Lesson 1 Summary

In Lesson 1 you'll learn how to create the basics elements that make up a Game Maker game. These include:

• Sprites (graphic objects)
• Rooms (screens or levels)
• Objects (graphics, sounds, music, background images)
• Events and Actions which determine how the game plays

You'll create the sprite graphics with Game Maker's built-in sprite editor. Next you'll turn the sprites into objects which can be used in the game. These objects will be placed together in rooms and events with actions will be attached to them to define how they are controlled or behave in the game. In a later lesson you'll also learn how to save Game Maker project files and playable standalone (or executable) game files.

But before you do all this we need an idea or scenario for a game. Your first game scenario will be called Ghost Splat! The basic idea is to catch the ghosts which randomly move around the screen by clicking on them with the mouse pointer. Read an example of the Ghost Splat! scenario here.

This scenario will be developed from a very simple game in Lesson 1, into something more interesting in Lessons 2 and 3. For this first lesson the idea is to create the basic characters and scenery for one room, making a simple game where you have to catch the moving ghosts with your mouse pointer. So let's get started! - Click Next Page > to go to the next part of this lesson.