I've decided to share my knowledge regarding game development with the community here so I've started a game development tutorial series, I will update this topic whenever a new video gets published.

#1: Introduction to GM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgLcwG9DoK4&index=1&list=PLxEsx5EZAe1_f6cqh3mW3G-vrylvyEE2P

#2: Platformer Basics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Ni6SwLBck&index=2&list=PLxEsx5EZAe1_f6cqh3mW3G-vrylvyEE2P

Download Game Maker: Studio: http://yoyogames.com/studio

Wasn't this the engine that many people used to create fan-made Mario games?

Either way, looks interesting

Wasn't this the engine that many people used to create fan-made Mario games?

Either way, looks interesting

It's used for lots of things. It was mocked on a lot a couple years ago (even simply for it's name) but has become a respected engine as there's quite a few great games made with it now, eg: Gunpoint.

It's used for lots of things. It was mocked on a lot a couple years ago (even simply for it's name) but has become a respected engine as there's quite a few great games made with it now, eg: Gunpoint.

Yeah, it was seriously mocked. Also, it wasn't just Mario games, I came to the GMC (Game Maker Community) in 2008, wanting to know how to make a zoniczoniczonic game, and I will say it's not as easy as it looks. Especially when the response you give back to people giving you advice is 'I don't know how to do that, I'm a noob here.' Goddamn 7yr old me. Also, if you want to really know how to make a platformer, find Damizean's shit for Game-Maker. It includes a custom animation system by state for Sonic, a 360 degree dynamic turning system based on tile clips, and a really smart (but hard to figure out) way of handling all collisions by activating a script on a collide.

I still use GM8, got it back when it was 20$ and it still serves me well without the expensive and for the the majority of it, unchanged software.


TL;DR
Find Damizean's Sonic-Engines for Game Maker, they have lots of cool shit that you can learn off of.