Tag Archives: Indie Game Maker

IGM Tutorial: Projectiles

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Finally we shall cover projectiles! Let’s make our ship from the last tutorial shoot at some stuff. Resources!

So first you need something for it to shoot. Grab the dark ship and the dark bullets and we’ll make ourselves an enemy that shoots back. The first part of this is easy stuff. Just import the new graphics via the “Materials” tab then head to the “Animations” sub-tab to copy and paste the Player Ship we made last time. After that just replace its graphics with the new Enemy Ship and rename it if you like. Because this is an enemy and not our player gadget we’ll need to change the way its hit detection works a little bit. Use these to make the ship hurt our ship when they collide, and to take damage from our player gadget’s bullets. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Pausing

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Let’s go over how to create a simple way to pause a game. I’ll be using the shooting game from the last couple of tutorials, but this will apply to any game. All you need is a menu set up on the screen you wish to pause (I will be using the HUD menu we created for the shooting game).

Go to the “Materials” tab and the “Text” sub-tab. Hit “Create” and a window will pop up asking you what text you would like for this particular material. This can be changed at any time. For now I just went with “PAUSE”. Next to “Standard Font” select “Font 16 x 16″ from the drop down menu. Over to the right you’ll see “PAUSE” in a preview window. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Camera with a Course

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Using what we’ve learned so far I’ve started up a very simple, easy to re-create Shooting Game. We’ll use this shooting game to create a Camera gadget on a Canvas and give the camera a course to follow. You can either start from this GPD or you can try to recreate this on your own using the following four resources (be sure to grab the small invisible one, it’s the very first one below).

Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Adding a Boss HP Display

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Last time we created a boss and gave it three hit points. Now we’re going to cover how to display those hit points on the screen with numbers. Open up your file from the last tutorial and we’ll get started! Also take this transparent resource real quick for use later.

The first thing we need to do is to create a switch. Head to the “Materials” tab and the “Switches” sub-tab and hit “Create”. This switch is going to be used to turn on and off the health display so name it “Boss HP” and leave its initial value off.

Next head to the “Menus” tab and the “Items” sub-tab. Hit “Create” and we’ll make a new item called “Boss HP Display”. Just like with animations you’ll need to set a graphic for this, even though at the moment we’re only displaying text. So use the transparent graphic included with this tutorial (you’ll have to set it as a graphic under the “Material” tab and allow it to be used as an item first, but you should know how to do that already). Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Adding Health

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

If you’ve been following along with the tutorials this far you can load up the platforming game we’ve been working on and we’ll get started.

Let’s start by creating a boss penguin from our regular penguins. That way we can have a boss’s health displayed on the screen while we fight him. Head over to the “Animations” sub-tab and create a copy of our Penguin animations. Rename the copy Boss Penguin so it’s a little easier to keep track. Under the “Per Frame Settings” sub-sub-tab change both of the Scale options to 2. This will double the size of our penguin. Now adjust your hit detection accordingly. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Adding Features

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Let’s take the jumping action game we’ve made in the last two tutorials and add a couple of features to it. The first we’ll add is the ability to double jump. Load up your project and head to the Gadgets sub-tab.

Start by copying the Jumping(2) “Action Program” and paste it to create Jumping(3). On Jumping(3), go ahead and check the box to make this a jump. Under “The Next Action Program” Standby and Running should both already be red so select Jumping(2), scroll down, and check the box for “The Gadget Played All Animations”. Now select the Jumping “Action Program” and select Jumping(2) as “The Next Action Program”. Scroll down and uncheck the box for “The Gadget Played All Animations”. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Refining Your Game

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

Last time we went over the basics of creating a game that works for each export option that IG Maker offers which included creating a character, creating an enemy, and creating a map that all function as basic as possible. This time we’re going to work on refining the game by adding in functions that will cosmetically change, or functionally improve our game including using moving wallpapers (note: this will not work in flash exports but you can use stationary wallpapers), refining our character’s ability to jump and fall properly, and creating a moving platform. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Basic Platformer

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

In this tutorial, we’re going to cover the very basics of creating a jumping/platformer style game which will include creating a hero gadget, creating tiles with and without walls, and creating an enemy gadget for our hero to defeat. At the bottom of this guide you’ll find a link that will lead you to a flash example of what the finished project should look like. You can also click an of the Screenshots to see a full-sized version for clarity. You will also need the resources in the following archive to do this tutorial (right click => save as to save them to your computer)

ResourcesOpen up IG Maker and on the left menu under the “Top Page” tab select New Game. This opens up a guide to creating new projects. Read it if you like, then hit next. For this game’s genre we’re going to select Jumping Action (New Game). Hit next again and we get to pick the starting screen resolution (this can be changed later by selecting the “Flow” tab and then the “Overall Settings” sub-tab). Select 640×480 under the VGA 4:3 option. This option seems to be the best for flash, and it works fine for PC games as well (though I find that Wide 16:9 1280×720 works best for the Xbox 360). Hitting next again allows you to name your game. This can be changed later so just use the default for now and hit finish. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Exporting to XNA

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

The first thing you should know is that when you export to XNA and test your games on the Xbox 360 some things will work and behave differently than they do when testing in IG Maker. I highly recommend testing your game often to make sure everything translates correctly from your PC to the console.

Also, while the programs below are completely free, testing games on an Xbox 360 or selling games on the Xbox Live Indie Games Marketplace currently requires an App Hub membership, which will cost $99 per year. You can read more about that on their faq. Before attempting to make a game for the Xbox 360, make sure you’ve updated IG Maker to work with XNA 4.0. The update and instructions are available here. Continue reading →

IGM Tutorial: Exporting to Flash

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Want to check out a PDF of this tutorial? Right click save as HERE.

The first thing you should know is that there are some things that you aren’t able to do when you export to flash. Here’s the list:

  • You cannot use a controller or the right-click of a mouse for inputting commands.
  • If you use True Type Fonts (TTF) for your game and the person playing doesn’t have the same font installed on their computer it will use a default font instead.
  • Sound effects don’t work.
  • Wallpapers can only be displayed in actual size, oriented to the upper left of the screen. If they aren’t it seems to default to a tiled view.
  • Tiles cannot change.
  • Slave gadgets can not match the master gadget’s angle, scale, or luminance.
  • Large maps or a large number of gadgets may cause lag.
  • If you set a gadget to move too fast hit detection does not work.

In the screenshots below look for blue highlights, numbers, or messages for points of interest.

Let’s get started with the installs! The first thing you will need to do is install the Java Development Kit (JDK). It is a pretty straight forward install, so I won’t go into too much detail. Download link! – Basically head there, scroll down a bit, and click the orange download button under the first JDK option you see. Here’s a screenshot! Continue reading →