GameMaker: Studio 1.4

GameMaker: Studio 1.4 uses a custom XML-based format to store its rooms, and Tiled ships with a plugin to export maps in this format. Currently only orthogonal maps will export correctly.

Tile layers and tile objects (when no class is set) will export as “tile” elements. These support horizontal and vertical flipping, but no rotation. For tile objects, scaling is also supported.

Warning

The tilesets have to be named the same as the corresponding backgrounds in the GameMaker project. Otherwise GameMaker will pop up an error for each tile while loading the exported room.gmx file.

Object Instances

GameMaker object instances are created by putting the object name in the “Class” field of the object in Tiled. Rotation is supported here, and for tile objects also flipping and scaling is supported (though flipping in combination with rotation doesn’t appear to work in GameMaker).

Since Tiled 1.1

The following custom properties can be set on objects to affect the exported instance:

  • string code (instance creation code, default: “”)

  • float scaleX (default: derived from tile or 1.0)

  • float scaleY (default: derived from tile or 1.0)

  • int originX (default: 0)

  • int originY (default: 0)

The scaleX and scaleY properties can be used to override the scale of the instance. However, if the scale is relevant then it will generally be easier to use a tile object, in which case it is automatically derived from the tile size and the object size.

The originX and originY properties can be used to tell Tiled about the origin of the object defined in GameMaker, as an offset from the top-left. This origin is taken into account when determining the position of the exported instance.

Hint

Of course setting the class and/or the above properties manually for each instance will get old fast. Since Tiled 1.0.2, you can instead use tile objects with the class set on the tile, and in Tiled 1.1 you can also use object templates.

Since Tiled 1.1

Views

GameMaker View Settings

Views can be defined using rectangle objects where the Class has been set to view. The position and size will be snapped to pixels. Whether the view is visible when the room starts depends on whether the object is visible. The use of views is automatically enabled when any views are defined.

The following custom properties can be used to define the various other properties of the view:

Port on screen

  • int xport (default: 0)

  • int yport (default: 0)

  • int wport (default: 1024)

  • int hport (default: 768)

Object following

  • string objName

  • int hborder (default: 32)

  • int vborder (default: 32)

  • int hspeed (default: -1)

  • int vspeed (default: -1)

Hint

When you’re defining views in Tiled, it is useful to add view as class in the Custom Types Editor, adding the above properties for ease of access. If you frequently use views with similar settings, you can set up templates for them.

Map Properties

General

  • int speed (default: 30)

  • bool persistent (default: false)

  • bool clearDisplayBuffer (default: true)

  • bool clearViewBackground (default: false)

  • string code (map creation code, default: “”)

Physics

  • bool PhysicsWorld (default: false)

  • int PhysicsWorldTop (default: 0)

  • int PhysicsWorldLeft (default: 0)

  • int PhysicsWorldRight (default: width of map in pixels)

  • int PhysicsWorldBottom (default: height of map in pixels)

  • float PhysicsWorldGravityX (default: 0.0)

  • float PhysicsWorldGravityY (default: 10.0)

  • float PhysicsWorldPixToMeters (default: 0.1)

Layer Properties

Both tile layers and object layers may produce “tile” elements in the exported room file. Their depth is set automatically, with tiles from the bottom-most layer getting a value of 10000000 (the GameMaker default) and counting up from there. If you want to set a custom depth value you can set the following property on the layer:

  • int depth (default: 10000000 + N)