The official Game Maker website has several tutorials that are worthwhile working through.
http://www.yoyogames.com/make/tutorials
They include making a scrolling shooter, maze games, platform games, 3- dimensional games, and multiplayer games.
Book
There is an excellent book available which contains tutorials and resources for making 9 games:
The Game Maker's Apprentice by Jacob Habgood and Mark Overmaars, ISBN 1-59050-615-3, www.apress.com
Links to other Game Maker sites and example games
Game Design Novice http://gamedesign.wikidot.com/gamemaker:game-maker covers most topics
Simon's Game Maker page has useful information about making your code more efficient and your games run faster http://gamemaker.simondonkers.com/index.php?mode=view&fileid=40&page=1
Game Maker Games http://gamemakergames.com/ has games, forums and links to other sites
Bouncing Fox Productions http://www2.bouncingfox.co.uk/ has a lot of example games
Pixl http://pixl.sitesled.com/ has Game Maker and pixel art creations and tutorials.
Mattsoftware http://www.mattsoftware.net/ has games, examples, scripts, models etc.
Sprite Art
Game Design Novice has some excellent sprite art tutorials http://gamedesign.wikidot.com/spriteart:tutorials
Toolkit Zone also has some good tutorials http://www.toolkitzone.com/library.php?search&user=157
Game Design Resources
ACMI (The Australian Centre for the Moving Image) has some excellent resources at http://www.acmi.net.au/explore_games_resources.htm
Step through guide for a game design http://www.acmi.net.au/joystick_competition_questions_guide.htm
Further Study & Careers
Further study you can do in Australia
Careers in the Games Industry in Australia
