How to Make a Video Game | Courses

Your GameSpark subscription allows you to create six games in 2D and 3D! Here, you can explore all of the games, tools, and resources we offer.

2D Maze Course

Game Details:

The perfect place to begin your game design career! Guide your main character on a space mission where they'll weave through corridors, collect prizes, and dodge evil robots. You'll learn to work with sprites, objects, and chasers to create this action-packed maze game.

Lessons:

1. Making the Main Character

2. Making the Walls and a Chaser

3. Making the First Level

4. Adding Movement to the Main Character (Watch Sample)

5. Making the Main Character Face Left and Right

6. Colliding with the Walls

7. Making the Chasers Move

8. Adding a Prize

9. Adding Lives

10. Colliding with the Chaser

11. Adding Music

12. Adding the Game Information

13. Adding a Goal

14. Adding a Second Chaser

15. Making the Main Character Throw an Object

16. Making a Second Level

17. Making the Boss

18. Making the Final Goal

19. Adding the Victory Screen

Extra: Adding Cheat Codes

2D Platform Course

Game Details:

Get ready to hone your game design skills by creating your own fantasy platform game! Your character will have to navigate a dangerous cave, outsmart ogres and defeat a dragon before claiming victory. You'll learn how to make your character jump, use gravity and achieve other special effects.

Lessons:

1. Making the Main Character

2. Making the Main Character Move

3. Making a Platform (Watch Sample)

4. Making a Room

5. Making the Main Character Jump

6. Making a Chaser

7. Setting Lives and Health

8. Throwing Objects in Several Directions

9. Adding Prizes

10. Displaying Lives and Health

11. Making a Second Chaser

12. Adding a Goal

13. Adding a Title Screen and Music

14. Atmosphere (Optional Lesson - Requires Game Maker Pro)

15. Making the Boss

16. Making the Boss Move

17. Making the Boss Jump

18. Making the Boss Attack

19. Adding Health to the Boss

20. Making the Boss Hit the Main Character

21. Adding the Victory Screen

3D Maze Course

Game Details:

Now that you've mastered 2D games, you'll move on to the world of 3D with this adventure in an Egyptian tomb. Explore eerie hallways, collect keys to unlock crypts, and discover hidden treasure - just watch out for mummies and ghouls! This tutorial expands your game design skills, teaching you how to create realistic gameplay with 3D settings and first-person camera views.

Lessons:

1. Making the Main Character

2. Making the Main Character Move

3. Making a Wall

4. Making a Door

5. Going to 3D Mode

6. Making the Ground and Ceiling

7. Making the Walls 3D (Watch Sample)

8. Making the Doors 3D

9. Colliding with the Walls

10. Making a Key for the Doors

11. Adding the Goal

12. Adding a Chaser

13. Adding Lives and Chaser Interaction

14. Adding Prizes

15. Making the Main Character Throw

16. Making the Chasers Throw

17. Adding a Second Chaser

18. Adding a Display

19. Adding Scenery

20. Adding a Title Screen and Music

3D Racing Course

Game Details:

Careen through the desert in this winding, Mario Kart-inspired 3D racing game. Using scripts, you'll learn how to create two-player controls, split-screen views, and assign paths for computer-controlled racers. When you're done, you can play with a friend, or against the computer!

Lessons:

1. Making the First Racer

2. Setting up the First Racer

3. Finishing Movement for the First Racer

4. Going to 3D Mode

5. Building the Race Track

6. Drawing the Racer (Watch Sample)

7. Adding Collision with the Walls

8. Adding Checkpoints

9. Counting Laps

10. Adding Prizes

11. Adding a Countdown

12. Adding a Computer-Controlled Racer

13. Adding a Second Racer

14. Adding Scenery

15. Adding a Title Screen and Music

3D Arena Course

Game Details:

Continue on your path to becoming a game-making expert with the 3D Arena, where your mission is to retrieve precious cargo and return it to the base. Here, you'll begin to learn how to customize your game with 3D modeling, variables, and a third-person view.

Lessons:

1. Create the Main Character

2. Making the Main Character Move

3. Going to 3D Mode

4. Adding the Main Character Model

5. Adding the Ground

6. Adding the Skybox

7. Adding Obstacles

8. Interacting with Obstacles (Watch Sample)

9. Adding Prizes

10. Interacting with Prizes

11. Adding the Goal

12. Interacting with the Goal

13. Adding a Chaser

14. Adding a Second Chaser

15. Adding Explosions

16. Adding Lives

17. Throwing an Object

18 Adding a Display

19. Winning the Game

20. Adding an Arrow Indicator

21. Adding Music

22. Adding the Title

BONUS: Course also includes 9 video lessons which show you how to create 3D models that you can use in your game.

3D Scrolling Course

Game Details:

Glide through space (or the adventurous setting of your choice), avoiding obstacles and chasers in this 3D Scrolling game. With this tutorial, you will round out your growing arsenal of game design skills with 3D modeling, variables, timers, and explosions animations. You'll also learn the skybox technique to create custom backgrounds.

Lessons:

1. Making the Main Character

2. Creating the Camera

3. Creating the Skybox

4. Keeping the Character on the Screen

5. Creating the Chaser (Watch Sample)

6. Making the Screen Scroll

7. Making the Main Character Throw

8. Cleaning up Off-Screen Objects

9. Defeating Chasers

10. Making the Chasers Throw Objects

11. Setting up Lives and Score

12. Losing Lives

13. Adding a Second Level

14. Creating the Boss

15. Creating the Display

16. Adding Obstacles

17. Adding a Title Screen and Music

BONUS: Course also includes 9 video lessons which show you how to create 3D models that you can use in your game.

2D Maze Course

2D Platform Course

3D Maze Course

3D Racing Course

3D Arena Course

3D Scrolling Course

100+ Narrated Video Lessons

Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions guide you through the game-making process. Our tutorials are accessible 24/7. so you can learn at your own pace, stopping and starting when it's convenient.

Watch a sample lesson from the 2D Maze

Watch a sample lesson from the 3D Maze

Watch a sample lesson from the 3D Scrolling

Tons of Professional-Quality Resources

You determine the look and feel of your game, drawing on our huge library of professional graphics, backgrounds, textures, music, and sound effects!

Make It Your Own

Once you've mastered the basics, we'll show you how to add challenges and special features to your game: bonuses and shields, character actions, hidden passages and traps, invisible elements – you can even record your voice to use in the game!

Add the Flying power up to the 2D Platform game.

Add a health power up to the 3D Maze game.

Add a speed boost power up to the 3D Racing game.

Intro to Writing Code

Continue to advance your game design knowledge and skills in our 'Extended Learning' area! Here, you'll learn to further customize your game with simple lines of code: create a pause function, add fog, timers, personalized messages, and more! You'll also learn how to begin thinking like a game designer – inventing storylines, comparing game styles, and discovering what makes popular games so successful.

We show you how to customize your game...

...and create special features by adding simple code.

Interactive Quizzes

Want to see just how much you've learned? Test your game design knowledge by taking an interactive quiz after each game you complete.

Test your game design knowledge with quizzes.

Show off how much you now with about game building.

Get Help

Are you stuck? No problem! Our online help library answers many common questions that come up as you're working through the tutorials. Still can't find what you need? Contact our team for help.

Share Your Game

Now that you're a game design pro, share your accomplishments with the world! Send the games to friends or upload your game to YoYoGames. Your game could be a big hit!

What software will I need?

Our tutorials require Game Maker software. To make 2D games, you can use their Lite version, which is free. Their Standard Edition is required to make 3D games.

For the 3D Arena and Scrolling courses, you'll learn how to create your own 3D models! For this, you can download Wings 3D, a great (free!) program that is perfect for 3D beginners.

Why Game Maker?

At GameSpark, we believe Game Maker is the best software for creating your own games. It's easy to use, produces professional-quality results, and – with endless possibilities for customization – it allows plenty of room for game-making growth.

How much does it cost?

Game Maker Lite for 2D game creation is free. To make 3D games, you will need to purchase Game Maker Standard Edition for $39.99.

Download Game Maker 8 for Windows or Game Maker for Mac.

Wings 3D, the software that lets you create 3D models, is free.