Tutorials sorted by category -- under construction

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
This list is continually updated as new tutorials are posted. Category choices and groupings may also be changed. Feel free to make suggestions, either here or by PM.

A few comments:
  • The list contains the first 5 pages (or nearly so) of the Tutorials Forum (so far).
  • There's no attempt at ranking -- i.e., all accepted tutorials are included.
  • Categories were not chosen a priori. They are based on the tutorials indexed so far. Categories may change over time.
  • This is intended to help beginners, but isn't meant to replace the forum's search option.

If desired, (prolific) tutorial authors may PM me a link list of their own tutorials. Approved lists will be added to this post.

Lighting and ray-cast shadows, etc.

Simulate a light effect around a sprite (player, fire, explosion...)

Quick Ray-Traced (QRT) Lighting Tutorial

Fake Light

Ultra-Fast 2D Dynamic Lighting System

Dynamic Shadow

Quick and Easy Gamma/CRT options

All About 2D Global Illumination

Platformer engines, slopes, moving platforms, jumping, collisions, etc.
Platform Engine, by Martin Piecyk - updated to GM:Studio

Cameras (Following Players, and Influenced Objects)

Slopes and Platformer Movement for Beginners

Drag and Drop Platformer Series

Basic Physics Platformer Controls

True Perfect Platformer Controls (input buffer, air control, diagonal collision, etc)

Ultimate Platform Engine

Gamemaker Studio 2: Moving Platforms and One Way Platforms(All in One)

Easy Double Jump

Platformer Pathfinding. Tutorial

Making A Simple Metroid Style Map With 2D Arrays

Rocket Jumping Tutorial Project

[Platformer Tutorial] Tile-Based Collisions At Smooth Subpixel Movement Speeds

2.5D Platformer (Z-Axis Layers + 3D Ground)

Tileset Collision Handler script for pixel perfect detection

Tile Base Collision Line

Moving, One-Way Platforms in GMS2

Legacy GM - Super Simple Platformer Game

General shader use, and various shader effects
Shader - Replace Color

Damage Shader

Shaders - Simple Outline

Toon and Outline Shaders

Shaders for hobby programmers: Newest Video: LUT maps

Shaders Intro (Explanations & 2 Example Shaders)

A quick overview what shaders are - No coding!

Multi-texture Shader for 3D

Generate noise texture with shader and get its data in GML

Grayscale Shaders and Post Processing Effects

GM Shaders

Color Gradient Animated Text

Basic HLSL Shader (DirectX) Tutorial (RGB blending, blending 2 sprites, sprite brightness, etc)

Complete engines, and tutorials focusing on specific genres
Free 3D camera

New beginner's tutorials from the author of The Game Maker's Apprentice

GameMaker Studio 2 - Make a Lunar Lander Game

GameMaker Studio 2 - Make a Warplane Game

Make a Spelunky Level Generator in Gamemaker

Balloon Fight Clone Tutorial

Dungeon Crawler with Random Mechanics

Snake Clone Tutorial

NES Ice Climber Clone Tutorial

How to code a match 3 game and backtracking algorithm basics.

Making Your First Game: 9 Free Tutorials [Drag & Drop]

Making a Snake Game

Gravity Platformer and 3D Terrain Racer

Flappy Bird Clone(ish) Tutorial [VIDEO]

Making a 3D path system

Fauxton 3D - A 2.5D sprite-stacking engine

Bomberman Clone Tutorial

Top Down GML and DnD Tutorial Series inspired by Gauntlet

Graphics effects: particles, text effects, tiles, etc.
Creating Sweet Particle Effects in GMS2

Using surfaces to generate reflections

GMS 2.3 beta : Create a Starfield using Struct

Swaying grass tutorial - GMWolf

Simple Background Gradient Render

Breathing or Heartbeat Indicator (Spriteless!)

Introduction to Particles -- Building Particle Types! (YouTube)

Animated Tiles

Fast Grass in GMS 2 (Thousands of grass "instances" with high FPS)

ScreenShake Methode 1 & 2 (Français - French)

Text Shadow

Action scene - Animated background like in megaman or manags

n-layered auto tiling using vertex buffers.

Cool effect using particles to display a picture

Graphics Library

All direction dragonball laser beam

Pixel Flipboard Style Animation

tiling an image between sets of coordinates

Scanline Post Processing Effects

Parallax Backgrounds in 3 minutes

Visual Fire Effects

text shadow and text outline in gamemaker with drawtext

Drop shadow in GameMaker using a surface

Game Over Screen with Filters and Effects

Smooth screen-wrapped sprite movement

Basic Pseudo-3D in GameMaker

Basic GML programming, Studio feature updates, etc.
Coding Fundamentals in GML Tutorial Series

What's the Difference: Loop Structures vs. Step Checks and Alarms

How NOT to use && and ||

Configurations & Macros

Explode String by Delimiter

Intermediate Topics of GameMaker

Why Yin-Yang if Blocks suck

What's the difference: Objects and Instances

Introduction to IF Conditions (DnD) [GMS2]

Alarm Usage

Syntax and Additions and Changes in v2.3

Resource IDs and Strings

Accessors - how to remember their symbols, how to use them

Explaining the Array Accessor (@)

Keyword "static" Explained

GML Joseki Series: for Loop Recipe Cards

Preprocessor directives in GMS2 - GMWolf

object.variable vs. global.variable vs. globalvar/macro structs

GMS 2.3+ Beginner Tutorials (Introduction)

Custom Sorting with Arrays in 2.3.1

Keyword "static" Explained (Execution Order)

Better Footsteps with Sprite Broadcasting

Keyword "function" & Methods Explained

Data Types Explained (and Memory Leaks)

The Pubsub Pattern

"Want to execute this only once" (Alarms/Flags/Counters)

GameMaker IDE shortcuts and tips

[SOLVED!] Trying to set texture that is also bound as depth buffer - bailling

Using Sequence and Object Pairs to Create Complex, Multi-Part Objects

Lets Make Lasagne - A Clean Code Tutorial Series

Speedcoding with Snippets

State-Free Blinks

Adding an event when activating or deactivating instances

GML FAQ - Passing Local Variables into a Method's Body

GML Joseki Series - DRY with Context Wrappers

Hacking GML - Destructors with Wills and Executors

Noob Trap PSA - Don't use other or the object ID after a place_meeting check

Object and sprite motion control
Calculating a non-axis aligned bounce/reflection vector for collision resolution

Perfect Tween Type Object Rotation and Falling (Tetris, Gear Platforms, etc)

Rotation collision (example: top-down car)

Better hitscan for the Top-Down shooter

Realistic Throttle Response (Flight Physics PART 1)

Object Sprite Direction Tutorial (8 Directions)

Easy Enemy AI (Idle, Chase, Attack, and Flee)

GameMaker Studio 2 - Tile collision + slopes

Segmented enemy

On Slopes and Grids: subpixel-perfect topdown movement and collision line without objects

Creating Smooth Character Movement

Bounds Follow Camera

Top Down Drag and Drop Tutorial

Steering Behaviours: The AI system everyone needs for their game

Vectors and Steering Behaviors

How to Attack | State Machine | Hitboxes

Pathfinding with Mp_Grids - RTS unit movement

Collision Line Thick functions

Movement and Vectors

Guide to Basic Slopes Using Linear Math and Geometry (Object-Oriented, Top-Down)

Room transition effects
Transition System using Sequences

Torigara's Room Transitions Revisited

Transitions - DND and GML

Connecting Rooms Through Doors

GM Studio in Linux OS
Run the GMS2 IDE on Ubuntu 19.04

Linux 🐧 Running GMS2 Beta on Arch linux (and possibly other distros too)

GMAppImager Tutorial - GM Games that Run on Any Modern Linux Distribution!

Player interface: buttons, dialogs, controls, menus, mini-maps, etc.
Buttons, Design, and GameMaker Studio 2.3

Simple Virtual Keys

GUI "Layer", buttons & mobile game

Menus with Submenus

Simple GUI Buttons and GUI Coordinates

Easy Branching Dialogue System

Keyboard layout key definitions for customized controls

RPG Textbox Tutorial -- Supports Character Names & Images

GUI Tutorials: Buttons and Option Lists

Interaction Hints

Minimap Tutorial

Reusable Automatic Map/Minimap

Simple Metroidvania Map Implementation

Making and Displaying a Minimap

How to search items in an array, list of items. (Then, draw only the correspondents)

Menus with Submenus #2 - Selections

Multitouch Made Easy

(GUI) how to implement scrollable list in game maker

Vagante inspired inventory

Fully Functional Inventory System

Redefinable Keys

Simple Scrolling Menu

Dynamic Form Validation in GameMaker Studio 2+

Random Choice Menu - Level up!

Simple Gamepad Setup (Using Struct & Arrays)

Data structures for game saving, feature lists, etc.
JSON and GameMaker Studio 2

Professional game saving with binary files

Making your Games Multilingual via auto-loading JSON files

Using TexturePacker: A guide to proper external loading and texture management

How to localize your game using Json

Easy Localization with JSON

Time Rewind Feature Tutorial

Using ds_grids for Calculations

JSON Saving with Structs/Arrays

skeleton animation JSON

Professional Game Save

Playing/Loading an external .WAV file from included files

local save game in GameMaker studio

Endianness-Aware Built-in Functions

How to (Comfortably) Deal With Modifiable Stats in RPGs (and other genres)

Audio control and sound effects
How to prevent audio from being blocked on HTML5 - GMS 2.3

Item/Coin Collection Sound Pitch Climb

Rhythmic programming, controlling objects with a metronome

Using in-game ads, purchases, notifications, etc.
Interstitial, Banners & Reward Ads Tutorial Series [VIDEO]

(updated version) how to implement ads (admob) in Gamemaker 2.3

updated version how to implement in app purchase (iap) in GameMaker 2.3 2021

Source control, backups, code sharing
Git and Github for GameMaker

Using Source Control In GMS 2

Working with Git and backups

Tutorial on Source Control Management in GMS2

Mathematics for specific effects
Fast Bezier curve generator (any degree)

Machine path learning (genetic algorithm)

Conway's Game of Life

How to create Game of Life in GMS1.4 / GMS2

Useful Math For Game Development

Misc Maths Scripts

A free simple quadratic bezier curve script in GML

Cellular Automata for Cave Generation

Generating Sweet Caves with Cellular Automata (Beginner Friendly Procedural Generation #3)

Beginners Proc Gen in GMS #6: A* Is Born (Pathfinding’s Greatest Hits)

Perlin Noise

Making Neural Network in GMS2 - In progress

Metaballs, Marching Squares and Linear Interpolation

Dijkstra's Algorithm for Tactics Games 101

Screen management
Advanced resolution manager (very mobile friendly)

How I scale my game on all iOS device based on the screen ratio

How to properly scale your game!

Scaling, Resolution, and Aspect Ratio Management for GMS1 & GMS2

(Legacy GM) Smooth scrolling on mobile devices

Using an Android phone emulator to test your game on commonly used screen sizes

Using servers and online data
Online Highscores

Networking Tutorials (GMS 2 and 1.4)

Using Google achievements in GameMaker Studio

Online save game (cloud save) in GameMaker

Online Voice Chat Example

Unsorted (for now):
Using show_debug_message()

Super Simple Depth Sorting

GMS 2.3: Feature Tutorials

Updating your scripts so they run like they used to before GMS 2.3

Intro To Multi-Threading

Realtime 3D Animations (Morph-Targets) [+Source]

The Knight's Tour

Asynchronous C++ DLL Extension creation in Eclipse

Do things with draw_line function: conected lines

Reproduce CSS easing functions with Animation Curves

Unlimited Alarms

Basic extension creation

Getting started with C++ DLL Extension creation in Eclipse

Shuffle card deck and map values

Complex Skill Trees

Contdown Timer && Count-Up Timer [GMS2]

Advance Level Unlocking

Basic Level Unlocking System

Create a burst fire gun or enemy spawner

Top Down Cover Finding( warning computationally expensive)

Creating a Field of View

2D Hitscan

Fully Functional Inventory System

How to plan and manage code for larger projects

Real-time Spell Checking (250,000+ English Dictionary Words)

Turn Based System

Puzzle Switches

Smooth Camera + Pan/Zoom [YouTube]

Custom Encryption

Making HTML5 Extensions

Let's Make Some Enemies

Code that detects the first time game runs

Create Levels from PNG Images (GML)

Detect if game is compiled, or was launched via IDE (script)
 
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