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This guide assumes you have already downloaded DS Game Maker. If you have not, you may do so now:
So, you want to make your own DS Games?
This tutorial will show you how to create your very first game. It will involve using a Sprite, a Variable and some game logic. This tutorial assumes you are an absolute beginner and have never used the program before.
Once you are ready to begin, open the program.
Welcome to DS Game Maker
What you see when you first boot DS Game Maker without a project loaded.
Create a New Project
Click the New Project button.
- Select the project template you would like to use. Since there is only one template right now, select 'Blank Project'.
- Give your project a name in the text box. Don't worry, you can change it later.
- Click the Okay button.
- Find a suitable place to save your project. DS Game Maker projects are stored in the XDS file format.
- You may find it beneficial to save your graphics and the XDS in the same place so that your project is organized
- If you look closely at the screenshot, you will see I have created a specific folder for all my DS games. This is much tidier than saving everything on the Desktop. I advise you to do to this.
- Click the Save button.
Now that you have created a New Project, you will notice the following differences within DS Game Maker:
- The Resource Treeview has been populated with a room (Room_1). See left.
- The Compile & Project Properties buttons are now enabled
- The Add Sprite, Add Background, Add Room (etc.) buttons are now enabled. See below.
Test Game Compilation
To make sure that your computer is ready to compile the game we are about to create, you should try compiling your project with nothing in it. Click the Compile button.
What a Successful Compile looks like If you do not see the above (highlighted in Green), then you haven't installed the devkitPro toolchain and PAlib correctly. The install guide is hosted online here, and the forum for this kind of error is hosted online here.
You must fix this before you continue, or else none of your games will compile.
If you see the above, Press any key.
- Find a suitable place to save your NDS file. Remember that so far this NDS file will do nothing at all because we have added no graphics or actions. You may find it beneficial to save all your games in the same place so that your computer is organized
- Click the Save button.
Setting up an Emulator
Now that the program is able to compile games, you should set up an emulator so that you can test your games on your computer.
Click the Preferences button.
The Preferences dialog.
Tick Emulate Game. You are now able to browse for an emulator executable. Click the Browse button - this will let you select an emulator executable on your Computer. If you are an advanced user, you can type the path of an emulator into the textbox manually.
Click Okay to save the changes.
Hello, World.
Now that DS Game Maker is fully configured to make games, you may now begin to experiment with the program. In the world of programming, it is typical to show the words 'Hello World' to demonstrate that development is in full working order. (Inspired? Read here).
Exploring how to create a Hello World demo for the Nintendo DS will teach you alot about how the program works.
When creating anything with DS Game Maker, you will need to remember the global idea:
- A game consists of Rooms.
- A room can have 2 Backgrounds: One on each screen.
- Rooms contain Sprites, such as characters, objects and buttons, that can be moved around and manipulated when the game runs.
- Rooms also contain Actions, or commands, which make the game work.
- Resources, including Sprites, Backgrounds, and Rooms are shown in the Resources Treeview.
- All Actions that can be added to Rooms are shown in the Actions Treeview.
- Backgrounds and Sprites are placed on the Rooms 2 Screens.
- Actions that are added to the current room are listed in the Room Actions List.
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