In the customisation of our first Game Maker game, if we are going to award points for clicking on a ‘good’ clown, and take away points for clicking on a ‘bad’ clown, we need to be able to distinguish between them. The easiest way of doing this is to use a different colour theme for each type of clown.
To make a badclown sprite, I created a new sprite, using the same clown image as for the original clown sprite, and named it spr_badclown.
Double clicking on a sprite raises the Sprite Properties dialogue. If you click on Edit Sprite to open the Image Editor, you can then change the image that has been saved into that sprite (you won’t change the image that was imported into the original clown sprite).
Zoom in to the sprite using the magnifying glass/zoom tool. You can then modify the image to make it feel evil… ;-)
There are several ways of changing the colours used in the sprite:
- In the Image editor: from the Image menu, experiment with different settings from the Colorize, Colorize partial, Shift Hue, Intensity and Invert menu options, until you find a setting that you are happy with.
- Edit the image directly: Change all pixels with the left colour in to the right colour, and the eye dropper (‘Pick a color from the image’ which sets the left color with the color you sampled from the icon).
Click on the right colour square to pop up a palette from which you can choose the colour you want to use to replaces the original colour.
If you want to share the image, or save it as a standalone image that you can reuse in another game, save it as a bitmap file from the File menu in the Image Editor. I’ll have a think about how we can share images over the next few days..
Create a “badclown” object (obj_badclown) using the spr_badclown. For now, give it the same properties as the original clown, and add a few instances of it to your game.
Even though the different clowns behave in the same way as far as the gameplay is concerned (that is, they are both identical in terms of how the game is played), does having two different sorts of clown affect the way you play the game? (Have a go, and just see…:-)
Customising the look and feel of your game further.
If you have time, why not use the Image Editor to modify the appearance of the other image assets used in your game, such as the room background or the colour of the walls?
Visual Game Design Considerations to Think About
To what extent do colour themes affect your enjoyment of the game? Do you think that the selection of a colour them might affect the usability of your game? That is, how easy it is to play?
Do you think that different colour themes can be used to change the ‘tone’ of a game, from something light hearted, for example, to something dark and brooding.
In the same way that particular colour pairings may ‘clash’, do you think that a colour scheme can ‘clash’ with an audio soundtrack?
lolol owww i kind of already did this on the 1st task (i got a little to excited and carried away)
ow well wont hurt by doing it again.
I have been customizing my game quite highly with sound and sprites, and I do feel you can clash sound and colour schemes. A really bright piece of music wouldn’t work at all with dark, gothic sprites!!
I fully agree with daniel, the sound needs to fit the ‘feel’ of the game. I realy enjoyed this task, iv now got this mad (trachalize) shoot the clowns but lookout for the ones with gunpower game. Using the other tools and option so i have diffent sprites for explosion and applause for shoot ‘good’ clowns, gives it a very fun/wacky feel. Can others please post what feel and look you give your games, id like to see what other come up with
I found making one alot slower than the others but giving it a negative score value added alot to the gameplay, so u can lose a little without the game being over.