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[Melly]

Might as well shoot in the dark around here a bit.

I've been using Game Maker for a while now, but never really in more complex projects, which I'm starting to do. And now some of the program's limitations are starting to get to me.

I'd like to ask if any GM (especially GM7) users out there know of the most popular and effective extensions, DLL's, etc, do improve or eliminate some limitations of GM.

I'd go with anything you guys use most, but one thing that would really help me right now are better data structures and ways to store data in general and better ways to calculate trajectories, directions and stuff. I really can't see why they don't add a simple "calculate direction between two points" to GM. Seems like something so basic. Oh, and maybe something to help with creating segmented bodies joined at articulations.

Been looking at the GMC forums, but there's SO MUCH stuff there that I don't know where to start. So please don't tell me to go look at GMC cause I'm already doing that, just could use some pointers in the right directions.

EDIT: I can be very stupid.

[BenH]

point_direction(x1,y1,x2,y2) Returns the direction from point (x1,y1) toward point (x2,y2) in degrees.

[Hideous]

GM Physics FTW.

[Melly]

GM Physics FTW.

Is that the correct name of it? What's it, .gex, .dll?

Is a link possible?

[Hideous]

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/?showtopic=141853

[Melly]

http://gmc.yoyogames.com/?showtopic=141853

Kay, thanks a lot, but I'm not really needing that right now. Never been a big fan of physics games. But it could be useful sometime.

[andy wolff]

in my experience there haven't really been any exceptionally useful extensions, just kindof helpful-ish ones, like internal beeps, lightning, or room transitions.

as for dlls though, there are a number of them that are necessary if you want to do anything with sound. i'd look into jbfmod for mod music or bass.dll for some more stuff, though i'm sure others are good too.

what limitations specifically are you trying to eliminate?

[Melly]

I dunno, anything that could seriously hamper me.

The problem lately is that I've been trying to do some assorted things within GM and I get some very strange behaviours from it. Since I have no idea what I am doing wrong or if the program as a whole can't handle what I want from it I've just been trying to look into anything that could ease parts of developing in GM.

A lot of the crazy behaviours seem to be related with using randomization, place_free() and similar functions not working properly, etc. And I'd rather not post my source files anywhere since these are somewhat personal.

I'll definitely look into the dll's you posted. Do any of them allow me to use .midi's without those crappy distortions that seem so common, or the 'freezing' when the engine loops the music?

[andy wolff]

A lot of the crazy behaviours seem to be related with using randomization, place_free() and similar functions not working properly, etc.

I'll definitely look into the dll's you posted. Do any of them allow me to use .midi's without those crappy distortions that seem so common, or the 'freezing' when the engine loops the music?

a lot of crazy behaviors, hm? it sounds like you could be misunderstanding some of the functions, maybe. they are very misunderstandable. with place_free(), realize that it takes into account the sprites of both objects in question with all their sprite x and y offsets and scales/rotations when checking for collisions. and stuff. quirky errors are really common in GM, it would seem.

sometimes it can help to just read the included help section on the problematic function, but most of the time its just the code or something random.

also, another music dll i just remembered is called supersound.dll, which can play .oggs and a few others, i think. that's what cactus seemed to use for clean asia.

ok well, good luck then.

anything that could seriously hamper you... you may want some of the scripts used for making it so you can use more than 12 alarms, or have 3-dimensional arrays. i think there are some at the GMC if you need them.

[Melly]

Well I found an extension that allows to use multidimensional arrays with specific id's (apparently it allows me to use arrays of any number of dimensions, though I believe the usual limitations with number of indexes in GM still apply). Seems like it's not so fast though so I'll have to be careful about it.

How long have you used GM?

[andy wolff]

How long have you used GM?

i've known OF GM since late GM 5 times, which i think was like '02-ish, but i've been using it semi-actively since late 2003, so thats about 5+ years i guess.

[Melly]

So if I'm to make a highly ambitious project with a lot of content and gameplay in GM, the sound dll's and the extra alarm, multidimension arrays should be all I should look into? As well as know how to keep the game fast, obviously.

[andy wolff]

So if I'm to make a highly ambitious project with a lot of content and gameplay in GM, the sound dll's and the extra alarm, multidimension arrays should be all I should look into? As well as know how to keep the game fast, obviously.

efficient coding is more important than one might think, especially in GM because of its limitations.

yeah, GM doesn't really have that many useful extensions other than those, as far as i know. its mainly because most of the stuff you'd want to do with GM can be done well enough without extentions (other than 3d), or there aren't any that help it, really (like with 3d).

ambitious projects are bad ideas, generally. even so, if you're doing one in GM there are some things you may want to consider that don't have anything to do with extensions. one of those is making a level editor or somehow store your rooms externally. GM starts to run really REALLY slow regardless of how good your computer is when you start to have big rooms or many rooms. therefore it can be a good idea to code your game in such a way that it loads all of the game resources while you play from external files or something similar.
its also a good idea to have external files for music, i'd say. but thats required for some of the .dlls anyway.

of course, if you're trying to do some sort of online game, you'd want one of the numerous .dlls for that. but... dont try to make an online game, there's really quite enough of that type of epic fail to go around these days.

it all depends on how you do it and what your specific project is, i guess. they can vary a lot, and if your project doesn't need any of the suggestions above, don't try to use them because they can be a pain to do.

multidimensional arrays and extra alarms aren't really that important, they're just kindof helpful sometimes. i've actually never used either of them, myself.

[Melly]

I've been planning to make a large exploration-based game in it. I'd use a level editor to build the very large levels, the information necessary to build them stored in data.

The actual game would only use few, small rooms, and the content would be streamed onto the room as you advance through the game by reading the code to generate the regions around you as you move and delete stuff that's far from you. I'm aiming for a single large seamless level.

Obviously a fairly ambitious undertaking, which is why I'm still building skill in the program. However I'm fairly sure it's feasible, even in GM, while keeping it fast (the planned gameplay and number of interactive objects is very simple, really. The big challenge is the huge world).

[andy wolff]

yeah. sounds like you have everything you need and know what you are doing, then.

good luck on your project 

[TeeGee]

GM Squall - an extension for managing and playing external sound files (including OGG). Good alternative for the supersound.dll which has some not-so-pleasant bugs that might cause crashes. It's also much more convinient and flexible than the default GM sound functions. Can be used for free, even in commercial games. Good stuff!

Resource Managment System - another nice extension by the same guy. The name says it all. Haven't tried that one yet, but I only hear good stuff about it.

Hope it helps.

[Melly]

GM Squall - an extension for managing and playing external sound files (including OGG). Good alternative for the supersound.dll which has some not-so-pleasant bugs that might cause crashes. It's also much more convinient and flexible than the default GM sound functions. Can be used for free, even in commercial games. Good stuff!

Resource Managment System - another nice extension by the same guy. The name says it all. Haven't tried that one yet, but I only hear good stuff about it.

Hope it helps.

Thanks, I'll check those out.

[Matt Thorson]

Good finds, I'll also give those a look. 

It's kind of frustrating that the english in the help file for Squall isn't that great, but I'm sure after some experimentation I'll figure out how it all works.

[cmspice]

Hey, noob question guys.

Can someone explain to me how you go about make such awesome things in GM like say, a level editor or dynamic sound or any of that other fancy stuff. I just can't imagine the drag and droppish programming interface of GM to ever be able to make something like that. (I really only looked at like half a GM tutorial)

Same question goes for MMF as well actually.

Just kinda curious, I'm learning SDL first either way. But Jason Rohrer started with SDL and said he was very impressed with how fast he could make a game in GM and they all seem pretty nice.