#35 How to Become a Video Game Programmer on YoyoGames.Com

Have you ever wondered what it was like to make a game? Ever wondered why it is so hard for some programmers to add certain features into a game? Here you will learn how to overcome the many hardships and difficulties you may have making a PC game.

STEPS

Step 1:

Go to yoyogames.com. You will first see a bar at the top labeled with "Play","Make", "Share" and "Help".Click on "Make" At the top of the screen. Go to the downloads page and download Game maker 7.0(not 8.0).

Step 2:

Once you have it downloaded and installed, open it up, go to file and click "Advanced mode". This will give you many more features for you make your game.

Step 3:

Now you'll need some pictures for your game. Pictures are called "sprites". Click on the little red Pac man at the top and click edit sprite. This will open up a whole new window and give you a blank green picture. Click on it and draw a picture with the built-in picture editor. You may also create multiple pictures to form an animation. (ALSO: you can alternatively import strips/pictures from other locations by clicking "File" in the top left)

Step 4:

Once you have your sprites finished and named, move on to the "Sounds" tab. Right-click and click create new sound. This will give you the option of importing music, effects, or any other sound into creating your game. Once you have it named, imported in, adjusted, and anything else you want, click done.

Step 5:

Skip over background, paths, and scripts. Right click on objects and click create new object. This is where the real programming happens. Click add sprite and click on your picture. Now, click on "add event" and click keyboard, up arrow key. You will notice an up key event has been added. Go to the move tab and drag the top left red move square in the white area. You will now be prompted to set the direction and speed. 3-6 is a good range, so put down 4. Repeat that to the left, right, and down key events with left, right, and down. Once you are done, click on "add event" for the fifthtime and press "release key" now here you just repeat what you just did, except for the move event set the speed to "0" and change the direction to stop. Now click "done" and right click rooms and click add a new room. Select your object in the drop-down and click to put it in the room and you're done. In your first game. Click "play" at the top to try it out. You may experiment with many events, tabs, and actions. Or even try to make a long 100 object game.

Tips

You may upgrade to the pro edition for $25 and be able to do 3D, better graphics and a ton else.