You can start making your own games today! Making games is fun, and this guide will walk you through your first steps in learning how to use GameMaker to get it done. Let’s get started!
Download GameMaker
First thing’s first! You need to get GameMaker.
Make Your First Game
Your first project is going to show you the ropes. It’s quick and easy and by the end of it you’ll have a complete game!
Publish Your Game
The only thing more fun than making games is sharing them with other people!
Join the Community
The GameMaker community is full of like-minded developers of all skill levels who can’t wait to meet you! Might as well show them the cool new game you just made.
Make More Games
GameMaker has built-in templates that help you understand how games are made. They’re add templates all the time for a variety of different games, so try them all!
- Open GameMaker
- Click New
- Click Game
- Select the Template you want to use
- Click Let’s Go
These games are pre-built, but try to make them your own! Change things around. Create new and exciting levels, powerups, or gameplay challenges. Use the templates as your guard rails as you do some serious experimenting!
Continue Learning
Eventually you’ll want to make your own games from scratch, but you aren’t alone! There are lots of resources out there that’ll show you how to do exciting things in GameMaker.
The Manual
GameMaker’s manual is a comprehensive explanation of every corner of GameMaker. It’s not the most exciting thing to use as a learning tool, but it’s certainly the most informative.
Video Tutorials
YouTube is a great place to learn. Some might offer long, multi-part tutorials to make a large-scale game, and some might be bite-sized tutorials for a specific feature that you can use in any game.
Here are some of our favorite GameMaker-centered YouTube channels:
Join a Jam
A Game Jam is a challenge to make a game from scratch, usually within a theme and a tight deadline. Anyone can join, and it’s not uncommon for developers to team up to tackle it together!
Game Jams can be hosted a variety of places:
Keep it Going
Game development is all about momentum. Play games! Learn! Make games! Share games! Repeat the process over and over and you’ll find yourself a skilled developer before you know it.