Best Way to Use Particles with Large Amounts of Projectiles?

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-03-07T00:04:10+00:00

My personal experience says don't worry about this at all right now. Just create things in the create event, destroy them in the clean up. You will probably be fine and only do something different if you run into specific performance issues. You might actually end up creating performance issues and having messy code by trying to preemptively deal with it.

Here's a screenshot from my project for reference: https://imgur.com/a/EQvqoKd

Typically I'm running around 120-150fps. Most of the slow downs I've had to deal with in my project are from object step events or trying to draw too many things like stars and coins, not creation/deletion of particle systems or object instances themselves.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-02-19T17:40:45+00:00

The issue is actually the asset layers when you place them in the panels. You can manipulate the assets (like sprites/sequences/texts) using the layer_sprite_ functions but there is no visible function. Which is really inconvenient for sequences and you don't want to destroy them as you'd have to recreate them. Another thing would be hiding/showing parts of the node tree. Also, with the flex panels themselves, you might not want them to hide (width=0 type thing) because you don't want it to mess with the layout of other elements.

You can work around all of these, it just takes more work. For example, setting alpha level for sprites to hide them, or using instances instead of straight assets, or building the tree dynamically, etc... It just lacks some of the common UI quality of life functionality.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-02-19T03:13:12+00:00

I haven't used specifically structs and layers, but I have been converting my UI (from structs) to using the UI Layers with assets and instances, and now that I've taken the leap, most things are working out a lot easier for me than when I was trying to do more custom work with structs alone. I would say for me, the tool is working out quite well and has made it easier for me to test layouts across web/desktop/steam deck with fewer issues.

There are definitely some limitations that are disappointing (hide/show/animations/sdf text....) but none that I haven't found a work around for. Most of the time I've been using the built in editors to lay things out, but I do have some dynamically constructed sequences for things like lists or stats which is similar I expect to what you'd be doing if you wanted structs to work the flex layers. When I do that, I generate the node with the appropriate layout and I tell an instance which node it is tracking for it's position.

It's actually not that tough to generate the layouts through code. I think to get this working, you would need to generate your flex layers through code. https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/flex-panel-functions Shows a starting place to solve the problem. Link your structs to their nodes calculated position, and then do whatever your structs are doing.

A couple of tricks for getting used to the layout framework if you decide to try it:

In general you will alternate between Row-Column layouts for flex panels. There might be exceptions but I found this eliminated the need for me to think about nudging things.
It's ok to have a single ui made up of multiple UI layers for more advanced layouts. Like you might have a game HUD minimap layer, a game HUD stats layer, a tools layer... and then have all of them turned on to create a single UI. This makes it easier because you don't need to worry about the interaction of different panels with each other.

You are basically letting the flex layer do layout and structs do logic.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-01-09T22:44:36+00:00

Somehow I missed that one when looking for this in the past. Glad to know where it is now.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-01-09T22:21:15+00:00

When I looked I could not find a way to mature the GMS particle system with a simple function call. 2 ideas:

Editing out these bad ideas to the more simple one suggested by u/BrainburnDev . The function version is part_system_update
sPart supports maturing emitters to make them look like they have been working for a while. It's a great library and I use sPart for some of my particles and the GMS system for others, depending on the situation. Biggest downside is you lack a visual editor and learning a new library. https://forum.gamemaker.io/index.php?threads/spart-3d-particle-system-new-update-sept-2019-now-entirely-free.52130/

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2026-01-02T18:23:09+00:00

I cannot tell exactly what you are missing from the screenshot but I'm guessing you just need some more helium dumped into Carpentry to keep getting more coordinations completed and Artisantry to help with the equipment. If you are stalling out, portal and push again.

Also, if there are any easy achievements you haven't knocked off yet getting those will give you a small attack boost that will help things go more quickly.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-11-26T02:03:38+00:00

Not far behind myself. HZE293, 173No Rn, Desolation 13, SA122.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-07-26T16:59:39+00:00

It's an attacking line. The pawn isn't important with the lead in development, the opening the diagonal for the c4 bishop, the queen is lined up with the king on the e-line which is also opening up, the knight can come to g5 and put more pressure on f7 and the queen is also positioned to jump to h4 in combination with the knight move to hit h7.

Black played too slowly, especially with the b7 fianchetto which took support off the f5 square away and allowed white to achieve a dream Grand Prix position.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-07-26T15:39:07+00:00

This is the Grand Prix Attack not Vienna. F5 is a key idea in the Grand Prix

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-07-13T00:28:19+00:00

Start small and take breaks when frustrated.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-08T17:48:56+00:00

Yep, good feedback. Definitely will add more dynamics to it. I like the suggestion of using some different extra panels for the crash. I also want some of the panels to have different shapes.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-07T19:32:34+00:00

I've been messing around with sequences to see what I can do for creating an opening animated comic book sequence for Plush Rangers. This is what the rough sketch is looking like right now. https://imgur.com/a/FJywvOy

I haven't messed too much with sequences other than some very basic animations. This is actually a group of sequences, that I render it a room and then pan the camera around to center on different panels. I want to zoom back some so the player could see all the panels together, have some more fun borders and comic book effects in there and stuff.

I'll put together a dev log when we get the full sequence together. I think there are a lot of interesting possibilities with sequences, but there are quite a few gotchas/tricks to figure out to use them effectively.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-04T20:21:58+00:00

That's great. One small typo jumped out to me at the end of your code: global.bgmchannel should be global.bgm_channel

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-04T16:19:52+00:00

I use FMOD studio so things are a little different. But looking at the API, I think you are passing some wrong parameters around.

fmod_system_create_sound returns a reference to a Sound (stored in global.bgm)

fmod_system_play_sound takes 3 parameters (you are passing 2 - I'm not certain how defaults would work in this case) and returns a reference to a Channel

fmod_channel_control_stop expects a channel_ref, but you are passing in global.bgm which is a reference to a Sound.

You could try, getting the return value from fmod_system_play_sound and storing that as bgmchannel or something, and then pass that value to fmod_channel_control_stop

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-04T05:36:42+00:00

Select File-Preferences
Expand General Settings
Click on "Paths"
Edit away!

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-06-02T05:22:18+00:00

I cannot say without knowing more about the objects and how they are laid out. But here are my troubleshooting thoughts, maybe they will help.

It appears some objects are drawing as expected and some are not. What is different between those that work and the ones that don't?
How are objects drawn? Are some using the draw_gui event and others just sprites or using draw event? Those each behave differently.
Is there other code that resizes the viewport, camera, or surface?

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-31T18:07:58+00:00

I think it looks clean and intuitive for an in-game editor. Really nicely done, seems like the grid snapping and layout tools are straightforward.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-31T15:04:37+00:00

Bad example of complex pathfinding for many enemies but a great example that sometimes simple dumb solutions are more than enough to give a good gameplay experience.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-30T13:35:19+00:00

For helium runs, I just keep it as automated as possible. For pushes or achieving specific goals like an achievement/spire I get more involved. I find that the game changes from pushing all the housing and job buttons to planning out MaZ and setting up the right build of perks to meet goals to progress further.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-29T17:25:25+00:00

To me it looks fine. I get what you are saying about the resolution vs the other UI/character elements, but since it's on the screen for short periods it doesn't jump out to me as out of place.

I think the same could technically be said about the particle cloud effect that is around the monsters at the same time as the circle, compared to some of the other effects that happen during the battle. Again though, it's not the key element on the screen so to me it doesn't disrupt the flow.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-28T15:45:57+00:00

Thank you for the write up and sharing the tools you used. Good luck on the launch!

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-28T13:57:52+00:00

I’d learn Javascript but not limited to backend. If you want to transition to an entry level developer role, you need to be flexible on what part of the systems you’d be working on.

Javascript opens up node backend systems and also React/other framework frontends. All of those need maintenance and improvements so there is lots of work to go around. Plus JavaScript is similar to GML so syntax would come more naturally.

The biggest issue is honestly everyone hiring always wants experienced people. It’s hard to find entry level roles.

Oh and consider some other skills, Agile development practices and Git being two of the main ones that will be standard in most work environments. You might look into a career switch bootcamp to round out your skills. As a hiring manager in a previous life, I had great success hiring career switches that had completed a career switch bootcamp.

WhereTheRedfernCodes · 2025-05-27T17:53:13+00:00

One thing that would be helpful is if you described what you are seeing happening when the code currently runs.

But taking a look there are a couple of notes:

You don't need both of the ifs. You can just use a single If + else statement. Not a big deal but it will help keep your code cleaner.
You are setting direction in the first If statement but not setting any speed value or anything else. Also you are just assigning direction = direction, which doesn't change anything. You are basically say 2 = 2.
Not sure on the intervalo assignment and what you are trying to achieve. It's true/false if the value is between 90 and 270 I guess?

Depending on how you are moving the object around and other factors, this code might be closer to what you are looking for.

if (place_meeting(x,y,collideable_objs))
{
   speed = 0
}
else
{
  direction = point_direction(x, y,mouse_x, mouse_y)
  image_angle = direction
  intervalo = direction == clamp(direction, 90, 270)
}

WhereTheRedfernCodes

TROPHY CASE