0.
CONTENTS
This Issue
Hey everyone. With the release of issue 8 here, we are
gradually getting closer to the release of issue 10. Issue
10 will be a milestone for GM Tech that we intend to
celebrate even if we are not the first magazine to make
it to this issue. Issue 8 is a great issue that I’m sure you
will enjoy reading just like all the previous issues.
Issue 7 was a great issue that received some great
replies despite an error in a website link to the Game
Maker news site. It was very surprising to see how
excited our readers were to read issue 7. We are very
happy that people really look forward to each and every
issue that follows the previous ones. Unlike many of the
previous issues, issue 7 was released only 30 days after
issue 6, making it one of the fastest issues that we have
written and released.
Although submissions have been slow like issue 7, we
are powering ahead without slowdown from lack of
content. We have another 5 new staff members and
starting from issue 8 we will have a few new features to
the magazine, these include:
- Work In Progress Info: This will just be a paragraph or
more about the progress on some projects that people
can take a look at. This aims at supporting different
works in progress by making them known to other
members.
- Find the bug: This will be a new activity that will go in
with the comic. This activity will open the door to new
competitions in the magazine
- GMTECH Game Choice: This is a new feature for the
reviews section. GMT will award one high rated game
with this.
- Redesigned advert pages: The advert pages need a
new look as it was the ugliest part of the magazine.
We hope that with these new improvements you will
enjoy another great issue.
gmjab
Editor
1
1
Table Of Contents
1. ARTICLES
Whats Going On......................................................................................... 2
What Makes a Good Game.................................................................. 4
What's Important: Graphics or Gameplay......................................5
Stopping Beginners Starting Out of their Depth..........................6
Hot Debate: GMHV................................................................................... 7
The Story of Stone Guardian................................................................ 8
User Opinion: Does GM's Speed Bother You?...........................10
2. GMDEV
Game Maker Tips................................................................................... 12
3D Transformations: A Confusing Outlook..................................13
Theory of Online Gaming..................................................................... 14
Importing Your Own Custom Colours into GM.......................... 15
How to Create Simple A.I.................................................................... 16
Tut: Move Towards................................................................................ 17
Tut: Laser Beam..................................................................................... 17
Pixel Art Tutorial..................................................................................... 18
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
Exclusive Preview: Raptor 2 Demo 3.............................................19
Preview: Senseless War..................................................................... 20
Preview: Zomster................................................................................... 21
Preview: Turret Defence..................................................................... 23
Preview: Warzone................................................................................. 24
Review: Mr. Pratt's Haunted Mansion.......................................... 25
4. EXTRAS
Look At........................................................................................................ 26
WIP Look At.............................................................................................. 28
Interview With: Cactus......................................................................... 29
Interview With: Radnom...................................................................... 30
Interview With: PugFugly..................................................................... 31
Comic........................................................................................................... 32
Find the Bug.............................................................................................. 32
Word Search........................................................................................... 33
Spot the Difference............................................................................... 33
Free Applications.................................................................................... 34
Adverts....................................................................................................... 35
Closing......................................................................................................... 36
Staff
Gamez93.........GMTECH Owner gmjab........... Magazine Editor
Rup13.................Assistant Editor Alex..................................Advisor
Cubex DE.............................. Writer mememe........................Writer
Keysle.................................... Writer TheMagnitude..............Writer
Aertcz.................................... Writer GeoS.................................Writer
Christian Sciberras..........Writer Polystyrene Man.........Writer
Medieval..................... Researcher GMmarine...........Researcher
Bob–11500K........ Comic Artist the9thdude.............. Reviewer
trose7...............................Reviewer Hiyukantaro............ Tut writer
Online
Website......................................................... www.gamemakertech.info
Forum........................................................www.gmtech.invisionplus.net
Email........................................................Gmtech.magazine@gmail.com
1. ARTICLES
Whats Going On
GMT: Goals
Even though this wasn't a main goal, we are happy to
celebrate 100 members registered on our forums. On top of
that we have recently broken the 2000 post mark. This is a
good example that shows that many people enjoy reading the
GM TECH magazine.
GMT: A bit of downtime
Sometime late last month, you may have notice that the
website went down. Instead of loading the page it asked you to
download the start PHP page. This downtime was just due to
our host as the hosting website went down also. The good
news is we were back online by the next day.
GMT: We're on YoYo
Everyone might remember how the Markup Magazine was on
the YoYo Games front page in Beta 1 of the YoYo Games
website. Now we are also on the YoYo Games website with
Markup Magazine under the 'Make' page in Beta 2 of the
YoYo Games website. This link will benefit Game Maker users
as well as make the magazine more known amongst the
community.
GMT: New Site
Visited the GMTECH site lately? If so, you would have seen our
new website design. This design not only looks better but also
suites the magazine better. Be sure to check it out as well as
all the latest news.
GMT: Farewell Cubex DE
It's not something we enjoy seeing, but we would like to
celebrate Cubex's time and work while being a part of the GM
TECH Magazine. You would have read Cubex's good work in
the articles, reviews and Game Maker tips he provided. Some
of the major articles he did were the “Planning a Game” article
in Issue 6 and the “Developing a Game” article in Issue 7.
Cubex DE did very good work and never disappointed us. We
hope you get your dream job in the future. Thank you for being
a part of GM TECH and good luck.
GMT: Killer Spam
Sadly, the spam lives on. After applying the new member only
posting permissions to the ‘Advertisement’ forum, the spam
died for about a month. Sadly, it has returned, but in the 'Join
the Team' forum. However this spam has gone ugly where on
some occasions, it actually posted pornography images in
their posts. By doing this, the spambot has gone one step too
far. Unfortunately this means we are now considering
changing the complete 'Submit' section to registered users
only. This is something we never wanted to do, but we do not
want to endanger any users of our forum when the spambot
tries to post their adult content. We are very sorry for this
inconvenience and we hope you will understand.
2
2
The Game Maker Race
You may have seen a few banners here and there about a
competition called 'The Game Maker Race'. If haven't
bothered to have a look at what's all about then you are
missing out. For building a 2D fire and ice related game in a
month you could win a few prizes. For getting in the top 5 you
will get a free 1GB flash drive and if you win, you will also get to
chose 2 games from a list to get for free. So what are you
waiting for? Check out the website for more details at
www.thegmrace.com.
YoYo Games BETA II
No, this isn't new news but if you are one of those people who
want nothing to do with YoYo Games and never visit the
website than you should know that they have updated their
website with an all new ‘Instant Play’ feature. This allows you
to play games on the go. You will also notice the adverts on
the side of the website. Whilst the adverts don't pose much of
a problem, I would have to say the website looked better
without them. Also some of the adverts may be slightly
inappropriate to the younger users, such as 'The love
calculator' that comes up every now and then.
Game Maker: On the Move
Where is Game Maker going, you might say? Well it's going to
the Mac. Yes, according to YoYo Games, they are making a
new Game Maker version which works on a Mac and can
make Mac games. Currently there aren’t many Mac users
that use Game Maker (why would there be, Game Maker only
works on Windows properly). Once it is released, you may just
see new flocks of Mac users joining the communities. A
problem with this however is that games made by Mac users
might only create Mac versions of their games which will stop
Windows users from playing their games. But if Game Maker
is made to export games to both Windows and Mac then
there shouldn't be a problem.
Game Maker: The Runner is Evolving
So what's changing? Well its the Game Maker runner. YoYo
Games is now making the Game Maker runner in C++. This is
a great answer to many of the users that wanted something
similar to this. This update may come out around February
according to YoYo Games.
1. ARTICLES
3

Whats Going On - (Continued)

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Click Here to Visit
Shout Out: Seventh-Link Entertainment –
Night Flurry Game Sneak Peek:
Welcome To Seventh-Link Entertainment! We'd like to formally Shadow Zone developed By TheMagnitude
introduce you to our wonderful company. Here at Seventh-
Link Entertainment we aim to bring YOU guys entertainment
and the best there is of it!
to play games, what they’re like and what to expect (and what
not to expect). We decided it was time to bring out a new era
of gaming on your personal computer, so we're going to do
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We know how you guys think and we know what you guys
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you want and we'll put it into the game as best we can and of
course, what else is better than an offline RPG and an online
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continue to be free with more brilliant entertainment services
in the future? Nothing!
So get downloading and get gaming (when we release it of
course) at www.seventh-link.com and/or www.seventh-
link.com/forums .

Established over the internet in 2007, Seventh-Link

Entertainment is hoping to be a giant in interactive
entertainment available to millions worldwide. We grouped
ourselves together to first create our offline Role Playing
Game, ‘The Eclipse Effect’ which is soon to be online too. We
hope to redefine the way games and entertainment services
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‘The Eclipse Effect’ is actually still being made and will continue Shadow Zone is a new TDS in the making which currently
to be even when the first release of it becomes publicly features:
available. We want to hear your input! You tell us what you'd • 11 Weapons including AK-47, M16, bazooka,
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tell us and for us to tell you, so have fun here! • Online (atm up to 8 players) (Maybe Reflect enabled)
We are a small group of game developers and entertainers • Map creator
with great experience in our fields of expertise and with that • Really hard AI bots
we want to totally redefine how games are released, played • Pre-rendered shadows
and how entertainment entertains people. We came together
on a forum and started to develop our game. Hopefully we'll Be sure to be on the lookout for this new game.
make more games in the future and expand on our small
empire of games software and entertainment we have
available.

With our innovative group of staff, Seventh-Link Entertainment

looks to bring entertainment back to the world again like it
used to be, pure entertainment. We are a friendly group and
we ourselves are game players who have experienced various
MMORPGs and other games and so we know exactly how

3
1. ARTICLES
What Makes a
Good Game By TheMagnitude
This can be a number of things, whether it is good multiplayer
support, a gripping storyline, original concept, good replay
value, or just plain fun, fun, fun. I'm not going to list every single
way a game can be good, I am however, going to give you
hints, tips, and techniques on how to make your game stand
out. What you must first do is place yourself in the players
seat, what will the player of your game think and how will s/he
react to the game. For you to understand how to make a good
game you must first understand how to be one with the
player. You are the player. If you were playing the game what
would YOU think? However this may be difficult if you do not
like the genre or type of game you are making. Anyway here
are some key points to keep in mind when developing your
game:.
Does it run fast and smoothly without errors?
Nobody wants to play a glitch filled game. If a player cannot
get past a certain part without having error message(s) or
s/he keeps getting stuck to the environment and all the sprite
offsets are wrong s/he will soon get bored and perhaps
angry. Freezing can be avoided with clever scripts and
sometimes unchecking/checking the solid checkbox on
objects can really show a difference. Glitches can be avoided
by either coding it correctly the first time (which I can tell you
very rarely happens), or the more common option, spending a
decent amount of time finding out where a bug is and
squashing it. The more bugs you squash the more knowledge
you will gain on how to avoid having to confront them again. A
room speed of no more than 60FPS is needed since our eyes
see at about 60FPS which means any more frames will just
be a waste and will only look about 60FPS when we look at it.
Another point to add is about FPS and it's how to keep that
FPS high and not have it being slowed down by processes in
your game that can be avoided. This can include using tiles in
place of an object that remains stationary and has no events.
Your game does not also need to draw instances outside the
view with a given border which I made a little script for:
Script Name: instance_in_view(id,view,view_margin)
if argument0.x+argument2>view_xview[argument1]
and argument0.x-argument2<
view_xview[argument1]+view_wview[argument1]
and argument0.y+argument2>
view_yview[argument1]
and argument0.y-argument2<
view_yview[argument1]+view_hview[argument1]
return 1;
else return 0;
A typical example of this would be to draw an airplane (size
64x64, with a sprite offset of 32,32) only if it's in view like so:
4
4
if instance_in_view(id,0,32) {
draw_sprite(spr_airplane,0,x,y);
}
/*32 is the maximum distance it can be
outside the view before it is draw,
however you could be more precise with
this and input sqrt(sqr(32)+sqr(32)). If
you don't understand I'm not explaining
Pythagoras here there's Wikipedia for that
:)*/
Does it have good replay value?
This is key in any game really, if your game can only be played
once then it doesn't take an idiot to figure out that it being
played several times would be better. A very good and widely
used technique for this is random maps. This makes it
different for the player each time, unless in the highly irregular
occurrence of it being the same. If a player is faced with a new
challenge each time there can be no end to the fun. However,
a good random map generator is necessary, sometimes
placing objects in a random place can do the trick but in most
cases it doesn't. Another good thing to consider is a map
editor so if a player gets bored of a playing the same map over
and over, s/he can make their own map. A very, very
important issue in making your game replayable is multiplayer,
and by multiplayer I mean online multiplayer. Offline player vs.
player hot seat can be fun but if you have no friends who can
you play then? However if you make your game online, then
you can play anyone in the world (to a certain extent). Yes
inputting IP’s can be fun but a server list? Now that's just
really fun. There are some developers out there offering
server lists and stats such as Reflect Games but if you want
to have your own then I suggest you learn MySQL or
something of the sort.
Is it original and gripping?
By original I mean something that hasn't been done before.
Yeah of course Mario remakes can be alright to play once in a
while, but if your game is original like the Rubix Cube, that guy
was a millionaire over night (I know it's not a computer game
but the same gaming idea applies). Usually original games are
incredibly simple and just require a decent thinking time. Also
if your game does not grip the player with things such as a
really good story line, or if the player doesn’t get rewarded
when s/he accomplishes certain things in the game, then
they may loose interest in the game and go and play one of
the thousands of other games out there.
Remember a good game requires careful planning, and a lot
of dedication, so giving up is not an option. If you want to get
your name around, go ahead and shout it out!
1. ARTICLES
What's Important:
Graphics Or Gameplay By Medieval
I have seen many people on the GMC say that gameplay is, by
far, more important than the graphics. This might be true, but
in fact there are so many points with which can be proved that
both are on the same level of importance. As you read this
article you will find out why graphics are important, how it can
affect your gameplay, why you should have good graphics in
your game, and what other people think about it.
Graphics really can affect the gameplay in your game. In my
opinion, good graphical effects can make a good influence on
different aspects of the game. It’s essential if you want to give
the player a specific mood whilst playing. How would you scare
a player if there is nothing to scare him? You could compare it
with this; For a school project, you need to do some research
on the subject you have chosen. All the information that you
gather, is the code; The next school day when you have to
present it, the teacher gives you a lower grade since your
presentation paper looks all sloppy and not put together well
enough, or maybe your speech wasn’t good and looked
unprepared.
Although many people say that gameplay is by far more
important, Not one person I have seen on the GMC would
download a game without seeing screenshots first. They post
“No screenshot, no download”, ignore the download link and
check out the next topic.
When the author of the topic notices that he missed a
download from someone, he posts a screenshot on his topic
(If he knows how to). People now can’t complain about a
missing screenshot. However, if the graphics of his game are
ugly, the download link still gets ignored after a user has seen
the screenshot. This, again, shows how important graphics
really are, and how they are essential to attract a user to
download your game. This is why you should always put the
same amount of effort into both. If you can’t do graphics by
yourself, ask someone else to do it for you.
I have collected a few quotes around the GMC, in which people
say which they think is more important, and if they make a
game addictive;
5
5
mememe
“I believe that good graphics don't make a game addictive, but
does something else that gameplay can't”
Melee-Master
“It should be the perfect mix”
Potnop
“People used to be totally addicted to space invaders, and I
wouldn't say those graphics are that great “
Mgamerz
“Tetris is a bunch of falling, 1 colored blocks, and it's highly
addictive. So no. I think it's the idea behind the game that
makes it great, not how well the graphics are.”
SolarGames
“Take an awesome game. Now, pretend something is wrong
with your graphics card and all it manages to draw are ugly
different-colored boxes. BUT, the gameplay has not changed
at all. It's still an amazing game, it just looks terrible.
Take a horrible, disgusting game. Now give it beautiful,
extremely good graphics. Professional, even. So, you're playing
the game, pretty much only noticing the graphics. By this, you
don't realize that the game is crud.
So, I think graphics can lure people into playing crud, but
sooner or later they will probably realize that. After that, they'll
probably get mad, and so on and so on...”
These statements confirm an earlier statement in this article;
you always need to keep graphics and gameplay on the same
level in order to keep people playing, or even getting your
sequel if you decide to release one. Let’s look back at the
example that I showed you earlier. You have put together an
amazing presentation about your subjects. Your teacher
becomes interested, and asks you to start when everyone in
your class is listening. However, no matter how hard you try to
get them interested, as soon as your teacher and classmates
find out that the actual information collected is utter crap,
they will lose their interest for your project. This way you will
still get a lower grade.
The conclusion of this is that you should always make both
aspects of the game amaze the player, so that he/she will
stay interested and eventually be addicted to your game, and
will keep playing it. I hope that this article has helped you.
1. ARTICLES
Stopping Beginners Starting
Out Of Their Depth By GeoS
There seems to a big, well documented problem with
beginners (lets not use the word 'newbies' here) deciding that
they'll start their epic adventure into the mysteries of game
development with 'omg lik runescape but wid guns lol'. That
really isn't the way to go. Your favourite games are made by
professional teams of designers, artists and programmers
over a period of years. How one inexperienced person with no
budget is going to achieve this in less than their lifespan is
beyond me, and hopefully as you know, or will realise, beyond
you.
On that note, I've created a little list of what to avoid when
planning the scale and complexity of your first game.
Starting a team
The last thing you need when working on your first game is
having the difficulty of managing your first team as well. It
seems easy, get everyone else to do the bits you’re stuck on,
but make sure to stick your name on it. You have to
remember that when money isn't involved, it's your vision, and
not many will fully join it voluntarily unless the truly understand
what you are trying to achieve. It'll seem fine for the first week,
designing, bringing ideas together, but inexperienced
managing will leave you all alone again, perhaps with some
half-written code you don't understand or some half-done art
you can't copy in terms of style. Good to join for experience
after a first game, bad to start unless you truly can handle it.
3D games
One more dimension than you can probably handle. 3D brings
in new complexities, and anyone would probably tell you to
understand 2D fully before trying 3D. 3D modelling is also
particularly more difficult than 2D spriting, as is level design
and programming. Stick with 2D, and also avoid 3D illusion
techniques such as isometric.
Online games
As BlaXun wrote in Issue 7, the first question you'll be asking
yourself when making an online game is 'Do I have the
knowledge on how to make an online game?' If you do,
congratulations, your probably one up on me and can continue
making a Runescape clone. If you don't however understand
the key concepts of online game structure, never mind simple
6
6
programming, you should really be asking yourself if you can
really manage it.
So, let's add a question before BlaXun's: 'Can I really develop a
game, say, an RPG, on the scale of it's online cousin, a
MMORPG, never mind the additional complexity caused by
developing for online?'
Planning out of your depth
If you plan too much, you'll just want to keep adding and adding
and adding until it gets into a ridiculous list of promises with
no work for proof. Any look at the 'Game Design' forum in the
GMC will show you that. Make sure that every point you state,
especially to others, you are actually capable of achieving.
Not planning at all
It really does help you if you plan out what you’re doing before
you do it. Think about how you are going to achieve things, and
if you can't achieve something, look it up in the amazing list of
resources you have on the wonderful internet. It might help
you to sketch out specific sprites and frames before doing
them in pixel.
Ok so sure, your thinking that's all well and fine, but what about
what you should do? Well I believe someone once put it that
what you can learn programming Tic-Tac-Toe is a mile ahead
of what you'll learn failing to make the next Quake. I'm not
saying you should learn to make Tic-Tac-Toe, that's actually
quite boring and aiming a little low, but what I'm trying to say is
that for your first effort, make sure to keep with what you
know, and then add on features your curious about learning.
For example, if you were making a top down shooter, I'm sure
you'd be interested in learning how to make the character look
in the direction of the mouse.
So, all in all, plan realistically, set yourself an aim every day
during development, and I'm sure you'll be on your way to
success.
1. ARTICLES
Hot Debate: GMHV By Aertcz
The GM Video Fad
It all started with the massive hype for GMTV which would be
created by Danny. However, it seems a couple of people
wanted to join the bandwagon by creating their own Game
Maker videos themselves. The main competitor right now is
Nateistoraw's GMHV. Many people speculate that GMHV was
purposely rushed and released before GMTV, just so
Nateistoraw could claim that he was the "original" creator of
the Game Maker video series. The controversy not only lies
before the members at GMC, but also before the people who
govern it.
GMHV's Videos
As stated above, the main speculation of GMHV was to
compete directly with GMTV. Has this affected the quality of
the videos which would be made? What were the main
objectives of this video service?
GMHV was created by Nateistoraw to help users understand
Game Maker better. His videos are currently directed towards
complete newbies as he has stated. Nateistoraw tries to help
by showing his viewers content (editable examples) which are
made by other users in the GMC, and later explaining how
everything works. Let’s simply take a closer look in at these
Helper Videos:
Episode 1- Fake Destructible Terrain Tutorial
Destructible terrain has been a hot discussion in the Expert's
section in the GMC. So why not have our trusty Nateistoraw
show us how to create some by showing us his first video on
it. Be careful when playing the video, you will first be greeted
by the high-pitch screech of Nateistoraw by screaming
"TUTORIALS", so remember to lower the volume on your
computer!
The tutorial which he interviews is made by Mega/Mecha
Noob. I am not sure which one it is, because of the unclear
speech by our video host (Nateistoraw). The video tutorial is
started by Nateistoraw showing us all the sprites which were
provided in the editable. He will later show you how to use the
image editor by colouring a blank circle in with blue.
Remember that these videos were aimed at a very beginner
audience.
As soon as he opens up the first object and tries to explain it, I
realize how untrue his statements are. He shows an alarm
D&D which is set to 60. This is what he had to say about it: "It
has an alarm system an' everything on it. Yeah, so; they come
out every 60 seconds or milliseconds."
Wow, what a big mistake! The number he looked at aren’t
milliseconds or seconds, but the amount of steps. The room
7
7
speed determines how many steps are in a second.
Therefore, if the room speed is 30 and the alarm is set to 60;
the alarm is activated every 2 seconds. Not a great job
Nateistoraw.
The rest of the tutorial wasn't really teaching you anything. All
it did was show the user a bunch of D&D icons with
Nateistoraw reading off what they are. It could be useful to
newbies, but just by reading what each of them is, isn’t going
to help the viewer remember what they do.
Episode 2 - Motion Blur Tutorial
So after the first GMHV video, another video is released. This
time it is based of Specter's motion blur example. He still has
the pathetic annoying high-pitched screech upon listening to
this video; so once again, please turn down your speakers! I
suggest letting the video play for 2 minutes before looking at
the video. All the first 2 minutes really do, is show Nateistoraw
talk about what he’s going to do and he even has the nerve to
make us watch him download the editable!
I can't really say much about the video, all Nateistoraw did was
show us some code and say "This is very basic". Then further
along in the video, Nateistoraw makes us wait an additional
10-20 seconds for the example to load on his computer. His
excuse? "He wanted us to view it in real time".
It is disappointing how Nateistoraw didn’t seem to explain
much once again, I hoped that some massive improvements
were going to happen.
Random GML code - Something which Nateistoraw
might have made
Alas, this was a very depressing video as well. His so called
expertise still fascinates me. He starts off his video by
teaching us the exact names of his sprites (which is very
useful for us to know). Then we get to the exciting part.
Nateistoraw teaches the newbie how to move his character
by using simple code such as:
x+=3
x-=3
He later goes on to show us his enemy which has a step event
that "Controls all". I guess I was wrong about the step event. I
thought the step event was an event that runs all its actions
continuously. Despite the fact of how Nateistoraw mixed up
his facts yet again, at least he showed a little bit of how the
code works and tried to help the newbies.
I was able to have an interview with Nateistoraw via MSN.
What you are about to read may shock you.
1. ARTICLES
Hot Debate: GMHV (Continued)
Interview with Nateistoraw
Aertcz: What is your stance on GMTV? Was your GMHV a
direct way to compete with GMTV?
Nateistoraw: “Well at first it was because I was constantly
denied video creations to help the GMTV, I already had the
GMH so I decided to launch GMHV as a way to show the
GMHV who was boss, and then I created a thread and they
sent their goons out to purposely get the topic closed.”
Nateistoraw: “So now we are okay, being separate video
sources for Game Makers.”
Aertcz: The moderator FredFredrickson had replied in your
topic with "Please don't wear your join date as if it's some kind
of badge of honour... your contributions to this forum, which
have amounted to your very high warn level, ought to be an
indication that your helpfulness to the forum is not reflected
very well by the date you joined."
Aertcz: Has this effected your stance on making GMHV?
Nateistoraw: “Not at all, I have forgotten about that
conversation, also my warning levels are for multiple
accounts, breaking rules such as posting questions in the
advanced and tutorials boards that belonged STRICKLY IN
NOVICE, also I asked a member for a hacked key, and I was
reported. “
The Story Of Stone
Guardian Submitted By Zedman
The Story begins. Chapter 1.
Jared (otherwise known as SG), had recently recruited me,
Zedman. As far as I am aware I was the last member to join
the development team for StoneGuardian. Jared had already
hired Cameron (also known as Camman) and Chris (also
known as CJA) to do both the programming and music.
We set off on our journey, on October 20th 2006, a story
began, a dream began, and StoneGuardian began.
On this date, 4 people set off to create the greatest ever
looking Game Maker created 3D game. At this time, the idea
was comical; nobody believed that it would turn into anything
good. Its developers: Jared, Cameron, Chris and me, Zedman,
on the other hand believed in it.
The beginning of the end and beginning again.
It started off using gm’s built in 3d functions, Jared handed Chapter 2.
down a base engine that he created to Cameron, Chris
steadily improved his music and sound creating skills, and I
undertook the biggest 3d modelling project of my life. I had
created so many models for the game, that I, and the rest of
the team was so enthusiastic about, that I had 2 folders of
game related media each 5 gigabytes big.
8 to bigger things in the long run.
8
Aertcz: What do you have planned for the future of GMHV?
Nateistoraw: “Well, this all depends on the GMC. I am all by
myself on the GMHV, and I’m looking for assistants and co-
host to help give the videos good quality and get them
released in a good schedule. I plan on launching more
programmes, but school is about to start, and I would be
limited to about 3 videos per month if I am alone. “
Aertcz: Is there anything you would like to add in addition to
this conversation?
Nateistoraw: “The purpose of the GMHV is to help Game
Makers by using videos. We will attempt to become extremely
interactive with the GMC users, we hope that when we're
finished better gm games are made, and many of them are
able to go commercial. The GMHV is there to help newbies,
advanced users, and even the depressed programmer(s).
Our goal is not to get back at others, but help them along the
way for a better tomorrow of PC GM games.”
We continued working on the game over the months, we
devoted our entire holidays creating what we thought would
be amazing and then some. We were all working so rapidly
because of our small fan base pushing us and the numerous
reward systems created by Jared to motivate us, such as the
badge system, where we were given tokens to exchange for
monetary rewards at the end of development. This was just
one of the many lies (while obvious now) in the begging that
was like a poison seed, growing in the development team
waiting to explode into its full colours….
We had released demo after demo after demo…. We were
well on our way, but on our way to glory or demise?
Jared, who had so far done nothing apart from creating the
base engine, began taking things a bit too serious. The
arguments began, and the spirits of the developers were
diminishing. I slowed down my incredible work rates, Cameron
started keeping things from Jared, and Chris worked hard to
keep things together. Over this time Cameron and I conferred
on everything, we grew a friendship; this friendship would lead
1. ARTICLES
The Story Of Stone Guardian (Continued)
Jared, the destroyer. Chapter 3.
By this time we had a well structured GMC topic, fans and
decent engine (compared to most other Game Maker 3D
games). Our fans were oblivious to what was happening in the
background.
The lack of a mission statement was SG’s downfall; Jared had
begun his downward spiral and was taking StoneGuardian
with him. Arguments began about migrating to a new, more
stable development system or to a more established Game
Maker engine. Jared had refused to take all of Cameron’s late
nights into consideration, would all his work go down the drain
because of Jared’s greediness?
A divide in the team began; Jared was forced to defend his
stupid actions, while Cameron, Chris and I (Zedman) battled to
keep the game’s development growing.
The Split. Chapter 4.
There was no forcing Jared off of his high chair, he wanted
what he couldn’t get from us, and that was to change
development tools. We ended up splitting; our decision was to
let Jared create a C/C++ version of the game on his own and
let us finish the game as it was intended, using Game Maker.
We split up, Jared had gone one way and the remaining
musketeers had gone another, we formed Combustion
Entertainment.
Enough is Enough. Chapter 5.
Jared had taken his deceit into a whole new level. The only bit
of work that he had ever done for the project was giving
Cameron the base engine/file to work off, but Jared had
stolen it, claiming it was his own, when he had just ripped it off
a tutorial from the GMC.
We couldn’t go any further; we had to start again because of
this devastating truth. The game had to be renamed. It was to
be called ‘The Warriors Path’.
He had now taken it too far; he had dreams that not even
‘n00bs’ had at the time. We had massive arguments that
went on for hours, the numerous lies, such as; he was to
begin producing ‘Graphics Cards’ for computers in his garage
with help from Microsoft and Ageia. He also stated that he
was to begin creating ‘game consoles’ for the public.
9
9
Actual excerpt:
”zedman1000: Well, for instance, i found it abit hard to
believe that a company that doesnt make graphics cards gave
you a list of supplies needed/locations for graphics cards
zedman1000: see were im going with this
zedman1000: my concerns are well founded
zombie13333: nope not at all, because they help me because
they make physX cards so they would know
zedman1000: hmph
zombie13333: and nothings impossible
zedman1000: well, from this discussion i can tell we arnt
going to get very far
zombie13333: w/e….”
Jared then took it too far, in his anger; he had gotten into my
Developers Account and read all my personal messages. He
had now read all the countless messages between me and
Cameron stating our well founded dislike of him, his actions
and his leadership skills.
At this time we decided to leave the matter alone and let
Jared figure things out for himself. During this time we
experimented with other engines and programs. We decided
to use RealmCrafter (openly admitting we had failed). This idea
was quickly shot down and we returned to Game Maker for
the final attempt at making what we thought would be another
entry into games that had crashed and burned.
A new beginning. Chapter 6.
The new team of 3, now minus Jared, had been created, with
a fresh start that made the entire team feel brand new and
ready to go. We began with Xtreme 3d but its lack of
documentation forced us to go with the Ultimate engine.
After months of hard work down the drain from yet another
failed attempt using Xtreme 3d, our energy was slowly
dissipating, and Chris hadn’t been heard from for month. This
was our final try before we gave up. It was up to me and
Cameron now.
We couldn’t just let the project fail, two months went by of
solid work between me and Cameron, and after so many
difficulties, so many bumps along the way, we finally done it.
We had finally created a demo of something we were proud
of, something we could work on without frustration, and
something with pure class, ‘The Warriors Path’.
It is now September 2, 2007…
1. ARTICLES
User Opinion:
Does GM's Speed Bother You?
Staff Opinion: rup13
“Personally if I’m honest, Game Maker’s speed doesn’t really
bother me. This is mainly due to the fact I don’t develop huge
games that require a lot of instances. Instead I use it for quick
prototyping and small examples. However when I play games
developed by other people, which use a high amount of
instances, I start to see how the speed drops and that
destroys the flow of gameplay. I’ve read about people having to
limit 3D games due to Game Maker unable to handle too
many polygons in models. Of course speed is limited to how
good the player’s computer is, but surely it shouldn’t have to
limit the developer, especially if he/she has the computer
which should run. Overall, I think Game Maker’s speed doesn’t
bother me at the moment, but once I get into making games
again, I’m sure it’ll come and bother me like countless other
developers out there.”
User's Opinions:
alphaskullproductions
“If you mean by the speed you can make games with game
maker, then no, it doesn’t bother me. I enjoy taking some of
my time to make a game. It is a great hobby/business. It is an
enjoyable thing to do. I hope this answers your question; if not
just let me know what you mean please.”
nextmastermind
“Game Maker's speed? As in loading? Well yeah, that kind of
gets long if you have quite a bit in your game but it's not that
bad. If you’re talking about in game lag, then yes, I have seen
many games on the forum that would like to play but they lag a
lot. Also I have made RPGs but some are so big that when you
go into houses you wait like 20 seconds just while it loads. It's
not that bad, but if you make really big games then it becomes
bothersome. I hope I've helped.”
Hellblaze123
“In my opinion, the speed does not really bother me. Sure,
when I'm trying to do something like an RPG, it gets pretty
slow, but that’s to be expected when a program is running a
lot of stuff. So I don't see much problem with the speed.”
Aragon1029
“The frame rate doesn't normally bother me when i work with
2D games. I can get in some nice particle effect before it drop
below 30 frames, on the other hand 3D games the frame
rate does bother me. A lot of times I will find myself having to
take out quality because of drops in frame rate, although I
have found some techniques that help counter frame rate
loss such as frame-skip. So the speed of Game Maker does
not bother me normally.”
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zyrolasting
“Yes, it bothers me in a manner of speaking. The engine itself
is wonderful. However on this computer I use, if the project file
exceeds 5-10 MB, it takes quite a while to save. Well the delay
in itself isn't horrible, but when you look at the majority of
software everywhere, saving is almost always instantaneous.
This also applies to loading the data. People are used to this,
and can be a bit annoyed at long save times. I am obviously
one of these people.
If the save time gets too high, it can be an issue if many bugs
are in my game. This motivates me to save often, so I'm slowly
turning into a skeleton in my chair. If I could make a
suggestion on this, it would be this:
Perhaps the resources imported into the project could be
changed into reading it from a path. When you import files for
use, this increases save time quickly. Now, there are pros and
cons to this:
Reading files via paths
Pros:
- Saving time will be instant, or close to instant.
- Files could be kept in directories on your computer for the
engine to read and "import" without affecting save/load time.
- Game testing can be prepared quickly if the objects were
created once on screen with the paths as a reference. This
way, the "Saving Executable" phase may be a little faster, and
that's what we want. The faster the better!
Cons and how to combat them:
- If the actual file is deleted, Game Maker will also lose track of
it. Maybe combat this by making the actual import of the file
optional? This will increase the variety of functions in the
software, making it more user-friendly as well. Besides, people
are smart enough to backup files in other ways.
- Published games will have many directories included for
game to run successfully. Counteract: Well, it doesn't HAVE to
be that way. Maybe when the *.exe is being created, the
actual import that is affecting save time will be fully functional
here. This may make the *.exe creation long and tedious, but
many animators have to suffer through frame rendering at
the end right? Besides, think of that creation as the ONE long
"save time" you have to endure.
Other than this save/load issue, I do not have a big problem
with engine functionality! I suggest this path feature as an
option. If anyone in the Game Maker development team hears
me out and decides to add this feature, hear this:
I suggest the path feature be completely optional! If some
people need the actual file import, allow them to make that
choice! People hate complete change. Look at Sonic the
Hedgehog.”
1. ARTICLES
User Opinion: Does GM's Speed Bother You? (Continued)
kbyoyoa
“OK, about Game Maker’s speed:
Game Maker is actually much faster then many people think.
The only reason that many games in Game Maker lag is
because there are a lot of objects. What people don't know is
that even if you don't put any code under an object, when
Game Maker compiles it, there will be like 100 lines of code
just of internal stuff. So, say you have 100 instances in the
room, that’s 10,000 lines of code without you putting anything
in the object. With Game Maker, if you were to only use one
object, but have the same gameplay the game would run a lot
faster. Now also people think that Game Maker can't make 3D
games cause they would run too slow if you had more then a
500 poly model on the screen. This is not true. If you only had
1 object on the screen that say for example, draws the
ground and some low poly scenery you could probably get in
like five to ten 10,000 poly models on the screen without it
lagging at all on a regular computer.
So in short I blame people for using too many objects. If you
just used a few more drawing functions and arrays, your
games would run faster.
That’s my opinion on Game Maker’s speed.”
xot
“The speed of Game Maker doesn't really bother me. I grew up
programming 8-bit computers so I'm perfectly thrilled by what
can be accomplished on today's machines. Sure, it would be
great if the interpreter was faster, but for most things it is
perfectly adequate. When I do run into trouble it is almost
always because I'm trying to work around gaps in Game
Maker's feature set, such as omissions in the Direct3D
library. With that said, artificial intelligence is an area that
suffers purely because of the speed of the interpreter. As long
as you are realistic about the kinds of games you try to make
with Game Maker, and you concentrate on making your
program work smarter rather than harder, speed should
rarely be a problem.”
-Twister-
“While the speed that the games run at generally doesn't
bother me for games with smaller rooms, the speed with
large rooms with many objects gets on my nerves sometimes.
A deactivation script can help for that, though. My main
problem is the time that it takes for games to load on startup.
If a game has many different object types and rooms, then it
can take quite a while unless you use external resources
(which are a pain to me). I also am not one of the developers
who use d3d, as I work in 2D, but I can see Game Maker's
speed getting on the nerves of those who do use it.”
correojon
“I think that Game Maker is fast, but a lot of Game Maker
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users, being this their first contact with programming, handle
it the wrong way. First of all, there are a lot of ways to speed
up a game (which I’m not going to list as there are already lots
of discussions about this in any Game Maker forum).
Secondly, people think that using a super powerful machine to
develop their games is a good idea. This belief is totally wrong:
when developing a game you have to focus on the audience,
the final users who will be playing the game. If they can’t
match your computer’s specification, your game with
incredible particle systems and surface effects will lag terribly
for them. So it’s often a good idea to use an older machine to
develop or test your games. This also forces you to make an
extra effort and develop speeding up methods. Also, most
commercial games are full of configuration options; by playing
with them you can make the game run faster. However, this is
something rarely seen in Game Maker games. For example,
giving the player the chance to disable particles can result in a
huge increment in speed. In conclusion, by using a super
machine the game will lag for other people, thus spreading the
belief that Game Maker games are slow.
Thirdly, Game Maker 6 and Game Maker 7 games need more
requirements to run smoothly than Game Maker 5 games.
Game Maker 6/7´s new graphic core is the main responsible
for this: it allows you to create astonishing graphic effects but
like everything in life, this has a price to pay. So if your game
isn’t going to use any of these advanced features you should
use Game Maker 5 instead. Some years ago I started
creating a 3D game using Game Maker 5 and the GMIrrlicht
dll. The results were awesome, really spectacular, however
lots of people couldn’t play it (or it lagged a lot for them)
because of the high requirements. Coincidentally, the specs
required were almost the same as to run Game Maker 6 or
Game Maker 6 made games. Now almost no one has
problems to do this, but it should be understood this way: the
requirements needed for Game Maker 6 are the same as to
run a 3D game which used Quake levels (so it wasn’t just a
crappy, simple 3D game). So before you start to develop your
next game in Game Maker 6/7 think first if you’re really going
to need that potential, or if you can create the game with
Game Maker 5 so it will reach more people.
So, does Game Maker’s speed bother me? Not at all.”
JakeX
“Game Maker's speed is, well, it's not great. It's fine if your
games aren't too complex, but slow down with games is often
caused by inefficient coding rather than Game Maker itself. Of
course, it does impose some limitations when you're trying to
do something rather fancy, just ask anyone trying to create a
bullet hell game, or a 3D game for that matter.
I think Game Maker has some bigger issues. *cough* terrible
security *cough*.”
2. GMDEV
12

Game Maker Tips

Commitment of everything. It is also helpful to back up your data to a USB
Most of the truly excellent games didn't take a week. Most flash drive or some other form of backup hardware just in
would have been developed for months, perhaps years. If your case you loose all your data one day if you have a hard-drive
not dedicated enough to finish a game you’ll get nowhere fast. failure.
Most great games start off simple and to a certain extent,
poor. It takes a lot of time and commitment to get through to Q&A: Fading Text ( Topic Link )
the end where you've finished with a top game. This also goes This user wanted to know how to fade the text in his game out
when coding programs and other things. Errors are every and in. GMT provided a easy solution to his question. To fade
programmer’s nightmare, but it's better than getting it right text out follow the code below.
first time. Errors are good because they identify the faults in
your coding skills, rather than you look for them yourself. Every [ CREATE EVENT ]
time you correct an error you take another step in the big TXTALPHA=1;
(very big) staircase of GML. This is because every time you
correct an error you learn how to avoid making the same [ STEP EVENT ]
mistake again, which makes you a better coder. if TXTALPHA > 0
{
No one will get anywhere without dedication. Give a reason for TXTALPHA -= .02;
people to remember you, make something great! }

Files and Folders [ DRAW EVENT ]

A very useful thing to do is to organise everything Game draw_set_alpha(TXTALPHA);
Maker related in appropriate files and folders on your hard draw_text(5,5,"This is my text");
disk. This way you can easily and quickly navigate through
them when looking for specific material such as old versions, If you wanted to fade you text in you will need to reverse the
screenshots or whatever. Here’s how I recommend you step event. The user also wanted to know how to fade the text
organise your Game Maker folders: in and out constantly. To do this we will only need to change
the Create and step event.
>Game Maker
--->Examples [ CREATE EVENT ]
------>My Examples TXTALPHA=1;
--------->Downloaded Examples
FADE=0;
--->Sprites
--->Sounds
[ STEP EVENT ]
--->Backgrounds
if !FADE && TXTALPHA > 0
--->Textures
--->Models {
TXTALPHA -= .02;
--->Games
------>My Games
if TXTALPHA<=0
--------->Game name {
------------>v0.1 FADE=1;
--------------->Screenshots }
------------------>game files(includes all download files) }
--->Downloaded Games else if (FADE) && TXTALPHA < 1
------>Programs
{
--------->My Programs
TXTALPHA += .02;
------------>Downloaded Programs
--->Useful Apps if TXTALPHA>=1
--->Tutorials {
--->DLL's FADE=0;
}
Of course you could have no folder for the screenshots or you }
could divide models into sub-folders it's however you want the
above is just an example, but I highly recommend organising
your files and folders in a sensible way so you can keep track

12
2. GMDEV
3D Transformations:
A Confusing Outlook By Rup13
One thing I’ve encountered which is difficult to get the hang of
is 3D transformations. Yes these are things such as
rotations, translations and scales. To rotate a simple cube,
you have to understand a lot more than just knowing what
function to use. You have to set the identity, translate the
cube to where you want the object’s origin to be, add your
rotation and then draw what you want to rotate, and end it all
by setting the identity again. Confused? I certainly was at first.
One thing I couldn’t understand is why Game Maker couldn’t
handle transformations different, specifically with few
functions. Take a look at my example for rotating a ball
forwards:
d3d_transform_set_identity();
d3d_transform_add_rotation_x(i);
i+=5;
d3d_transform_add_translation(x,y,0);
d3d_draw_ellipsoid(-4,-4,-4,4,4,4,
background_get_texture(tex_cube)
,1,1,64);
d3d_transform_set_identity();
The following example rotates the ball by adding i to the angle
each step. Even though once you’ve learn how to do this, it can
get very confusing when adding in multiple rotations. Game
Maker won’t let you have this code anywhere other than
around where the function is for drawing the rotated object.
This means if your object is planned to have multiple rotations,
you must plan a system out for enabling and disabling
rotations to make sure that the right one is shown according
to your actions in the game. To overcome this, I wrote a script
which is fairly simple to try and bypass some of these
problems. My system works that you use variables for your
objects, so in the Create event my ball variable consisted of
this:
Create event:
ball='d3d_draw_ellipsoid(-4,-4,-
4,4,4,4,background_get_texture(tex_cube),
1,1,64)';
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Now my ellipsoid is stored in my variable appropriately called
ball. Now all I do is add my script to the Draw event, calling
upon the ball variable as one of the arguments:
d3d_add_rotation:
d3d_transform_set_identity();
d3d_transform_add_rotation_axis(argument4,
argument5,argument6,argument7);
d3d_transform_add_translation(argument0,
argument1,argument2);
execute_string(argument3);
d3d_transform_set_identity();
Draw event:
d3d_add_rotation(x,y,0,ball,x,'','',i);
i+=5;
There you go, simple rotations using only one script. The
format of the d3d_add_rotation() script is as followed:
d3d_add_rotation(xorigin,yorigin,zorigin,objvar,xaxis,yaxis,zaxis,
angle);
We at GM Tech understand that this is only one way to
simplify transformations, so for the next issue we are looking
for anyone who can contact us with their examples and
suggestions to making Game Maker’s transformations easier
in 3D. Especially if they can be so easy, a total beginner would
be able to start learning 3D much quicker. When you look at
ThatGamesGuy’s tutorial on the rolling ball, you’ll notice that if
you move in one direction, then change direction, instead of
the ball rotating from the position it was in, it switches back to
the original angle and starts again. My script also does the
same, especially if you are rotating it forwards and backwards,
and then wish to rotate it left and right. So contact us now
with your suggestions, and we’ll add them to the next issue so
we can conquer 3D transformations in Game Maker together.
...
2. GMDEV
Theory Of
Online Gaming By TheMagnitude
In this article I am going to explore with you the theory of
online multiplayer gaming and teach you the concepts so you
can start programming your online games with ease. I'm
going to try and explain it in the easiest ways possible for I had
vast amounts of problems when first programming my online
codes. When I mention snippets of code it will be using a dll
called 39dll v2 by 39ster which is a very nice extension. So if
you want go to his topic, a simple search at the Game Maker
Community (gmc.yoyogames.com) should do the trick, and
integrate the scripts into your online game then it will work.
First I'm going to list some online connectivity jargon which you
should familiarise yourself with:
Server: This is basically any computer connected to the
internet.
Internet Protocol Address: Also known as an IP Address or
simply an IP, this is the unique identifier for each computer
connected to the internet. This is basically the same as a
telephone number; you must dial the number to connect.
Port: This is a gateway, if you like, into the computer where
messages are sent to and from a port where appropriate.
HTTP Internet browsers use port 80 and the reason that
there are different ports is so that all the data doesn't get
mixed up, When you phone someone there might be several
people who could pick up the phone, you say which person you
want to speak to and then exchange messages with them
which leads into the next part.
Packet(s): Or sometimes known as messages are pieces of
data travelling down internet wires. These are how two
computers exchange data with each other. So if a web
browser requested a webpage the web browser would send a
message to a server requesting a webpage and then the
server would send messages back which contain the
webpage.
Buffer: This is a place where data is temporary written to or
read from. If a computer received a message it would be
written to a buffer where the computer can then read the
information. When a computer wants to send data it must
first write it to the buffer then send the information in the
buffer to the other computer.
Host: This is the name given to the computer which is the
main link for all internet data transaction within a star
network. This is how most online games are programmed.
The host computer will be connected to everyone but itself in
the network (network being everyone playing the online game
which is usually about 8 or 16 max); and when the host
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receives information it will send the relevant information to
everyone else on the network to synchronise everyone’s
game.
Client: This is simply any computer connected to the host
computer. It gets sent information about all the other players
in the game and in return sends its own information about the
player on that computer.
Socket: This is a connection between two computers that
messages are sent down.
Okay don't worry if you don't get all that at first because later
on in the article I'm going to show you some GML. Another
important thing to point out in online games is the use of
puppets, if your blowing someone’s brains out playing online
on Counter-Strike your actually blowing out the brains of a
puppet and here’s how it works:
The player (the one who’s brains your blowing out), lets say
s/he’s a client, sends a message through a socket to the
host, telling the host who’s blowing his/her brains out and
that the player is dead, then the host, lets say he’s the only
other player so there’s no need to forward this message to
any other players, reads the message and applies appropriate
action to the puppet (this is the object on the hosts screen
mimicking the other player) which would be to destroy the
object and draw text in the screen saying that "You killed
him/her". That's basically how it works.
Here’s a healthy dose of code for 39dll v2. The host opens a
port and listens for incoming connections:
global.listen=tcplisten(10101, 8, 1); //
10101 is the port to open, 8 is the
maximum amount of incoming connections,
don't worry about the 1.
if global.listen<=0 show_message("Failed
to listen for connections on port 10101.
Go to www.portforward.com to help solve
this problem.") /* Port forward is
actually a really good website you should
visit if you get this error*/
Then in the hosts step event s/he checks for incoming
connections from clients:
sock=tcpaccept(global.listen,1); // waits
for incoming connections and then accepts
them
if (sock) then global.client_sock=sock; /*
stores the connection id or sock in a
variable global.client_sock, if there are
more than 2 players I'd suggest you use
arrays to store the sock info.*/
2. GMDEV
Theory Of Online Gaming (Continued)
The clients code to connect to an IP is:
global.host_sock = tcpconnect("127.0.0.1",
10101, 1); // "127.0.0.1" is the IP your
connecting to i.e. the server IP
if (!global.host_sock) then
show_message("Unable to connect to
server");
The code to send a message to a socket is:
clearbuffer();
writebyte(x); // writing the value of x to
the buffer
writebyte(y); // writing the value of y to
the buffer after the x
writestring("hello"); /* writing the
string "hello" after the y value (you must
read these values in the same order on the
receiving computer)*/
sendmessage(global.client(or host)_sock);
/* please don't literally write
global.client(or host)_sock here what I
merely mean is you type global.host_sock
if your the client, or global.client_sock
if your the host*/
Importing Your Own Custom
Colors Into GM By Christian Sciberras
Game Maker Supports a basic set of colors, but you might
want or need to add your own. Doing this is not at all difficult.
But people that don’t use any good graphical editors wouldn't
know about these tricks.
First, it is important to note that all colors in computers are
composed of three primary colors; red, green and blue. These
three values could be added up (with a special algorithm) to
make a single color value.
Anyway, a color which Game Maker lacks (and which is a
favourite of my own) is orange. Let’s import it into GM as the
constant c_orange. We'll start by using Game Maker's
internal graphical editor. So create a new sprite (or edit an
existing one - don't worry we won't change the sprite). Next
edit its first image and select the preferred color (orange) by
first double-clicking the color square beneath 'left'. Next you
may need to click 'Define Custom Colors >>' if the button isn’t
disabled. After selecting the color in the dialog, get a piece of
paper (or run Notepad) and write the numeric values in the
boxes after 'Red:', 'Green:' and 'Blue'. Make sure you recognize
the numbers afterwards. Next, run Game Maker in debug
15
15
The code to receive a message from a socket is:
size=recievemessage(global.client(or
host)_sock);
if size<=0 exit; // if this occurs it
means the other player(s) haven’t sent any
messages
x=readbyte(); // reading the values from
the buffer
y=readbyte();
string=readstring("hello");
I strongly recommend that you do check out some 39dll
tutorials before diving into this stuff because it can get quite
complicated.
So that concludes my article on the theory of online gaming, I
hope this has been useful and that you have come out of it
with a more improved knowledge of the subject. Thanks for
reading.
mode (F6) and in the Debug/Watch Window add the following
text/code: make_color_rgb(red,green,blue) but
don't forget to replace red, green and blue with the
corresponding values we found above. Next, write down the
resulting value (the text in the 2nd column) as you did before.
Lastly, open your GM project that you want to add c_orange
to and go to the Global Game Settings. Then, go to the
Constants tab and click on the first cell in the first column and
write c_orange In the 2nd column cell write the last value
we found above.
To test this out, create a new project and add c_orange as
we did above. Then create a new room and go to the Settings
tab and click 'Creation Code', in the code editor, write
background_color=c_orange Note that c_orange
should be colored just like GM's constants. Running the
program will show an empty, orange room.
2. GMDEV
16

How To Create
Simple A.I By TheMagnitude
This is a topic on which many game makers have queried If this is what you want to happen change the "Alarm 0 Event"
about in the past. Having AI or bots in games can really spice code to:
up the gameplay and make it more fun, and challenging.
Games that are too easy can be over quickly, or can just get Alarm 0 Event:
boring. Games that aren't fun, well I don't have to go into that if point_distance(x,y,xstart,ystart)>100
one. So I guess I should get to the point now, your either then direction=point_direction(x,y,xstart,
reading this article to gain knowledge on how to create some ystart);
nice AI, or you’re reading for interest; well I'll try to be as else direction=random(360);
interesting as I can throughout and hopefully you’ll learn how speed=1+random(2);
to code your own AI anyway. alarm[0]=30+ceil(random(30));

Okay, first things first I'll assume that you have a computer,
have Game Maker installed and all the rest of it. I'm also
assuming that you are relatively familiar with basic GML. I'm
going to teach you how to create simple AI for top down
shooters, simply because that's probably the most popular
game type around these days that demands clever AI in my
general opinion. In your game let’s say you have one object,
which the player controls, and one object which is an enemy.
Now if the enemy just sits there and does nothing he's toast
(unless the player is comically bad at top down shooters). Ok
so we have to establish a way for the enemy to move around
and shoot.
First of all is making the enemy move. There are various ways
to do this but the one I'm going to show you is simple random
movement. Set the room speed to 60, and put the player
object, solid object and the enemy object in the room. All code
is for the enemy object unless stated otherwise. Now input
this code (I won't comment parts that I consider basic GML
which was one of my assumptions that you knew basic GML):
Okay, so now we have a moving enemy. Now we need to make
him shoot or he's pretty useless. What we need to make the
enemy do is check whether he can shoot at the player, and
whether there are any objects in the way. To do this we should
use the collision_line(x1,y1,x2,y2,obj,prec,notme) function. This
function returns a negative number if there is no collision. And
this is how we are going to use it:
Create Event:
alarm[0]=30+ceil(random(30));
alarm[1]=30;
mode=0; can_shoot=1;
Alarm 1 Event:
if collision_line(x,y,obj_player.x,
obj_player.y,obj_solid,0,0)<0 then mode=1;
else mode=0; alarm[1]=30; // The enemy
will check every half a second whether
he can shoot the player.

Create Event: Alarm 2 Event:

alarm[0]=30+ceil(random(30)); can_shoot=1;

Alarm 0 Event: Step Event:

direction=random(360);
speed=1+random(2);
alarm[0]=30+ceil(random(30));
/* This creates a loop, which basically
means that every so often the enemy will
most likely start to move in a different
direction, at a different speed every
event of Alarm 0.*/
Now if you run your game you should see that enemy is quite
happily moving around pretty randomly, but since this process
can make the enemy move quite far away possibly in a totally
different spot to the original. To avoid this we can use the
objects initial x and y co-ordinates to check how far away the
object is from its initial spot.
16
var n; // This is initiating variable n.
if mode=1 and can_shoot=1
{
n=instance_create(x,y,obj_bullet);
n.speed=10;
n.direction=point_direction(x,y,obj_player
.x,obj_player.y);
can_shoot=0;
alarm[2]=5;
}
"obj_bullet" refers to a bullet object; "obj_solid" refers to an
object blocking bullets; "obj_player" refers to the player object.
This AI is only very simple but will still do the trick in most
games. You can experiment more by trying to make the
enemy pick up objects or hide behind solid objects. That
concludes my article on AI thanks for reading.
2. GMDEV
17

TUT: Move Towards By Calle Ekdahl

A lot of people at GMC doesn’t seem to know how to make an
object move towards a specified point, that’s why I am writing
this article. I will show you two ways, both does exactly the
same thing but one is shorter than the other, the longer is the
better according to me. Well, you will see. I am going to use
the mouse position as position however, but you can change
this yourself. Most people who asks wants to use the mouse
position for their RTS or RPG or whatever it might be.
First of all I’ll save the position to the variables xp and yp, like
this:
xp = mouse_x;
yp = mouse_y;
Then it’s time to get the object moving. This is the *tricky*
part, a lot of people seems to believe, but in fact it’s only one
function. And it is easy to find in the manual.
move_towards_point(xp,yp,speed);
That’ll work very well. It doesn’t matter if you use the function
several times or only one time, because the object will still
keep the same speed and direction, but I myself prefer to
always only execute functions like this once. I do this because
it is unnecessary to do the same calculation a lot of times,
when once is enough. It just slow down the game, I will now
show what calculation I mean:
direction = point_direction(x,y,xp,yp);
speed = speed;
This is identical to the function move_towards_point; it is the
definition itself. You may use it just for the sake of it. Study it
and you may all so gain some insight into how Game Maker
works, and how to move objects. You simply set the direction
and you set the speed.
I hope this article helped you at least a little. You may ask
anything you like, go ahead.

TUT: Laser Beam By Calle Ekdahl

The physical finesse with a laser beam is that it always goes There are two situations. Case one is when collision line
absolutely straight. It can’t cut through everything though, and return a positive number. That means it hit something. The
finally it must come to stop, against other objects. This is how function will then return the ID of what it hit and that ID can be
to draw a line that should imitate a laser beam and stop when used when addressing different variables. You should actually
it hit something. not draw between your x and y and both of the walls position,
since the beam should always be straight. Which direction to
draw_set_color(c_red); stick to depends upon from where the beam is coming.
//This is for horizontal laser beam -
reverse for vertical Case two is when no line is hit, and the line should be fully
if (collision_line(x,y,room_width,y,all, drawn what is fully drawn you decide in the draw line function.
false,true)>0) {
inst = (collision_line(x,y+sprite_height/2 Your welcome to ask anything by commenting, as usual.
,room_width,y+sprite_height/2,all,false, Finally, here is the url for the example: ( Link )
true))
draw_line(x,y+sprite_height/2,inst.x,
y+sprite_height/2);
}
else {
draw_line(x,y+sprite_height/2,room_width,
y+sprite_height/2);
}
draw_sprite(sprite_index,0,x,y);
}

17
2. GMDEV
18

Pixel Art Tutorial By HiyuKantaro

Isometric Building 3. Make a concrete roof. Make sure the two lines align (See
Hi all, and welcome back to another pixel art tutorial. Today I reference picture).
will be teaching you how to pixel isometric objects and you will
learn to create your own building. Remember, it’s best to only
use the example as a reference, as you will learn more if you
do it yourself, and you will be more satisfied with your result.

There are some rules in isometric pixel art; learn them by

heart so that your isometric pixel art pieces won’t mess up!
4. Make a shadow below the roof.
Isometric for beginners:
Isometric pixel art is a way of creating 3-dimensional images
using an angled perspective. This perspective is always the
same; the lines that are not vertical or horizontal, should
ALWAYS go in the same angle; two pixels to the side and one
up or down. Failure to follow this rule might cause you to
screw up your isometric pixel art piece. The proper way to do
it is like this: 5. Draw windows and a door that look similar to the reference
picture.
Good:

Wrong: 6. Colour them in, make the windows shine and shade the
door.

Ok, this is enough to start making the building. When making

the building you will learn a lot more though.
7. Now for the finishing touch, add some noise to the roof so
1.Start off with drawing a box-like shape. Remember the rule! that it looks more like concrete (You can apply this to the walls
too, if you want to.

2. Colour it; the lightest colour on the top, the darkest on the
right, and the colour in between goes on the left.
Well Done! You’ve completed your own isometric building. I
hope you enjoyed this lesson, see you next time!

18
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
19

Exclusive Preview
Raptor: Demo 3 (Sixty-five Million & One Bc)
Created By: Snailfox

Reviewed By: gmjab

When I first heard the game ‘Raptor’, I thought it would be a
really cheap 2D platformer game with non-animated sprites
and horrible gameplay. After seeing the game for the first
time I regret making such a statement. Raptor is more then
just any platformer, it’s a platform game that everyone should
look at, to see what they can accomplish with Game Maker.
With Raptor’s amazingly smooth animated graphics and all
the attention to detail, I’m sure that this game might become
a staff choice.

There is one word that describes the game graphics, that is,
‘Amazing’. For a game that uses an organic character that is
a dinosaur, you would think that the animation wouldn’t be
smooth. However, that is completely wrong. The character
animations were very smooth and they looked realistic. The
attention to detail is amazing in this game. There are many
effects including: fire, smoke, lightning, rain, water, and dust,
as well as scrape effects and effects when fighting. In
particular I found the water the most noticeable effect. I don’t
know if Snailfox is using physics in the game, but the water
effect such as the splashing looks amazing! I noticed even
when moving your Raptor over a hole blowing steam that the
steam almost stopped. There are many small great details to
this game like: flies, bugs and other little animals and the
clouds even move. One final thing I would like to bring out is its
cut scenes. There are hardly any Game Maker games that
have them and this game has great, funny, cut scenes in it. I
could keep going on and on about the graphics, but I’ll move
on.

This is the place where many fail, audio. But, not for this game!
The sound is almost as good as the graphics. The game has
very fitting music and it also has background sound effects of
birds and leaves rustling in the wind. The game also has many
sound effects for all the different features in the game.

The gameplay is excellent. It is very smooth; it doesn’t lag and

is almost flawless apart from a bug which caused the first
boss to get stuck on a tree. Also the controls may take a little
while to get used to. This is because there are quite a few
things you can do with your Raptor such as: jump, crawl, drink
water, back flip, super stomp, climb, tail hit and bite. The levels
are set out great and unlike many other Game Maker
platformers, I actually feel like I am playing a proper platform
game.

Raptor is a game I will remember and if it was a shareware

game, I would buy it. If you haven’t played Raptor I suggest you
download it before you waste anymore time downloading
games that were not worth the download.

19
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
20

Previews
Senseless War
Created By: Coffee

Reviewed By: The9thdude

Every now and then, a real time strategy (RTS) game will pop
up which is made with Game Maker. However, Senseless War
shines in a way that not even a big corporation developer can
achieve. There are downfalls to this such as low quality sprites
and no music, but it is still in the beta stages of development
so that leaves room for improvement.

First up are graphics; which are stale in some places,

primarily in the buildings and that the moon is very “cut and
paste”. Although with that said, there are some nice things
about the graphics in Senseless War. One thing that got my
attention was the time settings; day would turn into night and
night into day, with all of the proper colors. Then there are the
particles effects, which make the game, truly stand out
without much slowdown; which I have to point out that the fire
is simply amazing. Now I’m sure you’ve seen the screenshots
and thought “how can I get a decent frame rate with that
many units onscreen?” To my surprise, it ran near a
consistent twenty to thirty frames per second, with slowdown
only occurring when you have about 250-300 units onscreen
at once (this is a complete estimate).

Next is the audio, which is nice but needs much improvement

in the music department and needs volume adjustment. Most
of the game is played with people screaming in pain, gunshots,
and explosions that are not relentless on the ears.

Finally I come to how it plays. The game plays out well from a
side view RTS but has a steep learning curve when it comes to
use units and how exactly to do so; but with that aside, it plays
like a dream. All unit building is done with a click of a button
and is automatically made, all of which takes some MONEY,
which is acquired by killing enemy units. Another portion of the
game includes God Powers, which are nice to use in a pinch
but require SOULS, which may be obtained by killing your own
units, or enemy units.

There are three game modes: Arcade, a “live as long as you

can” mode; Capture the Flag, the “get the flag from the enemy
base” mode; and Conquest, which the player has to destroy
the enemy base to win. Arcade is the best, with the map being
the correct size to have a good war in. However, that is where
the other two game modes fail. The map is too small for two
bases as well as having good gameplay and can be frustrating
at times.

Senseless War is an excellent game with a few things to be

changed. This game has a chance to become one of the best
GM games next to Hover Tank 3D and others.

20
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
21

Previews
Zomster
Created By: Talha

Reviewed By: Trose7

Zomster is a 2D top down shooter. The storyline, in brief, is
that there is an alien invasion that you, a space traveler, must
stop. The aliens have a substance that turns humans into
zombies and other creatures of death, and they attempt to
stop you from saving both your life and your friend’s life. Oddly
enough, you don’t see your friend too often after the beginning
as he tends to trail behind you and show up unexpectedly after
you have killed the aliens. The storyline was somewhat
clichéd, but is made a little more original when the game
explains that the reason the aliens are coming is because we
stole water from them. Overall, the premises of the game
wasn’t great, but was greatly enhanced by a very entertaining
game play.

Zomster was probably one of the most addicting and

entertaining Game Maker games I have ever played. I really
don’t understand why, maybe it was the diverse variety of
enemies that were introduced slowly into the game, making
your gaming taste buds dance for joy. Perhaps it was the
different weapons and upgrades that were randomly thrown
into the game to spice it up. Or maybe it was the quest to
save humanity. Yet another possibility is that I wished to find
all 11 hidden crystals. Quite frankly, I believe it was the
combination of all these that made it good. The enemies had
to be there, but having 4 different types of weapons with
different upgrades caught me a bit off guard. Sure, I love
when games have them, but many Game Maker games tend
to leave out little details like this to save production time. The
quest to save the humans made you want to keep playing, to
see how the story ended. The hidden crystals were an extra
bonus, like when you get an onion ring in your fry basket at a
restaurant. It was so unexpected, yet so satisfying to get. The
enemies all had many different abilities, which I liked. What’s
worse than facing the same enemy level after level after level?
One enemy, which was the basic one, moved at a quite normal
speed, slower then you, and did moderate damage when it
came into contact with you. Another enemy, which moved
only slightly slower then you, also did moderate damage. One
of my most feared enemies was one I named quite literally,
‘The Bug’. I named it so because it was designed like a bug
and moved very quickly and seemed to do the same amount of
damage as the other enemies. Actually, now that I think about
it, they probably all did the same amount of damage. Anyway,
there was also a very hard to kill zombie that moved quite slow
but took a long time to destroy. It might seem as easy as run,
shoot, run, shoot, and so on, but it’s not when you have 20 on
each side of you. To run right through them would be a quick
death, and since they took so long to kill you were dead no
matter what. You had to carefully strategize where you ran.
There was one enemy that I disliked. It was a snake type thing

21
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
22

Preview: Zomster (Continued)

that shot back at me. They were on a level in which they
surrounded me causing me to have certain death. It wasn’t a
bad enemy to have in the game; it was just a more frustrating
one, as it also showed the creator didn’t just do a quick job,
something like that would take some programming.
The next thing was the solid amount of weapons you had
available. You could use your generic laser, with an upgrade,
to shoot two lasers at once, or three with a second upgrade.
The laser wasn’t a good weapon even with both upgrades, but
it never ran out of ammo so it was an ideal weapon for picking
off single enemies without using up your stocks of ammo. The
next was a net to catch the enemies with. I only found this
useful on the speedy bugs, and only if they were alone since
after catching them you had to switch weapons and kill them
before they escaped. The third was a bazooka, good for
knocking down walls and taking out large mobs of enemies.
The upgrades for this allowed bigger splashes when you hit
something making it key for large amounts of enemies.
Ammo for this was found in almost every area. The next gun,
which was my favorite, was the machine gun. Ammo for this
was rare but the gun was quick and powerful. Don’t waste the
ammo! Its upgrades allowed for it to be much stronger,
resulting in an almost unfair advantage over the enemies. To
take out mobs at a time with this gun was one of the reasons I
continued playing.
Another thing that kept me playing was the storyline. I wanted
to know if humanity would survive, or fall to the marauding
invaders. The little side quest to get the crystals was a nice
little break to help keep you going. The game also did a good
job of continuously shaking things up so that whenever it
began to feel like the same old thing something new
happened. For example, in one level you got a giant machine
gun to slaughter about one hundred oncoming zombies. In
one there was a motorcycle you had to ride on to escape a
bomb. In some levels you were positioned behind a wall with
tons of ammo and health packs with zombies up against the
wall waiting for you to blow through it. In others you were
placed in a normal area with different pathways to take the
teleport exit thing. I always loved the one’s that started you
with a horde of enemies and tons of ammo to slaughter them.
Of course, enemies were continuously introduced too. Overall,
I can’t say there was anything that was wrong with the game
play besides the fact that the storyline was a bit clichéd.
What stunned me was the option to play in two different
languages, English or Turkish. Sure, it doesn’t matter to me,
but it shows he put some effort into making a well rounded
game. The in-game graphics were a bit rough but pleasing to
the eye. There was nothing shiny or flashy, just nice. The
characters had their own top down style but that’s kind of
hard to explain. I guess you’ll just have to see for yourself. I
was overjoyed that the messages that popped up were not
the Game Maker built in default ones, but red ones that fitted
the style of the game. But there nothing I loved more than the
blood. No I’m not a vampire, I just liked the way it splattered to
the ground and stained the ground. I loved the extra spurt
when you struck the final blow. The enemies would fall to the
ground at death, and sometimes start piling up when I had my
machine gun out. Oh, and the blood came in all different
colors too! Overall the title screen only had one flaw which
was the game name and creator was written in blood making
them hard to see which I mentioned above. Other than that,
the graphics were very impressive.
The game Zomster also had some nice sound tracks that
would change to fit each level. I found myself killing to the beat
with them. The sound effects were also quite nicely
implemented into the game.
Overall, Zomster was at least one of the most addicting and
enjoyable games I’ve ever played that were made in Game
Maker, if not the most enjoyable. Give a round of applause to
such a fantastic game. I definitely recommend a download.

Yes, Zomster was very enjoyable, but did it present itself as

well as it performed? The answer quite frankly, is yes. The
game had a nice title screen (besides having the title and
creator of the game written in hard-to-read blood), but that’s
not what my focus was on when I loaded the title screen.

22
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
23

Previews
Turret Defense
Created By: Blazed

Reviewed By: Trose7

To start off, I’m a big fan of tower defense games. Turret
Defense was somewhat like a tower defense game, except it
added a new twist. The twist was that you built on the road,
not on the sides of it. I actually found I enjoy this type of game
over building on the sides of the road.

The idea of the game, like I said, was taking an overused idea
and making it seem new. It worked, but there were some
definite issues in the game play. The first one was that when
you were out of money and attempted to build a turret an
annoying message popped up telling you that. This interrupted
game play quite a bit. There were also two glitches I found.
The first affected the game completely. Sometimes, it didn’t
let you earn money as you hit the enemies making some levels
impossible to beat. This was usually solved after the first time
you got beat, but in other cases you had to restart the game
to remedy the problem. The other one was that when the
turret detected an incoming enemy it fired once before it
turned to start hitting the enemies. It didn’t matter much in
the long run; it just made it seem unprofessional. These
issues were all trivial compared to this next one. It was the
level design. I found the enemies to be both fun and
challenging, along with some bosses, but the difficulty curve
was out of whack.

I had no complaints on the graphics for Turret Defense. You

could tell all the sprites were done in the same style, simple
yet effective. They weren’t flashy or bright. The little blue
particle explosions were thickly done, with many particles
instead of the usual three or four. The animations brought a
yummy treat to the table with their fluency. The sprites all fit
together to create a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. The title
screen did not let down either. It was original, like the game
play.

The sound in this game might be its best aspect. Not that it
was without competition. I loved the little laser type sounds
from a light tank, the deep explosion sounds and the clicking
noise the game made when you chose to play. I must point
out that that there was no music, but there were two plus
sides to that. The first is that it would get in the way of the
abundant sound affects. The second was that it kept the file
size down to a meager 2.07. In summary, all the sounds fit
together nicely to draw you in, while the never got annoying.

Overall I must say this game performed well. The sounds and
graphics helped to blot out some annoyances in the game
play, while a new type of tower defense game was brought to
the table, maybe inspiring more of these to peak up into the
gaming world.

23
3. GAMES & REVIEWS
24

Previews
Warzone
Created By: Masterjj

Reviewed By: Trose7

Shooting games usually appeal to the general public. Kids like
to play them as an escape from school, teens like them to be
rebellious and take their everyday anger out on them and
adults like them for the challenge and skill it takes to win.
Now, when I think of a shooter I think of a 3D commercial
game like Halo. Not many Game Maker shooters come to
mind. Warzone, which definitely needs a lot improvement, just
might be the next good Game Maker game.

The first and biggest problem was that there was no goal.
You just shoot at some enemies who in turn, shoot back at
you. Once you killed them all you just do is stand there until
you choose a new level. There was no, ‘Yah you win!’
message, no cut scene, nothing. This brings me to the next
issue. There was no title screen. The only thing was the
game information that popped up at the beginning telling you
how to change levels. All you did was press certain buttons on
the keyboard. Once you exited the information you
immediately began the game. Very annoying and
unprofessional. It should’ve started you on a title screen with
nice polished buttons with the different levels on them. When
you died or won, you should’ve found yourself on the title
screen but alas, the creator did not put time into that aspect
of the demo.

The next flaw of the game was the AI. The AI just ran up to
you and shot at you continuously. This made it so that there
was no strategy involved. Just evade and shoot. This took all
the fun out of the game and took it from the mediocre game it
was to the piece of junk at the dump.

Now that you’ve had your fill of the review on the game’s
gameplay, let me divulge into the graphics of this game. In
some areas I was impressed, in others the game dismally
failed. The first thing I liked was the characters. They looked…
war like. They just seemed to fit well. However most of the
other graphics I didn’t like, e.g. take the first level’s
background (well not the first since there was no order but
the one that it started you on). It was just a blue blob really; it
didn’t look like a floor. There used to be a better background
and character sprites but for some reason the creator
changed it. On other levels there were some nicer
backgrounds though, like a cave one and a grassy tree type
one. The graphics really didn’t impress with all the downsides
to them.

Overall, I have to say this was a great idea but lacked enough
effort. With a lot of hard work and programming this could be
the next Seiklus.

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3. GAMES & REVIEWS
25

Reviews
Mr. Pratt’s Haunted Mansion
Created By: Gareth Tilt

Reviewed By: The9thdude

It’s rare for a platformer of Mr. Pratt’s Haunted Mansion
quality to come around in a while. Mr. Pratt is a more of a run
and gun platformer but does a good job at doing it. The
graphics seem to fit well and can run a steady frame rate no
matter how many enemies are on screen. Audio is superb,
and the gameplay only has some minor issues.

Mr. Pratt’s graphics are good and fitting, with the option to
set your frame rate up to 100 fps, at which, it runs smoothly.
Overall, it some very high quality graphics with good effects
such as high particles and 30 to 100 frames per second.

Next is sound, where Mr. Pratt does well in the sound effects
area, as well as in the music area. So far, there are about 8-
10 songs in total, a good number for a Game Maker game.
Both are well-done and fit the game exceedingly.

Finally onto the gameplay, Mr. Pratt does everything a

platform shooter does well. A good number of weapons and
the controls work well. However, there is no option to aim up
or down, but past that and the occasional lack of ammo in
stages, the game is superb.

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4.EXTRAS
26

Look At: Extensions

Game Appearance Extension - ( Link ) MREG – ( Link )
Want to spice up your program? Well, this is the perfect Well, you’ve got your flashy window and your GUI, now all you
extension for you. It is simple, well documented, and easy for need is a registration system to top it off. That is what this
beginners! Not only that, but Blijbol did a good job of adding extension does for you. "The MReg System program allows
comments and making a decent manual and example. you to create registration keys for users in your program or
game. Each user can have an unlimited number of registration
Features: keys. Each key also has options, like the amount of times it can
- Activate game window be used, and IP's to ban from it."
- Flash taskbar button
- Roll in/out Some Features:
- Slide in/out - Store each users registration key information easily.
- Blend in/out - Easily copy one users information to another user.
- Minimize/Maximize window - Generate different keys with different levels of security.
- And many more! - Ban specific keys if they are being given out to other people.
- Send email internally
Documentation/Example: 5/5 - Send mass emails to all (or selected) users in a program
Functionality: 4/5 - Remember login details
Usability: 4/5
Implementation: 4/5 Documentation/Example: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5 Functionality: 5/5
Level: Beginner Usability: 4/5
Implementation: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Level: Intermediate

Look At: Scripts

Verlet Physics Engine V1.1 - ( Link )
Want to add some physics to your game? Well, if you want
them then this is an excellent script which achieves what you
want. It has close to realistic physics (good enough for me)
and a nice example that demonstrates its few, yet good
features.
Although its physics are quite realistic I personally found it
quite confusing on how to implement it. It certainly would've
helped if the download came with a manual on how to use the
scripts. But its relatively difficult way to implement it lowers its
overall score a bit.
Documentation/Example:3.5/5
Functionality: 3.5/5
Usability: 4/5
Implementation: 2/5
Overall: 3/5
Level: Advanced
Gwindows – ( Link )
You have the extension above which makes your window flash,
but there is something missing. It is the GUI. No modern
program (that I know of) can function with out a GUI, and that
is where GWindows comes in. It has a relatively basic
appearance, in a sense that it looks very familiar with the
Windows 95 style. But, if you look close enough, you can see
that it does have support for a Windows XP style.
No extension is perfect, and this is no exception, it came with
no documentation i.e. a manual, and the code is pretty lengthy
which is not good for beginners. The creator also isn't very
serious in some spots, if you try it you'll see why.
Some Controls: child windows, right click menus, full menu
bar, buttons, radio boxes, checkboxes and textboxes.
Documentation/Example: 3/5
Functionality: 3/5
Usability: 4/5
Implementation: 4/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Level: Intermediate

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4.EXTRAS
27

Look At: DLL's

7 New Dialog Boxes - ( Link ) 3D collision DLL – ( Link )
Oh no, you start to test your game but it sits at a black screen This DLL's purpose is to, you guessed it; add precise 3D
for 30 seconds until it resumes, what to do? Well, with this collision to your game. It does a good job of it too!
DLL you can create a nifty little loading bar that you can
implement into that 30 second window of nothing. It has 7 Features it has:
dialog boxes, they’re pretty self-explanatory, and here they are:
- Load model
- Wait box - Check collision
- Terms of Use box - Simple example
- Quick Help box - Supports loading of 3 formats:
- Calendar box - GM model format
- List Items box - GML (must be formatted correctly). Made to work with
- Authorization box export from marzipan.
- Track Bar box - Separated format. Made to work with export from
Marzipan
My comments would be that there is the lack of a detailed
readme file. These are all essential for any extension for GM, However it doesn't support objects with high-polys. Its
and that is what this DLL has got. I found the comments quite collisions are good, but the physics are bad. For example,
helpful but the readme file has limited info, however it includes when your object (the ball) is 3/4 off of another object it stays
way to contact the creator. on, it only falls off once you’re completely off the object.

Documentation/Example: 4/5 Documentation/Example: 4/5

Functionality: 4.5/5 Functionality: 3.5/5
Usability: 4/5 Usability: 3/5
Implementation: 4/5 Implementation: 2/5
Overall: 4/5 Overall: 3/5
Level: Intermediate Level: Intermediate

Look At: Libraries

Basic 3D - ( Link )
You've just downloaded your copy of Game Maker, and
somehow ended up reading this section of the magazine.
You’re eager to make a 3D game, but have no clue where to
start. Your brain has been fried from school homework and
you are unable to learn 3D programming in mere seconds.
What to do? Download this library! Easy, and the icons are
pretty! No one likes ugly icons. Aside from that, it is quite
powerful as it already has the coding done for you. If you want
to save hours on programming, download this!
Features:
- Draw Block, Cone, Ellipse, Floor
- Collisions
- Draw Light
- Transformation
- Projection Ortho
- And much more!
Mplay – ( Link )
Alright, so you have you want to create a short multilayer
game because you have 5 minutes left until the bus comes.
Well look no further, with this library you can have a multilayer
tank game going in minutes! It provides 14 powerful yet
simple actions for the construction of a multilayer game, and
quite simply, that is all you need for a basic multiplayer game.
It also comes with a colorful, neatly organize manual!
Basic features:
- Connect Automatically
- Send/Receive a variable from one computer to the other
- Execute code on certain machine
- And all the other basic functions you need!
A great library none the less, but the example needs to be
commented in some places. While in others it should use
D&D actions.

Documentation/Example: 4/5 Documentation/Example: 4/5

Functionality: 4/5 Functionality: 4/5
Usability: 4.5/5 Usability: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5 Overall: 4.5/5
Level: Beginner Level: Beginner

27
4.EXTRAS
WIP Look At
Hunahpu: The Memory of the Sun by correojon
I wanted to create a simple game, so I thought of doing
something like YoMamasMama´s StickMan Escape (in case
you haven’t tried it, go for it, it’s a great game) or something
like a small Metroid game that happens completely in one
enormous level. So I started creating the game engine which
grew in complexity as I added more and more powers. After
more than 1 month, the engine was finally completed. But I
thought that after having spent so much time just for the
engine, I should create a bigger game. So first I had to think
about a good storyline for it, as this will set the whole
ambience of the game. Playing Metroid: Zero Mission on GBA,
I discovered a great level that looked some old ruins. Also, the
storyline suggested that Samus´ suit and power’s origin was
more mystical than technological and I loved this idea. So I
decided to give the game this same feeling that of an ancient
legend mixed with high-tech stuff. I started doing an intense
research on Pre-Hispanic legends in South America and finally
I decided to focus the game on the ancient Mayan legend of
the book of creation and the Mayan Hero Twins: Hunahpu and
Ixbalanque. With this in mind, I started creating the storyline
and the main graphics. All is strongly based in Mayan culture,
even the game backgrounds. For example, the tiles in the
temple were inspired by photographs of real Mayan temples
and even in the complex (game’s first level) you can read
hidden messages in ancient Maya language in the tiles. The
storyline is huge, very complicated and full of unexpected
turns and it will show the transformation of the main
character from a semi-deity who is too full on himself into a
warrior that will fight for his people, putting his life into it.
There are lots of emotive moments that I hope will make you
drop a tear or two :). But that’s not all, the story is told
through flashbacks, short episodes where you can see
Hunahpu before he lost his memory and they are playable
chapters that are told in no particular order but that converge
in the end. This is something like what Quentin Tarantino does
in some of his movies like Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.
There is even a hidden plot that will show you the real origin of
Hunahpu and it will only be accessed by finding the 4 secret
powerups.
In conclusion, I’ve put a lot of work into something that is
usually ignored in GM games and tried to embed it into the
gameplay, and by the reactions so far, it seems people love it
:).
Design:
There are plenty of platform games out there, so what makes
Hunahpu different? Well, the flashback/powerup system is a
really original idea and testers have said they love it. The level
design has a lot of work behind it (don’t think that you will just
have to go right and press the jump key every once in a while)
you’ll have to explore the levels to continue advancing. But
even without the exploration feature, the game introduces
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a lot of different obstacles, levels where the gravity is inverted
and pulls you towards the ceiling, underwater levels where you
have to be fast not to drown, electric timed barriers, conveyor
belts, water whirlwinds, rotating spikes, springs in the floors,
walls, ceilings or on moving platforms, and even puzzles to
solve by pushing blocks and changing gravity! The game can
be anything but repetitive. I’m trying hard to add as many
different obstacles as possible and the gameplay can
drastically change from an intense pure-platform level to a
more relaxed, brain crushing puzzle in a moment. You’ll never
know how the next stage will look like! Special mention for the
inverted gravity levels, something that I haven´t seen in any
game before, and there will be more original obstacles, like
switches to rotate levels or change the water height, night
levels, wind that pushes you and much more.
Progress
Current version is 4.c. It features 65 levels and 6 powers:
power jump, run, shrink, high jump, push and wall jump. There
is also a map to find and 4 different sceneries (not counting
the ones seen in flashbacks): the complex, the temple (with
cool fire and light effects), the cave (dark, with shiny rocks)
and the lake (with an incredible water effect). The people who
have beaten the demo needed almost 3 hours to get through
all the levels!
The final release date is somewhere in next year or so. The
game is still under 50% through the development process
and it was started sometime around November 2006. Just
so you get an idea, the final release will feature around 20
powers and more than 200 levels, divided in more than 8
sceneries! The sceneries will surely feature an ice tower, a
volcano, a city on flames, the clouds in the sky, so you see, in
order to escape the complex Hunahpu will have to travel a lot.
I want to make it as good as possible, so I’m using a lot of time
in adjusting the levels to match people’s suggestions and
balance out difficulty. Every time I release a new demo I take a
little break from the project and use this time to play other
games, as this helps me get perspective and come up with
new ideas i.e. by playing Super Mario 64 and Zelda: Ocarina of
Time I’ve thought of some cool things that you will see in demo
#5.
Final words
Well, I’d just like to thank gamez93 for offering me the chance
to talk about the game on his magazine :) and of course
everyone who has tested the game and helped me by
reporting bugs or providing feedback, specially Zccc,
random(x, y), Carnivac (formerly Wolverine on GMC) and all
the guys at the Helix Community (Cookinater, Nick_the_b,
Badwolf, Quakster, Ogmozero, Edmunn, Vidimir Rayne,
PaperClipGames, Dragon Reborn, Dilbertguy. Yes, lots of
people, the topic there is 8 pages long already, a big THANK
YOU to all of you guys!
Links: GMC Topic | YoYo Games
4. EXTRAS
Interview With: Cactus
GMT: The games that you have released all have retro
graphics, music and gameplay. Why do you prefer making
your games like that?
CTS: “It's mostly a matter of speed. It's one of the reasons that
I can make games so fast. I have a track record of over twenty
finished games and it's still rising. I also get a lot of praise for
the way they look, so there are really no bad aspects of me
keeping things simple. Making games that look retro is not
just efficiency though, but the simplicity in itself can also be
attractive for a lot of people. I personally think that it's good to
have games that look like games, as there are way too many
people who seem to only focus on trying to mimic reality.”
GMT: Which one of your completed games do you consider
the best you have ever made?
CTS: “That's a hard one. I think ‘Burn the Trash’ is the game
that I was most surprised with at how good it became
considering how little time I spent on it. Ultimately I'm pretty
happy with most of my recent games. Clean Asia has been the
game that people have seemed to enjoy the most, and that
also means that I've gotten a lot out of it. Much like anyone
else, I love being praised for what I do. But I spent enough time
with it to grow tired of playing it. I haven't even beaten it
myself, really. It's a hard game.”
GMT: As I understand, you are currently in the process of
making a new SHMUP called "Akuchizoku". Can you tell us a bit
about it?
CTS: “‘Akuchizoku’ is a bit different from my other shoot 'em
ups, being a horizontal scrolling shooter, as opposed to the
vertical ones I've previously made. It will also be very plot
based, and have cut scenes in between levels. The game
starts out in 1964 and the main character of the story is
Sergeant Frank Stone, a helicopter pilot locked away in a
mental institute. He claims that he knows the future, in which
a terrorist organization will emerge from Japan to eradicate
mankind. You get to follow him through his story as he tries to
save the day. However, things get all the more complicated
when time travel comes into play, and Frank soon finds out
that there are many things in this world that he never would've
believed existed.”
GMT: How do you think it will turn out?
CTS: “I think it will turn out to be one of my better games. It's
the first time I've tried to make money from something I've
created, so I'm feeling kind of pressured to keep it at a high
level of quality. I'm also getting a custom soundtrack for once,
made by the very talented John Marwin, who has provided me
with songs for many of my earlier games.
The game itself started out as a bit of a joke. I wanted to see if
people would pay for something that was easy for me to make.
But then I came to the stage that I always seem to get to,
where I really want to make it special. Ambitions like that can
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kill a game, and I'm hoping that it won't do so in this case. With
each successive game I've completed, I've felt that my
discipline and my abilities have grown. The games I produce
may not always be outstanding, but I learn from everything I
do, and the next time I do something I'll have a greater chance
at getting to where I want with it.”
GMT: Would you expect it to become better than any game
that you have previously made?
CTS: “Yes. I mean, I haven't created any really good games yet.
I know I have the potential to do so, but it's a matter of
motivation. It's easy to finish small and interesting
experiments like some of the ones I've made previously, but
doing more than that is really hard. I don't think ‘Akuchizoku’
will be anywhere close to what I could do if I really did my best,
but I don't think fans of my previous games will be
disappointed.”
GMT: You have never made a side-scrolling SHMUP before.
Why did you decide that this would be one?
CTS: “Partially for that reason, because I have never made a
side scrolling SHMUP before. There are also some things you
can't do in vertical shooters that I wanted to try. The bad
aspect of making a horizontal SHMUP is that it's really hard to
make it symmetrical and clean because of the profile view.
However, in vertical shooters you can't really take advantage
of a ceiling or a floor. In ‘Akuchizoku’ explosions and debris are
more physically interesting than in my previous efforts. Parts
of enemies rain down on the ground when you blow them up,
and many of the enemies' projectiles are affected by gravity.
It's also interesting to be able to draw faces, wheels and legs
on the in-game graphics for once.”
GMT: Do you think many people will buy your game?
CTS: “Yes. I think that people many people who play the demo
will be interested in seeing more of the game. I've already had
over forty pre-orders already, just from publishing a few
screenshots and an early gameplay video. Besides, the game
doesn't cost much and it has had a lot of exposure
considering that it hasn't even been released yet. So I'm pretty
optimistic about it.”
Game Website: www.cactus-soft.co.nr
Cactus's Website: www.akuchizoku.co.nr
4. EXTRAS
Interview With: Radnom
GMT: Tell us a bit about you, the creator behind GunLimb?
RDM: “I'm Sean Flannigan, more known as 'Radnom' on the
internet. Radnom is not a typo by the way, pronounced "rad -
gnomm". I live in New Zealand, I'm 17 years old, and enjoy
making games in my spare time, and during school hours. This
is okay though, because I'm going to a game programming
school.
I started making computer games at the age of 11, and
started using Game Maker at 12. I left High School at 17 to
get into Media Design School.
I made GunLimb for a 'B-Game' contest held on The
Independent Gaming Source (tigsource.com). Voting's not
over until October 16, so sign up and vote for your favourite
(hint hint) B-Game! ( Link )
I entered the contest late, so GunLimb was very rushed. While
making it I was also working on a Connect 4 project for school
(which was an incredibly important school project) and I only
had about two weeks to make it. As you can see, the last half
of the game was badly rushed, because it was made late at
night before the contest ended.
There are a lot of things I'd like to fix in GunLimb, such as the
absence of sound. I've started on voice acting for the cut
scenes, and hopefully I'll get around to making a Redux version
of the game.”
GMT: Do you see GM as a limited tool and are thinking about
moving to other tools?
RDM: “Actually I am doing a large course dedicated to
programming games in C++. This will hopefully get me a good
job doing what I love! I'll still probably use Game Maker for
game prototypes, and smaller projects (like GunLimb). I'm still
not sure if I'd rather work for a large company, or working as
an independent developer. Being independent means I will
always have full creative control over all my projects, and
that's definitely a good thing! If I was working for a company,
they'd have to be a fun and creative company, like Free Radical
Design or Insomniac.
Game Maker is definitely limited, but it's still a great tool.
Limitations can actually enhance creativity, because there will
always be people trying to push them to their extent.”
GMT: Do you hate YoYo or love them, and why?
RDM: “I don't hate nor love them - they're definitely doing some
amazing things for Game Maker, such as hopefully porting it
to the Mac platform, but I don't particularly like their GM7
EULA. I do hope they stick with Game Maker though, because
it has incredible potential as a game design tool. They had a
rough start, but they're overall a good thing for Game Maker.”
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GMT: We hear about so many clone games, and you have
created something original, tells us about your thoughts?
RDM: “I think originality is a very important aspect of video
games. Clone games are a product of the uninspired.
Remakes are okay, but only if they add something new to the
original.
Originality for the sake of originality is not always a good thing.
No-one wants to play a 'watering the grass' simulator, no
matter how original it is. If you're going to put originality in your
game, make sure it will add to the fun of the game. I'm being a
little hypocritical here, though, because GunLimb's control
scheme actually made it harder to control than basic platform
shooters.
I always try to make original games - or at least, put a spin on
the games that are already there! GunLimb is a mouse look
platform shooter, nothing original about that. Its originality
comes from its control method, the way you move, and the
storyline.”
GMT: As a developer I am sure you are always looking to learn
new techniques, while developing Gun Limb, what have you
learnt?
RDM: “I've learned a lot of really small things, through
experimentation. I had a short timeframe to make the game,
so fortunately everything worked as planned (or better) first
time through!”
GMT: Are there any members you look at and see yourself
being like them in a few years time?
RDM: “Oh, I hope not! I'd much rather be my own person.”
GMT: If you could come up with something that WILL be in
GM8 what would it be and why?
RDM: “I'm not totally sure I understand the question - I don't
know what will be in GM8. What would I like to be in GM8? I'm
not sure about that, either - I've got everything I need back in
GM6! I guess all I'd really like is for Game Maker to process
everything faster. Perhaps faster 3D functionality.
Oh, and onion skinning in the sprite editor would be lovely,
along with an 'add new frame' button in the actual spriting
window.”
GMT: Your username, is it a typo or just how you want it?
RDM: “It's not a typo! I've been using the name since I was 13,
but I could spell back then as well. It just happens to be
somewhat like 'random' which is kind of the point. It's like a
randomly mixed up version of random. It's unique.”
GMT: Are you working on any exclusive projects that you may
want to share some screenshots about or so?
RDM: “Actually I'm right in-between projects, so nope, sorry!
I've already had another two ideas just this morning, but no
code or sprites.”
4. EXTRAS
Interview With: Pug Fugly
Return To Sector 9
GMT: So when you started R2S9, what were you planning on
programming? (Just start of with some basics and let the
game grow gradually or did you have everything planned out
from the start?)
PFG: “Originally R2S9 was going to be pretty much the same
as ambush but with more enemies and power ups. I started
the game in Game Maker 5.3 and had a decent enough
version going.
However, once Game Maker 6 came out, I started again.
Pretty much from the start of this project I wanted several
game modes. I didn't design anything at the start though - I
just began the development and took it from there. I tend to
do that with all my games - start development while the game
is little more than an idea.”
GMT: Do you find that to be a more effective way of game
development?
PFG: “Works for me. I don't really get enough spare time
these days to plan games. It's a hobby, it has to be fun, and
for me spending weeks drawing up design documents is not
fun. I prefer to let the games develop organically.”
GMT: Do you think it could be effective in a business line of
game development?
PFG: “Nah. With today's commercial games, good planning is
essential I imagine.”
GMT:I also noticed the different enemies and their different
tactics on destroying the player. How did you come up with the
ideas for these enemies?
PFG: “Well to be honest I don't think there is that much variety.
All enemies use the same basic AI - even the enemies in
squadrons revert to individual behaviour. There are a few
different movement patterns, like the jellyfish sort of
swimming, but the core AI is the same.
The bosses have variety. For each boss I tried to make them in
some way related to the enemies of that stage. So basically
the bosses grew from the normal enemies of each stage.
It's getting quite plain to see - I basically make everything up as
I go with no plan.”
GMT: What was the hardest thing to program?
PFG: “To be honest there wasn't much in the game that gave
me much trouble to program. I suppose the enemy AI was
slightly difficult to get working how I wanted, but even that was
reasonably straightforward.”
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GMT: What was the biggest obstacle in this game that you
had to overcome?
PFG: “Keeping my enthusiasm up. Since I started the game
more than 2 years ago, I've taken part in several contests
(with Horace and Pyramid) and taken breaks for other
reasons. The hardest thing is going back to a large project I
haven't touched for months.”
GMT: What are you most proud of in this game?
PFG: “I'm just happy with the way the whole thing turned out. It
looks good, plays well, and there is plenty to do. People seem
to enjoy it.”
GMT: What do you think you could have sharpened or worked
on?
PFG: “Some of the game modes could have done with a little
more variety I think, and the enemies in the main gameplay
mode could possibly do with a few more movement styles. The
main criticisms I get are that the enemies are a bit replicated
in the main game mode. Also the controls, but they're as
intended. Can't believe people still suggest mouse aiming.”
GMT: As a game programmer, who do you think is your main
competition?
PFG: “Well to be honest I don't see it as competition. I'm good
friends with some of the biggest names in the GM world, and
want them to do well.”
GMT: It was said that you used help from others along way of
the development of this game, are these people managers of
their services and resources or are they solely working for
you, with you or under you?
PFG: “I accepted a lot of contributions. As well as the GMG
ship contest, which resulted in 3 ships for the game (1 player,
2 enemies), I asked the EO for contributions. This resulted in
most of the player ships being designed by various EO
members, along with a couple of music tracks and a few
ideas.
I like to work that way. If people want to make a contribution, I'll
take it if it's good enough. If nobody wants to contribute I'll do
everything myself.”
Thank you for taking the time to talk to us Pug Fugly.
4. EXTRAS
32

Comic

Find The Bug By Medieval

Hello readers, in this new section we will showcase the weirdest, sloppiest and buggiest GML code snippets for you to solve in
your free time, just like newspaper crosswords. Iron out ANYTHING that might be wrong – no hints given – so that you can feel
satisfied when you solve it.

if ((hspeed == 0){if(random(3)<1 && plac_free(x-4,y))){hspeed=-4 && vspeed=0;}

if -random(3)<1&&place_free(x+4,y)){speed=4;speed=0;}}else{
if +random(3)<1&&place_free(x,y-4))){(vspeed=0;hspeed=-4;)}
if(*random(3)<1&&place_free(x,y+4)){hspeed=0;speed=direction;}}}}}

It’s up to you to find out if this is easy or not, this code has been disorganized and made as messy as possible – enjoy solving
this one. We will have a new ‘Find the Bug’ puzzle in the next issue.

32
4. EXTRAS
33

Word Search
Do you have the eye of a warrior, if not it doesn’t really matter, because you can still take part in the Word Search. Completing
it will earn you nothing, but it’s still a nice time passer. Answers will be posted in Issue 9 of GM Tech Magazine.

Y W M A R K C L C K
T J D Y D N A S I C
R E K A M E M A G W
C Y T I N U M M O C
O V E R M A R S J H
E N I Z A G A M A L
O L L S H C E T M G
S E M A G O Y O Y H
Y T R A M S O W Y O
I S S U E E I G H T

Words to Find Magazine

Community Mark
Game Maker Overmars
GM Tech Sandy
Issue Eight Smarty
KC LC YoYo Games

Spot The Difference

Can you spot the differences between these two images? The image is from the well-known game Gunlimb by Radnom, You can
find the game here as well as an interview with him on page 30.

As always there are five differences to find.

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34

Free Applications
PDFCreator
Ever been bothered that Microsoft Word could not save a
document as a *.PDF file? I was, but found this after some
searching. It allows you to convert any printable page to a PDF
file, which means that it works with many other applications as
well. This way you can more easily create a good looking
documentation for your game, program, tutorial or anything
that you might need it for. The ease of use is incredible. When
you install the program, there will be a printer added to the list
called ‘PDFCreator’ which, if you select it and click ‘Print’,
brings you to a menu where you can set your document name,
author, and much more. The interface of the application itself
is not important. This program also supports other file types.
Enjoy!

Anim8or
If you want to make 3D graphics for your games, you wouldn’t
want to pay a lot of money for a professional program, right?
What about Blender then? Too hard to use? Anim8or is what
you should use then! It’s very easy to make a 3D graphics with
it after completing a few very easy tutorials, which are
available on the site. Some features of this program are:
• Pre-built primitives for you to place in your sandbox.
• Render images of your model.
• Scripting Language.
• Texture support.
• Exporting to *.3DS, *.OBJ and others.
• Plus many more...

This is to just give you an impression what this program

contains. Enjoy creating!

Nvu
Nvu is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get)
HTML/CSS website editor, allowing you to do anything that
you could do with plain HTML and CSS. Any modification you
make is immediately shown in the preview of your site, making
it easier for you to check if it fits your preference. Although
this program is limited to only (x)HTML and CSS, it does its job
good and the websites that are created with it, if only the
WYSIWYG editor is used, are fully valid. However, if you edit
the HTML source code, you can validate it and even clean it up
automatically. This program is great for people who need a
website for their game, but don’t want to pay a small fortune
to buy Dreamweaver, or any other commercial website editing
program. The reason we picked this application above other
programs that do support more scripting languages, is
because this is easier for the regular user, and still does the
job perfectly. Enjoy!

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35

Take A Look

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36

Closing
Well that's it for issue 8; we hoped you enjoyed another
packed issue from us. Don't forget the competition which we
are currently co-hosting, The GM Race (www.thegmrace.com).
Get your entries in soon for a chance to win some top prizes.
Despite the long wait which you had to suffer for issue 8, we
are hoping that normal business will resume with issue 9 just
around the corner. Keep an eye out for it appearing. Please
send all your comments into us or contact us on the forums
to get a quicker response, as we have a large staff base,
which are all willing to answer your questions.
Next Issue:
You can expect the usual articles and reviews from us, plus
some great features such as:
- The Game Lounge
- An exclusive with Sinaz
- Shout Outs
- DLL Tutorial
- And much more...
As always, we are always trying to get new ideas off the
ground. Starting from the next issue, we will be lining up some
mini competitions for you to get involved in, and maybe win
some nice prizes.
We only ask that you submit content that you have permission
to. Do not submit things that are not your own unless you
have permission of the owner and do not submit illegal
content. At GMTECH we take submissions seriously and we
will do what it takes to keep our forum clean and friendly.
Resource Files
This issue we have included some great resources for you to
use in your own games. First up are some particle effect
scripts for you to use to get your games bursting with energy!
These were made by our very own gmjab, so credit is due to
him if used in your projects. Secondly we have some music
which can be used in your projects, made exclusively for
GMTECH magazine readers. However if the music is used in
your game you MUST provide credit to ghostrider as this is
solely his work.
Creative Commons
The Game Maker Technology Magazine is licensed under
Creative Commons licence. This means you are free to copy,
distribute and transmit the work. This work is for Non-
Commercial use only. You are NOT allowed to alter, modify or
build upon the work contained in the magazine

....
Feedback
Good or bad, we value your feedback. Your feedback lets us
know how we should improve to satisfy all the Game Maker
users. Your feedback can be about (although not limited to)
articles, reviews, gm tips or the magazine in general. You can
leave feedback in either our GMC topic or on our forum.

Submit to us
Yes, we at GM TECH will take almost any submission for a
chance of it being published in the next issue. To submit to the
magazine, simply go to our forum and submit in the “submit”
section, no registration is required and you will get a fast reply.
If you're not sure what to submit have a look at the example
list below:

- Games
- Programs
- Screensavers
- Exclusive information
- Interview requests
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- Gifts
- Reports/News
- Articles
- Letters

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