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So you want the GameMaker 8 style in Studio

By Timon Knigge | Published October 27, 2012

Although GameMaker:Studio is a jolly good piece of software, it looks very unprofessional and depressing. The old GameMaker 8(.1) layout was a lot better in my opinion – cleaner, simpler, brighter, more in the same style as other programs you would use along with it.

Half a year ago I made a blog post called GameMaker:Studio settings you should change to make it even better. This post contained the exact kind of info you’d expect, including a way to revert the style of GM:Studio.

The post generated quite a bit of traffic, even though it was actually just a post I made to try out some CSS styles on my blog.

For those that are here just to change the style, I’ve compiled all the steps necessary in one list – here it is:

Steps necessary to revert GM:Studio’s style back to the GM8(.1) style:

Open Files > Preferences, and go to General.

  • Change the skin: In the right column you’ll find a list of skins. Select “GM8″.
  • YoYoGames Logo: if unchecked, check the box “Do not show YoYoGames Logo on main form”.
  • Go to the tab Scripts and Code
  • Bold keywords: Check the box “Enable BOLD on script keywords”
  • Download this file and save it, and remember its location. Click the “Import” button and import the color settings.

That’s all, hopefully this helped you a bit!

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Creative Game Challenge 2012-2013

By Timon Knigge | Published October 19, 2012

A heads-up for those that are eligible to participate: the Creative Game Challenge 2012-2013 just started! Or more accurately, the website is finally available.

The new design looks pretty smooth compared to the old, flash-ridden look.

I’m not yet sure if I will be able to participate (even though it’s my last chance) – I’m pretty busy already with exams and other stuff.

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About that HTML5 game

By Timon Knigge | Published October 19, 2012

About that HTML5 game I was planning on making ..
In the blog post I promised on posting some updates about the development on this blog. Obviously that didn’t happen.

The game itself is finished though. It’s not a bad game, but it’s not a very good game either. I won’t be posting it here though, since I’m going to try to sell it to publishers.

I have learned some things about GameMaker and HTML5 though, and posted a couple of tutorials about it, too. So I guess it wasn’t for nothing?

Either way, if I actually manage to sell the game, and earn money, I’ll happily share some statistics on this blog.

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GM Studio HTML5 – draw_self() is causing trouble

By Timon Knigge | Published September 22, 2012

After spending more than an hour trying to fix some weird bug in my HTML5 game, I feel I have the right to complain about this: draw_self() does some weird things in HTML5 games made with GameMaker Studio.

As you might know I am currently developing an HTML5 game, and this afternoon I was working on it. Naive and young ‘me’ was contently hitting my keyboard, creating yet another Blockbuster game By BlueMoonProductions, when suddenly, my game started acting weird.

The game would run perfectly for a couple of seconds, but then, suddenly, about half of the game wouldn’t draw anymore. I’m not talking about only half the screen showing up – no, a certain selection of sprites would draw, while others wouldn’t.

I’ll skip the part where I search for the problem, and (spoiler alert) go to the problem immediately: I used draw_self() in an object that didn’t have a sprite. It originally did have one, but I guess I misclicked and accidentially removed it.

But that doesn’t explain why some of the sprites would draw, and some wouldn’t. If you do this (have an object with no sprite index use the function draw_self()) in a Windows game, you’ll get a nice error message:

trying to draw non-existing sprite
Error: trying to draw non-existing sprite

I think this should not throw an error, the game should just continue running and not draw anything, because the help file states:

This function draws the sprite assigned to the instance exactly as it would be drawn if the draw event held no code or actions, and will reflect and changes that have been made to the sprite variables in other events.

Yea, it says ‘draws the sprite assigned to the instance’, but it also says ‘exactly as it would be drawn if the draw event held no code or actions’. And what happens if an object doesn’t have a sprite, and nothing in its draw event? Exactly – nothing happens. I think the same should apply to this function.

However, that is beside the point. At least the Windows version throws an error – because the HTML5 version doesn’t. Instead, it just clears the screen, and continues drawing. What this basically means, is that all the sprites you’ve drawn before this object executes draw_self() won’t appear on screen, while everything drawn afterwards, will. I’m not sure what the runner does that causes this, but hopefully my trouble will save someone else some.

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Updates on the tutorials section

By Timon Knigge | Published September 18, 2012

As you probably hadn’t noticed, I just hit the double digits with my tutorials section! There’s now a grand total of 10 tutorials – all of them about GameMaker (although I plan on writing some for other languages or IDE’s, too).

Besides working on the tutorials content-wise, I also added a general ‘footer’ beneath the tutorial, with an obligatory “contact me if you have questions”, a link to the tutorial license (speaking of, I still have to write that one), and a link to a random tutorial, which will hopefully encourage people to continue reading stuff on my site!

I think tutorials are, and are going to be, an essential part of my site. I don’t publish new games and software every other week, and let’s be honest – I’m not the greatest blogger in the world. I’m planning on translating another load of Dutch tutorials – I’m estimating there wil be somewhere between 15 and 20 tutorials when I’m done. I’m also experimenting with HTML5 and other new stuff from Studio, so expect something about that as well.

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HTML5 project

By Timon Knigge | Published September 12, 2012

So I’m probably going to make an HTML5-game soon. But it’ll be about more than just making a game.

I’m currently in the Dutch “V6″, which is basically the same as the American “Grade 12″ or “Senior”. Each year, everyone has to do a big, final paper. It can be about anything, really, but it is encouraged to choose something that is relevant to the courses you chose.

My plan is to make a simple HTML5 game, and then try to monetize it. The whole project is more about monetizing it, than it is about actually making a game.

I don’t really have any experience in this field, so it’ll be something new for me. I’ll post updates on this blog :]

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GameMaker:Studio settings you should change to make it even better

By Timon Knigge | Published March 1, 2012
UPDATE! If you just want to change the style of GameMaker:Studio to the old GM8(.1) style, check out this post.


One of the first things I did when I got GameMaker:Studio was browsing through its settings menu’s, because that’s were you usually find either the hints to the hidden gems, or the hidden gems themselves.

Here is a short list of settings you should change in GameMaker:Studio to make it even better:
Continue reading »

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GameMaker:Studio Semi-Public Beta

By Timon Knigge | Published February 29, 2012

Good news! YoYoGames’ GameMaker:Studio has finally moved into a (semi-)public beta stage. Today, everyone who bought GameMaker:HTML5 before February 27th, 2012, recieved an email from YoYoGames with a link to the beta.

GameMaker:Studio is an extended version of GameMaker:Standard, and it’ll allow you to export to platforms other than Windows. The list now consists of Macintosh, iOS, Android, HTML5 and of course Windows, but according to this page, other formats will be announced in the future.

I am currently in Canada, and I don’t have any access to a Macintosh or iOS/Android devices, so I will mainly focus on the Windows version: I’ve heard this one has the C++ runner! So expect a post on that, sooner or later.

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