The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners

I have been an educator and professional software developer for over 20 years now and can say that this is the most well crafted instructional book of any kind that I have ever read. Taking a reader from zero to being able to create interesting games while understanding the logic, design considerations, and even programming syntax needed in one 300 page book with an easy to master learning rate/curve is an amazing feat. The authors deserve congratulations and they certainly have mine. The book starts with very basic logical programming constructs and builds an initial simple tutorial from these. Through each subsequent tutorial project in the book, additional concepts are introduced while previous concepts are reinforced. The tutorials are carefully crafted such that new material is presented in very step by step detail while previously introduced concepts are referred to in an increasingly shorthand way. This is a great teaching technique and one that doesn't happen without great effort. Along the way, most modern programming concepts and are introduced and explored in an amazingly non-frightening manner. In occasional chapters through the book the authors take a break from the GUI coding and talk about game design in more general terms and through examples from the tutorials and modified versions of the tutorials showing how game design and game player experience can be improved. The final chapters of the book deal with coding games and game features in the programming language that is "behind" the Game Maker graphic user interface. While some have complained that this language is not C++, it is certainly close enough in design and syntax that any concept learned here will be readily transferable to another more common language. The book ends with a discussion of other low and no cost tools that can be used to create graphics and sound files for games or any other software environment, and a discussion of the game design community available at the YOYO Games website. I can also attest to the fact that all example projects in the book work as advertised. That in itself is an amazing feat. Bruce Kirkpatrick MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, MCT, OCP, iNet+, Network+, Security +, A+ ... and so on

This book bears a notice, "Copyright 2006-2013," so I assume it came out in 2006, long before GameMaker:Studio's 2012 release. As such, it includes Game Maker 8 on its CD, and the text refers to that version. Which would be fine if the only differences were that GameMaker:Studio includes more features than Game Maker 8 did, but that's not the case. The "Sleep" and "Show High Score" actions no longer exist, but are used in the instructional games and text, nonetheless. Now, "sleep" functions of one kind or another have probably been used by generations of programmers who needed their continuous-action, real-time games to present a certain pace or timing to the player. Alas, a lot of those programmers were writing single-threaded, sequential-execution code (you know: FOR X=0 TO 359 STEP 5, and so on). In our current era of event-driven, multi-threaded software, "sleep" functions tend simply to muck things up. What we used to do with sleep, we now do with timers (what Game Maker calls "alarms"). That's a big step forward, but it plays havoc with the learning process when the text you are working from expects you to add a "Sleep" action in the middle of a list of actions, and you don't have that action available, nor do you know how you would get around it with Alarms (since those aren't introduced for another 80 pages and, even then, they are used to invoke the "Show High Scores" action, which, again, no longer exists). So, I hope the authors will update the book to match the current version of the product. That said, let me go on to say that I _really_ hope they will do so, as this is otherwise a very, very good book. If you already know how to program, but find the GM IDE baffling, the examples will help you calm down and get focused. If you already know how to program, but find the immense list of GM functions and the large variety of ways to do things daunting, the examples will help you calm down and feel secure. But, if you don't already know how to program, this book may frustrate you, unless you limit yourself to the GM8 product on the included CD. I wouldn't recommend doing that, however, as you will then be "learning" methods that are already obsolete and simply _will not work_ when you start using GameMaker:Studio. Ignoring the technical details, the book's methodological approach to game programming is very enlightening. I've written, oh, maybe a billion ( 8-) ) lines of code for computer graphics applications of one kind or another. Gaming is something I'm new at, however, and I've only been doing object-oriented programming for about four years now. So, when one example showed how to animate a character on the screen so it smoothly moves from one position to the next by replacing it with an instance of a different object, having that object's position remain unchanged, but animating its graphic appearance to make it look like it was moving, then replacing it with an instance of the original object but in the new location, well... that was an "aha!" moment for me. Overall, a fine book. I will definitely be buying the sequel soon. But, until it is updated to reflect the actions available in the current version of GameMaker:Studio, I have to say it should be used only by people who already know how to program basic event-driven code, and who at least know what multi-threading is.

The Game Maker's Apprentice has to be one of my most eagerly awaited Computer Book purchases for quite sometime. The fabulous presentation and great use of terminology, really makes it a joy to read. Each chapter guides you through gently, in order to achieve more confidence into creating your own game or project. Each page is colourful and the beautiful illustrations brings things to life. The book is accompanied by a great CD with all of the examples, resources and Game Maker itself, which is really easy to get into. Within no time at all, you'll get used to it's interface and workings. The tutorials start you off with the basics and progressively bring you to the wonderfully powerful Game Maker Language (GML). So not only can you create games using a Drag 'n' Drop interface, you can also use a powerful programming language as well. All of this is included in the unregistered version, but by paying an ever so reasonable registration fee, you unlock the full potential of Game Maker. I used Game Maker to create my first ever PC game, Bugsy. The Game Maker Forum helped me out when I came across a problem or a bug I couldn't resolve. There a lots of games and projects created with this wonderful program. You will also find many other sites across the Internet that provide helpful advice and tutorials. Not forgetting the official Game Maker site run and hosted by Mark Overmars. The books co-writer, Jacob Habgood, has made a marvellous job along side Mark, to make this a very interesting book indeed. You might also be interested to know, that another book covering the Game Maker theme, Basic Game Design and Creation by Namu Swamy is available as well. This also brings you to the Game Maker stable to learn some very easy steps into the basics of game design without it appearing too boring or tiresome. Your gaming ideas and projects start here !

I downloaded Game Maker 7.0 and read its manual prior to purchasing this book. My hope was that it would fill in the "holes" not explained by the program manual. First, the good. The book gives an excellent explanation of program logic and keeps things simple and effective for any experience level. I also liked the fact that you could read the book and see examples without actually completing the tutorials. I especially liked the way the book would demonstrate a particular game tutorial with an easy-to-read flow chart. So if you didn't understand the Game Maker's manual this book IS for you. Here is where my 3.5 star rating comes in. I paid about $25 for the book to go beyond the program manual. The book had a couple of the tutorials that were listed on Yo-Yo games web site. I don't like the idea of paying for something that is provided for free. However, it gave a better explanation of Game Maker's interface. Although you can make a fully functioning game without programming, I was hoping for more guidance on Game Maker Language (GML), which you will need in fine tuning games created with Game Maker. I was also hoping for more variety in the tutorials. Not everyone may want to make an action oriented game. For example, I wanted to make a little board game, but that isn't discussed in the book. Hopefully, it will be covered in the next edition or another book. I still recommend the book, but make sure you are getting it for the right reasons. Review the PDF file and sample text carefully looking at the table of contents and index. You might be able to accomplish your goals by reading Game Maker's manual and looking through the forums.

(English) The book presents a very good structure in its content and through each one of its nine projects, it goes introducing you to the design of the video games. For people that want to begin in the programming and the design of video games with Game Maker, it is excellent, because it presents the use of this programming platform, so much in their graphic way as in way text, what makes it a very good source. It also presents in one of their chapters some concepts related with the reactive intelligence applied in the programming of video games with Game Maker. Perhaps the only point that I had liked to see is an introduction to the 3D games, for people that have bought the license of Game Maker. It had been an extra that we had thanked a lot. In general I recommend it thoroughly to learn how to program video games with Game Maker in less than one month. Cordial Greetings Angel Pretelín Ricárdez Associate Professor [email protected] Professional Interdisciplinary Unit in Engineering and Advanced Technologies. UPIITA. IPN, Mexico (Español) El libro presenta una muy buena estructura en su contenido y a través de cada uno de sus 9 proyectos, va introduciéndote a al diseño de los videojuegos. Para las personas que deseen iniciarse en la programación y el diseño de videojuegos con Game Maker, resulta excelente, pues presenta el uso de esta plataforma de programación, tanto en su modo gráfico como en modo texto, lo que lo hace una fuente muy buena. Además presenta en uno de sus capítulos algunos conceptos relacionados con la inteligencia reactiva aplicada en la programación de videojuegos con Game Maker. Tal vez el único punto que me hubiera gustado ver es una introducción a los juegos 3D, para las personas que han comprado la licencia del Game Maker. Hubiera sido un extra, que hubiéramos agradecido mucho. En general lo recomiendo ampliamente para aprender a programar videojuegos con Game Maker en menos de un mes. Saludos Cordiales Angel Pretelín Ricárdez Profesor Asociado B [email protected] Unidad Profesional Interdisciplinaria en Ingeniería y Tecnologías Avanzadas. UPIITA - IPN, México

I bought this book already knowing about game maker and wanting to learn more. The book itself is well written and guides you through step by step to create 9 games each one progressively adding more depth and work to accomplish. It teaches you the basics and even at the end of each chapter tells you to tinker with the game you just made and see what you can add to it and gives some hints which I personally thought was pretty cool. The only downside is this book uses gamemaker 8 which is included on the cd but game maker is currently at the time of me writing studio 1.2. Some of the drag and drop functions needed for the book are no longer included such as the sleep function and the show highscore function. However this is to help make the games created with the software easier to distribute across multiple platforms I.E. Android, Apple, Etc. You can easily google and find workarounds to these problems and alot of the solutions are on the yoyogames website itself as well so its not to big of a problem but something that buyers need to know beforehand. So i would like to see the book updated to game maker studio but as mentioned before you can use workarounds which will help sharpen your skils even more. All in all this is a great book and a good starting point for learning how to use game maker and i would recommend it to anyone who is interested in game maker.

Bought this for my son who is enamored with video games of all sorts. I was attempting to bridge his interest in playing video games with the knowledge of how to program computers; it was intriguing for him to be able to see the steps that were taken to produce viable (and entertaining) computer games. The upside is that he gained a slight appreciation for what goes into programming and how to interact with a programming 'interface' that allowed him to construct the games in the book. The downside was that he discovered that, even in the simplified environment the software included with the book made for him to learn, it was too much work and after making a game or two, lost interest in it because playing games was easier than making them! All-in-all, it is a great way for anyone who is unfamiliar with programming in an "object-oriented" environment to learn while having fun.

I decided to take a break from creating my own game engine and check out what more automated tools had to offer. This book provided me with many ideas on things I should be able to do with my own engine. It offers an excellent way to start creating professional looking 2D games. You can pick up a the latest copy of Game Maker Lite for free online. The graphics and sounds available on the books CD are excellent. I found myself creating levels and playing for some time (and cussing up a bit since even my own levels were challenging). Game Maker is an excellent prototyping tool and you may want to consider it for you plan on joining those 48-hour game jams. The book presents easy to follow instructions and the results are delightful games you can show off to your friends and family. The books also has chapters on general game design concepts (what makes a game fun to play). This book is still useful today for any future game designers and developers to get started.