7 GameMaker Libraries I Can't Live Without (Plus a Bonus)
GameMaker is a great tool for game development, offering all the functionality to create games quickly and easily.But the moreyour projectgrows you'llneed tofiddle with the limits of GameMaker's standard functionality. Have you ever tried to set up a pixel-perfect camera or handle input for keyboard and gamepad at the same time? Chances are, what worked perfectly for one project will make problems for the next one.
But there are alternatives. Here are 7 libraries I almost instantly import,when I start a new project.
💸 - Free
💰 - Paid
Input - Flexible Input Management 💸
The default input management works, but it's often not flexible enough for more complex projects. That's where Input comes in. Originally written by Juju Adams, one of the biggest contributors to GameMaker libraries, it is now managed by offalynne. Instead of checking keys or buttons for every device you simply define verbs and bind them to your input definitions.
Scribble - Handle Text Display💸
Scribble is a useful library for display in-game text. Instead of relying on the standard methods you can use simple commands within your strings to dynamically change the text's appearance. You don't need 7 lines of code to color, format or align text
draw_set_color(c_red);
draw_set_halign(fa_center);
draw_set_font(fnt_large);
draw_text(10, 10, "Hello world!");
draw_set_color(c_white);
draw_set_halign(fa_left);
draw_set_font(-1);In Scribble all you need is
scribble("[fnt_large][c_red][fa_left]Hello world!").draw(10, 10);
and you are set. You even can make the text shake, wobble or display character by character like in Final Fantasy-style RPGs.
There's also a light version called Scribble Jr., if you rely on performance and only need UI text without animations. I usually go with the default library.
GMLive - The Secret Weapon forDebugging💰
No developer wants to waste time with compiling every time they test code. Using GMLive feels like magic. It lets you change code while your build is running. Whether you need to adjust your interface or modify the jump height of your player object: GMLive makes testing faster and allows more freedom while iterating your code.
GMLife on itch.io ($29,95 USD)
TweenGMX - Smooth Animations withEase💸
Animations are central to almost every game, but GML is often too rigid for smooth animations. Want a button to become large on hover and change color when clicked? Just define the start and end values for scaling or color and TweenGMX calculates the output.
TweenGMX on Stephen Loney's website
Post Processing FX - Make Your Games LookProfessional💰
Visual effects can make a huge difference between a good and an excellent game. Post Processing FX adds bloom, blur, vignette, color grading, outlines, and more to improve the overall look. It can emulate CRT and VHS output and ships with 50+effects and provides quality and performance controls, so you add polish without hurting frame rate.
Post Processing FX on itch.io ($49,00 USD)
STANNcam - Almost Perfect CameraControl💸
A good camera is essential for every game. STANNcam offers a straight forward camera control. You can switch resolution or toggle fullscreen with simple calls. Functions like dynamic camera follow, zoom and smooth scrolling make sure the camera always shows in a fluid and focused way what the player needs to see.
gooey - Modern UserInterfaces💸
GameMaker still lacks a robust native UI system. There are several solutions and gooey is one of the better options, though not perfect. It offers buttons, sliders, checkboxes, panels and windows. Everything is easily customizable and styling is sprite-based. Unfortunately controller support is missing. Even so, it remains my number one UI library.
Bonus: The Awesome GameMaker List
The Awesome GameMaker list is a curated source for everything GameMaker related. You'll find all the libraries mentioned here and more. No matter if audio, physics, lighting, multiplayer,etc., this list is a constant treasure chest.
Conclusion
These libraries fill gaps and speed up work. If you pick two to start, go with Input and STANNcam. Wire them into a small prototype and learn their APIs. What would you add to this list?
