Old guy seeks advice!

8

8bitman

Guest
Hello gamemakers, I am looking for game creating software that is very easy to use and very beginner friendly.
I am close to retirement age and I would like to learn to create some games that I loved in my youth, I am talking about arcade games such like Space Invaders, Pacman, Galaxians and such.

I know I can play the real thing on an emulator but the thought of creating my own arcade game really excites me a lot. but I have some limitations like age, and a learning disability which means I can be slow (very very slow) to learn certain new things.

Would game maker suit my needs or would there be some other software that would suit me better?

Thank you for reading
 

woodsmoke

Member
Hi I started learning to program and make games at the age of 30 with Gamemaker and it went pretty well. Youtube tutorial videos helped me a lot. Just try the demo and see how it goes. I think GM is very good for total newbies. I've dipped into Pico8 too, but I think GM is better if you don't have any prior programming experience. The type of games that you want to make is perfect for beginners. Competing game-making software should not get recommended here because this is the Gamemaker forum, which belongs to a business trying to earn money.
 
Game maker would be fine for that purpose. Early style arcade games are some of the easier things to program and with the availability of drag and drop with game maker, the process of creating one is simplified even further. Having said that, making any game in any software is a challenge, so make sure you go into it with the right head space. You will hit difficulties and you will have to spend time learning some boring things so you can make your exciting things. But learning to program/make games is a rewarding and fun experience as long as you can appreciate the journey as well as the goal.
 

ThePC007

Member
Hmmm. To be honest, I started making my first somewhat complex games using GameMaker 8. Honestly, I think it was actually more beginner-friendly than GM: Studio because it was simpler. The user interface was snappy, there was no compilation time, which may have made the actual games much slower, but made developing them faster, and considering that you are simply trying to make some hobbyist old-school games, that might actually be better. You never had to clear the cache (which is an issue that would sometimes happen in GM:S 1, although I'm unsure if GM:S 2 still has that issue) and together with the awesome community of the old YoYoGames sandbox (which no longer exists) it was exactly what I needed to get starting with gamedev.

I feel like GM has moved away from that quite considerably, as it is now geared towards developing games that are actually to be sold, rather than just developing as a little hobby. The tool got a little more complex and somewhat more performance-oriented (although it's still a far cry from more mainstream programming languages), the sandbox that allowed you to post your games and play those made by other people (which is what made GM stand out so much) is now gone with no replacement (which is very unfortunate :confused:).

Honestly, the best thing you could do is just try it out for yourself. It's hard for me to judge it from the eyes of a beginner, as it has moved away so far from what it was when I was new to it (and gamedev in general). Just try it out and if you run into any problems, post them onto this forum so we can help you out, I guess that's the best thing you could do. ;)
 

Cpaz

Member
Hello gamemakers, I am looking for game creating software that is very easy to use and very beginner friendly.
I am close to retirement age and I would like to learn to create some games that I loved in my youth, I am talking about arcade games such like Space Invaders, Pacman, Galaxians and such.

I know I can play the real thing on an emulator but the thought of creating my own arcade game really excites me a lot. but I have some limitations like age, and a learning disability which means I can be slow (very very slow) to learn certain new things.

Would game maker suit my needs or would there be some other software that would suit me better?

Thank you for reading
I'd say you came to the right place then!
Nowadays I'd say you should just pick up an engine, (be it Game Maker Studio, Godot, or otherwise) and just go for it.
I can't speak for everyone, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's how most people got into this community.

I'd also recommend a YouTube tutorial series to follow to get to grips with the ins and outs of everything, especially if you're new to programming on general.
Personally, I'd recommend Shaun Spaulding or Heartbeast.
 

pixeltroid

Member
Hello gamemakers, I am looking for game creating software that is very easy to use and very beginner friendly.
I am close to retirement age and I would like to learn to create some games that I loved in my youth, I am talking about arcade games such like Space Invaders, Pacman, Galaxians and such.

I know I can play the real thing on an emulator but the thought of creating my own arcade game really excites me a lot. but I have some limitations like age, and a learning disability which means I can be slow (very very slow) to learn certain new things.

Would game maker suit my needs or would there be some other software that would suit me better?

Thank you for reading
Hello! I'm an "old" guy too. I also started off wanting to be able to create my own games, inspired by the games I played as a youngster (Mario, Metroid, Zelda, Megaman etc). I've always had that desire to make MY games ever since I was a kid, but it was only after I discovered Gamemaker 4 years ago that I have been able to do something towards making my dreams materialize.

I can tell you with the utmost certainty that Gamemaker is THE perfect software for you. Not only will it suit your needs, but if you are ever confused about something, you can ask for help on this forum we are on. Its always busy and there are always people online.

If you are ready to begin your game-making journey, take the first step by grabbing a copy of Gamemaker. Then head over to youtube to learn the basics of the software -- how to create and open files, saving and editing assets, working with objects, rooms and so on. Once you've acquainted yourself with the software, you can start learning to code.

With regard to your comment about being a slow learner, let me say that I'm a slow learner too. I've found the trick is to do things one at a time and slowly.

Good luck!
 

Sabnock

Member
Hello gamemakers, I am looking for game creating software that is very easy to use and very beginner friendly.
I am close to retirement age and I would like to learn to create some games that I loved in my youth, I am talking about arcade games such like Space Invaders, Pacman, Galaxians and such.

I know I can play the real thing on an emulator but the thought of creating my own arcade game really excites me a lot. but I have some limitations like age, and a learning disability which means I can be slow (very very slow) to learn certain new things.

Would game maker suit my needs or would there be some other software that would suit me better?

Thank you for reading
This is exactly the reason i started playing with GMS. I am in my 50's and played with coding when i was in my teens but never really achieved the results i wanted. No internet for info back then :D

my first projects were Asteroids, Invaders and PacMan ( which is on these forums somewhere)

I think Game maker is probably the best option for you as there is lots it can do without you having to learn to much but also has the flexibility should you become more advanced. it's a great hobby and I really enjoy it.

Hit me up if you want to talk about some of the projects you have in mind. i have some great resources on PacMan for instance.

Good luck
 
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Welcome! Although figuring out code itself ended up being too far over my head/beyond my patience, I was able to design an arcade-inspired platformer in GMS2 for which I subcontracted out the actual programming (and music). I found my people in "Collaboration" section of forums. This community is awesome!
 
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TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
Welcome to the GMC! I'd say GM is definitely a good starting point for your goals. It's simple enough to be user-friendly, yet versatile enough to, for the most part, make the only limits to what you can create be your imagination and expertise. If you run into issues while taking your first steps, the Programming forum has your back - there are quite a few capable and patient guiding hands among our member base that can assist you with learning and understanding how to use GameMaker.
 
@8bitman - Old guy? It says you are only fifty on your profile.
We're approaching it... And evidenced by the fact that I was woken up —again— by... let's say my stomach, and have been up ever since on the forums. At least my joints are still ok for the most part. :oops:

And it was only 20 yrs ago that I along with my friends could stuff ourselves at Denny's in the wee hours, eating steak and eggs without a problem. Now I eat some soup containing a whopping teaspoon of chicken at 10pm and, "Oh, I better get up and suffer on the toilet for the next number of hrs while the birds sing away the rest of my sleep time." All of this while listening to this "classic rock" band called The Smashing Pumpkins.
 
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Z

zendraw

Guest
yes you can do what your after with game maker. there is also drag and drop.
 

TsukaYuriko

☄️
Forum Staff
Moderator
Ha, that may be a technical issue on our side... the birth date seems to default to (or has a minimum of?) the 1st of January 1970, as in, start of the UNIX epoch. Seems like anyone older than 50 will get capped out by this... :D
I'll forward this internally to see if it can get fixed.

That aside, we do have a help forum - it's the Programming forum for any questions you have regarding programming inside of GM, and the Tech Support forum for any questions or issues you have regarding the IDE itself and its usage. See you there soon!
 

Evanski

Raccoon Lord
Forum Staff
Moderator
Theres a lot of really good tutorials for recreating space invaders and pac man in gamemaker, they are typically beginner tutorials
 

HayManMarc

Member
I'm another old guy here. :)

I've been using Game Maker for over 10 years (hobby) and I'm still learning stuff. Just tinker away at it. It does have a bit of a learning curve, but once you get over that hump, it gets easier to figure stuff out. And this community is the best on the internet, so you can't go wrong there.

Most importantly, have fun with it and don't stress over it. If you don't understand something, just ask. If you find yourself stressing on it, take a break from it and do something else.

Game dev is a great hobby, in my opinion, and the GMC (this forum) makes it even better.

Welcome to here, and good luck, old timer! ;) Nice to see more of us oldies in here. We can't let the kids take all the fun, right? Besides, who would tell them "how it was in our day"?
 

Toque

Member
Yeah old man toque here.
To be honest I struggled with gamemaker at first. I can make simple arcade games after a few months. I don’t ever think I will get great at it but it’s fun.

the other thing you will need in a game engine is a supportive active community. That’s really what sold me on this engine.
 
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