Working with GameMaker projects - Adeptus-Dominus/ChapterMaster GitHub Wiki

Introduction

TODO.

GameMaker vs VSCode+Stitch

There are generally two main ways of working with a GameMaker project: through Visual Studio Code or through GameMaker.

  • Working through GameMaker may prove to be a pure torture, as their IDE is very bad and the app itself generally has very bad performance, as such generally is not recommended if you plan on working with the code. Only use if you have to.
  • The preferred alternative is to use Visual Studio Code with the Stitch extension, that is available via the Visual Studio Marketplace.
  • You can also use any other IDE to work with the code, but you'll have to use one of the above apps to build, as no other building method is available at the moment.
  • Other IDEs have no extended support for GML and as such typically are not recommended, unless you know what you're doing.

Nonetheless, some things will have to be done through GameMaker, even if you use other IDEs, including VSCode, such as:

  • Most of the sprite management.
  • Debugging with breakpoints, function steps and real-time debugging.
  • Profiling.
  • Room management.

Here we'll only look at the VSCode. If you're interested in using the GameMaker IDE instead, see this and just skip the 1st step in that instruction.

Preparations

  1. Learn what is Git, source control, GitHub and how to use them. There is no way around it.
    • If you are new to Git, then it's recommended to read the Pro Git book. You only need to read the first 3 chapters to comfortably work with Git, optionally chapter 6 to get more info on GitHub.
    • If you prefer a more comfortable, graphical user interface based approach to Git, instead of command line, then it's recommended to use one of the options below, both are free and popular:
  2. Fork the repository.
  3. Clone your fork locally through Git CL or any other GUI wrapper you've chosen.

Setting up the Visual Studio Code

  1. Get the Visual Studio Code (VSCode) installed, if not already.
    • (Optional) It's recommended to get the Insider version, as it's the most frequently updated one and gets all new features first.
    • (Optional) Get a hang of VSCode by reading some guides on the internet, installing some useful QoL extensions, configuring various settings, etc.
  2. Add the project's folder that you've cloned to the workspace, wait for it to load.
  3. Get the Stitch extension installed.
    • (Optional) Watch this guide video that covers basic features of Stitch, made by its creator.
    • (Optional) Edit various Stitch specific settings, to improve your QoL.
    • (Optional) It's recommended to disable "Run in Terminal" Stitch option. This allows you to goto error lines that come up in the output window and custom color output lines. The explanation is in the "Stitch Runner Panel" section on this page.
  4. Run the game by pressing F5 or finding the run button on the Stitch panel, wait for it to download the GameMaker version and build the game.
  5. Ensure that the game launches and works, exit.

Working with the code