Draw things on top each other - Depth sorting [Game Maker | Basics]

This basics video tutorial shows you how to depth sort (depth system) in GameMaker.

Things feel natural if they are being draw correctly. Image a stack of cards and it is obvious that the top card would be visible to you. So what we do is to check where the instances are and sort them to their own depth (or their own layer so to say) according to their y position in the room. We cluster all the instances into a parent object and swap their current depth to their -y value. We do that with the "with" statement that allows use to go through all the instances and swap their own depth. That's it!

Advanced version of controlling depth:

(Free) Art shown in the project and in video thumbnail:
Ansimuz CC0

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CHAPTERS
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0:00 What we will do
0:59 Subscribe
1:11 Theory of depth and how things are being draw
2:03 Depth sorting
2:37 Grouping instances into a parent object to sort
3:44 Pitfalls of this depth sorting

[AdamBarkerThe]

You legend, thanks for showing how easy this is.

[zhael]

Sorry for the super late question, but if i used this inside a house or something, would i need to create a different object for each piece of furniture?

[Steavej]

love you man this helped me so much with the grass and weapons cus my weapon was glitching through my character and the grass but now its working

[tiqosc]

Basically, it use y cord of all object (or their bbox_bottom ) to sort them into different layers

[archerxd]

How to make Sequence depth above the other object with -y?

I have make transition with Sequence but the other objecr always on top the Sequence layer

[mikulas_hampl]

Wait, if I have a layer with tiles that should always be in front of the player, the player occurs in front of it. How do I fix this? Is there any possibility to change the depth in only one layer?

[thehllowknght]

Do you think you can make a more detailed video like the one that FriendlyCosmonaut did? It would help a lot and I like the way you explain in your videos.

[herimito]

I don't know if it's just to provoke people or if it's serious... but they never tell what happens when the instances are at the same depth.
well, I'll tell you. a transparent box appears and one of the instances disappears.
as long as there are no more depth values ​​like -1.01, -1.02..., just -1, -2... for example, one of you will disappear eventually. It can be 2 enemies at the same depth and position or yourself.

[shylvia]

I thought we cant use depth = -y anymore?