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Demo Class

Before you sign up, it's always good to see a demo class to make sure that you are choosing the best of the best material to study. We hope you are satisfied.

Demo of the Game Maker Language (GML) Class
If you are new to programming, the prospect of using gml may seem daunting. However, taking this class is likely to be a great help to you. How easily you can learn to use gml will depend on how much experience you have already gained using drag & drop and your ability to think logically. However with some practice and learning most people will be able to grasp the general concepts behind coding.

Getting Started

The first thing you need to do when wanting to code is to drag an 'execute a piece of code' action into the event where wish to use code. The action can be found under the 'control' tab or the drag and drop actions (it looks like a piece of paper with lines on it). When you have dragged it into the event a window should open.. this is where you do all your coding.

I would like to point out a very useful button which is the 'check the script for syntax errors button' (it is the button with blue 0's and 1's on it next to the manual button). Syntax in programming is a word used to describe the 'rules' that you must follow when coding (these syntax rules will be covered throughout the guide). This button will check if you have made any mistakes in your code and point to where they are, it is a good idea to check your syntax often.. especially when you are just starting out coding.

Functions
A function is something that you can use to execute a piece code written outside the code you are currently using. In Game Maker there are many different in-built functions which you can use to do things, for example:

......move_towards_point(x,y,sp); //this moves you towards a point
......room_goto_next(); //this makes you go to the next room
......draw_text(x,y,string); //this draws text on the screen
......instance_create(x,y,obj); //this creates an instance of an object

You may not be aware of it but you have more than likely used functions yourself already, this is because a lot of the DnD actions are actually just functions. If you look you will see that there is actually a DnD action to move towards a point, goto the next room, draw text and create an object. When you call a function in code it is exactly the same as calling the action from DnD except you are just doing it in a different way. There are however a lot more function you can use in gml which are not available to use in DnD, all of them are listed in the manual with an....

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