Holding down the <OPTION> key while using the eraser or the spray paint tools will make those tools smaller.
Holding down the <OPTION> key while using the brush, line, rectangle, roundrect, oval, or region tools will temporarily switch between border and fill colors (border color will become fill color and fill color will become border color).
Holding down the <OPTION> key while the click area tool selected and at least one click area has been created on the card allows you to move or resize the click areas.
The default buttons in card #1 can be edited in GameMaker v1.5 and higher.
In the Card Info dialog box, if you put a -1 in the Go to card field, the game will end. If you put a -2 in the Go to card field, the game will go to the most recent card. These can be used with a time delay to display a message or picture for several seconds before going back to the original card or before ending the game.
If you put a "+" in the "Go to card" field of button or card scripts, the game will go to the next card. If you put a "-" in the "Go to card" field of button or card scripts, the game will go to the previous card.
You can launch another application by putting a ":" (without quotes) as the first character in the "Go to card" field of button scripts followed by the name of the application to be launched. The application must be in the same folder. For example, if you put ":My Other App" in the "Go to card" field, your application will look for an application named "My Other App" in the same folder as your current application.
You can create up to 10 additional custom cursors to use with Click Areas. Use ResEdit to create "CURS" resources (black and white cursors) or "crsr" resources (color cursors) in your project file. Don't add them to the GameMaker application. Make sure the game is not open in GameMaker while you are adding cursors or they will not be displayed. Use the "Get Resource Info" in the "Resource" menu to name and renumber the cursors. The resource ID numbers must start at 1010 and continue with 1011, 1012, and so on for as many cursors as you create.
----- HOW TO USE THE STATUS BAR -----
To use the status bar, you must first enable it by selecting "Game Options" in the "Go" menu and checkmarking "Use status bar". You should also choose some bar options such as a bar name and up to 3 cards that are designated as cards to go to when the bar is empty.
After doing that, the pop-up menu for the status bar in card buttons and click areas will have options to add or subtract points from the bar. It will also display the cards you chose as status bar cards so you can pick one of them to go to if the bar becomes empty when that button or click area is clicked.
----- ADDING SOUNDS USING OTHER SOFTWARE -----
You can add or remove "snd " resources using ResEdit, SoundMover or another resource moving utility. If you don't have any of these, you can download ResEdit or SoundMover from an online service.
To add "snd " resources:
1. If you already have a game that you want to add sounds to then skip to #5.
2. Launch GameMaker.
3. Select Save from the File menu to save a new document.
4. Quit GameMaker.
5. Launch ResEdit or a sound mover program.
6. Open a file containing "snd " resources.
7. Using ResEdit or other sound mover program, open the GameMaker document (not the GameMaker application) that you want to add sounds to.
8. Copy the sounds into the GameMaker document.
9. GameMaker plays sounds by name so make sure all sounds have a valid name (don't use an exclamation point, parenthesis, dash line, or slash mark in sound names).
10. Quit the sound mover program.
11. Double-click on the GameMaker document to open it. The sounds you added should now be listed in the pop-up menus in the Card Info and Button Info windows.
----- WHERE TO GET SOUNDS -----
If you have a microphone or a Mac with a built-in microphone, you can record your own sounds by using the Sounds menu in GameMaker.
You can also download System 7 sound files (MacOS sound files) from online services and import them into GameMaker by using the Sounds menu in GameMaker. Make sure any sounds you use are not copyrighted sounds that are not allowed to be distributed.
----- STRING NAME LIMITATIONS -----
Card names, buttons names, and sound names are limited to 63 characters. If you attempt to create a button or card name longer than 63 characters, all characters past the limit will be ignored. For sound names, if a sound has a name longer than 63 characters, it will not be able to be played. User Ask questions are limited to 255 characters and the answers are limited to 63 chracaters.
----- MAXIMUM NUMBER OF SOUNDS -----
GameMaker can only list 25 sounds in the pop-up menus. If there are more than 25 sounds in the file, it will only list the first 25 that it finds and ignore the rest.
----- GAMEMAKER VERSION DIFFERENCES -----
Files created with versions of GameMaker from v0.95 to v1.33 need to be converted to at least v1.5 format in order to be opened with GameMaker v2.x. You can use the Game Converter utility program to convert old files. Once you save a file using GameMaker v2.x, it may not be able to be opened by earlier versions.
