LICENSE AGREEMENT 6 PREFACE 8 VERSION INFORMATION 9 BASIC CONCEPTS 13 WHAT KINDS OF GAME IS GM8 OPTIMIZED FOR? IS GM8 3D CAPABLE? 13 WHAT IS PERSPECTIVE PROJECTION? 14 MORE ON GM8 AND 3D 15 IS THERE AN EASY TO USE DRAG AND DROP KIND OF 3D FUNCTIONS AVAILABLE? 17 IS DIRECT3D RELIABLE ON GM8? 18 WHY IS GM8 A GOOD CHOICE FOR ELEMENTARY GAME CREATION? 19 WHY WOULD ONE PREFER GM8 OVER MMF FOR GAME CREATION? 21 WHAT IS THE CRITICAL DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MMF AND GM8 WHEN 2D GAME CREATION IS THE PRIMARY REQUIREMENT? 23 IS GM8 A GOOD CHOICE FOR ADVANCED LEVEL GAME CREATION? 24 IS THERE A WAY TO ENHANCE THE EDITING CAPABILITY OF GM8? 26 WHY IS IT BENEFICIAL FOR THE PNG FILE FORMAT TO BE SUPPORTED? 28 DO I NEED THE PRO VERSION OF GM8 FOR ADVANCED GAME CREATION? 29 CAN I USE GM8 TO CREATE WEB GAMES? ARE THE GAMES JAVA/FLASH COMPATIBLE? 30 IS GM8 GOING TO BE EASY (FOR ME) IF I HAVE RICH BACKGROUND IN PROCEDURAL PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES LIKE C AND PASCAL? 31 CAN I MASTER GM8 WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING ANY PROGRAMMING CONCEPT? 32 DO I NEED TO KNOW DELPHI IN ORDER TO MASTER GM8? 33 CAN I MASTER GM8 WITHOUT KNOWING THE GML? HOW SHOULD I MAKE USE OF THE GML? 34 WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT AN EVENT DRIVEN SYSTEM? HOW DOES IT WORK? 35 PROGRAMMING WITHOUT WRITING CODES: HOW DOES IT WORK IN GM8? 37 SEPARATING GRAPHIC DESIGN FROM GAME DESIGN... 39 SHOULD I START WITH RESOURCES FIRST OR OBJECT FIRST? 41 SHOULD I START WITH ROOM FIRST OR OBJECT FIRST? 42 I AM CONFUSED - HOW DO THE TERMS PROGRAM, ROOM, LEVEL, OBJECT AND WINDOW RELATE TO EACH OTHERS? 43 I AM MOVING FROM MMF TO GM8. WHAT ARE THE EQUIVALENT TERMS? 44 WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A WINDOW AND A PROGRAM? 45 WINDOWS SETTINGS 46 CAN I PROGRAMMATICALLY CHANGE THE WINDOW SIZE AND POSITION? 47 WHY IS FULL SCREEN MODE PREFERABLE AND WHY SHOULD MODE CHANGE BE DISCOURAGED AT RUNTIME? 48 WHY SHOULD I NEED MULTIPLE ROOMS? CAN I USE ONE BIG ROOM TO HOST EVERYTHING? 50 TO CODE OR NOT TO CODE? 52 CAN I MODIFY THE ACTIONS I HAVE SPECIFIED VISUALLY THROUGH EDITING THE UNDERLYING CODES? 53 HOW DO I WRITE AND DEPLOY A SCRIPT? 54 WHAT IS CONDITIONAL PROGRAMMING ALL ABOUT? 55 DEVELOPMENT TOOLS CONFIGURATION 56 WHAT CONFIGURATION SHOULD I USE FOR MY GM8 DEVELOPMENT STATION? 56 WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED DISK LAYOUT FOR MY GM8 DEVELOPMENT STATION? 57 HOW MUCH DISK SPACE SHOULD I KEEP FOR GM8? 58 DESIGN TIME PERFORMANCE VS RUNTIME PERFORMANCE 59 DESIGN-END PERFORMANCE VS USER-END PERFORMANCE 59 WHAT AMOUNT OF MEMORY SHOULD I INSTALL IN MY GM8 DEVELOPMENT STATION? DO I NEED A DUAL CORE PROCESSOR? 60 DO I NEED A HIGH PERFORMANCE GRAPHIC CARD IN MY GM8 DEVELOPMENT STATION? 61 DO I NEED A LARGE CHUNK OF VIDEO RAM ON MY GRAPHIC CARD TO SUPPORT GM8? DO I NEED DIRECTX 9 OR DIRECTX 10 INSTALLED? 62 WHICH WINDOWS VERSION SHOULD BE USED TO POWER MY GM8 DEVELOPMENT STATION? 63 I WANT TO DEVELOP GM GAMES ON A NON-WINDOWS WORKSTATION. IS IT POSSIBLE? 64 WHAT OTHER DEVELOPMENT TOOLS SHOULD I INSTALL ON MY COMPUTER? 65 WINDOWS XP SERVICE PACK ISSUE 67 CAN I INSTALL BOTH THE PRO VERSION AND THE LITE VERSION ON THE SAME COMPUTER? CAN I INSTALL GM8 WITHOUT ANY ACTIVE NETWORK CONNECTION? 68 GM8 BACKWARD COMPATIBILITY 69 CAN I EXPLICITLY REQUEST TO SAVE A GM8 PROJECT IN A GM7 FORMAT? 70 CAN DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF GM COEXIST ON THE SAME MACHINE? 71 IF MY HARD DRIVE CRASHES, WHAT SPECIAL PROCEDURES ARE NECESSARY SO I CAN REINSTALL GM8 PRO ONTO A NEW DRIVE? 72 WHAT IS THE RECOMMENDED WAY TO COLLECT AND INSTALL EXTENSIONS AND DLLS? 73 IS A SOUND CARD REQUIRED ON THE DEVELOPMENT STATION? 74 ARE THE GM8 APPLICATION FILES VULNERABLE TO VIRUS ATTACK? 75 WHAT IS CONSIDERED AS AN "EDITABLE COPY" OF MY GAME? HOW DO I ENCRYPT MY PROJECT AND MY GAME? 76 ARE GM8 PROJECTS AND GAMES SECURE? 77 PERFORMANCE CONCERNS 78 WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL DISPLAY RESOLUTION AND COLOR DEPTH FOR GM8 TO OPERATE AT DESIGN TIME? 78 WHAT IS THE OPTIMAL DISPLAY RESOLUTION AND COLOR DEPTH FOR GM8 GAME TO OPERATE AT RUNTIME? 79 CAN I SELECT DIFFERENT COLOR DEPTH AND RESOLUTION FOR DIFFERENT GAME LEVELS? 82 HOW SHOULD I DEFINE THE "MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENT"? 83 WHAT LIMITS THE DISPLAY CAPABILITY OF GM8? 84 WHAT COMPATIBILITY ISSUES CAN BE FORESEEN WITH DIRECTX SUPPORT IMPLEMENTED? 85 DISPLAY CARD DRIVER PERFORMANCE ISSUE 86 HOW TO DEFINE RUNTIME SCREEN PERFORMANCE? 87 HOW DO I MEASURE ACTUAL RUNTIME SCREEN PERFORMANCE? 88 CAN I IMPROVE SCREEN PERFORMANCE BY MOVING MOST ACTIVE OBJECTS OFF SCREEN? 89 WHAT ARE THE MAJOR RUNTIME PERFORMANCE OBSTACLES? 91 CAN I ADJUST PROCESS PRIORITY OF MY GAME? 92 WHY WOULD I ENCOUNTER AN UNEXPECTED ERROR WHILE THE GAME IS LOADING? 93 IS IT SAFE AND EFFICIENT (PERFORMANCE-WISE) TO USE EXTENSION PACKAGES AND/OR DLLS EXTENSIVELY IN MY GAME? 94 DLL VS EXTENSION: WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE? 95 WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO INSTALL A DLL FILE? 96 WHAT IS THE PROPER WAY TO INSTALL A GEX EXTENSION FILE? 97 HOW TO USE THE DEBUG MODE? 102 OBJECT DESIGN 105 I AM CONFUSED - WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A SPRITE AND A SUB-IMAGE? 105 WHAT ARE THE PROS AND CONS OF USING ANIMATED GIF FOR SPRITE ANIMATION? 106 HOW DO I ASSOCIATE MULTIPLE SPRITES WITH AN OBJECT? 107 I AM CONFUSED - IS A SPRITE TIED TO A PARTICULAR OBJECT ONLY? CAN I REUSE SPRITES? 109 WHAT ELEMENTS WITHIN A ROOM SHOULD BE CREATED AS OBJECTS? 110 I AM CONFUSED - IS AN OBJECT TIED TO A PARTICULAR ROOM ONLY? CAN I REUSE OBJECTS ACROSS ROOMS? 112 I AM STILL CONFUSED - WHY WOULD I EVER NEED A PERSISTENT OBJECT? 113 WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN INSERTING AN OBJECT, DUPLICATING AN OBJECT AND ADDING AN OBJECT? 115 I AM CONFUSED - WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN OBJECT AND AN OBJECT INSTANCE? WHY SHOULD WE CARE ABOUT NEW INSTANCES CREATION AT RUNTIME? 117 SHOULD I CARE ABOUT THE PARENT OBJECT AT ALL? 119 PLANNING YOUR OBJECT HIERARCHY 121 ARE YOU ABSOLUTELY SURE THIS PARENT OBJECT THING IS TOTALLY UNNECESSARY? 122 HOW DO I OBTAIN A QUICK OVERVIEW OF EVERYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH A PARTICULAR OBJECT? 123 I AM CONFUSED - WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COLLISION CHECKING, PRECISE CHECKING AND COLLISION MASK? 124 WHY WOULD A SINGLE LARGE OBJECT BE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE AT RUNTIME? 126 HOW ABOUT TILING? 127 A SINGLE LARGE OBJECT VS A GROUP OF SMALLER OBJECTS LINKED TOGETHER 130 CONFIGURING BIG BOSSES FOR YOUR LEVELS 135 THE FANCY WAY OF CARRYING A WEAPON 136 HOW TO DEFINE PATH MOVEMENT? 137 IS THERE ANY MOVEMENT ALTERNATIVE SUITABLE FOR USE BY ENEMY OBJECTS? 139 HOW TO DEBUG AN OBJECT? 141 ROOM DESIGN 142 CAN I MAKE A ROOM LARGER THAN A WINDOW AND VICE VERSA? 142 WHY WOULD I WANT A VERY LARGE ROOM IF I DO NOT ACTUALLY NEED IT THAT BIG? 144 DOES THE SPEED SETTING HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE ROOM SIZE? 145 WHAT IS A VIEW FOR? WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN A VIEW AND A ROOM? 146 CAN THE VIEWS OVERLAP? 150 IT LOOKS LIKE FRAME RATE OF MY GAME DROPS HEAVILY WHEN RUNNING. WHAT SHOULD I DO? 154 CAN I MAKE THE SPEED SETTING VERY HIGH OR VERY LOW? 155 BASIC SCREEN SCROLLING AND SPLIT SCREEN DESIGN 156 ROOM SCROLLING 158 IS IT A BAD IDEA TO CONSTRUCT A VERY LARGE ROOM IN THE GAME? 159