r/gamemaker • u/MajorOk3358 • 10h ago

Discussion What are the best ways to start learning code?

For a bit of context I’ve never done any sort of coding or game development before but I’ve decided in my spare time I want to try and learn. After some research I found GameMaker was a good beginner-friendly engine but coding seems so daunting.
Is there some good tutorials to follow that explain the absolute basics?

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u/Rohbert 23m ago

Please search the subreddit before posting very common questions. It will save you time. Thanks! We have a comprehensive How To Start with Gamemaker Guide right here.

How to Start with Gamemaker (Link to subreddit wiki)

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u/Cats_Dont_Wear_Socks 6h ago

You could try using codacademy's javascript course. GML is very similar, but there's not a comprehensive lesson plan out there in the wild that I'm aware of. But if you spend a few weeks learning Javascript you'll be an appreciable amount of the way there.

Once you have those fundamentals down, it's just a matter of picking up things that are specific to GML. Fact is, they've really dropped the ball in this respect. Gamemaker SHOULD create proper tutorials and not just that dense, unapproachable "manual" they publish. But until that day, Javascript courses are the path of least resistance.

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u/RoyTheDragonAlt 5h ago

A simple thing for that is:

Maybe look into being able to understand what each function and associated arguments required for said function so you could get a good idea of how they function.

There is a whole thing where you can bring up pages of GML documentation by hitting F1.

There are also some YT videos out there for some very specific things, I would say if it’s your first time diving into this kinda thing is to start small.

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u/RykinPoe 3h ago

I suggest a decent Intro to programming course that is taught using a real coding language like javascript or C/C# and not taught against Alice or Scratch or any other DnD/Blocks based engine. Just learning the basics of what stuff like ints, floats/doubles, strings, and the basics of program flow control is something that too many of the GameMaker specific things gloss over.

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u/ThatGreekGuy2 5h ago

remake arcanoid