Gaming World is mostly known for being an RPG maker community, but increasingly people have been interested in developing games in other genres. With many development tools out there, and the many unknowns surrounding them, this article will shed some light on Game Maker.

 What is Game Maker?
Game Maker is a game making tool that uses an interpretive engine to allow for fast development and contains many pre-made systems that games typically share like collisions, particle effects, pathfinding, event handling, and common commands. All of this helps GM to be one of the fastest development tools to use. GM first saw it's release in 1999 and has since had 7 versions. Originally developed solely by Mark Overmars, it is now being developed by YoYo Games. GM currently runs on Windows 98 and above, but there are plans for a Mac compatibility. GM has a free and pay version. You should always try before you buy, and the Lite (free) version of GM contains 90% of the functions you'll need to make games. To buy the pro version, it will cost either 20 USD, 10 PND, or 15 EURO. In comparison to many other tools out there, GM is most likely the cheapest development purchase you will ever make.

 Why should I use Game Maker?
Game Maker is simple and powerful. The most popular genres for development in GM are platformers, action, puzzle, and arcade games. If you are interested in developing games in these genres you should at the very least check GM out. GM also has two modes of development, using drag and drop commands and using scripting, making it easy to learn but also a powerful tool once you learn how it works. Drag and drop and scripting are totally interchangeable, but I recommend everyone use scripting eventually because it's much more easier to use. Drag and drop commands are all self explanatory and allow you to quickly learn how things work.

 
 How effective is Game Maker for making games?
Game Maker is generally as effective as you are when it comes to 2-D games. GM has slowly been growing into one of the more popular indie development tools to use. So much so, many popular games you may have played yourself are made in GM. I could go on to list many, but just to new a few Gaming World members who make GM games, cactus_squid (Clean Asia, Mondo Agency), Lazrael / Supra Mario (Banana Nababa), Psychoskull / Frankie (Sluggy's Adventure), Perfect Run (Goldeneye 2D, Mr.Blocko), and Gaming World's very own collaborative work Barkley Shut Up and Jam Gaiden from Tales of Games was even programmed in GM (by yours truly).

 
 GM also has support for extensions. That is, GM already has most of what you need to make most games, but if you would like even more functionality you can include libraries to expand the capabilities further. There are hundreds of these ready for download, including things like better media support (MOD, XM, OGG, etc.), windows functions, and more. GM has even been used to make programs, and while this isn't advised, this displays the kind of stuff GM is capable of doing. In the right hands, GM is capable of making any 2-D game.

 Why shouldn't I use Game Maker?
Game Maker is a general development tool suited for many genres but does lack support for certain genres by not having certain commands or better tools. For instance, something like an RPG, RTS, or FPS game all require much more initial work before you can even get started on the game itself since you will need to make systems for these games before you can begin serious work on it.

 So say you want to make an RPG in GM, you first have to make a dialog system, a cinema handler, inventory systems, databases for enemies and items, and many other things before you can even get started. This gives you more control over your game but also requires more time, dedication, and patience. If you don't have these things you are better off sticking to something like RMXP and modifying that since it already has these things for you. Conversely, if you wanted to make an adventure game along the lines of The Legend of Zelda, you could benefit from using GM over something like RMXP. Since it's very well suited for adventure games because of the commands it has and is better at handling instances than RXMP, you may spend more time altering RMXP for your needs than you would adding the things GM does not have.

 A special note about 3-D games, while they are possible in GM you should only aim for simplistic 3-D and not anything complicated. GM does have support for 3-D functions but they are basic, and there are much better tools out there for making 3-D games.

 Where can I get Game Maker?
The official GM website is yoyogames.com. You will need to do a very simple sign-up process to download GM7.

 Your words fail to convince me!
Below are two examples that highlight two things that I think are common misconceptions with GM. Firstly, many people think it is very difficult to create games because you need to know how to script, and secondly, many people think GM is slow. Given the increase in technology and the simplicity of 2-D games, GM is more than enough for moderately complex games and in the right hands can be used to develop something that is indistinguishable from more professional indie games made in languages or other makers. Press F1 when the game is loaded for information on the game, or if you download the source check the game information. You need GM7 to open the source files. I'd also like to note both of these took less than 30 minutes to make.

 
Ship Dodge - This example game is based off something I downloaded a few years ago, but don't remember the name. The object of the game is to dodge the bullets for as long as you can, while more and more bullets appear. This illustrates perfectly how simple GM is to use, as there are less than 10 game resources and less than 30 lines of code to make a game like this.
Source + Executable

 
Drawing 1 Tech Demo - Also based off a tech demo I downloaded for another maker, this shows that GM is likely more than fast enough for what you need. While it doesn't display how fast GM processes commands, it does show GM can draw quite quickly.
Source + Executable

 Ok I downloaded Game Maker. What now?
GM comes prepackaged with example games. You should look at these to see how GM works. GM also has a help file you should have open at all times so you can look up commands, or see how certain things work. You should first try and modify a game to make it perform how you want, and then you can get started creating simple games to gain an even better understanding. In future articles I will spotlight particular genres, so you should take this time to download GM and see if it's for you. In addition, here is a drag and drop to script reference (thanks to dicko for the link):

 http://www.blackratstudios.com/games/DD_to_GML_7/Drag_and_Drop_Icons_and_their_GML_Equals_Ver_7.html

 If you have any questions regarding the examples or GM itself, feel free to post and I'll answer your questions. Also, if you would like to know more about a certain aspect of GM development say what it is and I will try and cover this in future articles. GM technical support questions should be posted in the Game Maker sub-forum.