GDev Free Templates with lots of the fixin's included

What is GDevelop?
GDevelop is a free game making program.

You can download it here.
gdevelop.io/download

How do I open this game file of yours?
1 - Download and install GDevelop

2 - Open GDevelop

3 - Download and unrar whatever template of mine you decide to use

4 - Go into the folder that holds my template

5 - If using the interactive tutorial

Find the file 'Start Here.json', right click on it, and choose 'Open With GDevelop'.

If using the other templates

Find the file 'Game.json', right click on it, and choose 'Open With GDevelop'.

6 - If you want to jump straight into messing about with the level design, in the GDevelop window, go up to the top left corner.
Click on the blue square with white lines in it. It looks like this.

7 - This will open a menu on the left side that lists all of the 'Scenes' that this game has.
(The closest equavalent would be like saying 'clicking 'Scenes' lists all of the pages for a website'.)

8 -Find 'Level 1' and click on it.
And there you go!

(who felt overwhelmed and lost trying to use their online guide to find SPECIFIC ACTIONS I wanted in my game and just needed a working template and a bit of 'here is a simple version explaining what you want to get done' but instead got told 'go read the online guide, ya noob')

(Not to mention that several youtube tutorials showing what I wanted to do seemed to conflict with the current version of GDevelop, or older templates having what I wanted but seemed to not function because of the latest version of GDevelop ended up not helping AT ALL.

Currently working with GDevelop

This version of GDevelop is: 5.1.151 (editor full version: 5.1.151-57ce8dcbbfa08eca1588b132aa98a44d2e59489e, core version: 4.0.99-0-release)

so if this is months or years later, and there are several later versions rolled out by GDevelop, you'll know that this is the build I used. This is what made sure everything I currently had were all able to work.

Short version, their game templates leave a LOT out. It's like them giving you a recipe for a cake and saying 'need oven, eggs, flour, and sugar' but then letting you figure out the rest. Like needing to BUY all of the ingredients, the amounts needed, the settings for the oven, needing a bowl and spoon, etc. Meanwhile, I just give you a basic cake in a cake pan, hand you the frosting and decorations and say 'have at it and enjoy!'
(From their perspective, I TOTALLY understand why they did it that way. To force people to actually learn their GDevelop game making program. To make them be more original and figure out the bells and whistles that this program offers. Though this says nothing about how small the pictures for their online guide are, as of Nov. 2022, and their youtube video tutorials. I appreciate the fact that they exist, and I'm sure they're very helpful for some people. But for people like me? I tend to prefer for this having a well laid out template ready to go. Then I can tinker with stuff and make it my own.)

Things my templates offer are a working menu, 3 levels, a game over screen, sprites with sound effects, more than just 2 or 3 enemies that can kill the player, check points, the player can shoot at enemies, a health bar, as well as a mini guide letting you know stuff. (Like, how to get to the scenes, how to make a GUI item - you know, like the health bar that stays on the screen with the player -, how to make enemies, how to make the player and player's bullets move faster or slower, etc. etc. etc.) In short, it's the kind of template I wish I'd had when I was first using GDevelop back in 2020. I could've made such a cooler game back then.

(Not to mention that.... eh... it's. . . not always a guarantee when you ask for help because you're confused about something and decide to ask other GDevelop users, that you'll get a helpful or clear answer. I'll leave out my personal experiences with that whole topic, but, suffice it to say, that's why I'm stuffing my templates with as many helpful notes as I can provide so you can learn from what I know and, hopefully, be able to avoid a lot of the frustrations and 'I don't understand how to do this' that I had to sit through.)

Yes.

However, the only reason I'm going all in with GDevelop isn't because it's the best one ever to exist, nor is it one that I 100% love and would recommend above all others.

GDevelip is the only game making program I was able to find that will actually install and run on my computer. (My computer is a tad bit old and finnicky so there are a LOT of things it will refuse to install or play. Which sucks but meh. Whatever.)

Feel free to do an online search or meander through the game platform STEAM to find other game making programs if you don't feel like GDevelop is right for you.

And feel free to make use of my YST game sprites. If it means less work for you to get stuck doing, then good! That can be more time and energy you spend making a YST game you'll adore. And not stuck on making the animated sprites.

Can I upload different / my own sprites in place of yours?
Yes. Which is super easy to do.
(Though my advice to you is have the sprites in an easy to identify folder so when the time comes and you want to put them into your game, you know exactally where to find them on your computer.)

Basically, start here if you want a quick and easy crash course using GDevelop with my YST sprites already in the game.

What does this look like?

Play it online for yourself to see what it's like before you decide to install GDevelop and run the program -

Download from here -

Play it online to see what it's like before you decide to install GDevelop and run the program -

Download from here -

Play it online to see what it's like before you decide to install GDevelop and run the program -

Download from here -

If you're done with the interactive tutorial, start here if you want a ready-made Platformer template with my YST sprites already in the game.
Please keep in mind that this isn't going to be the biggest, most expansive game template ever known to humankind.

It's got a welcome screen, a working menu, 3 levels, Game Over retry screen for each level, a 'Game Complete, you won!' screen, and a bunch of game sprites.

There's also a blank version where there is no laid out level for you, but it still has everything all ready to go. All of the sprites are in place. All you have to do is drag and drop the sprites where you want them to be, use Preview Mode to make sure everything looks the way you want, and then click 'Publish' when you're done, so other people can click a link and play your game online.
Heck, if you're really feeling proud of your creation, you can even make it into a .apk format file (a game that you can install on a mobile device and play), install it, and play it on tablets and phones.

I would offer a 'play it online' option to see what it's like, but it's nothing more than the sprite standing on a small piece of land. There is nothing to kill it. Nothing to go 'game over'. So here's a screenshot instead.

There are no pre-made level designs for you with this template.
It's up to you to drag and drop items where you want them to make your own levels.
(However, it's up to you to decide if you want your game to have a Game Over death screen, which is already in this template, or to make use of checkpoints. Checkpoints are basically 'the player hits this checkpoint, then dies, then respawns at the most recent checkpoint they hit'.

Download from here -

If you're already done with the interactive tutorial and want to try your hand at a top down game, you can try this.
This is the same set up as my platformer template, and the interactive tutorial you played, but changed, just a little bit. Mostly with the graphics and using invisible ladders.
It's not perfect, but who knows? Maybe someone out there can still make use of it.
(Also, yes, I am aware that GDevelop FINALLY released their own Top down game template to make use of, but I was 3/4 the way finished with my top down-ish template and wasn't going to throw away my hard work just because of that. Once I get all of this posted and finished, I'll be looking into their top down game template to see how useable it is and if it's any better than my own.)

Play it online to see what it's like before you decide to install GDevelop and run the program -

Download from here -