The Game Maker's Companion

by Jacob Habgood, Nana Nielsen, Kevin Crossley

The Game Maker's Companion is the long-awaited sequel to The Game Maker's Apprentice. This book picks up where the last book left off, advancing your game development journey with some seriously impressive gaming projects. This time you'll learn how to make professional-quality platform games with solid collision detection and slick control mechanisms and you'll get acquainted with a long-lost icon of platform gaming history on the way. You'll go on to discover techniques to add depth and believability to the characters and stories in your games, including The Monomyth, cut scene storyboarding, and character archetypes. This culminates in the creation of an original atmospheric platform-adventure which will take your GML programming skills to new heights. There's even a handy reference section at the back of the book which will be invaluable for adding common features to your own games. With contributions from four games industry professionals and a highly respected member of the Game Maker community, The Game Maker's Companion is another labor of love that will give you even more hours of enjoyment than the original. If you already own Game Maker then you really must own this book as well. What you'll learn Learn the fundamentals of how to create platform games with nature's first platform game Fishpod. Discover how to recreate the classic 90's platform game Zool (Ninja of the Nth Dimension) entirely using drag-and-drop programming. Learn how to extend and improve upon the drag-and-drop functionality of Game Maker using GML scripts. Follow the design of the atmospheric platform-adventure game "Shadows on Deck" from original concept to a completed vertical slice of gameplay. See how professional designers create engaging storylines with believable characters. Learn how to modify the Shadows on Deck artwork to include in your own games. Experience a practical journey into game development which has been unparalleled since The Game Maker's Apprentice. Gain access to professional game resources from Shadows on Deck which you are free to use in your own Game Maker games. Who this book is forThis book is for Game Maker's Apprentice readers, along with other game developers in general.

Genres: Programming, Reference

442 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2010

About the author

Dr Jacob Habgood is Director of Education Partnerships for the Sumo Digital Group and Education Advisor to The Independent Game Developer’s Association. Jake joined Sheffield-based game developer, Gremlin Graphics in the 90’s as a Computer Science graduate and stayed with them until their closure in 2003. He went on to take up a PhD scholarship in Learning Sciences at The University of Nottingham and became a Lecturer and then Reader at Sheffield Hallam University. Jake’s research interests are in game-based learning and novice programming environments. He was Principal Investigator on the H2020 REVEAL project which was shortlisted for a Times Higher Education awards for its collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment.
Jacob is funded by a three year grant from the Royal Academy of Engineering as a “Visiting Professor of Games Software Engineering” within the department. He will work with Steve Maddock to develop resources which help undergraduates to develop applied programming skills and portfolio work for targeting employment in the creative industries. Steve himself was funded by the Royal Academy Engineering to spend six months on secondment at Gremlin Graphics in the 90’s helping to fuel some of his own research interests and industry links over subsequent years.

Reviews

[Evie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The entire book is pretty much the detailed development of a side-scrolling platformer. This part is actually worth it, it's really in-depth and you can use it for action platformers, more adventure / talkie platformers...

There's also a reference in the back about some common problems and solutions - like a cookbook. E.g. moving between rooms, homing missiles, pushing objects. This section is not very good, the code is too basic in what should be an intermediate/advanced level book (Game Maker's Apprentice by the same author being for beginners).

[Moorhead Public Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Download the free version of GameMaker 8 and create your own video games in minutes. This book gives you step-by-step tutorials and a content CD to get you making games.

If you want more, ask about getting the Game Maker's Apprentice.

Reviewed by: Meg

[John Orman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information on the details of programming in Game Maker to create some cool video games. Very helpful in my recent Game Development class. Lots of code examples in the book and on included CD.