Graphics in Game Maker fall into two general categories, graphics that are drawn automatically by Game Maker and graphics features that require programming.
Drawing
"Drawing" is the general term used to refer to various graphics features that you have to program yourself.
Text
Even though most people do not think of text as "graphics", in Game Maker text is drawn the window just like a primitive. Text always begins as a string, so if you want to learn about manipulating text in a non-graphical sense, see that page.
In order to draw text onto the screen a text font must be selected. The default text font for Game Maker is Arial however you can include fonts into the game yourself. Fonts added into an editable game maker file are sometimes not transportable between computers however, once compiled, the font is locked into the executable.
Graphs
Game Maker has a few built-in functions for drawing graphs :
- draw_rectangle() - can be used to draw stats as bars.
Sprites
Sprites can be assigned to an object, which then are drawn automatically. For drawing sprites manually, see draw_sprite()
Transparency
Various things can be drawn transparent or semi-transparent. Most transparency functionality of Game Maker requires you to have Game Maker Pro.
Screenshots
Screenshots, or "snapshots" of the game window can be created and saved using the pro functions : screen_save() or screen_save_part().
Related Pages
GML
Links
| Categories: Graphics : Game Maker |