Game-Maker: Sandbox Edition Guide
The home page
The Games page shows one game at the top with everything you can do with it: Play, Look inside (its files in the editor, as released), Keys (what each key does), and, where the game has them, Manual or Maps, Walkthrough, Notice, Saves & scores, Download and Demo video. Copy link copies a link that opens the page on that game, and Another shows another.
Below it are the collections, in tabs: My games, Imported, Sandbox, Bizarre, Gameware and Shareware. Find a game… searches them, and How it works sums it all up.
Making a new game
+ New game asks for a title and how to start: Ready to play gives you a first level with scenery, monsters, a hero and sounds borrowed from the CD library, to change as you like; Empty gives you just a title and an ending; Describe it to your AI… has your own AI build a first level from what you describe (see Working on a game).
It also asks how the game opens, before your title screen. Four “Made with Game-Maker:
Sandbox Edition” animations of about four and a half seconds each: Falling letters (the
usual), Block by block, Wipe and Typewriter. Classic RSD plays the
CD’s own RSD logo animation, the one its sample games show before their story screens;
Still picture shows the falling letters’ card as one picture for four seconds; None
leaves it out. Press ▶ beside one to watch it first. Type your name or studio and a
“YOUR NAME PRESENTS” card follows it, drawn to fit the screen. They are your game’s own files
(MADEWITH.FLI or RSDTBOX.FLI, PRESENTS.FLI and the title
slide show TITLE.LST), so they play in DOS and in every copy you download. To swap
or remove them later, or to add them to a game made before, open the start scene in the
.GAM and choose 🎬 Opening sting….
My games and Imported
Games you make or copy are under My games; games you bring in are under Imported. Open opens one in the editor, and ⋯ More renames, duplicates, moves it to the other list or deletes it.
To bring a game in, drop it on the import tile (or anywhere on the page), click the tile to
choose files, or choose or open a game folder…. It takes a game’s files with its
.GAM, a .zip (even zips inside zips), a self-extracting
.EXE archive (only read, never run), a folder of several games or zips, or a
one-page .html export. When it finds more than one game, it lists them to tick.
Give each imported game 1 to 5 stars and a note (Your rating and note beside it, or Rating and note… under ⋯ More), then show only some ratings or sort by rating. Your notes are in the Library too. Remove all imported… removes them all, only some ratings, or one import’s games.
Sandbox
New games made for this edition in the original formats, so they also play in DOS. Each has a Manual to read or print, and Walkthrough plays the whole game from start to finish, with chapters to jump to and an MP4 to download.
Bizarre
Games made from the songs of The Bard of Bizarre. They are this project’s own and free to change (MIT, except their voice clips, which are for personal, non-commercial use only): Look inside and Edit a copy work as they do for the Sandbox games, and Notice tells the song behind each one.
Gameware
The free “gameware” from the Game-Maker CD. Look inside opens its files as released, and Edit a copy there adds a copy to your games. Demo video shows a game’s demo with its music and sound, and can save it as a video.
Shareware
Games other people made and shared as shareware. They are play-only here, in their shareware form: you can look inside them but not copy them. Notice shows the author’s terms. If you enjoy one, register it with its author.
Saves & scores
A game’s saved games, each with a map of where it was saved, and its high scores. You can
change a saved game, start a new one in its slot, or save it as a .SAV file and
bring one back.