Windows 10
Build your own 2D games
May 2019 | |^47
interface works the same for these as for normal events,
although GDevelop indents them for visual differentiation.
For the first sub-event, add a condition to check whether
or not the player is running by clicking ‘Add condition’,
Platform Behavior, ‘Is moving’, and choosing Player for the
Object field. That’s fine for the time being, so now click OK
to return to the event editor.
Now repeat the process for the second sub-event, but this
time check the slider that says ‘Invert condition’. This very
clever feature does the opposite of the programmed event,
meaning that the first sub-event checks whether the player
is moving, and the second checks whether the player is not.
Now to finish the demonstration by adding actions that
change the animations. For the first sub-event, choose ‘Add
action’, and a similar screen appears as before, only this
time it displays all of the available actions instead of the
conditions we saw previously.
The character and all of its animations are what’s known as
a sprite object, so choose the Sprite category, and from the
sub-menu, choose ‘Animations and images’, followed by
‘Change the animation (by name)’ from the final sub-menu.
Choose ‘Player’ from the Object field, and in the ‘Animation
name’ field, type “Running” including the double-quotes,
or you’ll get an error, and you’ll probably need to include
the capital letter as well.
Unfortunately, you can’t just press [Enter] when
you’re done, because it’ll just create another line of
input, so annoyingly you need to click somewhere in
the blank white space below to finish. Click ‘OK’ and
you’re taken back to the event editor. For the second
sub-event, repeat the process, but this time make the
animation name “Idle” – again, include the double-
quotes. With that your demo should be ready to try,
so save your work, then click Play at will.
GDevelop’s export abilities are awesome, because
they make it possible for you to sell your games on
anything you like. They’re particularly fond of Itch
(https://itch.io) [see Image D].
The interface has come a long way in recent years,
too, and is certainly worth considering by anyone
wanting to make 2D games quickly. That said, it is still
quite rough around the edges, particularly when it
comes to the interface. Things like needing to click
outside a field into blank space may be fine for its
developers, but ultimately this is a clumsy way to
operate, and isn’t exactly professional. Everything
also seems to have multiple names – just pick a
term and stick with it.
Furthermore, the claim that you don’t need to know
how to code isn’t absolutely true: The event editor
is basically programming, but with an interface, and
sometimes there are things you have to enter that
are just bits of programming string, but with an
interface in the way.
However, don’t let us give you the impression
that this is a bad program. Although it’s hard to
recommend to novices, GDevelop’s closer-to-code
approach may be exactly what intermediate users are
chasing. The balance between interface and code
seems to make more advanced forms of gaming
possible, and if you look at some of the games that
have been made already, there are some genuinely
spectacular results. So, not perfect, but definitely
worth a go nonetheless. A few major releases down
the road, and GDevelop is going to be brilliant. QDWith GDevelop being based on JavaScript, you
can also add your own custom JavaScript
coding. If you open the event editor, click
‘Choose and add an event’ (the biggest ‘+’ sign
toward the right), and then ‘JavaScript code’.
This will be treated like any other event, and will
be triggered each time the event is reached.
Check the documentation for some examples,
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Not only does GDevelop support mobile
platforms (currently Android and partial support
for iOS), but for the gaming capitalists out
there, you can even put in your own ad space
with AdMob, and control where it’s placed.
You can also enable the vibrate function on
smartphones and control how long it lasts.
We won’t ask you what you use it for, but
let’s just assume it’s for representing
earthquakes and explosions.
It’s well worth reading the documentation
for publishing advice, because there’s detailed
information for every platform, as well as links
to shared resources you can use to save having
to do things such as sound or artwork. There’s
even advice for how to publish your game on
Google Play.Cool GDevelop extra
C