GameMaker now allows you to export your game through the new Opera GX Target and upload it to the GX.games platform, made specifically for GameMaker. In this tutorial we’ll learn how this target can be enabled and how games can be uploaded to GX.games through DevCloud (or DC).
You can also refer to the Opera GX Target FAQ for solutions on common issues.
Requirements
- Make sure to install Opera GX which will be required to play games exported using the Opera GX Export: https://www.opera.com/gx
- Once you have Opera GX, make sure you are running version 78.0.4093.214 or higher.
- You can click on the Opera icon, go to “Update & Recovery…” and check your version there; if it’s lower than the required version you can click on “Check for update” to download the latest update.
Opera GX Target
You can open the Targets menu from the top-right corner of your IDE and select the new “Opera GX” export:
You can now click on the Play button at the top of the IDE (or press F5) to run your game through the Opera GX target!
To set up the YYC Output for Opera GX, read this. YYC enables faster performance but takes more time to compile.
Make sure that Opera GX is selected as your default browser, otherwise your game may open in another browser where you will not be able to play it. You can also open it manually in Opera GX by copying the link that opens in your other browser and pasting it into GX.
While your game is running, you will see a "Toggle Console" button at the bottom which can be used to show/hide the output log for your game. All debug messages from show_debug_message() calls will appear here in addition to all the errors that your game produces.
Game Options
There are various Game Options available for the Opera GX target:
Your GameMaker project is tied to your game on GX.games by the GX.games GUID. When this field is empty, a new project is created on GX.games during upload.
If an existing GUID is assigned, the game associated with that GUID will be updated on subsequent uploads. This will automatically be filled after your first upload.
You can change your game's name only before uploading it to GX.games. Make sure it's unique - if a name is already taken by another game, you can't use it.
After your first upload, you can only change your game's name on GX.games. Hit "Synchronize" in the Game Options window to make your updated details appear in the window.
Upload to GX.games
You can click on the “Create an Executable” button at the top of the IDE to create an executable, which will open the following window asking you to sign into your Opera account:
Note that if you used your Opera account to sign into GMS2 (using the Single Sign-On feature) then you will not need to log in here as your existing Opera account will be used for GX.games.
Clicking on “Sign-In to Opera” will take you to the Opera website where you can create an Opera account and sign in with it. You can also use the social buttons given below the “Sign In” button to speed up this process by signing up through an existing social account (Facebook, Twitter, etc.).
After you have signed in, your Opera account will be connected to your current GMS2 session (meaning you will need to repeat this when you start GMS2 again after closing it). You should now be returned back to GameMaker.
You may also see the following message in your browser, which means you can simply close that tab and return to GameMaker.
Your game will now start compiling, and once it is done you will see the following:
You can click on “Edit Game on Opera” which will take you to DevCloud and open your project. You can also open it manually by going to dc.gxc.gg, signing in and selecting your project:
DevCloud
Game Details
Once you open your project you will be able to provide the following settings for your game:
- Title: The title of your game; as mentioned earlier, this should match the name in your GMS2 project’s Game Options for Opera GX, and should be unique across the GX.games (so two games cannot have the same name)
- Short Description: The short description shown with your game
- Long Description: The long description shown on your game page; this allows for markdown formatting so you can make it as pretty as you like!
- Cover Art: Here you need to upload two cover images for your game, one with a 4:3 aspect ratio and the other with a 16:9 aspect ratio. You can upload images of any aspect ratio and crop them using the crop tool on GX.games once they are uploaded.
- Gallery: This allows you to upload images and videos that are displayed on your game page, and allows you to crop and zoom into your uploaded images to fit the correct aspect ratio; also make sure to read the file restrictions given (such as file type and size). You can also drag your gallery images to re-order them.
- Genre: Here you can select from a predefined range of genres that best describe your game; you can only select up to three
- Age Rating: Set an appropriate age rating for your game
You can click on “Save” and then “Confirm” to save the entered information and submit it to GX.games.
Publishing
On the left you can select the “Publishing” tab, which allows you to manage both the private and live versions of your game.
Private version
Whenever you upload your game from GMS2, it will be visible under this section as a private version.
Here you can enable the “Public” option which will show you a Sharable URL; anyone who opens this link will now be able to play this game (if you want to disable that at any time, just disable the “Public” option).
You can also click on “Promote to live” next to your desired private version to move it into the “Live version” section.
Live version
Once you promote a version of your game to live, it will be shown here. You can enable the “Published” option which will make the game discoverable on GX.games and allow everyone to play it. Once you have done that, you will see a "Sharable URL" which can be used to link players directly to the published version.
You will also see your game on gxc.gg once your live version is published, however it may take around 15 minutes for the game to show up in listings after it is published for the first time.
Game Page
On opening the “Sharable URL” provided in DevCloud, you will see your game along with any uploaded images and videos. Clicking on the Play icon will run your game on the same page! (Of course, they have to be running the correct version of Opera GX as mentioned at the top).
You can also enter fullscreen mode using the button highlighted above, which can easily be exited by pressing F11 on Windows or Escape on Mac.
Start Uploading Games!
You can now go ahead and open any of your previous favourite projects, then upload them to GX.games with the click of a button!
Follow our beginner tutorials to learn more GameMaker tricks and become the best GX.games creator.