One of the new included features is sprite obfuscation whereby sprites are only constructed when the game starts running.

The Game Maker Obfuscator can be downloaded from the GMC.

Game Maker Obfuscator – Now Supports Sprite Obfuscation is taken from: GameMaker Blog

Since switching to the new site on 4th July YoYo Games has experienced:

• 54% decrease in the number of games uploaded per day
• 38% decrease in the number of game plays per day

The old site still exists on the sandbox.yoyogames.com prefix and links made to old games pages redirect to the new location, however visiting the main homepage no longer provides quick access to games.

Prior to hiding user-created games away behind a single drop down menu item the “games created” figure on the YoYo Games homepage increased by an average of 76 games a day in 2011, whilst the “games played” count grew by 11,160 in an average 24-hour period.

Since the change both these figures have decreased.  In the week since 5th July “games created” has risen by just 34 a day whilst “games played” rose by 6,095.  Comparing these new figures with the period immediately before the site relaunch gives the percentages at the top of this article.

All figures were obtained from the “YoYo Community” section present on sandbox.yoyogames.com (previously yoyogames.com).

New YoYoGames.com has 54% Fewer Uploads and 38% Fewer Game Plays is taken from: GameMaker Blog

indie(Function) had their third media releases last weekend [radio|magazine] and are hosting their fourth radio show this Saturday and releasing their fourth magazine issue this Sunday.

Quote Unquote have published an interview with Harrison Lemke. Harrison is a former GameMaker user turned composer and his music can be found in games such as Hero Core.

Community Links: Oil Blue Sales, indie(Function), Harrison Lemke is taken from: GameMaker Blog

There is a comprehensive list of features supported and those which are unavailable for Game Maker games to be able to run on iOS.

A few quick points:

• Game Center support
• “No support for cameras, compass, retina, tilt, push notifications, in app purchase etc.; these will come, but not available just yet.”
• 3D support is not yet present
• Interestingly, “minimising script use will significantly improve performance.”
• Games must be made in Game Maker 8 or Game Maker for Mac (despite the unreleased Game Store allowing games made using GM6 and 7)
• YoYo Games splash screen shown before the game

YoYo Game Store Base Line Spec Revealed is taken from: GameMaker Blog

None of the game requirements, due to be listed in a “Base Line Spec”, have yet been released – all in all it isn’t a very insightful announcement.

There is some text to go with the flowchart on the YoYo Games wiki. The first part of the process has actually already been live for a while.

An iPad version in Andrew McCluskey’s madnessMADNESSmadness series, dubbed Maddening HD (yuk!) is “coming soon”. The Apple iPad release will later be followed by a general iOS release suitable for iPhones and iPod Touch. No word yet on pricing or a release date.

Update 2nd November: Maddening HD has been released on iPad at ($0.99 USD, £0.59).

Maddening HD on iPad Soon (Updated: Out now) is taken from: GameMaker Blog

It appears this might have been the case as the online marketplace has now been renamed to the “YoYo Game Store” and is accessible at a new website address.

As seen in the image on the right a prominent, but currently disabled, “Submit your game to the store” banner is now present. Despite this the process to submit a game to the store can be accessed here.

After supplying your game name, description, details of the controls used and assigning your creation to a category you can upload an editable (Game Maker 6+) version of your game, an executable file or zipped folder.  All uploaded games must be approved by YoYo Games before they appear in the store.

No pricing/revenue information is available, other than a suggestion that payments will be made through PayPal.

Documentation and terms and conditions are not yet present so it is unclear as to whether this process is for the submission of PC games only or for those that are to be/have been modified to appear on iOS. Kirsty’s comment earlier in the week was not very clear on this point either.

[Show as slideshow]

YoYo Games App Store Renames, Game submission nearly open is taken from: GameMaker Blog

Also on Game Maker Blog:

• Immortal Defense earns $7,500 in first 18-months
• Google Docs spreadsheet of Commercial Game Maker games revenue
• Who is making money from Game Maker?

Immortal Defense Pay What You Want Sale – Results so far is taken from: GameMaker Blog

If you have invested your time creating a game, tutorial, example or piece of Game Maker media and want to share it with the world – please, make it easy for people to get their hands on it! All too often it seems that after working away for hours creating a product people just upload their creations to a randomly selected, and often downright terrible, file hosting website.

The time that is required to provide an easy download method is a minute percentage of that many are happy to spend on creating the content in the first place but the lack of it can be extremely irritating for someone considering whether to download your material.

Direct download links are preferably – if not one-click downloads with no stupid countdown timers or daily download limits should be used.

If you are using an embedded player (such as those used on Game Maker Blog to enable audio clips to be played without leaving an article) make sure it works across browsers and does not automatically start playing or pre-loading the content.

Recently I fell foul of this rule, which was brought to my attention by xot,  when I used an UpUrLoad embedded player to provide access to a file another user had uploaded to the service.  Whenever the page was loaded the large MP3 file would automatically start downloading in the background consuming vast amounts of bandwidth (bad for both UpUrLoad and readers of this site).

If you are creating a regular series which users will probably want to download multiple versions of use a sensible and consistent file naming structure. “Issue1.pdf” is a bad filename for a magazine as it doesn’t identify what it is whereas “GMWorld_Issue_01.pdf” is more sensible.  People want to be able to know what the file is when they come across it at a later date without having to open it.  Different versions of a game should also have unique names so it is apparent if it is version 1.1 or 1.2 that is being played.

Although you may consider it the norm to have broadband access with no bandwidth restrictions in your part of the world be aware that the quality of connections to Internet can vary dramatically even over small geographic distances.  For this reason you should tell people the file size that way they can make an educated decision as to whether they think it is worth attempting to download your file.

To ensure your content is available at all times you should provide mirrors.   It will reflect badly on you if you don’t (sorry!).  A mirror is an alternative location from which a file can be downloaded.

If your lone file host goes offline temporarily no-one will be able to access your files until the server is restored and if the downtime is more permanent, think WillHostForFood, your files may be gone for good.

Although preventing downtime is one of the main reason mirrors exist consider also that surfers may for some reason or other wish to avoid using a particular site to download their file from.  Perhaps they have had a bad experience a site in the past or find that files always take far longer to download than they do from elsewhere.

If you offer a subscription service whereby an email newsletter informs people of new releases – ensure they are both quick and accurate otherwise there is no purpose to them.

Lastly and perhaps most importantly you should listen to what your potential customers say.  Don’t discount their feedback off hand just because you personally disagree with it.  If people complain about the file hosts you are offering consider their reasons for it – it’s quicker to download a file easily than write a complaint!

Removing the unnecessary hoops ensures that you keep people in the right mood to enjoy the content you have created!

A downloadable version of this post is available. Just click the link, press the button for a free download, avoid the popups, wait for the 60 second countdown timer to reach zero, enter the CAPTCHA and press enter. Your file will commence downloading at a snails pace.

Photo credits: Jumping through Hoops at Arabian Nights (cc) and Debbie jumps through hoops to please her brother (cc).

Don’t Make Users Jump Through Hoops to Download Your Content is taken from: GameMaker Blog

Other Game Maker games on the site include Karoshi and CrimeLife 2 both of which have been downloaded over 100 and  7,000 times respectively.

In total 18 games belonging to snowyowl had been taken from his account at YoYo Games and posted on the site.  He puts forward his opinion on the ripping/syndication/further free promotion (call it what you will) in a rather nice way.

“Some of you may consider this a good thing – as you are right to, since Softpedia is a popular website and your game will be downloaded more if they feature it. I personally consider that they are benefiting from my work without my consent. I don’t mind YoYo Games advertising on my game’s page, since they maintain the tools I use to create games and the forums I use to discuss them, but anyone else is a no-no.”
-snowyowl

I agree entirely with the points laid out above.  Yes this free promotion gets more people playing your game but Softpedia is business and certainly isn’t short of traffic.  Effectively it’s a scraper site where content creators have no control over how their work is used.

Unauthorised Game Distribution is taken from: GameMaker Blog

A game based on the popular Call of Duty series has been quickly climbing up the ‘most played’ list on YoYo Games. The game, titled Modern Warfare 2D, is a two-dimensional take on the sixth instalment in the Call of Duty series.

Although it was uploaded just 2 months ago the game has already reached 25th place on the list of all time most played games with over 40,000 plays tracked.  It has also been featured on a large number of non-Game Maker gaming websites.

I got in touch with the Australian creator of the game, Callum Foot, and asked him about his games success.

“I didn’t use any special promotion techniques, but I think the fact that Modern Warfare 2D was featured on Pixel Prospector helped a great deal – the game is scheduled to be released on the cover disk of Xbox 360 magazine in the UK so I might have to make some promotional cover art.

I think the name definitely contributes to the amount of plays because the real game is extremely popular at the moment which lead to the game being picked up by sites like Pixel Prospector.

With a different name I don’t think the game would have been so successful, but I did base it on Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 from the beginning to end so the name wasn’t a last minute decision.

Top 25 most popular yoyogames in two months? I think that’s awesome!  (is this some kind of record?) I do think thats pretty cool, but shouldn’t it be featured or something? Meh, I don’t mind!

I am working on creating an online version of the game and extending the campaign.”

-Callum Foot

Game Maker Modern Warfare 2D is a Hit is taken from: GameMaker Blog