GameMaker Studio 2 - Sequences Tutorial (2.3 update)

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What are sequences? How do they work? How do we make them? These questions and more answered in this basic tutorial guide to sequences in the new version of GameMaker Studio 2(.3)
We'll be following up this basic guide with a practical example of building a cutscene for a game.
These tutorials are supported almost wholly by wonderful people via Patreon, click the link above to join them and access these videos as early as possible, get instant access to source code for various videos and more.

[@krevetka9744]

Almost a year now and I'm still making complex animations via code. Damn, I wish I saw this earlier. Well, never too late I guess.

[@bengelman2600]

Stick with the code. It's a mess.

[@tiaanfortune1849]

I might just finally upgrade to GMS 2, I NEED this on the game I'm working on *EDIT* Just bought it, thank you Shaun for your amazing tutorials, always a pleasure seeing you upload

[@woojinjang8077]

that was fast

[@tiaanfortune1849]

@@woojinjang8077 I've been on the fence for a while because the Desktop version is $99, just saw it now on steam for like $34 and quickly grabbed it. I'm not from the US so we don't have the same steam prices, I'm just assuming that you are.

[@Contendo1]

@@tiaanfortune1849 are you sure that you didnt buy the creator version?

[@DarkKnightDad]

If it was the creator version, then he can still update it with basically half the price (as long as he updates before the license ends)

[@tiaanfortune1849]

@@Contendo1 was definitely the Desktop version, I checked

[@Pepumu]

On point as always Shaun, thanks for keeping us updated.

[@danimations80]

As an animator first and foremost, this is a very exciting development. Thanks for the explainer!

[@gabrielwolfsbaine3223]

This feature makes me SO happy :) being able to animate in a way akin to other animation programs is so nice!

[@DarrelOdin]

Oh this is so helpful as a basic tutorial on Sequences! I hope you're able to do a more in-depth explanation of some of the possibilities in the future, but thank you for this!

[@alexanderm.clinthorne4368]

Can't wait to learn about cutscenes!

[@alexanderm.clinthorne4368]

Wow, this is so exciting! Thanks for sharing

[@Jokerwolf666]

Man, this is going to help a ton in my game, thank you for this video!

[@dynastylobster8957]

this is amazing, i have no idea why i've never seen this in the engine, an actual cutscene animator

[@silokhawk]

Is this the future???

[@funnyusername4774]

Wii tanks man strikes again Jk love your stuff lmao

[@gamingguna3591]

No this is patrick

[@SuperGamersgames]

Fun fact: The game you played yesterday, Overthrow!, makes use it sequences. It was when the version wasn’t out of beta yet. :)

[@Ani-pl2dv]

This is so great !

[@ShaolinMonkster]

Super, i used to be a flash user, i love it

[@bengelman2600]

I wish it was as good as flash. This is a disaster.

[@BapsyGames]

Uncanny... I was just thinking while watching this video "I wonder if it has animation curves?" :-) This seems to already be a quite powerful tool and will be VERY useful. Especially for those who have already used, Like u said, After Effects or similar (Key Frames and Timelines) ...( Maya :-) ).

[@michaelcapone175]

Please keep the Action RPG series going using 2.3.

[@Isakube]

my game maker trial ran out but i still watch the vids

[@alexraum8579]

Very GOOD))) I from Russia. Sorry me for my bad english!

[@ru-binchannel8419]

Когда-то я тоже это писал, но потом, просто нормально выучил английский))

[@enru2251]

I'm not upgraded my GMS2 to GM2.3 yet (I heard about some importing sprite error), but I guess that sequence system is pretty similar to adobe premier pro. For short cut scene, maybe just Asperite would be great, but actually for the long-taking scene, this would be much more effective.

[@johndurish4092]

Could you have two characters facing each other, but when viewed facing the player, and having a dialog, either with audio or text boxes?

[@fierorecensione5828]

top!

[@Fazendojogo]

Hello! How do you make zoom and annotations in your video? Using some tool?

[@QTheMarkerr]

can i use the sequence tool as a way to animate my player throughout the game?

[@figgeldorpe1053]

I couldn’t get them to work while drawing the sequence to the GUI. I eventually gave up and instead just used a series of animation curves. Has anyone else had similar issues with sequences drawn to the GUI?

[@rinkun6689]

How do you use sequences for guis, huds? like if i made an animated game hud like hearts for example?..

[@HenrikoMagnifico]

This is neat, but I can't help but feel doing the animations and cutscenes in-code and using timelines would be easier and more flexible in the long run.

[@saxenart]

What i would really like to know is how to code in a way that triggers a cutscene. For example your character is walking some place and then a cutscene starts. How do i code rhat?

[@Hatmaster]

Hey shaun, not sure if you knew this but your patreon link is not working

[@myPlaceholderName]

Hello Shaun. I'd like to ask what are some of the limitations of these sequences? Like, can the whole sequence move around and/or be transformed using code? Could I for instance use this to create very animated attacks using multiple sprites? Thanks.

[@Contendo1]

Yes you can do that. The question is if you should. You need about 3-4 lines to replace an instance in the sequence with your, for example, player object. As you play the sequence it will change the used variables of the instances to read only though.

[@ShaunJS]

As contendo says, you can. It's hard to say without trying it how effective it might be but worth keeping in mind custom functions are now even more trivial to make so I don't think the lines thing is an issue

[@myPlaceholderName]

@@ShaunJS I am a bit confused. Contendo mentioned code to replace an instance in the sequence with my player object, but my goal is to play a complete attack sequence in place of a character animation. I was basically wondering if I could animate a whole fancy attack play out using multiple tweened layers, and then set it as the sprite index (or equivalent) for one of my player object's attack states somehow. I apologize if what Contendo suggested is actually what I am looking for. I have a bit of trouble wrapping my head around this.

[@garypatterson2857]

You might like to check out Matharoo's videos from the beta. The first one is: kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5yQpXhqabaimck and the second one gets more into integrating the sequence with GML.

[@Contendo1]

@@myPlaceholderName from what I know, the sequence is only on one layer. If you have a fancy animation with your player in the sequence you would need to replace the instances in the sequence with the already existing ones, otherwise the sequence would create new instances.

[@CAESAR_IS_GOD_mohammadisaloser]

are gamemaker games naturally copyright protected? is there a code to make your code copy protected when you release your game?

[@user-qc1mc2ly8j]

how do i resize sprites? i drew my sprites as 512 by 512 pixels and i want them resized so they arent massive on the screen

[@RafaelEstrada]

Take a shot every time he mentions after effects

[@leifktaylor]

Ok from experimenting for about an hour with sequences they have a huuuge flaw when it comes to object control. No matter where your starting keyframe for an object is, the object always instantiates at T0 (the beginning of the sequence). So if that object sets alarms during its create event, or runs any crucial code during its create event, that code will be run at the start of the sequence no matter what. Moreover it seems it even runs its step event from T0... Why wouldn't YoYo have the object instantiate at the start of its clip? Very odd.

[@leifktaylor]

Wow.. even if you have a subsequence within a sequence, the master sequence instantiates all the objects in the subsequence at T0...

[@Rrrretchy]

There goes my plan to use sequences to spawn my enemy formations then I guess? I've been having trouble with some of my enemy objects when created in a sequence and I guess this is why.

[@leifktaylor]

@@Rrrretchy For your purposes you may be able to work around this limitation. Have all your enemy instances deactivate themselves at the end of their create events, then whenever you want your sequence to spawn in an enemy, use the "moment" function to activate that given instance.

[@Rrrretchy]

@@leifktaylor Thanks, yeah I'll have a play around and see if I can do something like that, cheers!

[@leifktaylor]

Creating a sequence in my project, even a blank one, causes a stack overflow error on compile, moreover, having the sequence in my project makes it so that once I quit I can't reload my project (it just quits out with no error on load) until I manually remove the sequence from the project's directory. Has anyone encountered this error?

[@leifktaylor]

I found the cause, if the sequence is in a resource group folder, e.g. Sequences/boss_fights/ then it errors out and corrupts the process on project load.

[@Likethisimage]

I know about sequences from LittleBigPlanet 2 😤

[@GlyphicEnigma]

Hey shaun, I'd like to know what the licensing is for your tutorial assets? (the RPG tutorial assets)

[@pistachoduck9128]

Isn't this just "AnimationTree node" from Godot?

[@alexraum8579]

I apologize. When is the next RPG lesson? How many lessons will there be? Thank))

[@imkrakenup7366]

Can someone point me in the right direction of a tutorial for two things please. 1. Multiplayer, any kind, local or online. 2. Was to make your own character, like how stardue valley/Fantasy Life did it? Thank you. I'm trying to make a fun yet challenging game..

[@DarkKnightDad]

There is a demo project for local networks provided by yoyo games themselves. I believe it is a nice place to start as a base. As for learning the ins and outs, i would recommend watching shaun and heartbeast video series about local multiplayer

[@imkrakenup7366]

@@DarkKnightDad Thank you! I'll check it out.

[@Sim2322]

Couch multiplayer is the same as single player, but you use the commands of the 2nd controller to control the 2nd player. Can be done in 2 lines of code. Network multiplayer is a totally different beast, the learning curve is much steeper, but once you understand the concepts, it's also pretty simple! Denifitely make sure you can do a 2 players Asteroid clone in under an hour before trying to tackle network! Best of luck!

[@unsubscribepleaseandthanky5350]

Im wondering if we can get a tutorial on how to make a fighting game like smash bros

[@alidragon185]

I put objects in the room and I run the game but it does not show any objects!?

[@alidragon185]

please help me

[@line7299]

I watch vido becuz no cod is exprince

[@bengelman2600]

Sequences has been out for a year and it's still THIS TERRIBLE? The UI is trash. Can only ease in out if you convert to curves, when you do it deletes your keyframes. You can't mask inside a mask. You can't even change a a clip masks name until you put stuff inside it. There is no snapping on the bezier curves so You have to manually click move them with a mouse to make sure that it's flat. This is insanely bad. The only way to see your mask or the subject is to position them BEFORE you enter into the mask relationship. I mean this is bad.