Question: How do you quit a game in GameMaker?

Answer

To quit a game in GameMaker, you can use the built-in GameMaker Language (GML) function game_end(). This function will close the game window and terminate the program. It's very simple to use; just call the function whenever you need to end the game, such as in response to a player's action like pressing an "Exit" button.

Here is an example of how you might use it in code:

// The following would typically be placed in the button's event or a keyboard check conditional

if (keyboard_check_pressed(vk_escape)) { // Check if the Escape key was pressed
    game_end(); // Quit the game
}

If you're using GameMaker Studio 2 and want to ensure that the game closes properly on all platforms, you should also consider using the os_set_quit() function before calling game_end(). This is particularly important for ensuring consistent behavior on platforms like iOS or Android.

Here's how you might use both together:

// Code to quit the game, potentially in an exit button's Mouse Left Pressed event
os_set_quit();
game_end();

By setting os_set_quit(), you tell GameMaker that the next step should be to close down the game cleanly on mobile devices or other platforms which have specific requirements for exiting applications.