Author: Atomic Toddler

Introduction A variable is great at storing one value. But is it possible to store several values under one variable name? Of course. One option you have explored in Level 13 is the list data structure. In this level we will take a look at arrays and how they can make certain game tasks much…

You have learned how to store numbers and text using variables, lists, maps, and grids.  In this level you will learn one final way to store values – Arrays. Arrays are common to almost all programming languages.  Arrays allow you store many values under one variable name.   Arrays are similar to lists, but more…

Introduction Sometimes you will find yourself creating several objects that have the same (or very similar) game behaviour. You will probably notice that you are copying and pasting the same blocks of code into the events of each one. This is when you should take advantage of using inheritance. Inheritance allows you create objects that…

Sometimes you create a new game object that uses most (or even all) of the exact same code as another object that you have already coded.   Sometimes you want an object to group several different objects so that they behave in similar ways. Sometimes you might like to control several objects at once using…

Introduction In this lesson you will be introduced to how you can combine your knowledge of loops and lists with the lists of game objects that GameMaker is keeping track of for you.  Lets walk through a few examples of using the instance_find script from earlier lessons inside of loops. Part A – Fire At Closest…

Now that you’ve seen how to fill and show a values in a list using loops you are ready to challenge yourself by figuring out some standard loop algorithms. The following algorithms will start on the easy side and then get harder. When you get stuck, just watch the solution video at the appropriate time…

Introduction You have learned that you can keep many values inside of a list. Now you are going to learn how you can use loops to go through the list and do clever tasks like search for values, find max/min values, count items, and many others that you will be able to adapt and use…

Introduction Almost every programming language has the capability to loop code. The technical term is ‘iteration’ or ‘iterate’ which means to repeat. In this lesson we will take a look at some different types of loops you can code in GameMaker. Part A – Basic Loop Structures Watch the video: 13-01-A Done File:  L13-01-A-Done.gmk Challenge…

When you are programming there are times when you might want a block of code to repeat several times. Most programming languages have statements that allow you to loop your code. In this unit, we will take a look at several different types of loops and how you can start to use them in your…

Introduction In this lesson you will learn how you can combine knowledge of the mouse coordinates and states to add some great game features. Part A – Mouse X and Y The mouse position is always available to you by using the mouse_x and mouse_y game variables. You can use mouse_x and mouse_y to accomplish…