Integrator

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Let’s say you have two maps, Map1 and Map2. In your .GAM file you can click twice to plop down two boxes. In the first box, select your first map file; select a tile set; select a monster, character, and sound set. Define an entry and an exit point on the map. Do similarly for box 2.

Then you can draw a line from the game's title menu to the first box, a line from the first box to the second box, and a probably a line from the second box to your “game over” sequence, if any. Click on the starting point, and add a title graphic or animation; change the text at will. Do similarly for the ending point. And then export.

There’s your game. Simple, but functional. The title menu leads to the entry point in Map1; the exit to Map1 leads to the entry to Map2; the exit to Map2 leads to the game over screen.

Programmed by Gregory Stone.

Tips[edit]

Nodes[edit]

  • You can place up to 200 nodes in a given .GAM file (after which the file becomes unreadable -- so watch out!), but you can only place 30 in a given session. Solution: place your 30 nodes, save your .GAM file, exit Integrator, and then load it all back up again. Presto: you may continue your node placement.
  • Any given node can only support 20 exit links; if you need more exit points, try splitting them across several related levels.

File integration[edit]

  • Remember that as of Game-Maker 3.0 you can open any ASCII text editor and write a .LST file, containing a sequence of multimedia elements (.GIF images, .FLI animations, .TXT documents). Put each element on a new line, in the intended order. You can also set how long to display each element, by following the filename with a space then a numeral corresponding to the number of engine ticks that you want to pause. If you set zero, the element will flick by the moment that it renders. Remember, in Game-Maker 18 ticks equal one second.
  • For any given level, if you leave the character and character block fields blank the engine will carry over the character files from the previous level. For games with a choice of characters, therefore, you need not make copies of the same levels for every character instance.

Version history[edit]

1994 - Version 3.00

Links[edit]