Place Assets

This activity is included in an 8-part, 1 hour series to learn Game Maker. Short, focused topics with guided practice will give you practical experience building useful logic for creating games.

Begin Game Maker 3

Place & Position Assets (Objects)

🟢 EASY

In this activity, you will practice placing and positioning assets in Game Maker to add 3D interactive objects to a scene. You will also learn about the relationships that can be created between objects using the Hierarchy.

Launch Game Maker

Open or create an Experience.

Find Assets

Open the Library (press L) and add assets to your quick access bar:

Add two assets to your quick access bar from the Props and Characters tabs

Place and Remove Objects

An object is an instance of an asset placed in an Experience. You can place as many objects as you want using an asset. Objects snap to block surfaces when placed.

With an asset selected in the quick access bar, LEFT CLICK inside the viewport to place it
Press SHIFT to snap to the grid when placing an asset
To remove an object:
- RIGHT CLICK the object while in Place mode or
- Press Z to change to Select mode, LEFT CLICK to select the object, and press DELETE
In Select mode, LEFT CLICK to select an object and duplicate it with CTRL+D

Multi-Select

Practice selecting multiple objects and try duplicating and deleting a group:
- Drag the mouse to draw a rectangle (this selects all objects behind the rectangle to the edge of the Experience)
- Press SHIFT and click one item at a time to add to your selection
- Press CTRL to add and remove an object from your selection

View and Snap to the Grid

The grid system and snap tools allow for custom block and asset placement for any project.

Open Grid settings to hide or show the grid, adjust scale, and set opacity. Let's leave the grid on
Place an object with the grid's OSNAP toggle on, and notice that you can turn on and off the X, Y, or Z axes
Snap an object to the ground with a click

Move Objects

Change to Move mode and select the object to turn on the move gizmo, then:
- Click and drag a coloured arrow to move the object on one axis
- Move the mouse pointer between two arrows to activate a plane to move only between those two axes
- Move to the center where the arrows meet to activate a cube to move freely between all three axes
- In the Properties panel, modify position coordinates to move the asset with precision

Test Movement with a Custom Grid

Change the grid's movement setting to 2 blocks and turn on OSNAP, then test moving objects

Rotate Objects

Press O to Turn off OSNAP
Change to Rotate mode and select the object to turn on the rotate gizmo, then:
- Click and drag a coloured curve to rotate the object on one axis
- Hover over the gizmo to activate a sphere to rotate freely between all three axes
- In the Properties panel, modify rotation coordinates to rotate the asset with precision

Test Rotation with a Custom Grid

Change the grid's rotation setting to 30 degrees and turn on OSNAP, then test rotating objects

Test the Hierarchy to Control Objects

An object can be moved or rotated in relation to a parent object. This relationship can be created in the Hierarchy (H).

Click an object in the Viewport and notice it is highlighted in the Hierarchy
In the Hierarchy, drag and drop that object onto another object to make it a child
Select the parent object and test movement and rotation to see how it controls the child object's position and rotation

Follow Up

Practice: Use what you've learned to build a small scene of objects. It takes time to get used to the controls with the mouse and keyboard shortcuts, but the tools are very flexible to build any project.

The next activity will introduce behaviours to drive an object's actions and tags to customize how objects can detect and respond to each other.

➕ Relevant Resources

Using Assets & Objects

When you place an asset, it becomes an object. You can place an asset as many times as you like. Learn more and see examples of managing object position.

Grid System & Snap Tool

The grid is a useful tool to measuring 3D space when blocking out your Experience. It also makes it easy to place, move, and rotate objects quickly to the increments you set.

Detailing / Dressing

When you're building a game, you'll add decorative props after your gameplay logic. Now is a great time for beginners to practice detailing to create scenery. Check out our design tips.

Experience Art Concept

Create a mood board of inspiring graphics to help define your game's art style. We recommend some great tools to get started and visual elements to consider.