Bluish-Green Productions

I hope you’ll find this worth the wait, I present to you; Version 3 of the BGP GameMaker Extensions. Both Extensions have new Help files, both the HTML Help files and the PDFs have been updated. The largest update in this version is the addition of Callouts to the Game Builder tab. What are Callouts you ask? Read on below to find out!

BGP Library Update

At first glance, the BGP Library doesn’t seem to have received much of an update, and that’s mostly true. There are still 23 Actions, but the “Set Variable in Instance” Action has received a slight update. It can now set arrays as well as normal Variables. This is especially important for modifying Callouts beyond their basic functionality.

Download it by clicking on the image below:

BGP Game Builder Update

The Game Builder has received a number of new Actions related to the new “Callout” system I’ve developed. I’ve also taken the opportunity to remove the clunky and expensive “auto-tiling” system. The creation of Game Builder programs like Mars Lander Builder pretty much supersedes it. If you’re going to make a game in GameMaker, you should do it using normal tiles. Anyway, onto the biggest addition, Callouts.

Download it by clicking on the image below:

Callouts

Callouts are a special system for displaying text which replaces GameMaker’s Display Message function. The reason for this is simple; Yoyo Games themselves have stated “standard message boxes really aren't a good game play experience”. Even if you modify it with the BGP Library Actions, the built-in message system still interrupts game play and has far less flexibility. Callouts, on the other hand, are specially designed to be as easy as possible to use, and can be implemented into any game with ease. With just a few Actions and Objects, you can have Callouts working in your game!
While there will eventually be a tutorial made to show how to add Callouts to a game, for now you can check out an example of how Callouts work in the “Cave_Explorer.gm81” editable file included with the Game Builder Extension. This is the Cave Explorer you know and love from the GM8.1 Tutorial, modified to remove the normal Message Boxes from the game.
You can expect to see far more advanced forms of Callouts in future games made by Assembly Line Games, which I will be working on. I’ve been developing them for use in our games for months, and finally arrived at an iteration which was easy enough to compile down to a few Actions, and add to the Game Builder tab. Although they don’t appear to be quite the same, Mars Lander Runner features a few Callouts, and I’ve even made a version of Callouts similar to Annotations on Youtube!
I spent a lot of time trying to make a version of Callouts that would work in GameMaker HTML5 and still be easy to use, but due to the fact that the program doesn’t adequately support Extensions like mine, they will not function. I really wish there was something I could do about this, but that’s the limitation we’re faced with.
Expect to see more Mars Lander Levels next week, along with the next part of the Behind the Scenes write-up! In the meantime, there are already 40 levels you can play right now!
And as always,

Good luck Game Making!

~Bluish-Green Productions