GameMaker Blog

• Topic at the GMC asking about the possibility of Game Maker going open source. The debate seems somehow to have turned into a discussion about the differences (or lack of) between piracy and theft.  With regards to the original question NakedPaulToast puts it best as he so often does – people simply aren’t interesting in contributing to an Open Source Game Maker as can be seen by the LateralGM and Enigma projects.

• Something which will no doubt be reported in many places:  The deadline for people wishing to upgrade a version of Game Maker 7 purchased in 2009 to version 8 for free is at the end the month.  Surely anyone who cared about Game Maker would have done this already…

• A quick blog post about someone creating their first iPhone game using the Unity 3D game development engine.

Andrew McCluskey, Jack Brockley, Noel Berry and myself have recorded a second GMTalk Game Maker podcast episode.

In the 37 minute show we discuss the downfall of quality Game Maker media and experiences of collaborating in Game Maker team projects.  We also look back at the Game Maker entries in the recent GameJolt weekend Jam as well as taking a quick look at some other issues.

Mono version:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Direct Link (34MB)

Show Links

Read more…

GMLive’s tenth live Game Maker radio show was hosted today and lasted half an hour.

The date of the next show has not been announced as host Joshua is considering the possibility of a merge with GMIndie Radio to make a weekly show.  Producer Jono announced that he would be resigning from his position at GMLive after today’s show.

Below is an ‘as live’ show recording complete with incredible levels of feedback and crackle.  You’d have to be pretty dedicated to make it to the end (when the site tracked just 4 listeners).

Direct link or flash player:  

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Previous GMLive epsiode.

My first impression of Game Maker 8 Game Creation, released a week ago, is that it is more like a magazine than a book.

As the title suggests the guide is focused on version 8 of Game Maker. A preface advises that the information present is correct for the Pro edition however the vast majority of the details provided are equally true for the free Lite version. Although aimed at “starters” you are obviously expected to already be aware of Game Maker as there is no mention of where it can be obtained.

The contents listing shows that the book is essentially a compilation of questions that people may ask about Game Maker’s capabilities – the majority of which are then answered in 1 or 2 pages illustrated with screenshots.

The guide is certainly not for beginners with no prior experience of programming. Readers are thrown in at the deep end with talk of Direct3D and scripts with no explanation as to what they are – the first question is about Game Maker’s 3D capabilities. An explanation of the various elements of Game Maker comes only on page 43 under the “I am confused – how do the terms Program, Room, Level, Object and Window relate to each others?” question.

Read more…

HobbyPress have published a short book focusing on the practical side of game creation using Game Maker 8.

Game Maker 8 Game Creation – Practical Tips & Techniques Vol.1 has 162 pages.

“The goal of this book is to provide starters with rich technical information so the best decision and judgment can be exercised when creating games through GM8.

This is not a step-by-step tutorial. This is also not a guide book kind of overview material. We place our focus on the practical side of game creation – practical tips and techniques one will definitely need when starting out a game project. We also tell exactly what can and cannot be done with the GM8 engine, and the kind of performance drawback that can be foreseen when the platform is not fed with the right inputs.”

-HobbyPress

At $13.95 on Amazon this is probably the cheapest Game Maker focused book available today.

A review of Game Maker 8 Game Creation – Practical Tips & Techniques Vol.1 will be posted within a couple of days.

• Jacob Habgood and Mark Overmars’ follow up to the successful Game Maker’s Apprentice, titled The Game Maker’s Companion aimed at intermediate level developers is due to be released in April this year.
• In July 2009 Course Technology published Jerry Lee Ford’s book Getting Started with Game Maker: Review. Author Interview.

Last weekend, indie game website Game Jolt hosted its first Jam. This differentiated from its competitions by dropping the competitive aspect and focusing on getting developers to share their work regularly and, in general, have fun doing it. Most participants set up Livestream accounts and broadcast live video footage of them working on their entries.

Given the short development period (48 hours) there were surprisingly few dropouts. Eleven entries were garnered by the Jam in total, eight of which were created using Game Maker. These are as follows.

Paper Dreams
Created by: Zack Banack
Plays at time of writing: 244
Already picked up and featured by both Game Jolt and Indie Games Blog, Paper Dreams, a game that I could not bypass the difficulty screen of, is a graphically-papery version of Cactus’ popular “Ad Nauseam 2”. I couldn’t judge this but it seems to be very popular with players and, from the screenshots, certainly looks good.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/paper-dreams/1647/

Read more…

Received an e-mail today advising me that issue 9 (March-April) of the commercial Indie Game Mag had been released and was available to download.

One change since the last edition – they have changed their re-use message from a Creative Commons license that enabled anyone to freely share the magazine to a copyright statement.  As FredFredrickson commented on our previous post this was “probably an oversight on their part”.  Pretty amusing but the article seems to have bought the issue to their attention.

The publication recently released a $0.99 iPhone App but subscriptions are now back to their normal prices (~$3.30 an issue).

You can download/discuss the previous edition of Indie Game Mag (released under Creative Commons license) here.

The final issue of GMIndie magazine has been released.  Download PDF (1.5MB)

To quote from the welcome message at the start of the issue “We are constantly working on multiple projects at once. It’s fun for the first few minutes. Then it gets tiring” – reminds me of something I may have mentioned last month.

There are reviews of the GameJolt contest winning Super Space Rogues by rotten_tater, Bloxbub 3 by ThatGamesGuy, Boxman and Boxbro 7 and the worms-like Team Warfare.

Also included is an interview with toadfrogs and an article asking “What is YYGF becoming?”. A mess. That’s what.

They still need a proofreader.  Hopefully by the time the first issue of Game Developers Digest comes out they will have found one.