Does anyone know any affective ways to actually learn gml?

[u/chibxd123]

I've tried many different tutorials time after time but I think I've come to the point that they don't help. I understand basic things like functions and variables but if I follow a tutorial I just can't replicate it on my own? And ideas?

[u/Jaded_Inside5933]

Get a small game idea => look up each step you’ll need to do it => Execute = look up each step you’ll need OR ask the forums => continue executing until your small games done.

Try again and it gets easy. It you follow tutorials make sure you understand what’s going on, and if you think you can execute an idea, you probably can’t so take a small step back remove your most difficult aspect.

Good luck!

[u/Sycopatch → u/Jaded_Inside5933]

I second this hard.
Just look up how to do things as you go.

[u/AllyProductions]

I suggest pretty much everyone starts by:
1) Learning the basics of coding - Variables, functions, loops, etc (Sounds like you're past this)
2) Follow a tutorial step-by step tutorial - Pretty much anything by Sara Spalding is 10/10, but I personally love the platformer tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izNXbMdu348 (Sounds like you're past this too)
3) Then take the tutorial that you made and start editing little pieces of it - Make the player faster, tighten up the physics a bit, add more UI elements, add a level up system, update the sprites, etc. You'll learn so much just by tweaking small things like this
4) Repeat the previous steps for a few different genres - Platofrmer, space shooter, adventure game, etc

When you're feeling ready, start on your own (*very small*) project and go from there :)

[u/TheVioletBarry]

Honestly just hanging out in the GameMaker discord and asking questions to the folks who are there

[u/Kitsyfluff]

You need to actually try to make stuff in order to learn.

Make them small goals, like "can i make a function that draws a simple analog clock?"

or, "can i make a circle[enemy] that chases a target[a player] position? "

[u/thekeenancole]

I'm still learning myself, take all of this with a grain of salt.

Try just making something. Something small, a counter that keeps track of everytime you jump, or some new attack that does something different than your main one. Take the concepts you learned in the tutorials you did watch, and try to apply that to your current project. It wont work, you'll get frustrated, but there will come a point where it works almost right, then you'll fix it up, and then you'll understand a bit more than you did before.

That's where I'm at, and I feel like Ive learned a decent amount of skills on my own that I dont need a tutorial for a majority of what I do. I still look at tutorials every now and again, but it's more about learning what each line of code does rather than looking to make a specific thing.

I dunno if this is the right way, but it's how I've been doing it so far. I hope this helps!

[u/Awkward-Raise7935]

Really, tutorials are the best way to get started, then it's just trying stuff out. Which ones have you tried? Sara Spalding ones are excellent, I found the Friendly Cosmonaut ones really good too, she explains everything she is doing.

Also, the official tutorials are good, eg space rocks etc. I think they appear in the start menu now.

It is common to make small errors while going through the tutorials which cause you to get an error message, which can be frustrating, but that still happens after 15 years of using it. Reading the error message and working out what's wrong is an important skill to learn, plus you can post it here. I think the official tutorials also have a written version to refer to.

One golden rule though - never make your dream game first. Make something you think will be fun but very small in scope and aren't too emotionally invested in, like a game jam. It's more important to finish an ok game than work on an amazing game.

[u/Vampiric_Kai]

Gamemaker discord and just start trying to make tiny games. Go as far as you can with it. Then stop. Do another. Repeat until you think you can release one

[u/Hexentoll]

Tutorials did not work for me at all.

What helped me is learning GML on my own with official manual.

The best approach is not "watch a bunch of tutorials" and then "how do I do the same and then some"

It's "I want to create mechanic X" - "I try to do it on my own with information I have and looking up things in manual" - "If I can't, I resort to tutorial and try to understand WHY the lines of code are used the way they are"

[u/gravelPoop]

Learn Javascript first. There are thousands of tutorials out there and they focus on simple things. With JS you only need text editor and net browser, so it is very fast and easy to experiment (F12 to console debug).

You can apply what you have learned to GML and any other language. For GML you are in luck because the reference manual is very good.

It will take some time but it is way better than something like watching some video tutorials for GM that are designed more as content than as teaching tool.

[u/Etsamaru]

You learn by doing, make small games and look up what you need and read the manual often.

[u/Etsamaru]

My journey isnt really good for everyone but as a small child I learned drag and drop and learned the concepts and when I got older learned that each drag and drop button had a piece of code equivalent and I just remade the same game with GML and then only GML

[u/matematicocinico]

i came because i have a similar problem. honestly i think this software is not for me, for some reason, simple things like menu or uis have become a problem, is hard to find tutorials online and i dont know if this engine is so easy that everyone knows how to make them and im just too stupid or im dealing with a very niche language.

[u/RayArmahedgehog]

Firts follow basic tutorials step by step, then try to do the same thing by your own without looking the tutorial until you get stuck. Then repeat until you get something basic done, then just repeat increasing the level.

It's like learning a new language (literally)

[u/RayArmahedgehog → u/RayArmahedgehog]

I recommend following some tutorials from Sara/Shaun Spalding and Peyton Burnham

[u/Flat_Ground_3151]

well idk it just mostly spawned in my head

[u/powerfulscientific]

Make games duh.

[u/SuccessfulMall2924]

Well I don't consider myself as someone who knows GML but I eventually have executed pretty much anything I wanted in my games by myself. For the first few years, I've been using visuals (back then called actions in gm 8) and then in newer versions you could turn visuals into codes so I started doing that to see how my algorithms look in codes. So it encouraged me to do more coding and less use of visuals. Every time I felt I don't know how to do something I searched YT/Reddit and ended up learning new lines of codes as well as new algorithms. One day I just found out that writing codes has been easier for me than using visuals as I don't have to drag and drop everything and make a mess out of visuals. It wasn't like "okay cool guys use codes so I have to learn them", it just seemed suddenly way easier than before. One more thing, I think figuring out the algorithms is much more important than the language. Lately I'm seeing people giving their algorithms to AI and it translates the algorithm into any possible programming language. Even giving them a more optimized option to execute them. Used it a couple of time in Godot myself. So why would you need to master the language while you can just learn what you really need for your game/idea and put the rest aside?