Building a First-Person Engine in GameMaker
GameMaker isn't the obvious choice for a first-person dungeon crawler — but it's the right one for this project. Here's why, and how the FPS engine is coming together.
GameMaker is primarily known as a 2D engine. Building a first-person perspective game in it is unconventional — but not impossible, and for Blood Mage, it's the right call. The engine's simplicity keeps the focus on gameplay design rather than engine architecture.
The FPS system uses raycasting — the same technique behind Wolfenstein 3D and the original DOOM — to render the dungeon environment. Walls, floors, and ceilings are drawn column by column based on ray intersections with the level geometry. It's fast, it's retro, and it fits the aesthetic perfectly.
The current build has basic movement, collision, and raycasting working. Next up: enemy sprites, the combat system, and the first pass at blood magic spell effects.