“The best way to learn games is to play games. The best way to make games is to work.” – Alan Emrich
Game Maker Tutorials:
1. If we did not complete Game Maker Tutorial 4 (1945), then the first part of your homework is to complete that tutorial lesson on your own. You will need to do this as foundational information for our next class, as we will be heavily modding this game to make a 2-player version. You will also learn how to add a ‘Boss Monster’ to a Game Maker game in that lesson (so don’t be late for class next week).
2. You must also complete Game Maker Tutorial 5 (Lazarus) on your own. You should have downloaded it (along with all of the other Game Maker Tutorial files from Mr. Emrich’s space on the school web site, but if you didn’t, send Mr. Emrich an email requesting this lesson and he will send it to you (it’s a very large file because the audio is in .mp3 format, and not .wav). You’ll learn some cool things about ensuring the proper look and function of animated Sprites in Game Maker.
3. Mod one of this week’s games: Take either (or both) of this week’s tutorial games (1945 and Lazarus) and modify it to make it a better, more compelling game. Think about last week’s lecture on Mass Market Gamers and make sure that your product has some appeal to them. Then think about this week’s lecture and make sure that you have sufficient Rewards and don’t overdo the Punishments that the player will experience. Important: I expect so see some game design thought in your homework this week.
Some ideas for modding 1945 include:
Checking out the 1945.gm6 file (i.e., the full game without a version number). It has a lot of finishing touches incorporated in it that you’ll need to do for your final project (and we’ll learn more about later), such as:
Adding background music (see controller_life)
Adding a “Loading” image (see Global Game Settings)
When you save the game as a stand alone executable file, it has a desktop icon (see Global Game Settings)
There is a delay built in to destroyed airplanes so that they take longer to reappear; this makes it more interesting to shoot them instead of merely avoiding them (see the Alarm Events of controller_enemy)
The game plays in full-screen mode (see Global Game Settings)
There is a different score font (see Fonts in the assets listing along the left side of the screen)
There is a firing bonus when the player’s score reaches 400 points and another when it reaches 1000 points (see the Key Press <Space> Event in obj_myplane – this is very cool)
Other ideas from classic scrolling shooters that you can use in 1945 might be:
Power-ups that give the player extra firepower (see above for how to build that into your game)
Receiving damage repair
Awarding bonus points
Receiving an extra life
Receiving invulnerability for a limited time
These can occur by shooting something, colliding obj_myplane into it, or avoiding both of these and having that object exit off the screen.
You could easily create stronger enemy bullets or ones that do a random amount of damage.
Be sure to look inside the 1945 / Assets / Homework Bonus Sprite Sheets folder! It has all kinds of graphics you can use to add ships, bigger explosions, ‘maneuvering’ animations for enemy planes, ‘Boss Monster’ enemy planes (that we’ll learn more about next week), and all kinds of other cool and inspiring stuff.
Some ideas for modding Lazarus can be found on pages 82 and 83 of your Game Maker’s Apprentice textbook. These include:
Altering the levels by varying the base and width of the pit, placing stationary boxes in unhelpful places, and even varying the Speed setting for each Room (with higher numbers making it more difficult and lower numbers for the first few levels to make them easier).
Adding playtest Cheat Keys to progress through the levels without being required to beat them.
Adding “Splash” and “Cheese” screens to the game’s beginning and end.
Adding a scoring system so that players can compete for High Score.
Bonus points for arranging to have boxes crushed.
Special items for extra lives or limited invulnerability.
You owe me at least one modified game.
Make sure that your email includes 1) the game’s .gm6 file (not an .exe
file; never send me those); and 2) an explanation in the Game
Information display (i.e., the <F1> key) or the body of the email explaining
to me what specifically you modified (so that I can focus at those
features in particular when I grade this assignment for up to
10 points).
The Game Maker’s Apprentice Textbook:
Chapter 5, Interactive Challenges: Read pages 85 to 96. Be sure to use the CD-ROM included with the book to examine the .gm6 files in the Resources / Chapter 5 folder! There’s more than just reading involved in this chapter as you rebuild our second tutorial game, Evil Clutches. The lesson material in this chapter goes hand-in-glove with the course lectures, so be sure to make a good study of it and take that material to heart.
