Game Maker

Introduction-
     Game maker is a program that makes simple animations for mac and pc. This program can make games that involving just clicking on to object to more complicated games that involves navigating through mazes. When I was using this program, I started making “Catch the Clown” which was a very basic game, “1945” was another semi simple game that I made before be started on the assessment task. 

The software package-  

     The Game maker software package is a 2d and 3d program that allows you to make simple to complex games. I personally took I little bit longer then I  would have liked just trying to understand the software but by the time we were finishing the makings of ‘1945’ and a little bit of help from my good friend Jett Williams I got the hang of the software. One downside to the software was that it occasionally crashed when you tried to preview the game you made. Overall this software package is a very easy software to start on for game making and I highly recommend it. 

The very main concepts that were necessary to learn in Game Maker: 

Sprite menu

Sprites - Sprites are a sequence of images that when put in order gives the impression of a real life character. When controlling the character with the keys, it will give the perception of movement of the character but its just different images shown for certain keys. 

Sound menu

Sound- Sound is a very important key part of any game. Sound adds emotion and excitement and without it, it feels incomplete. Sound can be used for instance, if you get hit by an object, when a level is completed and it can also be used for background noise to add more excitement. 

 Objects- An example of an object would be a character. You can give the character commands through the keys and in the main menu for objects you can adjust the speed (5.5) to your liking. In this menu area you can adjust more things like attacks that the characters can be given.

Rooms- Rooms are where you can put everything you have made. It is the area where you can drag all your sprites, objects, sounds and many more. The rooms can be changed depending on the levels and what you want.


Here are the rooms for each level:

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

Level 5

Level 6

My assignment

My assignment task-
     For our assignment we had to design and make a game through Game Maker, that would grab the attention of a desired age group. The criteria sheet involved a list of goals to try and complete in your assignment.
     When I was designing my game, the first thing that can into thought was something fun, easy to play and a bit funny and cute. I was looking for a game that could entertain kid at the ages of 8-12years. The perfect age from really babyish game to more fun and challenging "Dodge Bunny". Dodge Bunny has 2 main characters, it is a multi leveled game with obstacles all through the game. The 2 main characters are 'Mr.Fluffy' and 'Squirrel Boy' and for each character there are level of difficulty (easy, medium and hard) with 6 levels for each one. As you for through the game you will start to encounter some obstacles, challenges and enemies. Some of the of the obstacles you may encounter are big black holes in the ground, boulders that you have to blow-up and balls that you have to dodge to survive. The challenges just involve mega stars that you have to try and retrieve before you get shoot down by the evil enemies.

Personal review of the unit-
I enjoyed this unit of game maker very much, it was a great subject to learn and I would be happy to do it again. When learning game maker, the tasks that were given to me were very helpful in the learning curve of understanding this software. I would highly recommend it to anyone who is learning to make games.

Level of enjoyment-
When I was first learning this software that was completely new to me, I found it was not as good as I anticipated. But as I started to understand how the software worked, I fell in love. The enjoyment of this unit, for me would definitely 9.5/10, it was a great unit and I recommend it to anyone who is interested.

Future directions-
I can not see Game Maker becoming a wildly used software for gaming but it is a great software for learners and people that like making simple entertaining games. 

Other blogs related to this subject-
Callan Acton's blog | Chase's blog | Jett Williams's blog | Harold Jeon's blog | hjames13's blog | Isharrat13's blog | amackenzie13's blog | njames-lyle13's blog