Advanced mode

Up to now we have considered the simple features of Game Maker. But there are a lot more possibilities. To be able to use these you must run Game Maker in advanced mode. This is easy to change. In the File menu, click on the menu item Advanced mode. (To fully see the effects you should restart Game Maker or at least save your game and load it anew.)

When you start Game Maker in advanced mode, the following form is shown:

It contains all that was there in simple mode, but there are a number of additional resources, buttons, and menu items. Also, as we will see in the chapters that follow, the different resources have additional options. Here we will discuss the additional menu items.

File menu

In the file menu you can find the following additional commands:

• Publish your Game. This command will take you to our website were you can easily upload and publish your finished game such that everybody can play it. Carefully follow the instructions to make your game available. Please only use this for finished games, not for preliminary versions. This possibility is only available in the Pro Edition.
• Merge Game. With this command you can merge all the resources (sprites, sounds, objects, rooms, etc.) from another game into the current game. This is very useful if you want to make parts you want to reuse (e.g. menu systems). (Note that all resources and instances and tiles will get a new id, which might cause problems if you use these in scripts.) It is your responsibility to make sure that the resources in the two files have different names, otherwise problems might occur.
• Preferences. Here you can set a number of preferences about Game Maker. They will be remembered between different calls of Game Maker. See below for a list of all possibilities.

Preferences

Under the Preferences menu item in the File menu you can set a number of preferences that will be maintained between runs of Game Maker. The following preferences can be set:

• Show recently edited games in the file menu. If checked the eight most recently edited games are shown under the recent files in the file menu.
• Load last opened file on startup. If checked when you start Game Maker the most recently opened file is opened automatically.
• Keep backup copies of files. If checked the program saves a backup copy of your game with the extension gb0-gb9. You can open these games in Game Maker. You are strongly advised to use at least one backup copy for your work!
• Maximal number of backups. Here you can indicate how many (1-9) different backup copies should be remembered by the program.
• Show progress while loading and saving files. If checked, when load or save a file a progress indicator is shown.
• At startup check for, and remove old temporary files. Game Maker and games created with it, create temporary files. Normally these are automatically removed but sometimes, for example when games crash, they are left behind. If this option is checked, Game Maker checks whether such files exist and removes them at startup.
• Don't show the website in the main window. When checked the image and link to the website on the main window are not shown.
• Hide the designer and wait while the game is running. When checked the game making program is hidden while you are testing a game.
• Run games in secure mode. If checked, any game created with Game Maker that runs on your machine will not be allowed to execute external programs or change or delete files at a place different from the game location. (This is a safeguard against Trojan horses although success is not guaranteed.) Checking this means that games that utilizes external files etc. won't be running correctly. The setting only works while Game Maker is running. So if you run the game independently of Game Maker, for example as an executable stand-alone, it is NOT run in secure mode.
• Show the origin and bounding box in the sprite image. If checked, in the sprite properties form, in the sprite image, the origin and bounding box for the sprite are indicated.
• In object properties, show hints for actions. If checked, in the object properties form, when you hold your mouse over one of the actions, a description is shown.
• When closing, remove instances outside the room. If checked, the program warns you when there are instances or tiles outside a room and lets you remove them.
• Remember room settings when closing the form. If checked, a number of room settings, like whether to show the grid, whether to delete underlying objects, etc. are remembered when you edit the same room later.
• Scripts and code and colors. See the chapter on scripts for more information about these preferences.
• Image editor. Default Game Maker uses a built-in editor for images. If you favor a different image editing program you can specify here to use that different program for editing the images.
• External sound editors. You can indicate here which external editors to use for the different sound types. (Note that Game Maker does not have a built-in sound editor so if you don't specify editors here you cannot edit the sounds.)

Edit menu

In the edit menu you can find the following additional commands:

• Add group. Resources can be grouped together. This is very useful when you make large games. For example, you can put all sounds related to a certain object in a group, or you can group all objects that are used in a particular level. This command creates a new group in the currently selected resource type. You will be asked for a name. Groups can again contain groups, etc. As indicated below you can drag resources into the groups.
• Find Resource. With this command you type in the name of a resource and open the corresponding property form.
• Expand Resource Tree. Fully expands the resource tree, showing all resources.
• Collapse Resource Tree. Fully collapses the resource tree, hiding all resources.
• Show Object Information. Using this command you can get an overview of all objects in the game.

Resources menu

In this menu you can now also create the additional resources. Note that for each of them there is also a button on the toolbar and a keyboard shortcut.

Scripts menu

In the scripts menu you can find the following additional commands:

• Import Scripts. Can be used to import useful scripts from files.
• Export Scripts. Can be used to save your scripts in a file, to be used by others. When you select a script resource only this script is saved. When you select a group all scripts in the group are saved. When you select the root resource (or a different type of resource) all scripts are saved. This menu item is also available when right-clicking on a script or group of scripts.
• Show Built-in Variables. Shows a sorted list of all built-in variables, both local and global.
• Show Built-in Functions. Shows a sorted list of all built-in functions.
• Show Extension Functions. Shows a sorted list of all functions available in the extension packages you included in your game.
• Show Constants. Shows a sorted list of all built-in constants and constants defined in the game options.
• Show Resource Names. Shows a sorted list of all resource names. You can click on a name to open the particular resource for editing.
• Search in Scripts. You can search for a string in all scripts. You can click on one of the reported places to move there for editing.
• Check Resource Names. Does a check of all resource names. Names will be reported if they are not correct, if there are duplicate resource names, or when a resource name is the name of a variable, function, or constant. You can click on a name to open the particular resource for editing.
• Check All Scripts. Checks all scripts for errors. You can click on one of the reported places to move there for editing.