11 replies to this topic

[L!nk]

i cant seem to learn how to actually use GML. ive learned from general leos tutorial thing and i learned stuff from it but it doesnt tel u how to implement those things into a game. can anyone tell me about something that would not help me actually be able to make my own scripts maybe a book i can buy, a working tutorial that i can actually understand or maybe you can help me

[gmXpert2000]

Check out the tutorials on my blog. More specifically, the ones about learning GML and doing stuff with GML.

[Kobb]

I'm kinda going through the same thing, but I'm learning GML pretty well. The best thing to do is have hands-on experience. Looking at the "Drag and drop to GML" tutorial REALLY helps and is a good reference, and even looking on the board right here helps. I find most written tutorials ineffective when learning GML, and I think you can really only learn it with hands-on experience.

[wiredbomb0]

Lol you dont need tutorials on learning GML.

Just open game maker, press F1, go to the GML section and learn all the commands/functions from there. If you have any problems, you just keep on redoing that code until you get the hang of it. Simple

[L!nk]

u guys make it sound so easy but those tutorials only tell u about everything but they don't tell you how to use it ill try to what u guys suggested but i doubt it will work

[Kobb]

Exactly, we said (or at least, me and wiredbomb) that you don't need tutorials. That one "Drag and Drop to GML) isn't exactly a tutorial, I worded that wrong. It just shows what the drag and drop equivilents are in GML. But more important is to just get hands-on experience.

I make it sound easy, but only because it is pretty easy. Like I said, I was in the same boat as you, but now I'm learning and almost have a grip on GML.

[wiredbomb0]

its not that hard. You just need to spend some time doing it, and learn the basics. Everything i learnt, i learnt from teaching myself with the help of the help file. Heres a few commands that im calling just of the top of my head:

draw_text(x,y,text)

if (expression) {functions1} else {functions2}

switch (value)
case (value1): commands
break

game_end(), game_restart(), room_goto(room)

d3d_transform_set_identity(), mplay_connect_status(), ds_grid_create(w,h) (dont flame me because these are advanced functions )

The list goes on. Once you use them a couple of times, you'll learn them easy

[gmXpert2000]

Exactly, we said (or at least, me and wiredbomb) that you don't need tutorials. That one "Drag and Drop to GML) isn't exactly a tutorial, I worded that wrong. It just shows what the drag and drop equivilents are in GML. But more important is to just get hands-on experience.

I make it sound easy, but only because it is pretty easy. Like I said, I was in the same boat as you, but now I'm learning and almost have a grip on GML.

So, I could pick up a calculus text book, flip to page 300, and be able to pick it up just by reading it 80 times over? Once you understand how calculus works, maybe - but only after you understand how it works. And you do that by reading the textbook's tutorials and examples.

Edited by gmXpert2000, 25 June 2008 - 08:08 AM.

[L!nk]

gmxpert your tutorial on doing stuff with GML is great so far its the best one iver come across so far gj with the explaining

[L!nk]

im just gonna keep tryn to learn how to implement what ive learned in to GM and get back to u guys

[Kobb]

Exactly, we said (or at least, me and wiredbomb) that you don't need tutorials. That one "Drag and Drop to GML) isn't exactly a tutorial, I worded that wrong. It just shows what the drag and drop equivilents are in GML. But more important is to just get hands-on experience.

I make it sound easy, but only because it is pretty easy. Like I said, I was in the same boat as you, but now I'm learning and almost have a grip on GML.

So, I could pick up a calculus text book, flip to page 300, and be able to pick it up just by reading it 80 times over?  Once you understand how calculus works, maybe - but only after you understand how it works.  And you do that by reading the textbook's tutorials and examples.

That's not what I said, I never mentioned calculus in the first place, which is very different from GML. The thing is, you don't have to 'study' the drag and drop icons, you just get pretty used to using them over time. Transfering your knowledge of drag and drop to GML can be done by using the GM help files and the Drag and Drop to GML list I mentioned. I mean, tutorials help greatly, but in the end you can't just learn by doing a bunch of tutorials; sooner or later you just have to start attemping GML on your own by just, well, going to the "add code" action and putting code.

I mean, when people first invented GML or calculus or whatever, they obvious didn't use tutorials since they were creating it, so obvious tutorials aren't manditory, although they can really help at times.

[jesterdaze]

Exactly, we said (or at least, me and wiredbomb) that you don't need tutorials. That one "Drag and Drop to GML) isn't exactly a tutorial, I worded that wrong. It just shows what the drag and drop equivilents are in GML. But more important is to just get hands-on experience.

I make it sound easy, but only because it is pretty easy. Like I said, I was in the same boat as you, but now I'm learning and almost have a grip on GML.

So, I could pick up a calculus text book, flip to page 300, and be able to pick it up just by reading it 80 times over? Once you understand how calculus works, maybe - but only after you understand how it works. And you do that by reading the textbook's tutorials and examples.

That's not what I said, I never mentioned calculus in the first place, which is very different from GML.

I think you are wrong. The analogy is perfectly valid.

Programming is one thing. A programming language is another. Unless you get the concepts of programming, "learning" a programming language is not getting you far. No matter how well you understand "point_distance()" or "var" or whatever, it still isn't programming, it is just bits and pieces without a context. Just like that single page in the calculus book.

Actually, many tutorials or manuals for that matter, doesn't really have the ambitions to teach you programming. They have the ambition to teach you the specifics of a particular language, and actually assume (to a lesser or greater extent) that you understand the concept of programming.

Knowing progamming in c++ or java (and note I say "knowing programming in", not just "knowing"), GML is very straight forward. There are a few minor odd things, and you need to understand the overall implicit event loop of GM, but beyond that, it is very simple to understand. If you do not know programming, it is probably very hard to get anywhere at all, and you may do a few things without knowing at all what you are doing (whihc in a sense is the beauty of GM; but that is another thing)

Edited by jesterdaze, 25 June 2008 - 11:14 AM.