StarterVillage

Week 1

Setup and movement

Part of The Hero's Village.

Get the hero moving. By the end of this first class, the hero walks in all four directions with smooth animation and rests on a standing frame when still.

Being finalized. This course is being finalized and polished before it opens on Outschool in July 2026. The outline below is the plan for what your learner will build, and a few details may still change as we add the finishing touches.

What this class covers

A tour of GameMaker
A friendly look around the workspace, the same professional tool used to make real games, so your learner knows where everything lives before building.
Bringing the hero to life
Your learner adds the hero's sprite and gets it on screen, ready to control.
Walking in four directions
We set up the keyboard so the hero moves up, down, left, and right, the foundation every later class builds on.
Animation that feels right
The hero's frames change while walking so movement looks natural, then settle on a still frame when it stops.

Bonus challenges

Optional, just-for-fun challenges to try on your own between classes. Never needed to keep up.

  1. Tune the hero's walking speed.
  2. Add WASD controls.
  3. Add a run key.