How GameMaker Works
If you’re just getting started with GameMaker, the way everything fits together might feel a little confusing, but once you understand the relationship between sprites, objects, and rooms, things start to click into place.
Sprites, Objects, and Rooms
Here’s a simple way to think about GameMaker’s building blocks:
- Sprites are the images — they show what things look like.
- Objects are the brains — they control how things behave.
- Rooms are the world — the spaces where everything lives and interacts.
To build your game, you give objects a sprite so they’re visible, add code to define how they behave, and then place them in rooms where the gameplay actually happens.
The Game Loop: Bringing Everything to Life
GameMaker games are powered by something called a game loop. This loop runs nonstop while your game is active, handling everything your game needs to function at the right time.
By default, GameMaker runs this loop 60 times per second, and each cycle is called a step.
During each step, GameMaker performs three key actions:
- Checks for input (like keyboard or mouse actions)
- Updates object behavior (movement, collisions, etc.)
- Draws everything to the screen in the correct order
You don’t have to build this loop yourself. GameMaker handles it automatically — your job is to tell the engine what to do during each step.
Events: How You Interact With the Loop
GameMaker gives you access to the game loop through events. An event is a specific moment in the loop where your code runs. Each object can respond to different types of events based on its behavior.
Here are a few of the most common ones:
- Create Event – Runs once when the object is created.
- Step Event – Runs every frame and is used for logic like movement or conditions.
- Draw Event – Handles how and what your object displays on screen.
When you write code inside these events, you’re plugging directly into the game loop. For example, your player object might check for key inputs in the Step Event and draw a custom HUD in the Draw Event.
GameMaker takes care of calling these events every frame for each object. It’s like your game’s heartbeat — always running in the background, and your code gets to decide what happens during each beat.
Wrapping Up
GameMaker is built around a simple but powerful structure:
- Sprites give you visuals.
- Objects give you behavior.
- Rooms give objects space to play.
- Events let you control what happens inside the game loop.
Once you understand how these pieces connect, you’ll have a solid foundation for knowing how gamemaker works. And from here, the possibilities are wide open.
Now that you have a basic understanding of how GameMaker works, let’s put it into action!