Some interesting Game Maker links

We are looking to teach Game Maker again this year. I did some more searching and found:

1. http://gm.destronmedia.com/?page_id=104&did=25 – The Beginers Guide To Game Maker 7.0 Programing

2. http://gm.destronmedia.com/?page_id=104&did=4 – Super Mario example game

3. http://digitalworlds.wordpress.com/2008/03/14/moving-on-with-game-maker-a-maze-game/ – ideas for adding to the example maze game

4. http://www.roencia.com/vidsgamemaker.html – lots of video tutorials for Gamemaker 7, includes code

5. http://www.pageflakes.com/ouseful/22238750 – a great page with lots of ideas for adding features to some common Game Maker examples like the Catch a Clown game, Maze Game and Platform Game

Book: Invent Your Own Computer Games with PYTHON

“Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python” is a book that teaches you how to program computer games in the Python programming language. Each chapter gives you the complete source code for a new game, and then teaches the programming concepts from the example. IYOCGwP was written to be understandable by 10 to 12 year olds, although it is great for anyone of any age who has never programmed before. It is a book to teach computer programming to non-programmers by making simple (but fun) games. IYOCGwP is distributed under the Creative Commons license.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1441413030/

Idea of Game to duplicate

http://ecodrivingusa.com/#/virtual-road-test/

It might be fun if students can use a tool like Scratch or Gamemaker to duplicate a game like this!

Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python

http://pythonbook.coffeeghost.net

From the author himself, “[An E-book that ] is freely available under a Creative Commons license. The book provides complete source code for games, and teaches programming concepts from the examples. While it does not have a set course syllabus outline for teachers, it is perfectly suited for self-teaching kids and non-programmers in general.”

It looks very good!

Microsoft’s Popfly

http://www.popfly.com/

Now you can create a game without writing any code. Try it out, and have fun!

Game Maker Forums

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?s=fa5fb7c816f2c0ad8c90cc382546abd9&show forum=28

Game Maker has lots of very active forums!

Phrogram

http://phrogram.com/

From the site, here is description of this commercial app. It costs $50.

Phrogram is a great way to get started and go further in learning and doing real computer programming. Beginners get a solid foundation and intermediate to advanced users take their skills far beyond what other learning-oriented programming environments can offer. With Phrogram, you can create games and other programs with just a few instructions. Making programs do more with less code leads to faster results and more fun.

Tool for making games

http://www.gamelearning.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/index.html?clubs/tools/tools.htm

I nice summary of all the tools you can use to make games.

The Hard Science of Making Video Games

http://www.popsci.com/popsci/technology/8312f0209dd15110vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html

Discusses aspects of video games and how there is some really hard science behind creating them!

Mike Dawson’s Game Programming Site

http://www.programgames.com/

Over 145 million Americans play computer and video games because it’s an absolute blast. So what could be more rewarding than playing games? Taking your gaming passion to the next level by creating your own, of course.

Mike Dawson, author of multiple books on games and programming, teaches game programming classes for students of all ages.

Check out the gallery to see what you might accomplish, even if you’ve never written a single line of code before.