com/blog/category/tech
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Creating-Your-First-2D-Game-with-GameMaker
https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/Creating-2D-Games-with-GameMaker-Advanced-Techniques

And if you get stuck, Googling / YouTubing / Foruming will usually net you the answer!

 

[Genetix]

Hey Vamptastic, cool name!

Welcome to the community - if you start working on a project and have any specific questions I'd be glad to help out. I always recommend trying to make a simple Pong game - it'll teach you alot.

 

[HayManMarc]

If you don't know any code at all, I'd start with following history. Start by making a pong clone. Super easy. Then try a smallish space invaders clone or asteroids clone. If that's not something you're interested in and you'd rather pursue the graphic novel angle, try putting together something text based, a "Hello world"-type program, and learn how to put text on the screen.
Whatever you do, it will take time and dedication to get to a mediocre point of programming. Where there's a will, there's a way. Good luck!

 

[Sabnock]

An Arkanoid (

) clone was my first project and I learnt a huge amount out of that experience. have now moved to 99% GML when working. I really felt it was important to work on something familiar to me first so I could see what I needed to create to make the game. I have since made Pacman, asteroids and space invaders. all very simple looking games but really useful for learning. you'd be surprised how much you need to do to program the ghosts in pacman using your own code. even asteroids held it's own unique challenge when working out how and when to respawn the player ship with relative safety. don't give up, keep going and enjoy the problem solving rather than throwing your hands in the air and giving up. resolving a piece of code into a working routine is the best sense of achievement there is and I have punched the air on more than one occasion and shouted "YES"!

It is very important to plan, set yourself goals and finish them as I feel to much jumping around doing different things gets you a lot of unfished work and no real games.

use the Yoyo forums, youtube and Google a lot for a wealth of tutorials and information. don't forget there is a manual (press F1)


have fun.

 

[Aura]

Welcome to the GMC!

No genre is easy to do unless you know how to do things IMO. But I concur that creating prototypes of certain game genres will be a great help.

Try following a tutorial if you don't feel at home doing it yourself. But limit copy-pasting to a negligible extent. You'd perhaps want to understand the concept first then see what functions have been used to implement it. If you don't understand how a functions works, consider looking into the Manual. If that doesn't help, you can come to this place and post your queries the in the Programming forum.

And I'd perhaps add this too: If you need personal (private) guidance on how to begin with GML, the GameMaker Mentors are a way to go. (You can send me a message too; I'll try to help as much as I can.) Best of luck!

 

[stainedofmind]

If you're going to copy and paste code, then I suggest modifying each piece of code to do something different until you grasp how it works. This is how I learned GML (mostly), and anytime I followed a tutorial, I never followed it exactly. Just my two bits!

 

[ConsolCWBY]

I concur with stainedofmind - this is how I am (attempting) to learning shaders programming.
The easiest kind of game to program is Pong, as @HayManMarc suggested. Use DnD and just learn the logic. After a couple of easy games, take them and convert them to GML - because learning to code is about translating the logic in your head into the "sentences" to make them work that way. It's not easy to learn, but if you catch the "programmer's bug" you'll be addicted!
My suggestions for games:
-----------------------------------
One Player Pong (player vs wall - ball goes faster each time it hits the wall - player gets points for hitting wall in succession)
Two Player Pong (vs computer - simple ai and first to get to 10 pts wins)
Break-Out (or variants)
A Simple Space Game EXAMPLE
One Player Sprint (Simple car game - Player beats best time - learn file io to save top 5 times!)
EXAMPLE

The simplest games are core mechanics. Once you learn the basics, you can eventually understand how something LIKE THIS works!
Good luck on your journey!