Graphics options

In this tab you can set a number of options that are related to the graphical appearance of your game. It is normally useful to check out the effects of these options because they can have a significant effect on the way the game looks. Remember though that different users have different machines. So better make sure that the settings also work on other peoples machines.

Start in fullscreen mode
When checked the game runs in the full screen; otherwise it runs in a window.

Scaling
Here you can indicate what happens when the window is larger than the room or when the game is run in full-screen mode. There are three choices. You can indicate a fixed scaling. The room is drawn scaled with the given amount in the center of the window or the center of the screen. 100 indicates no scaling. You typically use fixed scaling when your sprites and rooms are very small. The second option is scale the room such that it fills the window or screen but keep the aspect ratio (ratio between width and height) the same. The third option is to scale such that the window or screen is completely filled. This can lead to distortions in the image (in particular in windowed mode when the user can resize the window).

Interpolate colors between pixels
When checked, colors of pixels in sprites, backgrounds, and tiles that are not aligned with pixels on the screen will be interpolated. This in particular is the case when they are scaled, rotated, or placed at non-integer positions. Interpolation makes movement smoother but can also give a blurred effect. (Also for tiles it can lead to cracks between them, if not carefully designed.)

Color outside the room region
When the room does not completely fill the window or screen there is some area unused around it. Here you can specify the color of the area.

Allow the player to resize the game window
When checked in windowed mode the user can change the size of the game window by dragging with the mouse at its corners.

Let the game window always stay on top
When checked in windowed mode the game window always stays on top of other windows.

Don't draw a border in windowed mode
When checked in windowed mode the game window will not have a border or a caption bar.

Don't show the buttons in the window caption
When checked in windowed mode the window caption will not show the buttons to close the window or to minimize or maximize it.

Display the cursor
Indicates whether you want the mouse pointer to be visible. Turning it off is normally faster and nicer. (You can easily make you own cursor object in GameMaker.)

Freeze the game when the form loses focus
When checked, whenever the player brings some other form to the top (e.g. another application) the game freezes until the game window again gets the focus.

Disable screensavers and power saving actions
When checked (default) screensavers or power saving actions (sleep, hibernate) will not activate while the game is running. This is important as these might destroy certain graphics aspects of the game (like surfaces).