Windows Help & Advice – May 2019

Click‘Usea CustomCollisionMask’toedityourhitbox,
whereyoupositionrednodestodefineyourshape.Add
morenodesbyclickingthe‘+’signintheblackcircle.The
morenodes,themorecomplexa shapeyoucandefine.
EditPointsenablesyoutocreatespecialpositionsona
sprite,suchastheendofa turretorthepositionfromwhich
anobjectrotates.Youcanhavemultiplepointsforeach
character,allowingforhighlydetailedobjectswithmultiple
weaponsorabilities.
TheinitialcontrolsarequitesimilartoEditHitboxes,inthat
youcanchoosewhethertohaveindependentpointsacross
frames,orwhethertosharethemacrossallanimations.The
standardoptionsarejustOriginandCenter,butif youclick
the‘+’sign,youcanaddyourowncustompoints,suchasa
muzzleflash,forinstance,andnamethemanythingyoulike.

ReadyPlayer One?
It wouldbetemptingtoworkfroma template,butit will
bebettertoshowyouhowGDevelopoperatesbystarting
fromscratch.Fromtheopeningscreen,choose‘Createa
NewProject’.Amenuappearswitha bunchoftemplates
tochoosefrom;choosethe‘Emptygame’option.Makesure
youchoosewherethefolderwillbe,orit willbea nightmare
findingit again.
BackintheStartPagetab,it almostlooksthesameasthe
welcomescreen,soit’seasytomissthatthefirstbuttonhas
changedfrom‘Opena Project’toOpenProjectManager.This

enablesyoutomodifytheglobalsettingsofthe

game,suchastheorderofyourlevels,forinstance.

Thisismostlybeyondthescopeofthisarticle,but

rememberit’stherewhenyourgamestartstogrow.

Fornow,gototheProjectpaneontheleft,and

underScenes,clickthe‘+’signtoadda newscene.

ClicktheentrythatsaysNewScene,andit opensin

theNewScenetabinthemainwindow.TheProject

panewilljustbeinthewayfornow,sofeelfreeto

closeit if it’sbuggingyou.

Forthemoment,we’lljustdotheeasyprepwork,

creatinga seriesofobjectsandanimations,whichwe

willthenprogramlater.We’rerelyingonthefactthat

you’llprobablyhavethetutorialfilesinstalled(along

withalltheirgraphics),butif youdon’thavethefiles

wemention,youcanjustdrawyourown.

Your platform

FromtheObjectspanel,adda newobject.Youneed

todifferentiateyourplatformfroma regularcharacter,

sofromthenewwindow,chooseTiledSprite.The

Propertieswindowpopsupwiththeboringname

NewObject. Renameit toGrassPlatform.

Now,togivetheplatformgraphics,clickinthe

‘Selectanimage’field,anda drop-downappears

withtheentry‘Choosea newimage’.If youcanfind

GDevelop’sinstallationfolder,yoursampleimagesare

Explore the GDevelop interface

1

2

4 3

5 6

1. Main toolbar
   This is where the chief buttons are,
   although they change depending on
   the open tab. Thankfully, the Play
   button is always here.


2. Scene editor
   TKHPDLQSOD\LQJÀHOGZKHUH\RX
   design and construct your levels.
   The mouse wheel zooms in and out.
   3. Objects pane
   Create objects for your game here,
   then click-and-drag them on to the
   scene in the middle.
   4. Properties pane
   This pane can get in the way
   sometimes, but remember that it’s
   here when you want to tweak an
   object’s behaviour.
   5. Function tabs
   These tabs jump between the main
   section of the program and completely
   change which buttons are on screen.
   6. Event editor
   Open this tab to do the boring stuff,
   constructing the logic behind your
   game – LWGHSHQGVZKDWÁRDWV\RXU
   boat, really...

Windows 10

Build your own 2D games

May 2019 | |^45