Logic

Use Game Maker's no-code tools to create sequences of events that start with an Action and lead to one or more desired Outcome.

What is Logic in Game Maker?

The Learn Creator Basics guide includes an introduction to logic and possibilities on the Mechanics page, with examples of cause and effect (actions and outcomes).

About

No-Code Logic System

A logic sequence as an action that leads to one or more outcomes.

Example: Press a button to turn on a light.

Whether you create games with code or not, you must create logic sequences so player actions can lead to gameplay outcomes.

With The Sandbox Game Maker, you can design logic sequences in your Experiences to create an overall game flow to be simple, linear, or branching with no code. You just need to know how to make Game Maker's logic tools communicate.

Action

There are many possible ways to trigger a flow of logic to begin:

• The player's avatar interacts with an object

• The player's avatar or an Object (with a specific tag) is detected at a certain location

• An object is destroyed, collected, etc.

• Something is automatically running at the start of the Experience

• And more

Types of Logic

Global Parameters

Global Parameters are settings that apply to your whole experience and control the avatar, camera (player point of view), game feel (controller), and ambience. Avatar settings can be modified to change the mechanics of your Experience, such as what blocks harm players, what happens when the player dies, etc.

Global Parameters apply for the whole Experience, but some ambience settings can be overridden during gameplay by behaviours, such as Weather Switcher.

Rules (including Quests)

Rules are customizations to the user interface for your Experience, which can welcome players, guide them through your overall game flow with instructions, and inform players when the Experience ends. They communicate with objects throughout the flow of the Experience.

Object Logic:

Most of your Experience logic will be built into objects. Plug-and-play Behaviours and Components applied to objects govern how they act, how they interact with each other, and how they can be interacted with by the player(s) in an Experience. They include default settings for quick logic creation, which can be customised.

Messages are what Quests, Behaviours, and Components broadcast or listen for to drive the flow of logic you've created.

Example:

A Door listens for the Message required OpenSesame to open. The message is sent by a Button on the wall when the player interacts with it.

Tags are object identifiers which help direct messages precisely and are used for detection and response by behaviours and components.

Example:

The same door will not open unless the player picks up a key which has the tag Key and carries it to the door so it will be detected by a hidden object that sends the message OpenSeasame.

Layers of Logic

Layers of Logic

Some logic is only available in multiplayer (Synchronised) form, while others are only available in single player (Client Only) form. These can be used together in both single and multiplayer experiences.

Multiplayer - logic that is synchronised for all players in a multiplayer game, which can also be used in a single player game. Multiplayer logic does not communicate with Quests. However, collaborative objectives can be created with Crowd Event behaviour.

Single Player - logic experienced by only an individual player (Client Only) in a single or multiplayer game. Single Player logic communicates with Quests.

For more in-depth information, see Multiplayer Logic.

Game Maker 0.8 is a transitional build. Quests have not been migrated yet to communicate with Multiplayer logic.

For best performance of your Experience, design as much logic as possible using Single Player logic, and then add the Multiplayer Logic layer.