GMRoomLoader

Overview

GMRoomLoader is an open source GameMaker library designed to streamline room loading at runtime. It provides methods to process the data returned by room_get_info(), use it to load rooms efficiently during gameplay, and clean up created elements when needed.

Links: GitHub, Documentation.

GameMaker Version: 2024.11+.

Supported Platforms: Windows, Mac.

Use Cases

• Procedural Generation. Create custom level templates and place them procedurally throughout your levels (e.g. dungeon rooms, NPCs, enemy encounters, or randomized props).
• Chunking. Divide large rooms into smaller sections, loading or unloading them dynamically as the player approaches or moves away.
• UI. If you’re tired of hard-coding menus while waiting for GameMaker's GUI Layers, design your interfaces directly in the Room Editor and load them on the fly in-game.
• Room Thumbnails. Take screenshots of your rooms and use them in your level selection menu.

Features

• Pure GML library with no external tools required.
• Multiple ways to initialize room data: single or multiple, array, prefix, tags.
• Load rooms at custom coordinates and origins, like Middle Center or Bottom Right, GameMaker sprite style.
• Options to load full rooms including all layers and elements, or only instances using existing layers or depth.
  
• Element type filtering using bitwise flags.
• Layer filtering via whitelisting/blacklisting.
• Tracking loaded elements to fetch their IDs and/or clean them up later.
  
• Room screenshotting.
  

Credits

• Created and maintained by Gleb Tsereteli.
• Logos and demo rooms designed by Gleb's wifey - Kate ❣️
  
• Originally motivated by and made for TabularElf's Cookbok Jam #1. 
• Inspired by YellowAfterlife's GMRoomPack.
• Demo art and page background by Kenney.

GameMaker Awards 2024

GMRoomLoader was nominated for Best Tool in the 2024 GameMaker Awards!