OFFICIAL MCV Article On YoYo Games

Hyomoto

Member
Hrm. Sequences sounds interesting but as a programmer I had hoped to maybe catch a peek at some more technical features. There are some we've been chanting about for years and I hoped they might toss in a "oh, and these things are on the table" and the end. No such luck.

Still, good to hear the ecosystem is healthy.
 

matharoo

manualman
GameMaker Dev.
YoYo Games is going in a great direction. I feel great for the company and the GM community!

Let's make GMS2 the best 2D engine that ever existed!
 

rIKmAN

Member
with Kay saying the team wants to do “a lot of testing with the userbase.” A closed alpha and then a beta are planned before the full release.
This is good to hear, and something which should be made standard protocol for ALL updates and not just sequences.

It would help to avoid disasters like the 2.2.0 update, and there are many of us that have been asking for this for a while and would be willing to step up and add our names to the testing list.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I've re-read this trying to figure out what Sequences are. The article gives nothing to go on. There's a reference to Adobe Premiere Pro, which appears to be movie editing software.
 

matharoo

manualman
GameMaker Dev.
This is good to hear, and something which should be made standard protocol for ALL updates and not just sequences.

It would help to avoid disasters like the 2.2.0 update, and there are many of us that have been asking for this for a while and would be willing to step up and add our names to the testing list.
Same, I too would love to help with the testing program. GMS2 is what I do all day.

I've re-read this trying to figure out what Sequences are. The article gives nothing to go on. There's a reference to Adobe Premiere Pro, which appears to be movie editing software.
I'm guessing it would be a way to tween things like scale, angle, and such.

Cute cat. I want.
 

sylvain_l

Member
I'm guessing it would be a way to tween things like scale, angle, and such.
there are already paths and timeline so is it kind of an overhaul of those form more animation
or is it a particle editor.
a Adobe Premiere Pro like at which level;
Because that would feels like some kind of spine integrated into GMS2 directly; allowing to directly interact with sounds without code. (could be great for those who don't have a spine license). Not sure of that cause in the upcoming section of the roadmap sequences and spine update are listed...

That's sounds at list great to make cutscene :)

will it in the future support vector format (like alllowing import of svg animation ^^)?
 

gnysek

Member
Bigger version of screenshot if anyone interested. Sequences and Animation Curves (aka tweens?) added to resource tree. Also, whole seems to be like animation panels from most of any other existing tools.

So, sequences looks for me like extended timelines - you can set position/scale/color etc. to assets in room.

 

matharoo

manualman
GameMaker Dev.
Sequences are looking great.

I just hope that YYG focusing as much on the current bug reports as they on adding new features and promoting it to beginners.

One member has also complained about YoYo ignoring them, so no idea what's going on.
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
In my opinion, this article is a PR exercise and little else.

You said you want GMS 2 to become an engine that artists can lead the way with. Let's see you properly support non-pixel-art things that artists actually use (e.g. Spine, SWF, vector graphics and high-resolution raster) and empower their vendors to keep them up to scratch, then I'll change my tune.

You said you want to support young developers in publishing their games. Let's see you properly support young developers left in a rut because of the monetization and API integration plugins you neglected to update, then I'll change my tune.

You said you'll be here 12 months down the road, and on that point I agree. But given the two points above and the still sporadic update schedule for GMS 2, I don't know how much of your enterprising clientele would still be interested in waiting 12 months down the road.

I can offer to be a beta tester for things I have experience with or look into publishing a few games through YoYo. If and when YoYo improves its track record on support and responsiveness, we all benefit. But I can't offer to change the reality behind the facade.
 
C

Cowlord

Guest
Sounds like good stuff. Curious when it comes out as GMS2 updates are incredibly infrequent. I point everyone who wants to learn to make games to GameMaker already so anything that makes it easier for non-programmers or someone wanting to start programming is very welcome. :)
 
Let's see you properly support non-pixel-art things that artists actually use (e.g. Spine, SWF, vector graphics and high-resolution raster) and empower their vendors to keep them up to scratch
I don't know how this isn't a big priority, lol. I would kill to be able to use proper Spine, SWF, vector, and high res raster.

At the moment I can't start making my game until the Spine update occurs which will probably happen next year I assume.
 

matharoo

manualman
GameMaker Dev.
I don't know how this isn't a big priority, lol. I would kill to be able to use proper Spine, SWF, vector, and high res raster.

At the moment I can't start making my game until the Spine update occurs which will probably happen next year I assume.
@FrostyCat @Cowlord How does GMS2 not support high-res raster? Genuinely curious. Aren't they too just simple png images?
 

sylvain_l

Member
@FrostyCat @Cowlord How does GMS2 not support high-res raster? Genuinely curious. Aren't they too just simple png images?
no support for texture compression out of the box for example.
If you think at making 4k 1:1 ratio hand-drawn animations or 3D procedurally rendered animation. (<- don't take me wrong, personnally for that last one I would just use a 3D engine instead of GMS2). That could be a problem.

Also really friendly support for unloading/loading sprite too. (actually sprite_add() and sprite_delete() don't work that well on all cases. if you want to create/load/unload sprites, you need some workaround, else you are bloating the sprite index array which lead to those operations of creating a sprite getting slower and slower -more then >>100k idx I mean its extreme cases so I understand while not a priority for yoyo-. not much of a problem for short game or if you can do it on a per level/room loading screen but for live loading in the background, it requires coding to handle all that smoothly ;) )

at least sequence should already solved the fact you no more need to code (image_speed) or trick duplicate subimages to time your animation in between keyframe.(but as GMS2 is already capable of handling duplicate of a frame in a sprite not much of a gain in term of VRAM usage)
 

JackTurbo

Member
Do sprite_add() and sprite_delete() not work well?
Creates a whole new texture page just for one sprite which is obviously suboptimal but unavoidable when creating texture pages at runtime.

The ability to load/unload whole texture pages (or even better groups of them) into/out of memory would make high resolution raster games much more manageable.
 

JeffJ

Member
I agree with everything Frosty said. On top of that, what worries me is that, from this article, it sounds like YYG are focusing more and more on the casual hobbyist and neglecting the entry level enterprise / more serious studio user more and more.

I've said this before, but to me it remains one of the greatest worries about YYG and GM:
It seems like there is a serious identity crisis with GMS. Stronger focus on consoles, more premium prices etc. points towards a more enterprised focus - while so many other things, like just about everything we've seen for the past year or two (short of Switch support) seems to go the complete opposite direction.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with catering to hobbyists or enterprise users, but either way, you need to choose. This half/half isn't working for either side.
 
I love these threads. The GMC is vicious. :')

Still, somehow developers keep making money and great games with GM. It's working for *some* creators, at least.

I'm excited to see where GM goes.
 
L

Lucia

Guest
GM has a lot of competitors, but it's focusing its attention at the community! I love it! Also because it's a tool used a lot as "my-first-engine", so watch the community is very important! It's not like unreal or unity. I think that its competitors are construct2 and rpg maker.
 

Mert

Member
When I showed Game Maker to my friend(he works in one of the major ones), he said : "Yoyogames' marketing department must've been bigger than its development department".
Sadly, it feels true. Is it ? ;)
 
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