🧙‍♂️Beginners

Find your way in Game Maker with core tutorial videos and hands-on activities to learn about building a physical world and applying logic.

Basic Tutorial Videos

Use these videos to learn about navigating Game Maker, blocks and assets, and logic or try a hands-on activity below.

CAMERA & NAVIGATION

Navigate Game Maker

Pan the Camera

Rotate the Camera

Zoom the Camera

Camera Speed Boost

Orbit the Camera

3D PLACEMENT

Terraform with Blocks

Target an Object

Place Assets as Objects

Logic

Introduction to Logic

Use Presets

Hands-on Activities to Learn Fast

These activities are sequenced to help you learn the core functionalities of Game Maker, and will help you learn workflows to make great Experiences!

Once you've learned the basics, see other helpful Resources to create your own projects.

1. ▶️ Learn Play/Test Mode Camera & Controls

This is an EASY activity anyone can do, which will teach you how to create a new game and move the camera and your avatar in Game Maker. You will learn additional controls for the camera in Build mode and how to place blocks in the next activity.

Start

Start

• Launch Game Client OR

• Launch Game Maker, create a 1x1 Experience and press TAB to begin Play mode

Camera & Movement

Practice Camera and Avatar Movement

Controls	Keys/Mouse
Tilt camera
Turn camera
Zoom in/out
Move forward / backward	W S
Move left / right	A D
Free movement

Toggled Actions

Practice Toggled player actions

Controls	Keys
Stand / Crouch	C
Crawl	Hold C
Sit / Stand	X

SHIFT

Try the Shift Modifier

Controls:	Keys
Walk
Run
Walk + Jump	W A S D + Press SPACEBAR
Run + Jump	W A S D + Press SPACEBAR + Hold SHIFT
Run + Slide	W A S D + Hold SHIFT + C

Combat

Test Combat Controls

Controls:	Keys/Mouse
Roll	2 x SHIFT
Attack
Charge & Lunge Attack (moves the Avatar forward)
Block

Combinations

A few Combinations to Practice:

• Run and jump

• Run and slide

• Attack, roll, and jump

Follow Up

Remember to let your mouse steer your avatar's camera, then use the W A S D keys to move relative to what you see on screen.

Now you know the basics to start playing in the metaverse or test your creations! Learn more about building in the next activity.

2. 🏗️ Learn Build Mode Camera & Block Controls

This is an EASY activity anyone can do, and will show you the controls needed to navigate while building in Game Maker and terraform with blocks. Once you know how to navigate and build with blocks, you'll be ready to place and manipulate objects in Activity 3.

Start

Launch Game Maker

• Open the Experience created in Activity 1 or start a new one

Camera

Practice Some Build Mode Camera Controls

Controls:	Keys	Mouse
Zoom in/out	Press W / S
Move camera left/right	Press A /D
Move camera up/down	Press Q / E
Turn camera left/right
Turn camera up/down
Orbit around a point in front of you	-
Modifier: Sprint a camera control	Hold SHIFT + use other controls with keys	Hold SHIFT + use other controls with mouse

Library

Find Blocks

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

• Click the Blocks tab at the top of the library to filter options and only show blocks.

• Drag and release a few blocks into slots in quick access bar. Close the library (press L) and click on any block in the quick access bar or use the corresponding number shown in each slot to select a block to use.

Basic Techniques

Undo/Redo if Needed as you practice the controls below

• CTRL + Z to undo

• CTRL + Y to redo

Use the Free Brush (default) to practice basic block building controls

Basic Controls

Place

Remove

Replace

Place Layer (no modifiers)

Modifiers

Line or Rectangle Shape (on any block surface)

Hold [basic control] + drag & release

Line of Blocks (vertical)

Hold [basic control] + SHIFT + drag up & release

Rectangle of Blocks (vertical)

Hold [basic control] + drag to base shape + SHIFT + drag up & release

Test Other Brushes

Test Other Block Brushes & Adjust Size

Notice when placing or removing with other brushes, the center of the shape snaps to the surface (blocks may be placed underground).

Brushes other than the Free brush will only build a vertical column in the brush shape.

• Diamond - easy to climb shape

• Cube - man-made structures and blocky terrain

• Sphere - natural terrain

Follow Up

Now that you know how to build with blocks, you can block out the 3D space for your Experience, create terrain details and paths to guide players.

Learn how to add objects into your world in the next activity.

3. 📐 Place & Position Assets

This is an EASY activity anyone can do. It will introduce asset placement and movement in the Game Maker to build a scene.

Start

Launch Game Maker

• Open or create an Experience.

Library

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 & Remove

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:
• 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

Grid

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

Movement

Move Objects

• • 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

Rotation

Rotate Objects

• Press O to Turn off OSNAP

• • 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

Hierarchy

Test the Hierarchy to Control Objects

• 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.

4. 🤺 Customize Object Behaviours with Tags

This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity using simple behaviours to create custom interactions between objects.

This activity will explore some behaviors that use AI decision making. They are programmed to detect and respond in certain ways to other objects that have specific tags, or identifiers. Tags are included when a behaviour is added to an object to make it easy to build objects that are ready to interact.

Start

Launch Game Maker

• Open or create an Experience.

Built-In Logic

Default Settings

Prey & Predator

• Place a "Stag" asset and apply Prey behavior. This includes the Prey tag.

• Place a "Grey Wolf" asset nearby and apply Predator behavior. Predator tag is included.

• Press TAB to Test:

  • The Predator will detect the Prey and chase it.

  • The Prey will run when it detects the Predator up closer.

  • The Predator will chase any Avatar, or player, which is one of its default Tags to Attack.

Custom Targets

Plant & Prey

• Select the Prey and notice that it has a Food Tag and Tags to Flee. Let's add objects with the Plant tag for it to detect.

• Place a "Small Plant B" asset nearby and duplicate it. For one of them, apply the Plant component. Scroll to the bottom of the object's Properties, type the tag Plant (case sensitive), and press enter to apply it.

• One plant has an identity so it can be "eaten" and the other is just a prop that won't be touched. Duplicate (CTRL+D) both types and spread them in a small area.

• Press TAB to Test:

  • Watch the Prey wander, approach objects it should eat, and make them disappear while ignoring the rest.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

These behaviors are meant to be a function with flexible use.

• Make an NPC collect trash using the Prey or Farmer behaviors by adding any custom tag as their food or gathering target.

• Only add the custom tag to objects you want Farmer or Prey to remove.

Changes During Play

Changing Tags During Play

Soldier & Citizen

• Place an "Axeman Recruit" and apply Soldier behavior. Its default Tags to Attack includes Hostile.

• Place an "Elder Caveman" with Citizen behaviour.

• Press TAB to Test:

  • You can't attack the Citizen because it has the built in tag Friendly.

  • The Soldier will ignore you until you attack, which will apply the tag Hostile to your Avatar for the rest of the game!

  • If you exit Play mode and re-enter it later, the game is reset, so the Hostile tag will be cleared from your Avatar.

Battle!

Custom AI Interactions

Melee Enemy vs. Melee Enemy

GroupA

• Place three "Maximilien" objects together. Select all of them and apply these changes in the Properties panel (which will change them all at the same time):

  • Apply Melee Enemy behaviour

  • Next to Tags to Attack, click the X to remove the Hostile tag, click ADD+, and type GroupB in the text box.

  • Scroll to the bottom of the Properties panel and apply the tag GroupA (remember to press ENTER)

GroupB

• Place three "Matthew" objects together. Select all of them and apply these changes in the Properties panel:

  • Apply Melee Enemy behaviour

  • Next to Tags to Attack, click the X to remove the Hostile tag, click ADD+, and type GroupA in the text box.

  • Scroll to the bottom of the Properties panel and apply the tag GroupB (remember to press ENTER)

Press TAB to Test:

• GroupA and GroupB will detect each other's tags and fight. Feel free to select these groups, duplicate them a few times, and create a small army of dueling NPCs! ⚔️

Follow Up

Combine a variety of AI-driven behaviors and use tags to direct their decision making. Explore these ideas and your own:

• Want players to join a side in a battle? Add Avatar to any enemy's Tags to Attack.

• Want fighters to be revived during battle? Use the Healer behavior with Tags to Heal.

There are many other behaviors to explore, but you've learned the basics of controlling object actions by applying behaviors and custom tags.

In the next activity, you'll create functional game logic with other behaviours and add components to make objects more interactive.

5. ✉️ Create Object Cause & Effect with Messages

This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity using behaviours and components to create simple logic systems with objects.

This activity will help you learn the basics of communication in Game Maker using messages to create cause and effect.

Start

Launch Game Maker

• Open or create an Experience and move to an area with empty space.

• Let's turn the grid off and focus on logic.

Some behaviors and components are only available as [MP], which means they are multiplayer synchronized. For this activity, choose [MP] only when a [SP] option isn't available.

Designing gameplay with [SP] and [MP] logic will be explored later.

Using Messages

Collisions & Messages

Behaviours and components are needed to make objects active and/or interactive. This logic provides a framework so messages can be sent and received to trigger gameplay events.

Tags and Broadcast Type allow for greater control over how events are triggered.

Add the following objects to the viewport:

Asset: Door (any) No behavior

Asset: Door (any) Door behaviour

Pressing E next to an object sends the message Interact to it.

Test (Press TAB)

• Press E to interact with each door. One door is only a prop. The other animates to appear open and turns off its collisions so players can pass through.

Most objects must have collisions to prevent players from passing through them. You can control if an object has collisions, is visible, or has gravity in the Properties Panel.

---

Toggle Behaviours On/Off

A message sent to an object's Toggle component can turn it's behaviour on or off. Think of it as locking or unlocking a behaviour.

Add an object that sends a message:

Asset: Museum Info Panel

Button component

• Message to Send: Door.Unlocked

• Broadcast Type: EveryoneInRange

Create a custom message by typing it into the message field and click to Add it.

Add two objects in range (the yellow sphere) of the first object to receive the message:

Asset: Door (any)

Door behavior

• Message to Open: Door.Unlocked

Select the existing message from the message dropdown list.

Asset: Door (any)

Door behavior

• Message to Open: Interact

Toggle component

• Turn On Message: Door.Unlocked

• Initial Behaviour State: False (behavior inactive at game start)

Test (Press TAB)

• Neither door can be opened. Interact with the panel to send its message, and then:

  • One door opens

  • The other door's behaviour is toggled on so players can open the door with E.

Trigger & Filter

Trigger & Filter Messages

Add the following objects to the viewport:

TRIGGER: AVATAR DETECTED Message sent to everything in the Experience (location doesn't matter)

Asset: Door (any) Name: DoorA

Door behaviour

• Message to Open: DoorA.Open

Asset: Ancient Lever

Message Broadcaster behaviour

• Message to Send: DoorA.Open

• Broadcast Type: All

• Wait Before Broadcast: True

• Message Required: Interact

TRIGGER: OBJECT COLLECTED Message sent to specific objects

Asset: Door (any) Name: DoorB

Door behavior

• Message to Open: DoorB.Open

Asset: Key (any)

Collectable component

• Message On Collect: DoorB.Open

• Broadcast Type: SelectedActors

• Broadcast Targets: DoorB

Alternative Method: Add a tag to the door, set the key to broadcast the message to SpecificTagsInRange, and adjust the key's broadcast range to include the door's location.

TRIGGER: TAG DETECTED Message sent to self (when the object detects a specific tag in range)

Asset: Door (any) Name: DoorC

Door behavior

• Message to Open: DoorC.Open

Speaker component

• Detection Type: SpecificTagsinRange

• Include Tags: DoorC.Key

• Message to Send: DoorC.Open

• Broadcast Type: Self

Asset: Key (any) Tag: DoorC.Key

Pickable component

Test (Press TAB)

• Trigger doors A, B, and C to open based on the logic set up. Imagine ways to use these simple trigger methods for other design needs!

There are many more ways to send messages. We'll explore more later.

Trigger Many Objects

One Message to Trigger Multiple Objects

Build hidden logic into your Experience with invisible and collision-free Logic Assets.

Add the following objects to the viewport:

TRIGGER: AVATAR DETECTED INSIDE A VOLUME

Asset: Logic Asset

Trigger Volume component

• Detection Type: EveryAvatarInRange

• Detection Shape: Box

• Detection Area: x15 y5 z15

• Enter Message: Night

• Exit Message: Day

• Broadcast Type: All

Asset: Car (any)

Basic Platform behaviour

• Move Offset: x0 y0 z5

• Look at Destination: True

Toggle component

• Turn On Message: Night

• Initial Behaviour State: False (behavior inactive at game start)

Asset: Weather Asset Name: Night

• Message Required: Night

• Profile: Night

Asset: Luxury Street Light

(prop with no logic)

Asset: Logic Light Asset Name: Street Light Position: Luxury Street Light (point down)

• Light Type: Spot Light

• Starting State: Off

• Spot Angle: 15

• Message Turn ON: Night

• Message Turn OFF: Day

(2x) Asset: Logic Light Asset Name: Headlight Position: Car headlights (point forward)

• Light Type: Spot Light

• Starting State: Off

• Spot Angle: 15

• Message Turn ON: Night

• Message Turn OFF: Day

Test (Press TAB)

• The lights do not move with the car. Let's create a relationship in the hierarchy to fix that.

Modify

Set the "Headlight" assets to move with the car's platform motion. Open the hierarchy, select them, and drag them onto the Car. This makes them child objects and the car the parent object.

Test (Press TAB)

• The location of the "Headlight" assets is now controlled by their parent object's motion.

Messages with Arguments

Messages with Arguments

Some special messages appear in yellow and allow you to send information (an argument) with a message.

You can also create custom messages with arguments that will appear yellow in the message dropdown list. These will be explored in a later activity.

Continue with the previous example so weather and the streetlight will gradually change.

Add objects to communicate special messages:

Asset: Logic Asset Name: Street Light Trigger

Message Broadcaster behaviour

• Message to Send: LightColor

• Time: 10

• Wait Before Broadcast: True

• Message Required: Night

Asset: Logic Asset Name: Weather Trigger

Message Broadcaster behaviour

• Message to Send: WeatherFade

• Time: 10

• Wait Before Broadcast: True

• Message Required: Night

Modify existing objects to receive the special messages:

Asset: Logic Light Asset Name: Street Light

• Message Turn ON: Night

• Message Turn ON: LightColor

Asset: Weather Asset Name: Night

• Message Required: Night

• Message Required: WeatherFade

Test (Press TAB)

• The weather and streetlight gradually change using these special messages.

Save your Experience so this logic is available for use in another activity.

Follow Up

This activity introduced new tools and concepts to understand objects more and how to make them communicate in custom ways.

In the next activity, you will learn to integrate quests with some of the logic from this activity so you can begin designing a flow for players with clear guidance to play through your Experience.

Ready for More Practice?

This activity leaves room for you to test out your own ideas when the player exits the Trigger Volume and the message Day is sent. Test out custom weather profiles and light colours, too!

Remember that the special message LightColor sets transition timing and colour.

6. ❗ Integrate Quests with Object Logic

This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity using Quests and objects linked to them.

This activity will help you learn to guide players through your gameplay with the Objectives system UI and icons to help players find quest objects like NPCs, collectable objects, and more.

About

What are Quests?

Located in the Objectives system, Quests are used to guide players through your game's story, geography, game mechanics, and more with a sleek user interface. Objects in the game world can be linked to quests so they're easier to find.

A quest may be triggered and completed only one time.

Launch Game Maker

• Open the Experience from the previous activity to reuse some of its logic.

To track individual player progression in single and multiplayer games, [SP] behaviors and components must be used to send messages to the Objectives system.

[MP] logic works like [SP] logic in singleplayer games.

Starting a Quest

Locked/Unlocked

Open the Objectives window and toggle on quests.

Let's add two quests to compare when they'll appear on the right side of the player screen in the Objectives UI, or user interface. Ignore other quest settings for now.

Name: Auto Quest 1. Unlock quest: Auto Unlock 2. Launch quest: Auto Launch

Name: Triggered Quest 1. Unlock quest: Requires Message Message: DoorA.Open 2. Launch quest: Auto Launch Note: In the last activity, an Ancient Lever object sends this message when players interact with it.

Test

Press TAB to see the "Auto Quest" open at game start.

Interact with the Ancient Lever that sends DoorA.Open to All, which will make the "Triggered Quest" appear in the UI because the quest is set to auto launch.

When to Launch

Modify both quests to require a message to launch:

Name: Auto Quest 1. Unlock quest: Auto Unlock 2. Launch Quest: Requires Message Message: DoorA.Open

Name: Triggered Quest 1. Unlock quest: Requires Message Message: DoorA.Open 2. Launch Quest: Message Required Message: Night Note: In the last activity, a logic asset with a Trigger Volume component sends this message when players enter the volume.

Test

Press TAB to test. Notice that no quests appear in the UI yet.

Try entering the trigger volume (remember that your game will shift to night from the previous activity's settings). The "Triggered Quest" will not launch yet because it is still locked.

Interact with the Ancient Lever asset to send DoorA.Open and you'll make the "Auto Quest" launch in the UI. The "Triggered Quest" is also unlocked by this message.

Now you can enter the trigger volume and launch the "Triggered Quest" in the UI.

Launch settings allow you to control how many quests may be activated at a time, while unlock settings allow you to control when players are permitted to start a quest.

Variety

Different Quest Types and Conditions

There are four types of quests: counter, asset death, timer, and wait for message.

First let's set up interactive assets for a counter quest:

Asset name: Ancient Artifact Tag: artifact Remove Predator behaviour

Health component

• Health: 10

Drop component

• Assets to Spawn: Ancient Treasure A

• Components: [SP] Collectable

• Tags: treasure

Note: Duplicate this asset (5 total)

Counter- Destroy Objects

Create a new quest (auto unlock and launch):

Name: Treasure Hunt Description: "Destroy the ancient artifacts and collect all of the treasure.”

3. Counter

• Type: death

• Tag: artifact

• Amount: 5

Test - The quest counts the number of objects destroyed with the tag you set for it to watch.

Counter - Collect Objects

Modify the quest:

3. Counter

• Type: collected objects

• Tag: treasure

• Amount: 5

Test

Press TAB to test. When you attack and destroy each artifact, nothing happens. When you collect each pile of treasure dropped after each artifact is destroyed, the quest counts the number of objects collected with the tag you set for it to watch.

You can apply the same tag to collect or destroy different types of objects, such as ingredients to make a meal.

States

Quest States

A quest may be in three states: inactive, in progress, and finished. We can use NPC dialogue to tell players how to start or complete a quest and confirm the quest is finished.

Create an NPC and dialogue:

Asset: Adventurer Jet

Asker behaviour

• Question: Can you help me find ancient treasure hidden inside the artifacts?

• Answer 1: Sounds like fun! A1 Message: Q.Treasure.Launch

Toggle behaviour

• Turn OFF Message: Q.Treasure.Launch

Asset: Logic asset

Asker behaviour

• Question: Did you find the artifacts yet?

• Answer 1: I'm still looking for them! A1 Message: Q.Treasure.InProgress

Toggle behaviour

• Turn ON Message: Q.Treasure.Launch

• Turn OFF Message: Q.Treasure.InProgress

Asset: Logic asset

Asker behaviour

• Question: Awesome! You found the treasure!

• Answer 1: That was a piece of cake!

Toggle behaviour

• Turn On Message: Q.Treasure.Complete

Now connect the dialogue to timing of the quest:

Name: Treasure Hunt 2. Launch quest: Requires Message Message: Q.Treasure.Launch 5. Action after completion: Requires Message Message: Q.Treasure.Complete

Test

Press TAB to test.

Quest inactive - Interact with the NPC to start the quest. This dialogue is then toggled off by its own message out when you answer the question.

Quest in progress - Interact after the quest is launched to see the dialogue, which can be a helpful reminder for players. No message is needed unless you want to trigger a hint for players.

Quest complete - Interact after the quest is complete to see the dialogue.

Indicators

Adding Polish with Indicators

You can apply three types of icons to objects that are linked to a quest:

These icons are displayed above objects in the game world when an Indicator component is applied to the objects, a quest is linked, and quest settings match the type of icon to use.

Modify Jet and the "Treasure Hunt" quest so he can be a quest giver:

Modify Asset: Adventurer Jet

Add an Indicator component Linked quest ID: Treasure Hunt Quest cursors: True

• Giver: Adventurer Jet

Create a Custom Preset to Drop

Since the tagged object that the quest counts is a dropped item (meaning it is spawned), we'll modify the ancient artifact assets to use a Preset with custom settings that link to a specific quest. You don't need to create a preset for quest items, but we've chosen an example that's a bit more fun for players.

Create an object:

Asset: Ancient Treasure A Tag: treasure

Indicator component

• Linked Quest ID: Treasure Hunt

• Quest cursors: True

• Objective: Treasure Hunter

Collectable component

Save this object as a Preset. This allows you to spawn or place an object or group of objects with more complex custom settings during edit or play modes.

Modify all ancient artifact assets to spawn this preset.

Test

The exclamation point appears above the NPC before the quest starts because it's the quest giver.

After you interact with it, the target icons appear above each quest objective, the ancient artifacts to destroy.

Once you have collect all of the treasure, the icons and quest are no longer visible.

Save your Experience to reuse the logic in the next activity.

Follow Up

Quests are a great way to guide players through the flow of your Experience. They can be very simple, or they can have complex steps and hints to help players when connected with objects.

• A Counter quest can be used in different ways to count what players destroy or collect.

• A Timer quest can be a fun challenge to survive or defend an asset during a time period.

• An Asset Death quest can be used for a special boss fight.

• A Wait for Message quest is extremely flexible in use since it only requires a message to complete it.

In the next activity, we'll continue using the same Experience to learn how to make more interesting game mechanics with the Game Rules system.

7. ⚙️ Add Repeatable Game Mechanics with Rules

This is a MEDIUM difficulty activity using Game Rules with object logic.

This activity will help you learn the basics of the Game Rules system and how to apply it for more engaging game mechanics that can be used repeatedly. This unlocks more gameplay varieties and a custom player HUD.

About

STAY ORGANISED IN GAME MAKER

• Group rules into rulesets any way you like.

• Group objects in the hierarchy using folders.

• Find messages sent and received with the Message Inspector in the Debug menu.

• Manage messages used in your Experience in the Settings menu.

What are Rules?

The Game Rules system is a visual scripting tool located in the Gameplay menu.

It allows you to set, use, and change values such as numbers, text, time, and true/false values for your gameplay needs and control what appears on the player HUD, or heads up display.

Launch Game Maker

• Open the Experience from the previous activity to reuse some of its logic.

Trigger Rules

A rule needs to be triggered by a Message In to carry out its actions. It can then trigger objects, other rules, etc. Some rules can also be interrupted with a message.

Trigger: Joining the Game

Let's begin with a simple popup window that appears when a player enters the game:

Rule: Popup Window Type: Game Screen

Required Message: Playerjoined Title: Welcome! Description: Explore as a player to test the logic you create.

Rule: OnPlayerJoin Type: Events

Message to Send: Playerjoined

Test

Press TAB to test. The popup window appears as soon as the Experience starts for you.

For now, let's set the Popup Window rule's Required Message to none so the window won't pop up every time we press TAB to enter the game and test logic.

Use Variables

Use a Text Variable in a Rule

Use text variables to show status, player/location names, level up notices, and more!

Create a variable and a rule to use it:

Variable Type: Text

Apply variable: Global Name: Area Value: Banner Text

Rule: Banner Type: Game screen

• Required Message: Night

• Duration: Fixed value of 5 (seconds)

• Variable: Area

• Name: Area

• Icon: Map

Test

In a previous activity, the message Night is sent anytime the player enters an object's trigger volume. The banner will display the words "Banner Text," which is the value saved in the variable.

Overwrite a Text Variable and Reuse It

Let's create a message with arguments to send different text to the Rules System depending on where the player is located in the game world.

Logic Asset

Trigger Volume component

• Enter Message:

  • Message (with argument): Area

  • Argument 1: Text

  • Argument name: Area Name

  • Argument value: Area 1

• Broadcast type: Rules

Logic Asset

Trigger Volume component

• Enter Message:

  • Message (with argument): Area

  • Argument value: Area 2

• Broadcast type: Rules

Now create a rule to overwrite the variable's text with the message argument:

Rule: Set Text Value Type: Replace Variable Values

Required Message: Area Text variable: Area New text: Message Argument, select argument name you created

Test

The banner rule doesn't use the text argument sent with the message, but still works. The rule to sets banner text uses the argument text included with the message.

Trigger Objects

Trigger: Keypress (to shoot projectiles)

Create a preset of the following asset. Delete the object after saving it as a preset.

[MP] Asset: Numpad Switch Invisible

Projectile behaviour

• Start with Experience: True

• Message Required: none

• Projectile Force: 40

• Projectile Trajectory: 0

• Look at Direction: True

• Collision Target: SpecificTags

  • Tags to Collide With: artifact

• Message on Collision: Health

  • Health: - 100

• Broadcast Type: CollidedActors

Note: With these settings, the projectile will cause 100 damage if it hits an object that has the tag artifact, which was applied to objects in the previous activity.

Now create a pickable object with a child object that spawns the projectile preset:

[MP] Asset: Dragon Egg

Visual FX Component

• Beverage wisp

Pickable component

• Offset: x0 y-0.5 z0

  Note: This offset adjusts the object location when it is picked up.

[MP] Asset: Numpad Switch

Location: Inside the dragon egg asset Child object of the dragon egg Invisible

Asset Spawner behaviour

• Message Required: 1

• Use Preset: True

• Preset: Select your projectile preset

• Only once: False

Add a Key Input rule to trigger the projectile to spawn whenever a key is pressed:

Rule: Key Input Type: Triggers

Select Key: 1 Message to send onKeyDown: 1

Test

Press TAB to test. Pressing the 1 key shoots the projectile from the dragon egg anytime. Pick up your magical dragon egg with E and shoot all ancient artifact assets to collect the treasure!

Since an object that is picked up can’t send or receive messages in the current version of Game Maker, we created a child object to be the asset spawner. The projectile behavior triggers as soon as the object it’s applied to is spawned.

The Raycast component can detect objects from a distance and send messages, too!

Count Resources

Count Resources with a Number Variable

Place the treasure preset from the last activity. Modify its collectable component so it will send a message to the Game Rules system whenever it is collected. Save this preset over the old version. Delete the object after saving it as a preset.

Asset: Ancient Treasure A Tag: treasure

Indicator component

• Linked Quest ID: Treasure Hunt

• Quest cursors: True

• Objective: Treasure Hunter

Collectable component

• Collect Sound: Generic Coin

• Message on Collect: Treasure.Collect

• Broadcast Type: All

Note: Each time this object is collected, the message is sent to all systems.

Modify all of the Ancient Artifact assets to drop the preset when destroyed:

Modify Assets: Ancient Artifact Tag: artifact

Health component

• Health: 10

Drop component

• Use Preset: True

• Preset: Select your treasure preset

Duplicate an Ancient Artifact asset until there are at least 20 in the game. Spread them out.

Create the following variable and rules to track and display money:

Variable Type: Number

Apply variable: Local Name: Money Value: 0

Rule: Math Type: Math

• Required Message: Treasure.Collect

• Operand 1: variable, Money

• Operator: Add

• Operand 2: Fixed value, 100

• Result: Money

Note: This amount replaces the variable.

Rule: HUD Type: Game Screen

• Required Message: Playerjoined

• Select slot: Top center slot

• Variable: Money

• Name: Treasure

• Choose icon and size

Note: This displays the variable on the HUD from when a player enters the game.

Test

Press TAB to test. Now as you destroy the ancient artifacts and collect the treasure that drops, you'll see the amount of treasure collected (100 per treasure). Each time you collect the treasure, which is a preset, you’re sending a message to a custom location.

In this case, it goes to All locations so it will reach the Rules system and increase your money when collected, which appears in the HUD slot you selected.

Use Resources

Make Variables Useful

Create an NPC to sell different types of items to players (equipment to wear, a consumable item, and a resource to be shown in the player HUD):

Asset: Bazaar Merchant

Asker behaviour

• Question: "What would you like to buy today?"

• A1: "Food" A1 message: ShopItem1

• A2: "Equipment" A2 message: ShopItem2

• A3: "Wood" A3 message: ShopItem3

Create a preset object to spawn when purchased (delete after saving as a preset):

Asset: Any food item

Collectable component

• Consumable: true Note: Press C in Inventory to use

• Message on consume: Speed, Percentage 20, Duration 10 Note: This gives a 10 second boost

Create asset spawners for items to purchase and collect:

Logic Asset

Asset Spawner behaviour

• Message required: ShopItem1Purchased

• Asset to spawn: any equipment asset

• Component: Collectable

Logic Asset

Asset Spawner behaviour

• Message required: ShopItem2Purchased

• Spawn preset (toggle): true

• Preset: the food preset you created

Add variables and rules for resources that will be tracked by number and displayed in the HUD:

Variable Type: Number

Apply variable: Local Name: Wood Value: 0

Rule: Math Type: Math Name: +Wood

Required Message: ShopItem3Purchased Operand 1: Wood variable Operator: Add Operand 2: Fixed value, 5 Result: Wood variable Note: This adds 5 to the wood variable

Rule: HUD Type: Game Screen

Required Message: Playerjoined HUD slot: any bottom slot

Add a Shop rule preset to save time on the rest of the setup:

You already set up the Add Money, HUD, and Player Join rules earlier in this activity. You can remove the ones in this premade ruleset.

The remaining rules allow you to test if you have enough money to buy two types of items and pay from your money variable if you do have enough.

You have three items in your shop, so select and duplicate a Success, Fail, and Pay rule in this Ruleset to add what's needed for your third item.

Rename Item 1 rules "Purchase Food Success," "Purchase Food Fail," and "Pay Food." Rename Item 2 rules for equipment and item 3 rules for Wood to make it easier to track what each rule does in your custom setup.

Set the price of each item in the Success and Fail rules so it will check if you have enough and send a message if you don't, and use the same value in the "operand 2" value of the Pay rules to match and subtract an item's cost from your Money. Based on the number of treasures your game has, set food to cost 1, equipment to cost 4, and wood to cost 2, for example.

The messages sent by each rule matches the rest of the logic in the activity, but you can use custom messages to keep track of things more easily.

Finally, add a text variable and rule to inform players when they don't have enough money:

Variable Type: Text

Apply variable: Local Name: Purchase Status Value: You don't have enough money

Rule: Banner Type: Game Screen

• Required Message: ShopPurchaseFailed

• Duration: Fixed value of 5 (seconds)

• Variable: Purchase Status

• Name: Purchase Status

Test

If you destroyed some artifacts and collected treasure, you have money to spend with the merchant. You can set custom costs for each item in the Rules System and spawn any type of item you like or add resources for gameplay using variables.

Try opening your inventory to wear the equipment you purchased or consuming the food item that triggers a speed Power Up. The purpose of the items you buy are completely up to you.

Follow Up

Follow Up

The Game Rules System is a powerful visual scripting tool running behind the scenes to manage information and gameplay.

Other rule presets make it easy to track points, add time trials, set poison or hunger for players, and more. It's also possible to build a complex resource management system where messages with arguments trigger amounts of resources to be traded or purchased.

With rules, you can even define what variables are for all players and which ones will be tracked differently for each player. We'll explore that in the next activity.

More Information about Game Rules

🔹Game RulesRule Types

8. 👥 Design Logic for Multiplayer Games

This is a ADVANCED difficulty activity to learn about setting up logic layers for multiplayer games, which combines logic individual players experience and synchronized logic all players experience.

About

How Does Multiplayer Work?

Two Logic Layers

Multiplayer Experiences synchronize data across all players, such as object motion.

However, not all logic needs to be Synchronized [MP] for all players. To improve gameplay performance, some logic can be managed on the individual, or Client [SP], layer.

When adding logic to an object, you can see a dropdown filter for these communication layers.

Launch Game Maker

• Open the Experience from the previous activity to reuse some of its logic.

Object Logic

Object Logic

Some behaviours/components only have a [MP] type to prevent conflicts with collisions, movement, etc.

Consistent Type

• To be compatible in multiplayer games, an object may have only [SP], only [MP], or no logic.

Remove all logic from an object to change between [SP] and [MP].

Practice: Try to add a [SP] Toggle component to the logic asset with [MP] Weather Switcher behaviour added in an earlier activity. You can only add the [MP] version of Toggle.

Consistent Communications

• In singleplayer Experiences, [SP] and [MP] logic can communicate because all data is managed locally.

• In multiplayer games, [SP] and [MP] logic only "interacts" with its own layer (send/receive messages, detect, collide, spawn, replace, have a parent/child relationship, etc).

Recommendations

Gameplay Recommendations

In Game Maker 0.10, the Objectives system only communicates with [SP] logic. This limitation will be removed in 0.11, allowing compatibility with [MP] logic.

Practice: Use the recommendations below to build one or two logic examples in your practice experience based on the gameplay you're interested in exploring.

To make a multiplayer Experience feel seamless for players and perform better, use as much [SP] logic in place of [MP] logic as possible.

Gameplay	When to use SP	When to use MP
Speaker component	When information is only relevant for an individual player	"Barks" to hint all players to talk to an NPC, share general information, etc.
Dialogue (Asker behaviour)	When each player triggers dialogue at their own pace Compatibility with quests (0.10)	When all players must see dialogue at the same time
Collectables (includes consumables & equipment)	When each player can collect an item (and you need to use less MP logic for improved performance) SP compatibility is needed	When players compete to collect only one instance of an object (Global set to True) OR When every player can collect an instance of the object (Global set to False) MP compatibility is needed
Any use of Game Rules (HUD, banner, key input, variables, etc)	No limitations (Set Broadcast Type to All to communicate with Game Rules)	No limitations (Set Broadcast Type to Rules or All to communicate with Game Rules)
Quests	Only SP logic can communicate with quests in Game Maker 0.10	The Quest system will be compatible with MP logic in Game Maker 0.11
Logic that controls movement, collisions, spawning/ destroying, etc.	No SP options exist to avoid physics conflicts	Minimize use to boost gameplay performance Refer to performance recommendations in Game Maker to choose how many and which logic to use to create an outcome Use Actor Property Switcher instead of destroying and respawning objects

Variables (Rules)

Variables

The Game Rules system can communicate with [SP] or [MP] logic.

In Game Maker 0.10, global variables apply to all players and local variables apply to individual players. Both work in single player games.

Example: You can create a global currency for all players to share or local currency for each player to use on their own.

Practice: You already have a global variable to count ancient treasures collected from a previous activity. Create a local player variable (integer) named "Player Treasure" with initial value 0. Place collectable Ancient Treasure B that sends the message TreasureB.Collect to Rules. Add a Math rule to add a fixed value of 100 to the new variable.

Game Maker 0.11 will rename the local variable type to "player" and introduce a new "team" variable.

Teams

Teams

Messaging

Game Maker 0.10 introduced a new way to send messages only to certain teams of players.

Teams are defined by placing multiple Spawn Points that assign teams randomly when players arrive in the game.

Once teams are defined, you can set the Broadcast Type on most logic to Team and select the teams you created from a dropdown list.

Practice: Select the Avatars Portal asset and set "Assign Team" to true. Create a team name. Duplicate this object, move it nearby, and create a new team name for it.

Customizations

Once teams are created via Spawn Point behavior, you can do the following within that logic:

• Choose equipment the team will wear (which can be unique to the team and set them apart)

• Add custom tags for various types of detection

• Add some available components via Avatar's Feature to set the team apart (e.g., light, sound, etc.)

Practice: Open each Spawn Point you created and set different equipment per team. At the bottom of the behavior, click "Add Feature" under the Avatar's Feature section. Apply Visual FX and choose a different trailing visual effect for each team.

Team Variable

A Team variable in Game Maker 0.11 will make it possible to track scores, times, etc. by teams assigned in the Spawn Point.

Resetting

Resetting & Instances

Instances are different play sessions of an Experience. A new instance opens when a maximum number of players join one. An instance closes after a period of inactivity.

Some games must be reset to replay before an instance closes. Logic triggers need to be included in your design to set things back to their original state for players (e.g., variables, respawning removed objects, etc).

This requires careful planning before building your game logic for a single playthrough, and how to do it will vary depending on the gameplay you're designing. Keep this in mind early on as you design logic to create a Experience you want to publish to LAND or share in the Gallery.

Test/Share/Publish

Experiences must be marked as multiplayer to allow multiple players to enter.

Test Your Multiplayer Experience

Game Maker is great for rapid testing of singleplayer games, but will not allow multiple players to enter for testing a multiplayer game.

You can either generate a test link to open it in the Game Client or share to the public Gallery for testing and feedback.

MULTIPLAYER EXPERIENCE TESTING

Share to the Gallery

Shared Experiences are public and can be removed from the gallery when needed. They can be entered into Game Jams and used for playtesting with friends. You can also create a free Experience Page to tell players about a shared experience, but keep in mind they can not be linked to from the page or monetized.

Practice: Share your practice Experience to the Gallery (don't forget to mark it as multiplayer) and test the logic you created with a friend. Remove it from the Gallery when you're done.

Publish to the Map

You must own LAND (NFT) to publish your Experience to The Sandbox map and monetize. See our documentation to Publish Experiences.

Our Experience Manager can help you draw in players from the map, create a free Experience Page linked to your Experience, and track player analytics.

Practice: Visit The Sandbox Map to find featured UGC (User Generated Content) Experiences published by our community of creators. Explore their Experience Pages and games to see how you can publish your own.

Follow Up

Follow Up

Multiplayer is a deep and complex topic because it opens up many more game types and specialized approaches to create gameplay. We've introduced some of the key considerations so you can begin to explore it further.

We encourage you to start building your first multiplayer Experience once you feel confident with how to use Game Maker's systems to build logic for a singleplayer Experience.

Resources

♦️Build Singleplayer & Multiplayer Logic

Learn how experts at The Sandbox create a game from concept to launch with our Game Production Guide. It provides actionable steps to build a high quality singleplayer or multiplayer Experience with helpful supportive resources.

🎬Game Production Guide

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Resources

🟦Learn Creator Basics

📖Docs

Find comprehensive details on Game Maker

📋Quality Guidelines

Boost performance with best practices

⚙️Logic Guide

Add game polish with useful logic schemas

🏞️Experience Guide

See recommendations by Experience type

🏆Game Jams

Learn how to compete to win SAND

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