You can make programs to create some very interesting moving patterns and designs using Game Maker.  The simulation by Rex Smeal is a fine example of what you can do.

This tutorial will show you how to make a simple design maker program.  It is an introduction to using Game Maker Language to enhance your programs. 

How it will work

Play starts with a single red ball in the centre of the screen.  When the user presses the 'A' key, 10 balls appear in the place of the single red ball and start moving outwards towards the edge of the play area.  If the 'A' key is pressed again, 10 balls will appear in the same place as each of the red balls on the play area.  When they reach the sides, they will wrap around to the other edge.  If too many balls are created the game will lock up, so we will only allow more balls to be created if there are less than 3000 balls in the play area.

Create a red ball sprite.  Name it sprBall

Create a ball object objBall, and attach the sprite.

Create an empty room, and place the ball exactly in the middle of it. (You can check the coordinates at the bottom of the screen - if the game area is 640x480, the centre is at 320, 240
Add an event to the ball object for when the A key is pressed.

From the control tab, choose

   If the number of instances is a value    

Put  objBall < 3000  (We don't want to create any more balls if there are already more than 3000 on the play area.)

From the control tab, choose

     Execute a piece of code  

counter=0   //initialise the counter

repeat(10)   //this loop will produce 10 balls at a time at 36 degree intervals around the circle

{

      counter+=36    //increment the counter by 36

      ball=instance_create(x,y,objBall)    //create a new ball

      ball.direction=counter    //give it a direction

      ball.speed=5     //give it a speed

}

 

When the balls leave the play area, we want them to wrap to the other side:

Add an event for when the ball is outside the room (From Other events )
 Choose the Wrap around the play area action from the Move tab.

Try varying the code so that 18 balls are given out each time. 

You will need to look carefully at the code to work out what you need to change.

 

Download a finished version pattern2.gm6

Download an enhanced version  pattern1.gm6