All posts tagged Examples

3D Animated Water example updated

 Martin · 9 years

I've updated my old 3D animated water examples to be compatible with GameMaker: Studio today, combining the two former examples into one superior example.

The previous examples used two methods for creating the water effect. The first used layers of scrolling, textured 3D planes drawn with an additive blend mode to make a detailed, if not always pretty, body of water. The second used a pre-animated texture, created in PhotoShop, to create a similar effect. A skybox was also employed, to make for better background scenery.

This new example combines methods from both of these files to create, in my opinion, a superior effect. With this updated example, the layers of scrolling texture have been relegated to a surface, which gets updated each step. This surface is then drawn over a base color plane for the water, all over a skybox with pre-baked reflections built in.

The effect could probably be more detailed, or could benefit from shader support for true reflections, but for what it is, I think it's a notable improvement.

You can find the updated file for this example on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

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GameMaker: Studio fireworks example

 Martin · 9 years

A little late for the 4th of July holiday, but nevertheless, I'd like to present a new GameMaker: Studio example - particle fireworks!

This is a pretty simple example which procedurally generates everything you see, using GameMaker: Studio's built-in functions. Most of the effects, such as the fireworks, smoke, and stars, all use the particle system. The sky is made with colored shapes and the land is a primitive.

Even though I started this from scratch, I consider it the spiritual successor to one of my really old game demos, which was also a fireworks simulation. I created that one to test out the particle effects in GameMaker, back when they were somewhat new. Here's what it looked like, in case you want to see how far things have evolved:

I think it's safe to say that both GameMaker and I have gotten a lot better at particles over the years!

Anyway, I hope someone out there finds this new example useful. You can find it on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

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Mandelbrot Fractal Explorer updated for GameMaker: Studio

 Martin · 9 years

To continue my string of updated GameMaker projects, last night I uploaded a new version of my old Mandelbrot Fractal Explorer project, finally making it compatible with GameMaker: Studio.

The previous version was built in GameMaker 6, and relied on old functions like screen_refresh(), which have since been removed from the program. Surfaces are much more robust these days, so I've employed them instead of the old tech. I've made a handful of improvements to the functionality of the program as well, including making the zoom center on the view (this had always bothered me before), adding a timer to the render process, and moving the fractal drawing code out of a script (which basically froze the program for input on every update/render) and into the step event where the fractal surface is updated progressively, and the user can easily interrupt it at any time.

Render times remain an issue of course, but this was originally just an attempt to see if I could build something that would render fractals at all, so I still consider it a success.

The full source for this project is now available on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page, so if you'd like to tear it apart, make it better, or just see how it works, go right ahead!

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3D Rain GameMaker example updated

 Martin · 9 years

I've managed to get my 3D rain example for GameMaker updated for GameMaker: Studio. I'm accomplishing updates at a pace that I can't sustain, woohoo!

This new version is near-fully commented and includes an updated rain effect that uses very simple models instead of textured walls. It also introduces water splash ripples and has a much better skybox than before.

Check out the updated example at my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

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Faux Mode 7 GameMaker example updated

 Martin · 9 years

I'm continuing to pick through my old GameMaker examples and update them for GameMaker: Studio, and the most recent example I've fixed now is the Faux Mode 7 example, which recreates the look of the original Mario Kart in GameMaker.

The example doesn't emulate true Mode 7 (it uses GameMaker's native 3D functions), but it uses a combination of techniques to create a retro 3D look.

You'll find the updated files for this example on my GameMaker Examples & Tutorials page.

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Path Outta Space GameMaker: Studio example updated

 Martin · 9 years

It seems like I come back to my old GameMaker examples and update one of them about once a year. I try to do better than that, and probably do, but that's how it feels sometimes!

Anyway, today I updated my example of a textured vertex path in GameMaker: Studio. I've spent some time removing a lot of the code that didn't need to be there, renaming some variables and assets so that they make a little more sense, and adding comments all around.

Check it out on my GameMaker: Studio Examples & Tutorials page.

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Example Added: Path & Textured Vertex

 Martin · 14 years

Per the request of one of my Steam buddies, I've added the Game Maker file from an old visual demo I'd made to the Examples & Tutorials page.

This example uses paths, textured vertexes, particles, and a noise overlay to create a slowly changing, relaxing visual based on the Outta Space desktop wallpapers of the same name created by Philipp Antoni. You may find the flowing movement similar to the flowing home background on the PlayStation 3/PSP as well.

I originally intended to make this into a screensaver, but never got around to finishing it for that purpose. Still, I think it's a good example of an abstract visual that can be achieved with Game Maker using a few different effects in tandem.

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Fire With Particles Example/Tutorial, Site Updates

 Martin · 15 years

Well, this isn't nearly as controversial as my recent rant about proprietary Mac hardware or the problems with piracy, but I'd like to announce that I have updated the Examples & Tutorials page and added a new example/tutorial to boot.

The new addition, an example/tutorial (perhaps an 'examporial'? 'tutample'? okay, I'll stop) shows how to create a somewhat realistic fire effect using Game Maker's particle system, and takes you through the entire process, from sprite creation to tweaking the final effect for perfection. You can check out the write-up and download the example files here.

And as mentioned above, I've also re-tooled the Examples/Tutorials page, so all the ugly boxes are gone, and everything is much cleaner and better organized. You'll also find a partially re-written tutorial for 3D model importing/UV mapping in there, though I'd like to completely re-write this in the future, as my methods have changed a bit since I wrote the original. I'll probably be adding my completely unfinished competition project to the open source/abandoned section soon, too.

If you have any suggestions for other examples you'd like me to make, sound off in the comments!

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Back From Thanksgiving

 Martin · 16 years

I'm finally back from my Thanksgiving holiday at my parents' house, and I can hardly believe it's already December! Where has this year gone?

Anyway, I had a couple of things I wanted to post today.

A recent episode of The Simpsons took Apple down a peg, as Springfield mall got its first "Mapple" store. It was quite enjoyable. Of course, all the YouTube links are gone now, so you'll have to find the episode yourself.

The next thing I wanted to post, also a video, is a new trailer released yesterday for the Black Mesa mod - a Half-Life 2 mod that is looking to recreate the original Half-Life with the Source engine, but with more content, higher resolution textures and models, and environments that take better advantage of the engine than Valve's original port of the game. Normally I don't get too excited over Source engine mods, since they rarely make good on their promises, or even get finished for that matter, but the amount of polish that has gone into this trailer makes me hope otherwise for Black Mesa. You can view the trailer below and find out more about the mod at the official site.

I played through a huge chunk of Half-Life 2 this holiday weekend, so I guess I'm a little bit excited about Half-Life in general again.

I'm glad to see that people found my recent set of examples interesting too, and I hope to get a fixed GM6 version of the 3D Rain example up sometime tonight. Sorry about the slow rain example, I'll play with it and see if I can get something up that's a little easier on the older machines soon as well!

That's all for now - thanks for reading, and I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving (or just a good weekend if you're not from the U.S.)!

Update: I've made a new GM6 file that should run better than the previous rain example, and which should load correctly in GM6. The area that the rain covers is a bit smaller than the original example, and the rain is a bit more sparse, but you should get the idea.

You can download the new example at the link above!

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