CEO of YoYo Games Sandy Duncan has revealed some interesting information about the future of YoYo Games and GameMaker, not through his glog, but during an interview with ThatVideoGameBlog.
Sandy also provided the story behind the get-together of YoYo Games Ltd and GameMaker something I had not known previously.
ThatVideoGameBlog: What were some of the other factors that inspired you to create a social platform for budding casual game designers?
Sandy Ducan: To be honest we started out on a very different path looking to become a publisher of casual games. Then we noticed YouTube. In June 2006 YouTube was just starting to get big and people were starting to talk about “user generated content “and “Web 2.0” was becoming a buzz word. We could see the potential of the “YouTube” model in games …but couldn’t figure out how to make it easy to create games. Then by chance one of our Directors at YoYo (James North-Hearn) is also the CEO of Sumo Digital who are one of Europe’s top games developers. The top programmer at Sumo is a guy called Jacob Habgood who had just finished writing a book with Mark Overmars called “The Game Maker’s Apprentice”. It was a match made in heaven! This was early October 2006. We moved pretty quickly to close a deal with Mark and within 4 months the first (Alpha) YoYo Games website was up and running. We launched the full (Beta) site in late April 2007.
TVGB: It was announced on January 21, 2008 that in a mere eight months, the website reached a record 10,000 game uploads, making it the premiere repository of user-generated games. What were the critical success factors that contributed to this unprecedented level of achievement?
SD: Our first challenge was to win the confidence of the Game Maker Community. Game Maker has been around since 1999, so there were already thousands of people using it. Luckily for us there wasn’t any truly great place for the community to post the games they had developed and get them reviewed and most importantly played. I won’t say we didn’t make any mistakes, because we did. But getting a site with a simple method of uploading your games and making it easy for casual visitors to play them was the key. We added the “Instant Play” feature to Game Maker in September 2007, which meant you didn’t have to download the game before you could play it and from there on the number of visitors took off. If you have almost 1 million people coming to the site every month, then there is plenty of incentive for the Community to keep writing and uploading new games as they have a readymade audience.
TVGB: What are some of the measures in place to counter such issues [poor quality games being submitted to YoYoGames.com], if any?
SD: Much of the work that we will put into the site development in the next few months will be focused on making sure that the best games are even easier to find. At the same time we have ambitious plans to offer more free packages of development content (Sounds, Backgrounds, Sprites etc) which will be available to anyone. This will help ALL of the developers. We will also offer the best guys some personal support later this year and ultimately we will spend money on the best games to help “polish” them ourselves. None of this has been formally announced, but we’re working on it.
TVGB: Game Maker is in its seventh release. What is planned for the near and distant future for YoYo Games? Will you offer much more advanced platforms that add several additional malleable layers of complexity for gamers to mould into content? Are there any plans to release commercial games at this stage?
SD: Game Maker will develop in 3 ways.
Firstly we are working on a version for the Apple Mac. This will be available in Beta around April time.Secondly we are re-writing the “Runner” in C++ (currently GM is written in Delphi) which will give us several advantages, primarily portability. Our vision is for Game Maker games to be running on non PC platforms such as phones, portable devices and Consoles. For example, Apple’s announcement of the iPhone SDK last weekend was very exciting for us.
Finally we will start work on Game Maker 8 this summer. You won’t see it until 2009, but multi-platform support will be a key feature. We may also do something about a compiler around the same time.
I’m sure some of you will disagree with Sandy on the matter of their not being any community sites before YoYo came along, specifically I remember GameMakerGames.com and The Games Showcase which were featured on the old GameMaker website.
True they were different from YoYoGames.com which attracts a far wider section of gamer, specifically those outside of the GameMaker community.
The second part of ThatVideoGameBlog’s interview with Sandy, which is not related to GameMaker, can be found here.
hi guy-s i’m new in this world and i need some help
if you can i need learning websites 4 the game maker and big thanks 4 you
On GM~8.
First off, by and large languages really aren’t fast or slow…applications ARE!
Delphi applications can be just as fast or faster than C++ as Delphi compliles directly to binary. Numerous benchmarks have shown this to be true and Delphi can be (depending on the application )to be just as fast as MASM(Microsoft Assembly Language).
Most people have trouble with Game Maker for 2 distinct reasons…#1. Not a complete knowledge of Game Maker’s limitations
#2. Using Game Maker in a way that is out side the optimum performance boundries.
Game Maker is very capable of more than you know, that is…..if you know…and many do not. So it is easier just to rant and rave and NO one who is really into programming will pay you much attention. Your claims are NOT valid.
The Game Maker 8 Runner written in C++ will improve the portability of Game Maker that is….transpostion into other formats ie mobile application etc.
Most likely speed will not be sugnificantly improved.
Game Maker has great potential despite the frustration by many. To say Game Maker has been poorely written is foolish. Game Maker is essentially a framework that employs a wrapping with numerous Microsoft Dll’s and Direct X procedures.
It is very clever, and by it’s very architecture might be difficult to expand to a level that many desire to see it. Nevertheless……..it is an excellent application
and originally designed as a training tool for game design.
Game Maker Excels in what it was designed to do….there is no better(as yet)!
@Rimmer66
You are without a doubt the dumbest, most ignorant moron the Game Maker community has ever had the misfortune to see.
There is nothing wrong with the speed that Game Maker runs at, unless you are expecting it to run on a computer built in the early ’90s or prior. Fact is, C++ *IS* faster then Delphi, it always has been and always will be, and rewriting the runner in C++ will indeed produce faster, and more stable, games made with Game Maker. I can run my games at 40fps at least with the current runner, and I’m willing to bet the new runner will be even better.
I don’t know what your beef is with Game Maker, nor do I think anyone really cares what you have to say after your last comment, but lots of people love Game Maker, and it’s futile to try and point out flaws with Game Maker that would not exist if you would just upgrade your old, crappy PC.
@Rimmer66
What’s your beef? If you read a lot of these comments, you’ll see that quite a few people will want it…and many more. Take a look at the Game MAker Community, for example.
Im definately looking forward to it, I hope they improve the sound system, that would make my day 🙂
Oh yeah and get rid of softwrap too, its just annoying and doesnt really do anything to stop piracy anyway
I agree with #26. While I’ve read just about all posts on this page and agree with a lot of the posters opinions (especially Kyle Koder), and I’m looking forward for a new, faster and more featurerich version 8 of GameMaker, I have to say:
No new feature, compatability or optimized speeds and compilations will mean anything to me, if it’s drowned in the misery of the unspeakably annoying, overly frustrating, extremely hateprovoking and diabolically spastic Digital Restriction Management from SoftWrap.
With all due respect, while I understand that piracy is a problem for YoYoGames as softwaredevelopers and distributors, this does only anger their customers.
I could easily accept and live with a DRM system for GameMaker 8, but it would have to have a “de-register” feature. Meaning that, whenever I needed to uninstall a copy of GM, I could deactivate that particular license before doing so, so that I could re-install it with no problems later on. That way, I wouldn’t have to contact SoftWrap every other time I uninstalled GM, and they wouldn’t have to do as much administrative work responding to people that needed new registrations every day.
The only feature I can think of that would make GM8 great would be to drop that idiotic softwrap registration system. YES SOFTWRAP IS A BUGGY PIECE OF S#IT, IT WILL REMAIN A BUGGY PIECE OF S#IT, AND BY EXTENSION GM7 AND SOON GM8 (IF IT INCORPORTES SOFTCRAP) WILL ALSO BE A PIECE OF S#IT REGARDLESS OF C++ BASED RUNNER.
I think you’re right on the spot, MMORPGguy. I seriously doubt they’ll have it done for at least another year. That’s alright, though. I’m not exactly holding my breath, although it would be interesting if I could actually make console games with such a cheap program, even if they have some…issues. I’m actually pretty sure I could make much better games for DS than what they have out there right now. It’s looking pretty pathetic in the commercial gaming industry right now. Haven’t seen any good multiplayer RPGs since PS2 and GBA (not counting MMOs).
Oops, got sidetracked. Oh well. Sorry for the “no good RPGs” raving.
Wow, I came across this googling ‘geargod MMORPGguy’ for whatever reason, and I apologies for the stupidity of my post.
Anyway, looking back, I’m almost certain that yoyo won’t get this done in ’09 – last I heard, they were still debating over what language to program it in. I’m pretty sure the person I heard it from wasn’t so well informed anyway (making two of us). They do have that GM for Mac thing going on, so I guess this brings a small (have you read the blogs on how buggy it is?) amount of credibility to the table. Still though, that was promised to be ready for beta (or was it release?) months before they had an alpha up. I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t see GM8 until 2010 or 2011, but I don’t know if it really matters that much either unless this C++ runner actually helps. What does it matter anyway though; the majority of the users’ speed issues could probably be resolved with a little optimization.
Chris – You’re mostly right, actually. Most things in Game Maker will run just fine, even on older computers, but there are many things that don’t. Mostly things that are a little more difficult to do, like dynamic liquids (which I don’t think anyone has been able to do all that well yet). The best example I’ve seen so far is GearGOD’s metaballs (…didn’t I already mention this stuff…?). Also, try loading large grids from files. It’s really slow. I made a system myself that will do the same work at least twice as fast. Anyway, yes, most things will run fine. No, it’s not fast at everything. By the way, what are some of your favorite GM games? I’d like to try them out and see what they’re like.
LehdaRi – I don’t know what view your shadow system is in, but you should look around for that a little (if you haven’t already). I found a decent, quick-running top-view shadow system somewhere…I think it was on GearGOD’s web site, too. In an example for shockwaves or something. I’ve been trying to implement my own idea for shadows, too, which I THOUGHT would work REALLY well for dynamic 3D shadows, but I haven’t gotten it to work yet. Who knows if it ever will (I’ve only worked on it for a couple hours so far, mind you). Anyway, I would be flattered if someone wanted to decompile/reverse engineer my stuff too, and in most cases I wouldn’t care, but if you’ve spent a few, or more than a few years working on something really unique and are selling it, you’ll get really angry at anyone who decompiles it, removes the security, and shoves it on the internet for free. It happens all the time, too. Just look up a high-end program on google with the work “torrent” after it. Odds are that if it was popular and costly, it’s there.
Anyway, I’m talking too much again. This is what happens when I’m not busy with college and work (it’s Christmas vacation).
Looking forward to your favorites, Chris (if you see this post).
See you later.
Hmm… Writing with C++ is really neat idea. +OpenGL >> games run with mac, and that would be cool.
But slowness is the main thing. I have made some cool fake 3D and dynamic shadow engines, but they are useless because of the lag. If you ask me, the decompiling isn’t a problem. I feel flattered if someone wants to decompile my work and see how it’s done.
Umm I don’t know what a lot of you people are smoking, but there’s plenty of 2D games made by game maker out there that run at good speeds. I haven’t had any problems with my games running too slow since I was programming with game maker 5.
3D games might be another story; I haven’t gone that deep into 3D programming with GML, but so far all of the 3D games that I’ve played with any sort of quality whatsoever (I’m talking graphics and gameplay that actually look like there was effort put into them) didn’t lag at all. If a game is having lag problems, look at everything else about the game and you’ll probably see that NOTHING about it is really that great. Know why? Because the people making them are just starting out and don’t really know what they’re doing. Seriously people, if we were capable of creating games with professional level graphics and gameplay, we would make the leap into C++ programming (which I actually have been doing since I’ve finished up my 3D Studio Max class).
Anyone should realize that yes, Game Maker does have some limitations. BUT SINCE EVERYBODY USING GAME MAKER HAS ENOUGH OF A HARD TIME MAKING GRAPHICS, EVEN FOR 2D GAMES, THE SPEED OF GAME MAKER REALLY ISN’T THE PROBLEM, NOW IS IT? Seriously people, if you are so awesome that you’ve used every technique possible in Game Maker to make your games run faster (because I assure you, even if you had it would be much less work than you’ll be doing if you use C++), and it still runs too slow for your awesome graphics and special effects that you are totally capable of making, then just move on. But don’t yell at other people about how much they don’t want to dedicate their entire life to making a ground breaking game all by their self without being part of a team like Valve or Bethesda.
Now stop complaining. If my mediocre computer from 2 years ago can handle games made by Game Maker, YOURS CAN TOO. If it can’t that you have other issues to deal with.
Hello, everyone. I just happened to stumble upon this and decided to make a few comments to clear things up.
1 – Speed
It’s true that Game Maker (versions 7 and lower) is not as fast as many other languages, being a somewhat unpolished interpreted language.
This is especially apparent in things like for loops, which, in a compiled language, run faster than doing the exact same amount of work in non-looped code.
However, there WAS mention of a possible switch to making the runner compile in c++ instead of interpret in delphi in the original post.
This combination, in fact, WOULD make everything run faster, IF it were done right. I couldn’t say how much faster, but I’d say that there would at least be a noticeable difference in time taken during loops.
Also, correctly programmed games using only GML CAN run at very high speeds, depending on what parts of Game Maker are used most in the given game. There are specific parts of Game Maker that could certainly use some streamlining. A good example would be the particle systems. They are a wonderful tool, but large numbers of particles don’t bode well for your fps.
For the most part, however, low fps is the fault of the programmer. Many programmers will try to make games without doing any research, making sprites with fifty or more subimages, putting every image in their game into preload, using excessive amounts of particles, using images larger than what is generally supported for the average graphics card, etc, etc, etc, without doing any real research to see how it SHOULD be done. Then you get people who are “angry at the language for not doing thing right.”
Remember, I’m not saying that GML is fast, compared to most other languages. It’s not. However, it’s fast enough if you know what you’re doing. I’ve NEVER seen a game made with Game Maker run at 3 frames per second, except one time when I accidentally made a variable square itself every frame, which will slow things down in any language, period.
In conclusion of this section, GML is NOT as fast as most other (modern) programming languages at the moment, but also not nearly as slow as some people make it out to be.
2 – Relevance of Speed in Game Maker
While speed is a wonderful thing, and many people want to just make a commercial-grade video game without going through commercial-grade programming languages, this is not what Game Maker is really meant for, at least not right now.
Game Maker was not originally made to run blindingly fast 2D games or 3D games of any sort. In my opinion, Game Maker (versions 7 and lower), has two main purposes –
*1 – To teach the beginner, with NO previous programming experience, the basics of high-level programming languages, easing them from the simple drag-and-drop GUI to the idea of typing code.
*2 – To make SIMPLE games and other SIMPLE programs quickly and easily. Because of limitations, a complex game or program can take longer to program in GML, and still not turn out as good as it could have in another language, but using Game Maker is one of , if not THE, fastest ways to make much simpler executables. For example, compare how long it takes to MAKE (not run) a simple echo program in GML and in Java. GML is far faster. C++? About the same amount of time to program. How about making a program that tests your connection to another (physically accessible) computer? GML can do this with a single object in a single room, with nothing but less than 5 lines of code in a single event. Far faster to make than Java OR c++.
3 – Compatibility Issues
Is it a good idea to make Game Maker compatible with Macs? What about consoles? This one is fairly simple.
Yes, there WILL be unforeseen compatibility problems.
Yes, there WILL be amateurs making crappy games
for high-quality systems.
HOWEVER, this is a small price to pay in order to allow the people who actually know what they’re doing to have such a wide range of platforms to make things for. The cell phones are a great example. How many times have you found yourself wanting your phone could carry out a simple, yet enormously useful task, only to find out that it simply doesn’t have the software? Many phones don’t even have a calculator! Yes, you can already make programs for phones and consoles using other languages, but this goes back to section 2, subsection 2.
4 – What do we actually Know about Game Maker 8?
Nothing. We have plenty of information on what MAY happen, but we don’t have any solid data at all. For all we know, Game Maker 8 might be compiled directly to machine code or assembly language, or may never come out at all.
Lastly, I’d like to correct a few misinterpretations and clarify what has been said in the posts above.
Eyas is right. Game Maker has it’s own “Virtual Machine,” like Java, but it runs much, much slower, and has a drastically different type of code. Sandy called this the “runner” in the original post, and mentioned that they may re-program it in c++, which, IF DONE CORRECTLY, would increase the running speed drastically (as mentioned before in section 1).
Revel is also right. Game Maker executables are very easy to completely decompile. Daniel Dane is right also, anything can be decompiled, however, it is far more difficult to decompile some things than others, and not everything will go back to exactly what it looked like before (when being programmed the first time). This is basically what Rusky said, which is the most correct statement on this matter.
MMORPGguy is partly correct. There are sure to be amateurs making bad games for the possible new platforms, but, as I said before, it’s well worth it. The consumer is the one charged with deciding what to buy. By the way, what does “maybe they’ll stop being so laugh out loud” mean? It doesn’t really make sense. Nothing really seemed funny to me.
Rimmer is right on a few things, but most of that is an overstatement. Like I said before, I’ve never seen a real Game Maker program run at that low an fps (except the terribly programmed ones). Also, if the context of GML was hard for you to understand, don’t expect to program in much else. It’s one of the simplest languages I’ve ever used, and has THE BEST help files I’ve ever used for a language. Try VB.net. Then you can complain.
The Sayin Kage and mrsmes’s posts are a bit hard for me to understand, given the grammar. Sorry guys.
Sam has some good points there and is trying to be helpful. That’s the way to go. Good attitude.
Stencyl sounds interesting. I read a few posts on it. I recommend comparing the two when they come out. Use whichever suits you best.
lolcakes may have a few good points there, but it wouldn’t hurt to calm down a bit and correct some grammar. Good points, though.
jedimace is right for the most part. GM won’t be able to do EVERYTHING…but it can do most things fairly well. Also, there may have been some confusion between running speed and programming speed here. GM running speedmost. And yes, it takes a very, very long time to program your own engine. That’s why most people don’t do it.
GMREC, you should calm down, too. Yes, it’s the interpreter, MOSTLY. It’s never ONLY one thing in programming. But yes, the interpreter (“runner,” “virtual machine,” etc.) is the main problem with the speed. Also, I’ve seen some complete GM programs handle their DLLs at over 800fps, so it really depends on the DLLs and the GM programming. And Jedi said “if you’re NOT a noob, and used it right” NOT “if you ARE a noob and used it right.” In programming, the right way is the same as the smart way. In computers, the universe is not analog. It’s digital. You’re right about the pixel by pixel water, though. Bad idea. And GearGOD’s metaball example IS wonderful. I’m not sure what your last sentence’s point is supposed to be.
Huuhuu – Whatever.
Zak – It’s not compiled. That’s part of why it’s slow. It’s interpreted.
Sam – Glad you’re excited. Just to make sure everyone gets it, though, the switch to c++ is what would allow you to make console games.
That’s pretty much sums up the points mentioned, I think. I may have missed something or messed something up, though. I’m not perfect.
People, people, people. Do you read? Do you REALLY think that rewriting in C++ is the main feature? REALLY? Becuase from what I just read, I’ll be making PLAYSTATION and XBOX 360 and PSP games next summer. And you really think that we should be debating about using it “right?” We should be celebrating! Rejoicing! I’m Jewish and I’m thanking Jesus! Seriously, people! GROW EARS!
Hi im with the developers of the site http://www.thegamecreators.com
I have seen the game maker recently at home,
even bought the pro version, and it seems great,
but the compling is way to slow.
Great to hear that it will be in c++ though!
Hahaha, Sandy is a girl name.
Honestly, you guys don’t get it…the fact that it is written in Delphi does not affect speed, if it is written in C++ it will be the approximately the same speed, the thing that really matters is the interpreter itself. If the interpreter is well written then it will work faster and more efficiently.
Jedimace, your opinion is garbage and don’t know what you are saying, Game Maker can NOT handle DLLs well and that is a definite slow thing, Game Maker is slow no matter what, everything is slow, face it. Also, if I were a n00b and used it right, it would be slow, just cause I’m a n00b? Makes no sense, you’d better get your facts right.
I know for a fact that Ultimate3D can do most things that deal with 3D, not almost everything…I am not sure there is a “right” way to use Game Maker, but there is a smart way to use it. Example: Using pixel objects as water can be right, but not smart. If you use something like GearGOD’s metaball example then it would be smart.
I’d like to see you try to make and manage a growing language.
Rimmer66
April 8th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
What a bloody load of bullcrap! GM sucks because indeed it IS slow – unless you can content yourself with using 1 sprite on screen at once, anything barely complex slows it down to 2 fps – forget about using this bloody junk of a game maker program and program your own – this is the slowest, most buggy program ever – making the runner in C++ will have fuck all to do with running your games faster – GM needs to be completly re-written – and I doubt that they will be able to convert all the GML source and D&D actions into a compiled game, you lot are dreaming in colors. GM is poorly written, it is bloody slow, it lacks in many features, its whole programming structure is difficult to understand, no wonder it’s damn slow.
Don’t waste your time Sandy on version 8 nobody wants it unless it is a total and complete re-write not some bloody fixes and udpates like 6.0 to 7.0, which was a major bloody disappointment IMHO.
Yeah. GM isn’t slow. If you actually use it right and aren’t a noob, it will run fine. GM is a good platform to develop games on, because it is fast. You could spend 10 years developing your own engine, or you could use Game Maker. Try loading sprites from files. Ultimate 3D (ultimate3d.org) is a great program for developing 3D games in Game Maker. It still runs normal speed, looks great and can pretty much do anything, PROVIDED YOU USE IT RIGHT. If you get into GM more, you find it CAN handle anything you want it to. I can’t wait for the release of 8, becuase I’ll get multi platform games and just a little faster speed, which may just be what I need. Not alot, just a little bit. So, GM is a great tool, and the release of GM8 will be great.
lol, these kids. if you were trying to make cutting edge games in GM, you fail. If you were trying to make decent 2d games in GM, you are able to read.well done. it boasts a lot but the reality is its awesome. have you ever written anything this scale ? didnt think so but yea, if you were gonna be so 1337 at programming and making fast paced action 2d games you would learn an engine,make an engine, or shutup and do it.
Dissing other peoples work that is in fact awesome just shows how narrow minded and shameful you act when you think you are better then everyone else. Thanks for playing.
Hello Gamers
I think that moving the site is a very big leap for the GMC and yoyogames
I think you should give serious repracutions to people who download developers games, then upload them and call them thier own.
I also have been collecting all kinds of resources into a huge folder. I would like to know how to give this to you to share with all the developers. Please reply.
Also I think it wasn’t a very good idea moving the site just before the competition02 ended. Please don’t do anything like this again. 🙂
Can you please make a link on the home page that leads directly goes to the members online.
Regards
Sam Whillance
soo much for programming being the right track to take huh?
so take a chill pill and in given time who knows things could improve including the speed of the application and running the game and using it.
woah, ah… pipe down take a chill pill buddie, they will fix it up and get to making it faster when they do ok.
which won’t be long.
all is not over if instead of running the game it gives you the code in C++/language required and then you use it with programmers notepad which supports many languages to write files in and then save it and run it and try it and see if it even works or if your so called clever coding even does anything because i can bet you right here now $15.00 it won’t run and how do i know because i followed the manual and used the correct functions correctly and ran the program and all i got was not even a simple dialog popping up to show me the slightest pixel and you call this programming ever soo great.
Im seriously mor amped about the multiplatform game thing i mean sure ure games wont be any good on ps3 or 360 but cellphone games that sell r usually crap side scrollers but with game makers 3D capabilities u might be able 2 make 3D cellphone games(it is possible cz John Carmack did it on c++) and hopefully mochiads will be able to eventually support GM (though if however it did there would be a lot if not 2 much games on mochiads)
What a bloody load of bullcrap! GM sucks because indeed it IS slow – unless you can content yourself with using 1 sprite on screen at once, anything barely complex slows it down to 2 fps – forget about using this bloody junk of a game maker program and program your own – this is the slowest, most buggy program ever – making the runner in C++ will have fuck all to do with running your games faster – GM needs to be completly re-written – and I doubt that they will be able to convert all the GML source and D&D actions into a compiled game, you lot are dreaming in colors. GM is poorly written, it is bloody slow, it lacks in many features, its whole programming structure is difficult to understand, no wonder it’s damn slow.
Don’t waste your time Sandy on version 8 nobody wants it unless it is a total and complete re-write not some bloody fixes and udpates like 6.0 to 7.0, which was a major bloody disappointment IMHO.
Gee, GM is slow, but what the fuck are you running on? A Voodoo 2?
multi-platform?
wow, time for some really laggy DS games.
its epic win that he said “I won’t say we didn’t make any mistakes, because we did. ” maybe they’ll stop being so lol.
Anything can be decompiled/reverse engineered, but sometimes only to a certain point. If you wrote a game in C++ and then compiled it, you wouldn’t be able to get variable names (or any kind of name) out. If you decompiled it you’d end up with a bunch of assembly and maybe some C++.
check out http://www.enigma-dev.org/
@Revel
Anything can be decompiled/reverse engineered.
Very good, nice to see YoYo doing something. I’m particularly intrigued by the part about possibly seeing a compiler later on… (That would speed up your games btw).
I’m assuming if GM ever becomes compiled we will loose some functionality (execute_file and execute_string) unless they implement some sort of JIT compiler (which could be interesting) like the one provided with .NET. But I think compiling would really be a great way to go.
I think the main problems with GM are that it can be decompiled and its really slow. If they make it alot faster and prevent decompiling, it will be incredible. As for me, it doesnt matter if it can run on mac or not.
So the runner being in c++, does that mean games will run alot faster or will that only increase compatibility?
Im glad to hear that they are doing something about the crappy games being submitted aswell.
I guess C++ might make it relatively faster, however I do not believe that this is the main feature. The ‘slowness’ of Game Maker is not as much related to it being in Delphi as much as the fact that the runner itself parses GML and interprets it in a certain way. This is what Mark said all along the way, but with YoYo Games, a lot of the past ‘impossiblities’ in GM became near-future objectives, so I’m not sure how much does what I say apply with the current state of YoYo Games.