Weird Dragon's Examples

Weird Dragon's Examples, Tutorials and Games
Created with Game Maker 7


Spring 2010 The following GM 7 examples also work in GM 8 unless there is a note in which case there is a GM 8 version.

Examples

Some of the examples need a registered version of Game Maker
there is a note if that is the case.

New Option created summer 2008:
Do you have any comments, questions or suggestions to my examples, tutorials or other stuff?
Then you can submit a message on my message board here.

New addition July 2008:
Pausing, Cheat, fading and multi healthbar examples, see below.

Pausing Examples

JULY 2008: New example: Pause_Room
This example shows how you can pause the game by going to a pause room
and then resume the game from the point where you left it.
The pause room can be applied as a menu room.
Download: Pause_Room (19 kb zip)

JULY 2008: Popular pausing examples upgraded from GM 6 to GM 7:

This example shows how to pause the game with a custom-made menu.
You need a registered (= Pro) version of Game Maker:
Download, works only in GM 7 Pro: pause_with_menu (49 kb zip)
Added March 2010: Download, works only in GM 8 Pro: pause_with_menu (28 kb zip)

This example shows how to pause the game except the player.
You need a registered version of Game Maker:
Download, works only in GM 7 Pro: pause_except_player ( zip file 21 Kb)
Added March 2010: Download, works only in GM 8 Pro: pause_except_player ( zip file 8 Kb)

Cheat Examples

JULY 2008: Popular cheat examples upgraded from GM 6 to GM 7:

Many people are asking how to make cheats.
It is not just a possibility to cheat but also a way of enabling you to test your game at different stages,
so that you don't need to play from start to test the game at a later stage.
There are many ways of making cheats. Here is a collection of 4 cheat examples:
1: Press a key 5 times then another key and get an extra life:
cheat_1 (zip file 16 Kb)
2: Press a key and a box pops up so you can type a cheat code:
cheat_2 (zip file 11 Kb)
3: Press 5 keys in a certain order and a box pops up so you can type a cheat code:
cheat_3 (zip file 15 Kb)
4: Click with the mouse on certain wall objects and a box pops up so you can type a cheat code:
cheat_4 (zip file 11 Kb)
All 4 examples collected in one zip file:
cheat_1_2_3_4 (zip file 51 Kb)

Fading Examples

JULY 2008: Popular fading examples upgraded from GM 6 to GM 7:

Two examples that show how to fade out from one room and fade in into another room,
includes how to fade the music:
"fading_A.gmk" applies background_alpha and for that you need a registered GM version.
Download: fading_A (15 kb zip)
"fading_B.gmk" applies a big black sprite and works with a non-registered GM version.
Download: fading_B (22 kb zip)
An example on how to fade text in and out, useful for intro and credits:
Download: text_fading (43 kb zip)

Multi health bars

JULY 2008: Popular multi healthbar examples upgraded from GM 6 to GM 7:

In Game Maker you can draw a health bar with the health bar Drag and Drop Action.
That action can only draw the value of the inbuilt global variable called "health",
and yet it is possible to draw the value of different variables with that action,
and thus make multiple health bars or other bars.
Here are 3 examples that shows 3 different kinds of ways you can do that:
1
An example with 4 individual health bars: multi_health_bars1 (27 kb zip file)
2
An example that shows a player health bar and an enemy health bar
the bars are displayed both over the player's and enemy's heads
as well as in the left and right corner of the screen: multi_health_bars2 (34 kb zip file)
3
This example shows how you can have an individual healthbar
for each instance of an object with many instances: multi_health_bars3 (30 kb zip file)
1-2-3
All 3 examples in one zip file: multi_health_bars_1_2_3 (89 kb zip file)

Having fun with pop-up message boxes

Many people have asked about how to make the inbuilt pop-up messages look much better.
Here are some examples on how you can make pop-up boxes look much more appealing:

This is an example of using show_message to pause the game with a text string
in the center in full screen mode and windowed mode, and with two views.
It also works without using views.
NEW JANUARY 2008: pause_text (21 Kb)

This is an example using the function show_message_ext as a menu with two options.
as well as showing how you can change the look of a pop-up message box:
pop_up_menu (21 Kb)

This one is a zip file that contains 2 examples of using show_message as game information
and also using a transparent pop up box to pause a game:
messages_as_info (67 Kb)

This one shows a textbox where you can type your user name
and it shows a text box where you can click yes or no.
There is a background image and a coloured font:
pop_up_boxes (24 Kb)

This one is an example showing how to center the text in a pop up message,
works only with registered version of Game Maker.
Download, works only in GM 7 Pro: center_text_popup (24 Kb)
Added March 2010: Download, works only in GM 8 Pro: center_text_popup (12 Kb)

All the above pop-up GM 7 message box examples in one zip file: pop_up_examples (135 Kb)
All the above GM 7 message box examples except the one that needs GM 7 Pro: pop_up_messages (111 Kb)

Older Examples, Tutorials and Games
Created with older Game Maker versions from GM 4.2a to GM 6.1, click here.

All the GM 5 and GM 6 examples can be opened with GM 7, most of the GM 6 examples work in GM 7,
but the GM 5 ones will often require that you make changes in order to make them work correctly in GM 7.

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Tutorials

Very simple script tutorial for beginners
Basic_Script_Tutorial.zip (6 Kb) (two html documents in a zip file)
This tutorial has two chapters:
Chapter 1 is small drills in making scripts and playing with them.
Chapter 2 is about getting more familiar with arguments.
It is kept VERY simple.

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Editable Games

Balloon Catcher Balloon_Catcher_gmk.zip (252 kb)
You fly around as a bird catching balloons. Has both a Danish and an English version.
This game is an update from GM 5.2 to GM 7.0.
The game was originally started as an example of how to make an automatic game save
everytime you have finished a level using a save file name chosen by the user.
So a few simple levels were made for that purpose.
Then I continued working on it making new levels. So far there are 6 levels.
In level 5 and 6 there are also mini views so you can see how that can be done.

Picture Puzzle, with both a Danish and an English version.
This game is an update from GM 5.0 to GM 7.0.
Here is a screenshot: Picture_Puzzle.png.
Doiwnload: Picture_Puzzle_House_gmk.zip (2428 Kb).

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Stand-alone Games
click here.

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Links

Game Maker Program and Forum

"Game Maker" by Mark Overmars:

Game Maker Community:

Free File Hosting for games and examples

Host-A Hosting a well-known host amongst Game Maker users.
Free file hosting. Very stable, no ads.

FileFront: a commercial site focused on games.
Free file hosting. Very stable, have game related ads.

Other Links

This is a very good course on GML:
"Carl's Game Maker course" by Carl Gustafsson.
Carl Gustafsson's Game Maker Pages (click on Courses).

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The banner below is a link to phpjunkyard.com.
One of the things you can find there is a simple message board, "PHP message board",
which is very handy if you want a little forum on your page. It is free.
My message board Weird Dragon's Message Board is such a "PHP message board".

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www.weird-dragon.dk

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