Game Maker offers an intuitive and easy to use drag-and-drop
interface that allows you to create your own games very quickly. You can
import and create images, sprites (animated images) and sounds and use
them. Game Maker is bundled with a considerable collection of such
resources to get you started. You can easily define the objects in your
game and indicate their behavior, and you can define appealing rooms
(levels) in which the game takes place. If you want full control there
is actually an easy-to-use programming language built into Game Maker
that gives you full control over what is happening in your game. You can
create your own computer games quickly without the need to learn a
programming language. Of course you should not expect to create your own
Halo 4 or Virtua Tennis within a few weeks. But that is also not
necessary. The joy of playing a game is not related to its complexity.
Simpler games, like Tetris, Bejeweled, Space Invaders, etc. are a lot of
fun to play and a lot easier to create.
Game Maker focuses on two-dimensional games. So it is not meant
to create 3D worlds like Quake, even though there is some limited
functionality for 3D graphics. But don’t let this put you down. Many
great games use two-dimensional sprite technology, even though they look
very 3-dimensional. And designing two-dimensional games is a lot easier
and faster.
Game Maker is a software application written by Mark Overmars in the
Delphi programming language. Overmars released the original version on
November 15, 1999. Game Maker comes in two editions, the Lite Edition
and the Pro Edition.
The Lite Edition is meant for those that take their first steps
on the path of developing games. It can be used for free but is limited
in its functionality. Also it shows a popup logo when running games and
will regularly remind you of upgrading the program. When you are using
Game Maker regularly you are strongly recommended to upgrade it to the
Pro Edition.
The Pro Edition contains considerably more functionality and does not
display any logos or popup messages. More precisely, the Pro Edition
has the following additional functionality :
• No Game Maker logo is shown when running a game.
• No regular popups remind you of upgrading.
• You can use rotated, color blended and translucent sprites.
• There are additional options in the sprite and image editors.
• There are additional actions for e.g. CD music, rotated text, and colorized shapes.
• You can use special sound effects and positional sound.
• You can create splash screens with movies, images, webpages, texts, etc.
• There is a particle system to create explosions, fireworks, flames, rain, and other effects.
• A number of advanced drawing functions are available, for example colorized text and textured polygons.
• It is possible to create 3D games using functions for 3D graphics.
• It is possible to create multiplayer games that can be played over a network.
• You can define your own room transitions.
• You can use functions to create, load, and modify resources (sprites, backgrounds, etc.) while the game is running.
• There is a collection of functions to create and use data structures.
• There are functions for motion planning.
• You get the possibility to include additional files in the game executables that can be used when the game is run.
• The Pro Edition can easily be extended using extension package. These
can be made by everybody and will in general be provided free of charge.
• Three such extension packages are included adding many room transitions, windows dialogs, and printing facilities.
• You can define your own trigger events.
• You can export and import resources, which makes it easier to collaborate on games.
Game Maker requires a resonably modern PC running Windows XP,
Vista, 7, or later. A DirectX 8 (or later) compatible graphics card with
at least 32MB of memory is required for most created games. It requires
a screen resolution of at least 800x600 screen resolution with 16-bit
or 32-bit colors colors (preferably full color). Also a DirectX 8
compatible sound card is required. Make sure you have the most recent
drivers installed. Game Maker requires DirectX version 8.0 or later to
be installed on your computer.
