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GMplanet aggregates the Game Maker related blog posts of:
Below is a video demonstrating Game Maker for PSP running a none-modified version of Chad Chisholm’s Skydiver.
There game is in a playable state but there are some problems with speed, a few graphical glitches and background music has not yet been implemented.
YoYo Games have hired a Chief Technical Officer in Dundee and will be making an announcement “indirectly” related to Game Maker for PSP tomorrow.
Yesterday’s downtime which affected all YoYo Games services including the Game Maker Community was caused by “simple maintenance” which went wrong following a firewall conflict. Around 30 minutes of downtime was followed by a period where games on the main YoYo Games were without screenshots.
Photo credit: Dundee by Flickr user macieklew, released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
A new online highscores system for Game Maker has been launched.
Linked which is part of the UpUrLoad file hosting website utilises 39dll to make it easy to maintain a global highscores table.
Created tables can be viewed directly within your game (there is no need to launch a browser window when sending or retrieving scores). Scores are sent as encrypted md5 strings which include a secret key visible only in the creator’s Linked account. There are versions available for Game Maker 6-8.
This is probably the easiest to use online highscore solution for Game Maker games that I have seen.
Across several Game Maker forums we have seen the creation of ”Community Game” projects. The most widely-participated in of these by far has been the “GMCG“, started by grimmjow. Other smaller-scale projects include NOD’s still unnamed Game Project, NODs first game project which died and 64 Digits’ (now dead) game.
Although the idea is plausible and there are always lots of volunteers in the beginning the initial thrill wears off in just a few short weeks. If a strong group is not built up by then the projects slowly deteriorate until it is just a small group of elite leaders that are talking to the wall. Here is a look at just a few of the many problems that plague these so called “Community Games”.
1. Lack of proper leadership
Although from the outside it just looks like the position with all the glory and the honor (and the mod powers!), the leadership position plays a very critical role in the overall out come of the game. Too often the leaders of these projects are relatively inexperienced in creating games, much less leading a group of lots of people. More experienced members who would have the knowledge and technical know-how to run such a project realize all the responsibility involved and generally tend to run in the opposite direction.
2. If you want it that way then why not you do it?
A problem I have encountered in many of the games out t
here is large groups making decisions, that are generally not their business. For example, why should the sprite makers and artists choose what program the sound and music crew must use to make music? It doesn’t really affect them. The musicians, who are hopefully experienced in their field should be able to make a decision themselves, independently from the rest of the community. Why should the people outside the music department get a say in something that does not affect them, but it will affect the musicians, and possibly make them leave.
3. Activity Levels
The activity and devotion of members in the project is easily one of the top deciding factors in the overall speed of the game. As with most projects (including community games) activity and enthusiasm is always exuberant in the beginning of the game. Unfortunately after the initial rush activity levels start to diminish. This is partially because people get bored with the game or perhaps just wanted to see how it is progressing without contributing. It could also be because at the beginning of the project, there is not a lot which can be done. Leadership roles are still being established and story lines are being written. The challenge is having something for everyone at all times that people can work on.
Another interesting angle that the GMCG is taking is to name a weekly “Top Contributer”. They are also thinking of awarding actual prizes to members as a way of saying thanks as well as an incentive to other members. However, we have yet to see a prize given out. I find this also very true with media groups that try to produce weekly or monthly projects. Viewers like the idea initially, but since they only want to tune in (or read it as the case may be) now and then, the people that run it get discouraged after and give up.
4. Group Decisions
Although some game projects just set up a monarchy and have one person call all the shots, that doesn’t really hold with the spirit of a community game. Alternatives include having a small group of “leaders” that make decisions for members, or having all-out community votes. Unfortunately community votes take lots of time and that can bore members that just want to work on the game. One of the alternatives to having votes or monarchs is to have community discussions or “meetings” if you will. The people that are working on the game will all go on a set chat room at a predetermined time and discuss the aspects of the game, as well as the pros and cons of new ideas. One of the downfalls though is that people are spread out over many timezones and have different schedules which makes it hard for everyone to get their fair say.
5. On-Lookers
As with many group events, there are always people that sit on the sideline and watch before they jump in and do it. While having “contributor of the week” and giving out cash (or other forms of) prizes are good, that is not always enough to get people to join in. Group leaders need to think of creative ways to get these people “off the bleachers” (or computer chairs in this case) and into the project.
I don’t think that the potentially lucrative space on the YoYoGames.com homepage is being put to its best use. There is limited real-estate on the index page of what is a popular gaming site so surely it should be continually updated with fresh new content to entice people to play different games, discover Game Maker or get involved with the community.
There have been very few changes to the YoYo Games homepage since the launch of the site back in 2007 (see screenshots at the end of post). First things first – I am glad to see the cheesy 1990s marquee has gone, but there are still several features that make me ask ‘why?’.
YoYoGames.com homepage over time:
The free upgrade period for Game Maker 8 officially expires at the end of March. So anyone who PAID for Game Maker 7 at any time in 2009…you need to upgrade by the end of March if you want to get Game Maker 8 for free.
When you play a game with retro graphics, there are some things you expect. Pixelated graphics. Sprites. Limited color palette. At first glance, Realm of the Mad God has retro graphics like many other games:
However, Alex of Wild Shadow Studios put in several things that don't fit the usual retro graphics approach. The above screenshot shows that the world map and its pixels rotate with the player, while the trees, players, and monsters stay axis-aligned (like billboards in 3d games). Weapon projectiles move in any direction, not only the usual 4 or 8 that you might expect from a game on a tile grid.
Less apparent is the variable scale. The “pixels” aren't simply magnified by a fixed amount. Each object has its own scale, which you can see in this screenshot by comparing the trees:
Something that's easy to miss is that some effects have a shower of “pixels”. In this composite of three screenshots, you can see red “blood splatter” and some green remains of something that exploded (I think):
Also easy to miss is how the water effect breaks expectations of retro game art. The sprites themselves are pixelated, but the alignment doesn't match the map. With this, Alex produces water animation. Look closely at the sand and water boundary, and you'll see that the “pixels” don't match up:
One of the neater effects in this game is the 3d dungeon walls. The ground, tops of walls, and sides of walls are all rendered with pixel art. In this screenshot you can see one of the players is behind the wall:
I drew some examples of things that could be interesting but aren't actually in the game at this time: dissolve effects (teleportation?), shadows (to show height), shearing (to show motion), rotated body parts or weapons (for improved animation), and outlines (to improve contrast or show effects like damage or buffs):
The sprite art we got from Oryx is pixel art, but in a vector graphics engine there are lots of things you can do with the sprite art. For Realm of the Mad God, Alex played with rotation, scale, alignment, and 3d to produce some neat effects that you don't normally see in games with retro graphics.
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: Direct Link (34MB)
Show Links
Most recent GMTech Issue
Most recent MarkUp Issue
Independent Developer magazine
GMWeekly
Overbyte magazine
The GMCG @ GMC
GMCG Wiki
Google Doc’s style online Game Maker IDE by James Rhodes (abandoned)
GameCog
Braingale Team
“The incredible Lyl Vypa“
Obligatory lack of Instant Play moan
The Book
Who is making money from Game Maker article
Official GameJolt Jam entry list
NAL’s look at the Game Maker entries in the GameJolt Jam.
SohoPogoHo
Vatn Squid
Paper Dreams
GMC CageMatch on Hiatus
GMLive on Hiatus
Amusing YYG forum post
Game Maker Blog twitter
Music: Store and Save by Hardstroke
The first episode
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:
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.
A minor irritant is the constant references to ‘GM8′. Incredibly in the entire 161 page book the phrase ‘Game Maker’ is only mentioned 4 times. Whilst this acronym is explained at the start of the book the same is not true of others used throughout the guide. For example an extract of the book reads “GM8 does have cosmetic 3D capability (which is stronger than the 3D feature offered by its competitor MMF)”. Presumably MMF is Multimedia Fusion, a topic with which the author seems to have a mini-obsession given its constant acronymic mentions (he has published two books on the game creation tool), but this is not explained anywhere. Sure a quick Google didn’t hurt but this book is supposed to be providing tips and techniques not causing confusion.
Some of the questions answered are just moot. For example “Should I start with room first or object first?” and hands up who doesn’t have a sound card installed on their current machine. “Is a sound card REQUIRED on the development station?” takes up a page of the guide. Some of the questions seem downright bizarre such as “What is the optimal display resolution and color depth for GM8 to operate at design time?” I doubt many people have even considered asking that question.
There are some more useful questions such as “Why is full screen mode preferable and why should mode change be discouraged at runtime?” which covers an issue that people may initially overlook.
As you will be able to tell from the contents listing, and the questions quoted above, most of the guide is not focused on active game creation but on questions relating to the functionality of the Game Maker software itself.
The Object Design section will probably be the most relevant to most Game Maker users and may help beginners become familiar with the basics of Object Orientated Programming as the basics of sprites, objects, rooms and the concepts of persistency, object instances, collision checking and inheritance are covered. Use of the phrase “this parent object thing” seems very dismissive though. This part of the book also includes interesting responses to queries about using several smaller objects instead of one large object for example to control various weapons on a spaceship or enable certain areas to be more sensitive to damage than others. There are also various questions relating to the use of views before the book abruptly ends with the promise of future updates on the publisher’s website.
Plugs are given to LateralGM the cross-platform Java based Game Maker IDE and Liam Brummitt’s GMToolbox resource site. I would support the Paint.NET recommendation as I have used the free tool as my sole graphics program for a number of years though it has to be said this mainly consists of simple drawings and screenshots! Again – no link though.
The quality of language is not of the standard I would expect to find in an authoritative guide. For example on the subject of the best Operating System to use part of the response is “Vista itself is way too power hungry. It eats up half of all system resources even when not running anything. Windows Server 2003 is never optimized for front end application like the GM8. Windows 7 is too new”.
“Are GM8 projects and games SECURE?” mentions the Game Maker decompiler but doesn’t make suggestions on how you can protect your game against being readable by using an obfuscater. There are also minor but noticeable mistakes such as a reference to “windows based games” [sic]. My general opinion is that the book has been published too early and lacks the basic explanations required for beginners and the depth required to to be the ultimate Game Maker technical resource for more established game makers. I am struggling to see who the book is really aimed at.
The “How do I measure actual runtime screen performance?” answer tells you to use debug mode. But no explanation as to what it is or how to access it is given until later in the guide. The whole book seems disjointed.
In short I was disappointed. There clearly is some potential in the Question and Answers approach taken and some of the answers were quite insightful but the consistency and quality just wasn’t there.
A second volume dealing with “serious coding” is planned for the future.
[AMAZON $13.95]: Game Maker 8 Game Creation: Practical Tips & Techniques Vol.1
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
“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
A review of Game Maker 8 Game Creation – Practical Tips & Techniques Vol.1 will be posted within a couple of days.
Other Game Maker books: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/
Jam
Created by: Comico
Plays at time of writing: 10
A nice idea marred by the fact it gets difficult far too quickly, feels incredibly unfinished and is a little glitchy. For instance, your guy will be walking (in animation) when he’s not moving, but not when you are. Basically, you have to get to the end of each level while a number of turrents shoot rapidly at you. I only got as far as the second level due to its difficulty, which is a problem. Could definitely do with some audio feedback and work in every area because the premise is certainly solid enough.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/action/jam/1667/
Tubus
Created by: YellowAfterlife
Plays at time of writing: 24*
*GJ version only. The copy on Game Jolt, to me and, it seems, others too, may not work. If you can’t get it to run, see the alternative link. This is a slow, but certainly pretty, vector-based game in which you’re moving along the inside of a tube shooting at square obstacles and avoiding the shots of other enemies. The MIDI music wasn’t particularly fitting (YellowAfterlife has stated the GJ version, which doesn’t work for some, uses MP3 music more suited to the game) but wasn’t unbearable, and the game was alright in general. Certainly the aesthetics of the game are its strongest point though.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/tubus/1669/
Alternative Link: http://solidfiles.com/d/uIcJ
Vatn Squid
Created by: Ted Lauterbach, Heatex, IceWave
Plays at time of writing: 731
Vatn Squid, created by the same guy that came first in the last Game Jolt competition along with an impressive stack of other achievements, is a strong bullet-hell offering featuring ten bosses, each with their own sprites, names (appearing before they start firing), and distinctly different bullet patterns. The game uses blend modes and high-quality sprites to great aesthetic merit, and its variety make it very popular, as is often the case with Lauterbach’s games. It was featured on Indie Games Blog quicker than Game Jolt managed to list the entries, another indication as to its quality.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/shooter/vatn-squid/1672/
Face Generation
Created by: Andrew Brophy
Plays at time of writing: 30
Another very Brophy-esque offering, Face Generation is a mix between bullet hell and boss rush. There’s only one boss, which improves with time as opposed to weakening. Accompanied by trippiness achieved with both an obscure but very pretty background and a fairly catchy background track, this is a game you may not feel compelled to return to after one play, but you will enjoy it. If only his games didn’t force a screen resolution change by default – my computer seriously hates it when things do that.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/shooter/face-generation/1689/
Dissipate
Created by: Ed Scheindlin
Plays at time of writing: 52
A game in which each level is based on a proverb/saying. Since Karoshi’s popularity soared there have been a burst of average games in which lateral thinking is the key to success, but Dissipate differentiates itself just enough to be a worthwhile play. Its graphics aren’t perfect but they do the job and the lateral aspects generally made sense with their given proverbs. Only problem with it? The controls made my hands ache – I guess there’s a logic to using “U” for “Up” but it just meant my hands were too close together and it made play uncomfortable after a few levels.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/puzzle/dissipate/1665/
30 Seconds To Extermination
Created by: NessXX, BK-TN, ChoclateSailor
Plays at time of writing: 34
The third game I couldn’t get working (second I couldn’t play at all). Upon clicking Play I was thrown into an infinite loop of errors about some uninitialised variables or something. A number of tips supplied by its creators, including an unhelpful “Play the game again, it only happens 1/100 times” (seemingly not the case, three times in a row and it still threw the error up, as did playing on YoYo Games and redownloading it) did nothing. Reception from the minority able to play it seems okay though.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/arcade/30-seconds-to-extermination/1662/
SohoPogoHo
Created by: Andrew McCluskey, Sean Buller
Plays at time of writing: 28
I can’t really review this, but I can’t exclude it from the list either since it’s one of the GM-made entries. Therefore I’ll go with a description instead: SohoPogoHo is a game in which you play as a prostitute that stands out from the crowd by incorporating a pogo stick into her “work”. It’s also used as a handy, if difficult-to-control, mode of transportation in getting to the clients. The game focuses mainly on the transportation aspect, leaving the actual job as a suggestive dust cloud and a randomly-generatedly-named “act”. Also includes Game Jolt trophies.
Download: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/platformer/sohopogoho/1655/
Given the success of the Jam and the high interest by both developers and players, not to mention how pleased the staff of Game Jolt were with the results, it seems highly likely they will become a regular part of the website, if only to fill in the time not occupied by contests.
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.
Just two links to share this week:
YoYo Games moderator RedChu has published the first issue of Overbyte which “will try to be a monthly magazine”.
Unlike many other Game Maker magazines Overbyte does not take itself too seriously – a good idea of what to expect comes for the very first page, headed “OHAI”, which states:
“This being our first issue, it means it’s our biggest ever. Inside these virtual pages you will find some of the most intriguing artifacts to surface since another intriguing artifact that surfaced sometime ago,…”
There are some amusing observations starting off with “it’s safe to assume the majority of those games [entered into YYG competition 5] aren’t going to win.”
Content wise there is a short news round-up, a look at the upcoming GameJolt weekend Game Jam, an interview with Ben Smith – creator of the SigmaNine game maker community, 6 game reviews and a few odds-and-ends at the back on the magazine.
I quite like the humorous comments on stories throughout the magazine although I expect this will serve only to annoy some people and the novelty may wear off after a few issues!
The best issue of a Game Maker magazine that has been released for a long time.
