GML Visual What are the easiest game genres (ex. platformer, shooter, etc.) to code using GameMaker 1.4?

M

Mapped

Guest
I'm new with GameMaker and I grabbed the 15 bucks bundle for the GameMaker: Studio 1.4 Licenses.
I'm making a video game as a school project (in which you can do pretty much whatever you want as long as it has a goal to it), but since I'm a beginner, my capacities are pretty limited. So here's the background.
I want to create a game with at least 5 video game genres mixed into it (ex platformer that switches into a puzzle into a shooter etc.), but which of those genres require the least experience? It's not that I'm lazy I just want to save myself some hours or days of struggling with code that I'm not yet familiar with (not that GML looks complicated but still, I'm a newbie).

Thanks for the help!
 
G

Guest User

Guest
wellll most people recommend platformers...i find them hard as crud personally what with all the jumping and gravity and blegh.

so if you're a bit programming-challenged like me i'd recommend a simple grid-based, top-down "walking simulator" to start out with instead tbh. just like...an RPG but without all the complicated systems until you get a handle on GMS.



pretty simple, if you stick to the basics. otherwise, make Super Mario or something esp. considering there's a metric ton of tutorials for plats and plenty of devs who work on platformers that are willing to help you out.
 
Z

zendraw

Guest
pretty much what hipster said, a top down game. and to be even more easy for you, you can make the areas the size of the screen or around that so you have a clear overview of the levels. and its more easy to design.
 

poliver

Member
any genre in top-down perspective or a platformer

for simplest top-down you can get away with just collision checks and some variables
for a simplest platformer the same, just add gravity/jump and limit movement to left/right

puzzles are probably the hardest ones to implement imho depending on the scope and depth
 
For easiest: top-down perspective for sure. I'm not sure why so many people find platformers easy. I think it's easy to make a bad plat-former in GMS, but an actually good one is a pain because of the physics, or fake physics. Either one takes a lot of tampering with variables and a good understanding of movement. At least, that's my experience. I didn't successfully write a platforming engine I was satisfied with until I'd been using GMS for 4 years. Then again, I didn't try that hard either.

Make a character that walks around with a top-down perspective and then give him a gun. Melee attacks are a little tricky, but shooting stuff is easy.

Here's the key bits of code I use the most and help a lot:
Code:
image_angle = direction;

mp_potential_step();

depth = -y;
//(Since you're using GMS1. Be careful with this one in GMS2)

with (instance_create)
 {
 //Do stuff
 }
//or
var inst = instance_create();
inst.variable = other variable;
I disagree with @Roman P. about puzzle games. They're not easy per-say, but I think the hard part is designing/writing the puzzles, not programming them. Puzzles are typically more passive, by which I mean they don't require crazy AI, movement, animations, or real-time interactions. But just like how I don't like platformers, I imagine it's different for each person.

I think the hardest one, (other than like, MMORPG, which if that happened in GMS I would die of surprise), would probably be Real Time Strategy. I think RTS in general is very difficult for any engine. There's a lot of AI, and performance is very difficult. Designing a good RTS (balance wise) is super hard even ignoring all that. The main things to avoid in GMS though are multiplayer and 3D, especially for your first games.
 

Ruimm

Member
Top down shooters: you don't have to deal with gravity and stuff, it is easy to create bullets and detect collisions, etc
 
T

teamrocketboyz

Guest
Couldnt agree more that top down is the way to go for a basic first game. silly ole me decided to try and create a multiplayer platform shooter as my first ever game.

With no knowledge whatsoever on GML i ran into a few problems and ended up with nothing but a demo, although i must admit as my first project i was blooming chuffed to pieces to have something that worked

after scrapping that idea i went on to make a clone of a top down game where you avoid asteroids and this became the first ever game i completed making simply due to the ease of top down.
 
G

Gerald Tyler

Guest
Top Down Shooter all the way.
Here's a few things I've realized as far as first games go...
2D is far better than 3D. Creating objects in 3D takes a while, and animating them takes a long while as well. Let's say you made a 2D like the original Zelda, that's 3 different "Sets" of animations you need, character facing up, down, and right (Simply mirror it for Left). With a pure top down, you're just rotating the sprite, saves a lot of time. Additionally in pure top down, you're not spending nearly as much effort on the "Scenery." You're not having to fill the area with beds, furniture, windows, etc. As others have stated, you're not worried about gravity or physics, which you definitely won't want to be dealing with early on.
Don't try to make anything with online. Even AAA companies mess up their netcode and it basically ruins the game. A nice single player experience means you're not sitting there worrying about your netcode.
The AI is a bit easier as well, though I'm still a newby at making AI so take that with a grain of salt.
So it's ideal for a first game. Things are just all around much simpler
 
Top down game of course. Other than that, pong, but I can argue that's a top down game. Plus you don't have to deal with people feeling the jump is too floaty or not high enough.

Go for Atari 2600 games. Learn from those. If I had to combine the easiest 5 games to make a game...

Pong + Breakout + Space Invaders + Frogger + Pac Man.

1 . 2 . 3 . GO!!!!

Actually I can come up with something in my mind that would combine all 5. Might make for an interesting game jam.
 

Yal

🐧 *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
Seconding top-down, normal platformers aren't too hard but it's easy to mess up stuff like jumpthrough platforms and moving platforms unless you know what you're doing. Top-down shooters aren't too hard (and lets you make menus mouse-controlled, which is another big plus for beginners) and shmups like Gradius or Touhou aren't too hard to replicate either.

Also, a bit less common suggestion, but first-person point-and-click adventure games. Use Mouse Left Pressed events to interact with game objects, draw a few pretty backgrounds, and add an inventory system, and voilà, you've got your engine.

Pong actually is a good project to try out at some point. Requires minimal work, lets you get a hang of coordinate maths (if you want to replicate the 'bounce angle changes depending on how far up/down the paddle the ball is' thing) and is a classic that tons of people will remember and recognize. Breakout too, it has the same benefits but also lets you make tons of levels easily to pad out the game.
 
B

buu342

Guest
Something like a Space Invaders clone is very easy to do in Game Maker.
 
I know I'm beating a dead horse here, but a top-down game would be your best option. Starblast Alpha is pong shooter if you want to take a look at that for inspiration, however if this is your first game and you're new to GML, I recommend narrowing your focus a little. Combining 2 or 3 genres is enough on it's own, let alone 5. Also GML isn't that hard to figure out, it's more of how things are timed and how the code runs more than anything.
 

Rayek

Member
Whack-A-Mole type games are dead easy. Flappy bird clones. Infinite runners. Seek & Find (hidden object) games are super-simple. Simple top-down shooters are simple to do.

If I were you, I'd design all games around the same theme and/or character(s). A bit like the old "Horace" games on the ZX Spectrum.
 
There are plenty of free tutorials available via youtube to make any type of genre game. The difficulty of the matter is up to you. It really depends how in depth you want to make some things.
Everyone is suggested top down shooter, when in reality that can have alot of headaches that go along with it. For one thing, I always find the AI in those environments to be much more challenging than a platformer.
 
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