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Socoder -> Off Topic -> GameMaker Made Free

Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 08:28
Jayenkai
GameMaker - Free for Non-Commercial use : Linkage

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''Load, Next List!''
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 08:28
Jayenkai
Oh, I really want to love it, but this tutorial is.. Aaargghh!!!

Asteroids Tutorial
Click this menu, now click this menu, click here, click this menu, click this button, here's a button, click it, menu, menu, option, slider, menu, file requester, menu, clicky click, slide, menu, drag, drop, don't drop, do slide, click, menu here, menu, wow!!

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''Load, Next List!''
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 08:47
Kuron
5.3 was the last good version IMHO. Original owner, thriving community and a strong product.

I could never get along with point and click game development. Not putting it down, just hard to wrap your head around if you are not used to it.

I will give it a gander now that it is free. It has been years since I have looked at it. Some amazing stuff was turned out with it.
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 08:53
cyangames
I never did check out game maker and I probably never will, yup, I agree Kuron, that whole point and click game dev just never sits well with me. Unity was probably hte closest I could get to that side of things and well.... I'm fine to leave Unity

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 09:34
Kuron
To be fair, unlike other products, GameMaker always allowed you to program the majority of your game using the built in language (GML).

When it first changed hands from the original owner, the registration protection schemes darn near made the product unusable and would lock out some legit users. Getting rid of that crap is such a good move.

No idea what it has been like since it was sold again, to Opera this time.
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 14:21
Kuron
I guess in a way the whole point and click game creation is horribly dated. Now you can simply tell ChatGPT to write you an Asteroids clone.

Point and click is too difficult for the up and coming programmers. Our society is doomed.
Tue, 21 Nov 2023, 14:54
PHS
haha, this thread
Wed, 22 Nov 2023, 02:04
Pakz
I was watching a guy writing a whole 3d voxel engine (Minecraft) in Gamemaker. It can do that too. The person had some troubles that period at home and ended up homeless living in his car. I think he is allright now though.
Wed, 22 Nov 2023, 03:28
Kuron
Back in the day, it had some really cool 3D capabilities. Mark did a great job on it and when it was first sold they kept him on for a bit.

I lost track of it, shortly after it first changed hands. The buggered registration system was too much trouble to deal with.
Mon, 04 Dec 2023, 15:45
Kuron
I have been reading up on all the changes and the best I can tell, you can still fully code a game using GML which is a really powerful scripting language. Powerful syntax-wise. Can't speak for modern speed. But back in the 5.3 era it was really nice.
Thu, 07 Dec 2023, 01:45
AndyH
The original was a good idea but I found performance was lacking and I hated that I couldn't get rid of screen tearing. The latter seemed to be just an accepted quirk and Mark wasn't able to fix. When it was sold, Mike (lemmings bloke) took over development it improved massively into a solid tool.

When they were first transitioning there was a deal to buy the 'pro' version cheap which I did, then cheap deals to get the platform exporters and finally to upgrade to studio that got you everything. I didn't like the always online thing and having to prove I was running my legit copy by signing in every time but I have to be honest it didn't give me any trouble.

I had a lot of fun with Game Maker (studio) back in the day, released some games (mostly on mobile). GML and the editors were a great combination at this stage. The editors helped arrange everything and the GML language very powerful, once you got your head around it.

I have to say I've had more trouble with it in recent years. The current version (which was released some time back now) had a overhaul of the UI which didn't gel with me. The subscriptions are not something I will support, so the free for non-commercial use is a superb move. I had no end of troubles signing in to my account last year, just returning an error and would not reset my password. Support was not great. I must have spent near £400 on this software since 2010 in upgrades and I had a golden perpetual license. It felt like because I wasn't a subscriber my issues weren't of much interest to them initially and because they couldn't see why I was getting the error ("It works for me mate") I was hitting a brick wall. It took me moaning to Mike Dailly on one of his live streams until support found and solved the problem with their servers.

I do expect to lose access to my software completely one day I've kind of fallen in love with Javascript/Typescript these days. My day job has me transitioned to React and Typescript development and things are just easy to do with no software companies to pay or ask permission to develop. I tell a lie, I do subscribe to copilot, that thing is magic in VSCode and worth the £8 per month, saves me so much time.

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Andy H
8-bit games at www.hewco.uk
Cartoons at awful.ovine.net
Ovine at ovine.net
Fri, 08 Dec 2023, 11:02
Kuron
Right now, I am developing something in BlitzPlus and Jamagic.

1. BlitzPlus has some minor DPI issues, but otherwise is working wonderfully when using OpenGL (which is all I would ever use). IDEal is a must-have editor.

2. Jamagic has some major DPI issues with the IDE and trying to get it remotely viewable on a modern system running 1920x1080 (which is considered low nowadays). That said, it still works well and DANG! It is STILL my favorite programming language ever for Windows!

I also plan to start playing with BlitzMax. That Eikon and TRG are still plugging along with the Blitz variants, is one heck of a recommendation to me.

But, none are long-term solutions. I am exploring everything to see what works best for me.

GameMaker made a good move, and with the backing of Opera and the ability to also target games for Opera, it is indeed a good move.

When Mark had it, it was slow, but at the time I wasn't making games with a lot of moving graphics and I only ever played with it. It has come a long way and the language is really nice. Like Andy, I never got along with the online account stuff. Not a major issue for me, as I only got that version via a Humble Bundle, IIRC. I can't remember ever buying it.

Folks here, privately, have given me several suggestions and I am exploring all of them. Lots of choices nowadays.