The Creation of N - Type

Yeah, i've decided to create a blog on how I created my horizontal shoot-em-up in Game Maker. I'm doing this for two reasons, so I can remember how the hell I created it! and to help others if they want to do something similar.

Ok, where shall I start, the beginning seems a likely target so here goes:

I'm a big fan of shoot-em-ups, particularly space type ones and one arcade game that I really loved was one called R-Type, so I decided to write my own, it was also an excellent way to get to grips with Game Maker as well.

I started with the basic idea that it should be a long room which scrolls and different attack waves of different enemies should come one after the other. The game is split into 10 levels:

1 - Space
2 - Over Ship
3 - Inside Ship #1
4 - Inside Ship #2
5 - Inside Ship #3
6 - Space #2
7 - Planet Surface
8 - Inside Planet #1
9 - Inside Planet #2
10 - Planet Core

With a small boss midway through the level and a large boss at the end. The player can also collect powerups and addons to the ship to create some awesome firepower! So where did I begin?