Creating a Platformer in Game Maker
Foundations of Interactive Game Design
Prof. Jim Whitehead
February 7, 2007
Creative Commons
Attribution 2.5
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/
Upcoming Events and Assignments
Game Concept Document
Extended deadline until Friday
May turn in today, if ready
SOE Web servers experienced filesystem failure
Pages intermittently unavailable over past 24 hours
Gamelog
Still due Friday
Game of your choice
Work Breakdown and Schedule
Due next week, on Wednesday
RPG Maker/Game Maker/Art help
Today: RPG Maker design session
Led by Nate Emond <
[email protected]>
5:30PM, E2 215
Note different room for this week
Thursday: Game Maker help/design session
Earth & Marine Sciences, room B214
4-5:10PM
Game Maker reduced cost license keys
See me after class to pay for keys
I will sell all unclaimed keys on Friday
Full version of Game Maker on ITS machines as well
Key Mechanics of Platformers
To create a platform game, need to
Handle collision with platforms
Handle jumping
Scrolling view in large game world
Interactions with other enemies and items in gameworld
Today, will focus on
collision detection
jumping
scrolling view
Collision Detection
Collision detection is the bane of platform game
designers in Game Maker
Several factors affect collision detection
Type of bounding box
Automatic, full image, manually defined bounding box (defined in Sprite)
Type of collision detection
precise, non-precise (defined in Sprite)
Whether object is solid
Defined in object
Actions taken in response to a collision event
Defined in object
May need to examine multiple dialog boxes to completely understand
collision detection behavior
Bounding Box
Visible sprite image
Bounding box
Bounding box is a rectangle (or square) drawn around a
sprite image, used for collision detection
Typically, is outer boundary of the sprite image
Game Maker selects this using the Automatic feature under Bounding Box in
the Sprite dialog
Can manually set the size of the bounding box
Example: if creating a bullet hell (manic) shmup, may want to make the
vulnerable region of the ship smaller than the visible sprite
Select Manual under Bounding Box in Sprite dialog, then fill in dimensions
Can also set to the full size of the sprite file
If sprite is defined in 48x48 pixel box, Full image option would make bounding
box the full 48x48 pixels, even if sprite image is smaller
Basic Collision Detection
Visible sprite image
Bounding box
overlap
Non-precise collision detection:
Just overlap of bounding boxes.
May mean sprite images do not
overlap (player would visually
perceive a near miss)
To toggle between these
collision detection modes:
Choose Precise collision
checking in Sprite dialog box
Bounding box
Visible sprite image
Bounding box
Image overlap
and Bounding box
overlap
Precise collision detection:
Must have overlap of bounding boxes
and sprite images must overlap.
Best collision detection, but more
computationally expensive. Unless you
choose otherwise, this is the collision
detection behavior sprites use.
Step sequence in Game Maker
Begin step: generate Begin Step event
Save current position of object
Compute new position
x = old_x + hspeed
y = old_y + hspeed
But, dont move sprite just yet!
Determine if there is a collision at the new position
If either object in collision is solid: reset position: x = old_x, y = old_y
In both cases (solid, not solid), now generate Collision event
Generate Step event
Update visual representation of sprite on screen
Draw sprite at new location (x, y)
End step: generate End Step event
My sprite is embedded in a wall: why?
Ball and Wall are both not solid
vspeed: 10
y: 105
y: 110
y: 110
y: 115
End of Tick 1
End of Tick 2
In tick 2 (both objects not solid)
Compute new position: y = old_y + vspeed (y = 105+10 = 115)
Actions in collision event just set vspeed to 0
Actions do not modify position of the object
Visual depiction of objects updated to new position
Sprite is now embedded in a wall
My sprite stopped above the wall: why?
Either Ball or Wall
or both are solid
vspeed: 10
y: 105
vspeed: 10
y: 110
End of Tick 1
y: 105
y: 110
End of Tick 2
In tick 2 (one or both objects solid)
Store old positions old_y = y, old_x = x
Compute new position: y = old_y + vspeed (y = 105+10 = 115)
Check for collision at new position: yes
Revert to old position (y = y_old = 105)
Do actions in collision event
Set vspeed to 0
Draw sprite: now stopped in mid-air
My sprite fell through a wall: why?
End of Tick 1
End of Tick 2
y: 100
vspeed: 20
y: 105
y: 110
y: 115
Will occur for solid and
non-solid objects
y: 110
y: 115
y: 120
vspeed: 20
y: 125
Velocity of ball is so great that in one tick its position is
incremented such that it never intersects the wall.
Directions in Game Maker
Direction angles in Game Maker are different from
normal.
90o
180o
0o
270o
Gravity
Can set gravity in Game Maker
Very simple
Define a speed and a direction
Every step, the speed is added to the players current speed
This is a dv/dt (change in velocity per change in time), hence is
acceleration
Normal gravity is an acceleration downwards of 9.8 m/s2
To create sensation of downward gravity in Game Maker
Use Set the gravity action
Have direction be 270
Set speed to 2
Arbitrary value
This speed may vary with your gameworld, tune until it feels right
Jumping
Jumping behavior
Press a key, and player jumps up
Pressing key while in the air should not result in more jumping
Unless you intentionally want a double-jump, in which case you only want to
allow two, and only two jumps.
Jumping should not affect side-to-side movement
Need to decide if player can change side-to-side direction in mid-air
Need to handle collisions correctly
Not going into the side of platforms
Correctly landing on the top of platforms
Correctly handling jumps up into platforms
Handling Jump Keypress
Collision with ground
Not jumping
vspeed=0
gravity=0
Keypress
Jumping
vspeed > 0
gravity > 0
Need a simple state machine
Create a variable called jumping on player
Set to 0 initially
Can only jump when it is 0
Set to 1 when jumping
Details of Creating State Machine
Initialize variable jumping
Add Set variable to a value action to Create event for player
Var square on Control tab in Object window
Variable: jumping
Value: 0
Relative: must be unchecked
Add jumping logic
Add keyboard event
Add variable conditional
Octagon with Var on Control tab of Object window
Applies to self
Variable: jumping
Value: 0
Operation: equal to
Creates conditional: if jumping = 0 then ... {then behavior on next slide}
Details of Creating State Machine (2)
Then behavior if jumping = 0 in keypress event
Add a Start of a block (grey up triangle on Control tab)
Equivalent to curly braces found in many languages
Means: group the following actions together until the end of block
Set vertical speed to a negative number
Downward red arrow on Move tab of Object window
Yes, click the down arrow to make your player go up
Tunable value, try vert. speed of -25 to -30 for starters
Set variable jumping to 1
That is, we have shifted to the jumping state in our simple state machine
Var square on Control tab of Object
Applies to self
Variable: jumping
Value: 1
Relative: unchecked
Add an End of a block (grey down tirangle on Control tab)
Details of Creating a State Machine (3)
OK, have initialization and state transition to jumping
state
Now need transition back to non-jumping state
When a collision is detected, need to set jumping to 0
In collision event with Wall
Set vertical speed to 0
Down red arrow on Move tab of Object
Set vert. speed to 0
Set variable jumping to 0
Var square on Control tab of Object
Applies to self
variable: jumping
value: 0
Drawbacks of the State Machine
Collision events between player and wall do not
distinguish the three cases
Ball landing on top of wall
Ball hitting side of platform
Ball hitting underside of platform
Currently, state machine leads to following behavior
Sticking to side of a platform (ball or wall is solid)
Player receives collision event, and sets vspeed to 0
Gravity should cause player to fall, but gravity never has chance to affect position
Solid object behavior means collision event occurs before ball actually moved
Horizontal movement means ball keeps going towards platform
Results in a collision every step!
Drawbacks of the State Machine
Hitting the underside of the platform also has problems
Ball strikes underside of platform
Causes collision event
Sets vspeed to 0
Also sets jumping to 0
Cant distinguish between landing on platform, and jumping up into underside of platform
Result: undesired perpetual double-jump ability
How do I fix all of this?
Complicated: details in class on Friday...
