![Mana sparks effect [GameMaker Studio 2 | Vfx] @1upIndie](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_RZnjmn5bUE/maxresdefault.jpg)
Uploaded October 2021 | Updated September 2026, 14 hours ago
This vfx video tutorial shows you how to create a very subtle but great looking effect that you can overlay our game with for GameMaker Studio. Because it kind of reminds of me of magic or mana I call it the mana spark visual effect.
It is basically a particle system that pops out 1px particles in the camera viewable area that are being drawn in different colors and with low alpha values. And that is pretty much it. Looks great in sidescroller or top down games. The entire code is show in the comment section.
Particle video:
youtube.com/watch?v=DOKrIAn2z_Y
0:00 Intro of the effect to do
0:46 Subscribe
1:13 Quick setup
1:01 Concept explained
9:56 Game shown: Source of Madness
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
patreon.com/1upindie
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💬 Discord: discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23 (See youtube about page for discount)
This vfx video tutorial shows you how to create a very subtle but great looking effect that you can overlay our game with for GameMaker Studio. Because it kind of reminds of me of magic or mana I call it the mana spark visual effect.
It is basically a particle system that pops out 1px particles in the camera viewable area that are being drawn in different colors and with low alpha values. And that is pretty much it. Looks great in sidescroller or top down games. The entire code is show in the comment section.
Particle video:
youtube.com/watch?v=DOKrIAn2z_Y
0:00 Intro of the effect to do
0:46 Subscribe
1:13 Quick setup
1:01 Concept explained
9:56 Game shown: Source of Madness
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23 (See youtube about page for discount)
![Mana sparks effect [GameMaker Studio 2 | Vfx]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_RZnjmn5bUE/mqdefault.jpg "Mana sparks effect [GameMaker Studio 2 | Vfx]
This vfx video tutorial shows you how to create a very subtle but great looking effect that you can overlay our game with for GameMaker Studio. Because it kind of reminds of me of magic or mana I call it the mana spark visual effect.
It is basically a particle system that pops out 1px particles in the camera viewable area that are being drawn in different colors and with low alpha values. And that is pretty much it. Looks great in sidescroller or top down games. The entire code is show in the comment section.
Particle video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOKrIAn2z_Y
0:00 Intro of the effect to do
0:46 Subscribe
1:13 Quick setup
1:01 Concept explained
9:56 Game shown: Source of Madness
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)")
![How to use the Particle System [Game Maker | Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_XKwkshouq8/mqdefault.jpg "How to use the Particle System [Game Maker | Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to use the particle system asset class in GameMaker.
Once you create your particle system you surely want to use it in your game. The easiest way how is to simply place the particle system on an asset layer. The same method you can do with partile_system_create by creating it in code in an instance. Both methods create the particle system in the room on an seperate depth layer. To use the visual fx attached to an instance layer also on the particle system you have to create the paricle system fixed on that layer via partile_system_create_layer.
Thats it!
Tldr:
- drag n drop particle system on asset layer
- use instances to get more control
- use instance layer fx also on particle system
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
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🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:30 Drag the particle system on an asset layer
1:38 Use instance to create particle system via code there
3:02 Create paritcle system on layer with visual effect attached to it")
![Make a game look better [Super Demon Survivors devlog #1]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/_XhxU3xe0LQ/mqdefault.jpg "Make a game look better [Super Demon Survivors devlog #1]
Super Demon Survivors is a homage to time survival reverse bullet hells, set in a familiar world pitting multiple characters against hordes of demons and monsters in a multistage free for all.
Can you outlast wave after wave of increasingly difficult, minimalistic gameplay using an array different weapons and power ups?
Where you like the genre or you want to be part of the active community, you will have direct influence on how the game will be done via comments below or directly with me and my community on my discord server.
The game is made by me and Gutpunch studios to create a game that is in the spirit of the good old games but with modern standards.
https://gutpunchstudios.com
// content of this video:
Creating ambience and small things that increase the visual feeling of any game. For that we use simple things like shadows, flickering lights and a vignette.
- draw shadows below characters/props
- draw a glow sprite to blend around character/glowing things
- draw a vignette to increase focus on the center
- draw a slow pulsating big orb/glow sprite in the center
Video for vignette:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC0_wX8LIcs
Video for a lazy shadow:
https://youtu.be/_9DjANtrc5Q
Video for a glow or light with surface:
https://youtu.be/ER07MAnWX54
https://youtu.be/7GFggYDglmo
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)")
![(Code) snippet - The code wizards way [Game Maker | Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aWQvZ9mj7Wk/mqdefault.jpg "(Code) snippet - The code wizards way [Game Maker | Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to use code snippets and why they are a useful tool for us developers in GameMaker.
So this is the scenario, you want to write down some code pieces and type every time the same stuff like if/else, switch statements or others. To make this process easies you can use code snippets which are basically code parts that can be quickly access/pasted by pressing F4. You can if you like also fully customize what code snipped you want to use by editing the internal snippet.txt in your GameMaker installation folder.
Article shown in the video:
https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/articles/360022531011-How-To-Create-a-Custom-Code-Snippets-File
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
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🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 Why use snippets
0:52 Use code snippet with F4
1:45 Customize code snippets")
![Easy to do tileset collision [Game Maker Studio 2 | Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/b4WNJOsDLTM/mqdefault.jpg "Easy to do tileset collision [Game Maker Studio 2 | Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to setup a solid collision system with a tileset/tile in GameMaker Studio.
The idea is quite simple. You check on each side where you want to go on two points of the bounding box if you would clip a tile of the tilesets. If no, movement is allowed. Thats it!
Disclaimer: This robust system is only applicable if you use round (integers) numbers for movement and a square collison box for the moving instances (player, enemy ect. ). There will be an advanced video showing how to circumvent these limitations.
The creation and step code (of the player) is in my first comment.
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
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0:00 What we will do
0:52 Subscribe
1:01 Theory how it works
2:17 Setting up the tileset for collision walls
4:18 Coding the player to move when not colliding with tiles")
![Turbo Overkill, Incision, Blood West [Lazy reviews]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bHmK3XwsYi0/mqdefault.jpg "Turbo Overkill, Incision, Blood West [Lazy reviews]
Turbo Overkill (early access): 9 of 10
Developer: Trigger Happy
Turbo Overkill is a fast paced boomer shooter with low pixel graphics. The games has it all, fast responsive controls, actually good weapons,
a cool protagonist that has a chain saw leg which can be used for sliding through the levels and a small but diverse upgrade system for skills and weapons.
Story:
In Turbo Overkill you are a kind of a mercenary which has a job to take down an evil ai corrupting this world.
Gameplay:
Enemies are cool looking and plenty to be gunned down. Nothing really new you havent seen before but fighting them feels most of the time very fair and are being countered by your dashes, double jumps, wall jumping, even a hook and of course a lot of weapons with alternative fire modes that make the game a joy to play. You are always in fast combat or exploring your surrounding for secret areas of places you are not supposed to be. Sound and music are very decend and complement the game.
Graphics:
If you are expecting a graphical masterpieces, then this game wont win your heart.
My own opinion:
For me personally Turbo Overkill was a pleasant suprise. All was very polished (gameplay, level layouts, story, music). Hands down Turbo Overkill is one of the best games played this year so far. It is a very well done boomer shooter with high octange gameplay.
Incision (early access): 7 of 10
Developer: Smoothbrain
Incision is a very gory super pixelated first person shooter that does what good old boomer shooters do.If you like simplistic games like the old Quake, Blood, you will feel right at home here.
Story:
You are thrown in an apocalyptic horror world after an unknow entity invaded the earth and you see a merging of living beings with unorganic matter in the environment. In the game you can find more light story exposition with some short text in hidden areas or through environmental storytelling. This is a neat way to setup a minimal context to the world after the invasion, where you can find some infos about some weird cults and the player.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is very straight forward with countless of enemies and a standard weapon roster which you have seen countless times in other fps games. Same goes for the horror enemies that are very vanilla in this regard aswell. It is nothing fancy but it does play very satisfying.
Sound and music are on a high level and carry the games creepyness well.
Graphics:
Graphics can be for pursists a turn off. There is currently no way to increas gamma or turn of the dither effect. Since all is a bit mushed, it did happen quite a lot of times that I didnt see enemies close by.
My own opinion:
All in all Incision is an enjoyable fps that doesnt innovate but sticks to what used to be a gold standard. I did enjoy the creepy levels, gun play, the monsters and played the early access to its end.
Blood West (early access): 8 of 10
Developer: HyperStange
Blood West is a survival stealth shooter where ammo is sparse and every enemy can almost oneshot you.
Story:
You play as an arisen being dead to investigate the lands which is being overrun by monsters and that suffers from a curse.
Gameplay:
What is very interesting about this game is its stealth and death/curse system, which punishes you very fast if you mess up. That gave me Demon Souls vibes of difficulty which is love and hate relationship that kept me playing this game. Here you have to manage not being spotted, manage a really small inventory and never having enough ammo. If you dont hit the enemy with your guns in the head, well you pretty much wasted this bullet since it does minimal damage. This system does reward patient and tactical players. You can try gun and run but that is very hard to pull off here.
Graphics:
Graphics and enemy ai are on the lower spectrum.
My own opinion:
Overall gameplay was that satisfying to explore every dark corner for some sweet loot.
Disclaimer: I requested the keys for all games, which I got. I didnt get any money, sponsorship nor do I have any affiliation with the developers/publishers. But thanks for giving these gems to me!
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
0:00 Intro
0:24 Turbo Overkill review
2:49 Incision review
5:14 Blood West review")
![(De)-activate + spawn enemies around player [#9 Vampire Survivors Remake in GameMaker ]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bdjyR48G6Qo/mqdefault.jpg "(De)-activate + spawn enemies around player [#9 Vampire Survivors Remake in GameMaker ]
This is the 9th video in a series on remaking Vampire Survivors in GameMaker.
The first part of this video tutorial shows you how to setup a system that activates instance (of enemies) in the view and deactivates them outside the view (plus some extra buffer around the view). Deactivated instances are very light weight and have no running code, which make theme easy to get rid off and when the view is close enough you can re-activate them so that they become functional again. The second part is simply showing you how to spawn radially around the player new enemy instances. Thats it!
🚧 For the future: This series will will build expanded the further we go into the series.
Video on lenght_dir:
https://youtu.be/pl7-sr6zeT8
Culling system like in Forager (advanced!):
https://www.gamedeveloper.com/design/forager-optimization-in-gamemaker
💻Project + assets found here:
https://1up-indie2.itch.io/vampire-survivors-mini-engine
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 What we will do
0:52 Subscribe
1:04 The concept what we do
1:59 Drawing the enemy instance count for checking
2:36 Loop an alarm event to activate/deactivate + spawn enemies
4:23 Use functions (de)-activate region
6:57 Spawn enemies around the player")
![Data structure - ds grid [Game Maker | Basics]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c9qwFCvHTuM/mqdefault.jpg "Data structure - ds grid [Game Maker | Basics]
This basics video tutorial shows you how to use ds grids in GameMaker.
The first question would be, do you need learn about ds gird in Gamemaker Studio. And the answer is yes because it a way to store informations in this specific data structure. So if you want to have an inventory system, and upgrade tree or a bestiary, then it is quite useful to understand what ds grids are and how you can use them for your own game in Gamemaker. To put it in a nutshell, ds grids are basically collums and rows of stored data in Gamemaker, like an exel spread sheet so to say. Thats it!
Video on ds lists:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ygcKjltSQY
Video on accessors of data structures:
https://youtu.be/hnYtW4ang4I
Cool monster image from video thumbnail:
https://opengameart.org/content/bevouliin-underground-worm-sprite-sheets-for-game-devg-2
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
CHAPTERS
0:00 What we will do
0:49 Subscribe
1:00 Theory ds_list
1:58 Theory ds_grid and what we build
2:38 Use case for a ds_grid")
![Forager style bounce [Game Maker Studio 2 | Advanced]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/c_RrRbLoD14/mqdefault.jpg "Forager style bounce [Game Maker Studio 2 | Advanced]
This advanced video tutorial shows you how to create a bounce which you see in popular games like Forager in GameMaker Studio 2.
The idea is quite simple. You scale an object with the help of an animation curve in a bounce motion. Thats it!
// General video on animation curves:
https://youtu.be/gMIzQGjmkFA
free tileset from video found here:
https://opengameart.org/content/dirt-and-grass-forager-inspired
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
0:00 What we will do
0:27 Subscribe
0:37 Concept explained
1:10 Coding part")
![DnD - No coding way to make games [Game Maker Studio 2 | Crash course]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cuHEKpO3BSA/mqdefault.jpg "DnD - No coding way to make games [Game Maker Studio 2 | Crash course]
Gamemaker Studio 2, Gms 1.4 or even the Game Maker 8 have an alternative unique way to make video games without coding.
Most ides like Unity, Godot etc. use an already existing scipting language that is not visual. Gamemaker has its own version of a scripting/programming language. Here it is called GML which stands for Gamemaker language. But as an alternative you can use a block tool that substitutes the programming language visually with DnD which stands for drag and drop.
DnD:
These visual blocks are instructions/commands in every object to do things like moving, setting and getting values or drawing things on the screen. This crash course will guide you through the most important/essential parts of making games which is:
- detecting a keyboard input
- moving things by updating x,y values or by direction plus speed
- instance creation and destruction
- randomness and variables to store values
These topic build the foundation to build fast and easy with DnD small video games in just a few minutes.
// free resouces found here:
background, ships, shots, asteroids by Ansimuz: CC0
https://opengameart.org/content/space-ship-shooter-pixel-art-assets
https://opengameart.org/content/warped-fast-ship
explosion by JROB774 CC3
https://opengameart.org/content/pixel-explosion-12-frames
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)
0:00 What we will do
0:49 Subscribe
1:00 Setting the room up
3:00 What are objects and where is the DnD system
3:56 Setting up the player - Get keyboard input to move the player
10:58 Setting up the player - Get keyboard input to create a shot/bullet
14:30 Setting up the shot - moving up plus rotate
16:31 Creating enemys and naming the assets to keep it organized
18:02 Setting up the enemy - moving left
20:30 Adding walls for the enemy to have a collision with and reverse the enemies direction
22:30 Destroying the shot when the touch (collide) with the enemies
24:00 Make fancy explosions to indicate visually a contact between shots and enemies
26:15 Add destructible rocks/asteroids to shoot at
31:28 Create spawner for rock spawing
34:10 Why variables are useful
41:07 Is DnD for you? Game shown - Rayman Legends")
![GUI and hidden mechanics [Super Demon Survivors devlog #3]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dEfnTROUcoU/mqdefault.jpg "GUI and hidden mechanics [Super Demon Survivors devlog #3]
Super Demon Survivors is a homage to time survival reverse bullet hells, set in a familiar world pitting multiple characters against hordes of demons and monsters in a multistage free for all.
Can you outlast wave after wave of increasingly difficult, minimalistic gameplay using an array different weapons and power ups?
Where you like the genre or you want to be part of the active community, you will have direct influence on how the game will be done via comments below or directly with me and my community on my discord server.
The game is made by me and Gutpunch studios to create a game that is in the spirit of the good old games but with modern standards.
https://gutpunchstudios.com
// content of this video:
In this video I take you on a journey through the eyes of the developer and the player. A passive understanding how to interact with a game is through the user interface (UI) or rather the graphical user interface (GUI). This interface allows the player to do predefined interactions to control aspects of the game and also gives the player feedback how the game works, like basic rules and an understanding how the core loop works. The GUI is not just for the player, it can be used also for control metrics/rules that are hidden for the player to control the flow of the game and to optimise it by the developer. These things may appear on the outside natural and understood passivly but are fundamental for a successful game to be done correctly.
I am not sure if I sufficiently explained this concept with the anecdote. So what I was refering to is that a child uses/learns from a haptical device like a screen to swipe/pinch/enlarge with their fingers to control content on the screen. And that small one from the story tried this by swiping on a glas tank for fish to enlarge the image, which to the childs suprise didnt work. All that is learned behavior but feels to us now natural (which it isnt).
Video for the best underwater fx:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O05I_vW8kO4
Video for quick overworld map:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGCJk2JtAI
Video for transitions and fade in/out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkrRykZj9Mw
Video for a dmg popup:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ8FZHprqOw
👑 Support me and get fresh game art and game maker projects every month:
https://www.patreon.com/1upindie
Follow me on:
📸 Instangram: https://www.instagram.com/1upindie
🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/1upIndie
💬 Discord: https://discord.gg/gvr98nb
📜 Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/course/become-a-video-game-developer-with-gms-23/ (See youtube about page for discount)")
