What you'll learn

Learn the complete process of building a side-scrolling platformer game
Learn to build sprites, add animations and audio, and build tilesets for your game levels

Course content

5 sections • 99 lectures • 6h 7m total length

Download Course Files Here!0:06
Introduction1:21
Course Requirements1:56
The Challenge Ahead4:30
Creating a New Project4:32
Create a new GameMaker: Studio project named thunderbox for atomic thunder buster, import assets, and organize into folders for power ups, player sprites, and sounds.
Importing the Player Neutral Sprite6:09
Importing the Animated Player Sprites3:38
Import and assemble animated player sprites in GameMaker: Studio by creating a single animated sprite from multiple frames, resizing to 128 by 128 pixels, and centering the origin.
Backgrounds and Tilesets4:13
Creating Objects2:18
Begining the Level5:09
Adding the Level Background2:21
Building Levels from Tilesets8:16
Levels and Objects3:47
Preparing to Script3:30
Starting to Code Player Movement2:30
Code a player movement system by defining a speed constant (10 pixels per step) and an update function called every step to move player left or right, based on input.
Completing Player Movement4:49
Refining Player Movement6:35
Looking Ahead...1:38

Introduction1:22
Overview2:10
Getting Started with Gravity3:32
Coding Gravity3:59
Refining Gravity5:05
Jumping6:30
Player States5:04
Completing Player States2:54
Collision Detection Overview4:20
Explore manual collision detection, avoiding box2d-based systems for performance, and learn tile based collision maps for static geometry plus separate handling for dynamic moving platforms.
Preparing for Collision Detection4:33
Generating Tile Collision Maps8:14
Configuring Bounding Boxes4:25
Completing Tile Collisions6:43
Making a Moving Elevator5:05
Colliding with Moving Objects4:28
Colliding with Powerups2:46
Changing the Player Weapon3:01
Moving Forwards0:38

Introduction1:14
Creating Ammo Sprites4:31
Adding Polish to the Project2:02
Weapons and Firing4:27
Ammo Objects3:27
Robot Drones and Paths5:55
Refining Path Navigation2:58
Creating a Health Bar5:48
Dealing with Damage5:34
Enemy Deaths2:26
Introducing Enemy 22:39
Configuring the Enemy2:10
Line of Sight5:00
Introducing the End of Level Boss3:31
Configuring the Boss4:06
Rotating Turrets5:17
Implement rotating cannons in a side-scroller by updating rotation in a step event, drawing cannons with a draw event, and reversing direction at a rotation margin using a pivot.
Completing the Boss5:13

Introduction1:09
Adding Music4:23
Powerups and Parents3:37
Introducing Debugging3:47
Debugging with Watches2:46
Debug Messages4:04
Getting Started with GUI3:41
End of Game Screens2:51
Mobile Input Widgets5:14
Drawing GUIs3:09
Responding to Input4:27
Handling Directional Input4:29
Building for Desktops6:18
Building for HTML52:07
Getting Started with Android Deployment3:10
Configuring your IP Address1:59
Play testing for Android3:08
Troubleshoting Android Building2:03
Working with the Android SDK Tools1:37
Android and Sideloading2:00
Android and Resolution1:40
Conclusion1:13

Introduction1:30
Course Guidelines1:38
Introducing Inkscape3:58
Preparing Inkscape Documents2:44
Configure the Inkscape document by setting a neutral background color, removing borders, sizing the canvas to 64 by 64 pixels, and zooming to position for drawing the power-up.
Creating Powerup Vector Graphics4:54
Creating a Shield Symbol4:29
Completing the Shield4:25
Using Layer Blend Modes4:22
Importing a Background into GIMP3:06
Making Seamless Textures7:27
Planning Tilesets1:52
Creating Tileset Details6:25
Assembling the Tileset4:03
Using Guides to Arrange Tiles4:16
Blocking in the Tileset3:23
Creating Pixel Buffers5:17
Exporting Tilesets4:03
Introducing Anime Studio Pro3:19
Exploding the Character2:22
Character Rigging4:05
Assembling the Character5:35
Character Animation4:07
Creating Sound Effects2:34
Bonus Lecture: Further Learning with 3dmotive0:18

Requirements

GameMaker: Studio
Inkscape
Photoshop or a similar image editing software

Description

In this course, instructor Alan Thorn will be walking through the process of creating a side-scrolling platformer game from scratch using GameMaker: Studio. Here he will be covering topics such as sprite creation, tilesets, collision detection, and any scripting necessary to get the game up and running.

(Students - please look under Section 1 / Lecture 1 downloads for the source files associated with the lesson.)

More about the Instructor:

Alan Thorn is a game developer, author and educator with 15 years industry experience. He makes games for PC desktop, Mobile and VR. He founded 'Wax Lyrical Games' and created the award-winning game 'Baron Wittard: Nemesis of Ragnarok', working as designer, programmer and artist. He has written sixteen technical books on game development and presented ten video training courses, covering game-play programming, Unity development, and 3D modelling. He has worked in game development education as a visiting lecturer for the 'National Film and Television School', as a Lead Teacher for 'Uppingham School', and is currently a Senior Lecturer at 'Teesside University' where he helps students develop the skills needed for their ideal role in the games industry.

Who this course is for:

Complete beginners to GameMaker: Studio interested in building retro, old-school side-scrolling action games

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction to the Course, Basic Player and Object Movements18 lectures • 1hr 7min

Advanced Player and Object Movements18 lectures • 1hr 15min

Ammo, Weapons, and Health - Enemy AI and adding a Boss17 lectures • 1hr 6min

Debugging and Polish, Publishing Your Game22 lectures • 1hr 9min

Bonus - Creating Sprites, Tiles, Animations, and Texture Sets24 lectures • 1hr 30min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: