Discussion Just out of interest

Just out of interest has anyone used other products like game maker. Namely things like coco and construct. If so how do they compare. I gravitated towards game maker when I was making this decision very quickly. Game maker seems like the best tool on the market by a long shot.

What do you guys think.
 

kburkhart84

Firehammer Games
I agree it is the best tool because it allows for the quick start learning without limiting you as much. I don't know what coco is, but I DID try Construct at one point. The drag and drop action thing felt too limiting. And though there was a way to code things, you couldn't just code, rather you still had to code for the drag and drop crap. I understand that Gamesalad has similar issues, but I haven't actually messed with it. There is also multimedia Fusion, but last I checked that it was pretty much obsolete and wasn't getting updated. Gamemaker has the easy to start with drag and drop, although most people end up learning GML ASAP, and that's a good thing. Even GML as a language was still built with the ease of use that is missing in other languages.

I've also dabbled in Unreal Engine 4, and spent lots of time in Unity. They often get compared with Gamemaker for whatever reason even though their target audience is pretty different, and they are typically what people who "move on" from Gamemaker go to. For UE4, I was never able to get comfortable with Blueprints, though you can supposedly do just about anything you want with it. Unity doesn't have a fully released Visual Code editor yet, unless you count some of the 3rd party creations that have been done. Some are more direct to code kind of things, like D&D is to GML. Others are more higher level stuff, like state machines. I've never like either of those things much, preferring to just code it out. Although the one I'm thinking of for state machines could have come in handy for higher level state, like multiple stages of a boss fight, and things like what happens in a level as you play though it, etc...
 
I have never used D&D I find this very confusing. I'm not sure why but code makes more sense to me. If someone ever asks about D&D (Not dungeons and dragons I love that) I have no idea what to say.

I forgot all about, game salad.

I'll have to brush up on my state machines. It sounds like a blob. Not sure aboot that.
 

O.Stogden

Member
Yeah, this topic probably kind of borders on promoting other game engines, which is against the forum rules.

Having said that, yes I had used other game engines back in 2002-2006 before I started using GameMaker, however since I first started using GM in 2006, I haven't really touched anything else seriously.
 

Rayek

Member
My opinion: branch out depending on your wants and needs. GM is great for 2d games, yet not always the most efficient solution. No game engine can be, because it depends on your project, your time, your requirements...

For example, I have been working on creating a 2D point-and-click adventure game (a bit like Thimbleweed Park) lately, and I would never do this in GameMaker, since an excellent dedicated specialized option exists which allows me to focus on the story rather than figuring out how to get one character follow another character, dragging and dropping with conditions, multiple language support, inventories, and stuff.

Obviously a point-and-click adventure can be done in any game engine. The question to ask yourself: how valuable is your time and do you have an interest in reinventing the wheel.

I know that Ron Gilbert (of Thimbleweed Park fame) decided against ANY game engine, because he wanted full control. So he developed his own custom click-and-point adventure game engine. And he had fun doing it as well.

Myself, I can't be bothered, and I want to focus on the game and narrative itself. I am a one-man team, and these game are time-intensive to create as it is. So I decided to go with a dedicated specialized point-and-click adventure game engine.
 

K12gamer

Member
I have never used D&D I find this very confusing. I'm not sure why but code makes more sense to me. If someone ever asks about D&D (Not dungeons and dragons I love that) I have no idea what to say.

I forgot all about, game salad.

I'll have to brush up on my state machines. It sounds like a blob. Not sure aboot that.
I'm the opposite...I only understand D&D...That other stuff looks like a foreign "alien" language to me.
 
B

BachusPL

Guest
Oh no no no, we don't want to promote other engines delete this thread right now!!!
 

woodsmoke

Member
I made a little game in pico8, which was fun. It's constraints are cool but would usually be too limiting for me.
 
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