Oldest Version of GM You've Used?

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Thunder Lion

Guest
6 or 5 was the first but i think i tried the older ones out, i miss that red ball and hammer my childhood lol

I did test some early builds also but not so serious. My first coding experience must be 13 years earlier on MSX BASIC, then moved to QBasic and finally to GM.
I used basic once i make a basic platform jump from a tutorial.

It was an early version of 5 can't remember what decimal version though.
This is making me tear

I have both GMS and GMS2 Professional Edition including some of the exports such as Android export. As far as oldest Game Maker that I have tried? Well that would go way back to the original Game Maker, the very first one ever made.
I remember hacking 6 abd 7 lol then i started working and bought 8, S1 and S2

I bought gamemaker in 2003, and in those days (until 2006) I made a boatload of games. Then I ignored it until about a year ago, and it seems I am having to relearn so much.
I kept it some how, ever sense i comprehended vars and if statements the sky was the limit
 
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robstone36

Guest
Yeah, some months later I was interested in particle effects and switched back to 5.x which allowed using particle effects in the free version.
 
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Falconsoft-Industries

Guest
Started with 6.1 then 8.0 then studio 1.4 finally studio 2.0 loving using 2.0 but the way it handles code from 1.4 including 1.4ā€™s actions is scary.
 

True Valhalla

Full-Time Developer
GMC Elder
I started with 6.1 as well...back when you had to create separate alpha masks because there wasn't any support for PNG sprites!
 
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d17george

Guest
We are a long time game maker user, and forum lurker. I used to go by Invaderzim711, but changed my name some time ago...
 
First off, this is my first forum post, so hello everyone!

I started using GameMaker back in the sixth grade with version 7. I actually found out about it from a family friend at a now nostalgic 4th of July party. After the party I went home, downloaded the trial, and started learning from the old Mark Overmars pdf tutorials. My dad eventually bought me the full version that came on a CD (I think I still have it laying around somewhere). I had a lot of fun making games, sharing them at the sandbox, and playing other people's games. It really helped me get through some terrible childhood experiences and for that I'll always love GameMaker.

I sadly fell out of game development for most of my high school years (I was making dungeons for a Minecraft server), but I picked it back up awhile ago when I finally found out about the d3d functions. I made some interesting game prototypes, but never really got anywhere with them. When I found out about GameMaker: Studio 2 I was super excited. I got into the Mac beta test and since then I've been learning more than ever before. I hope to stay passionate for making games and eventually release one to the world. :)
 
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DumbChester

Guest
Oldest GM version used: GameMaker7 i still have it in my desktop together with 1.x and 2. It was hella faster than the new ones. I wonder why Game Maker always slows down every Version Change :( .
 
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Swooshter

Guest
Don't remember what version it was, but started around 2009, with time off and on.
 
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DeathandGrim

Guest
I started on GM6 for a while and got frustrated, deleted it and switched RPG Maker near immediately. Then I finally realized how limited RPG Maker was to Game Maker and went back and GM 7 was the new release. So I technically started on GM7
 

Posh Indie

That Guy
I started with GM5. It has come a long way since then, which is why I have a personal fondness for Game Maker in its current form. It truly has become a real development environment that is very capable for commercial 2D games (Even if many still disagree, blindly ignoring what has been created with it since GM8).

Even if I do not usually see eye-to-eye with YoYoGames, I still have faith in Game Maker's future. I grew up with the likes of Lemmings, which I believe @Mike was a huge part of. The fact that he works on Game Maker is pretty damn cool, and another reason to support the software (At least for me... I have double nostalgia going on here).
 
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knightkpc

Guest
While 6 brought 3D acceleration and all kind of blending effects (alpha transparency at more than 3 frames a second!), there was quite a bit of stuff you needed to now be registered to use.
 
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FormalCloud

Guest
I started gamedev about 5 years ago so my first tool was GameMaker HTML5, right before Studio was released. I've proudly owned every new version since. :)
 
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Fun Key Bay Bee

Guest
5.0! I like that back then, there was no difference between registered and unregistered GM. Which was great because they locked up features I wanted in later releases, such as online functions. Plenty of features for my 12 year old self to sink my teeth into, without being too complicated and intimidating. Needless to say, the GMC was an essential resource.
 
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Andy

Guest
I started gamedev about 5 years ago so my first tool was GameMaker HTML5, right before Studio was released. I've proudly owned every new version since. :)
I always forget about GameMaker HTML5. It had a short life thanks to Studio, but your post reminded me of the ghastly orange theme. :p
 
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FormalCloud

Guest
I always forget about GameMaker HTML5. It had a short life thanks to Studio, but your post reminded me of the ghastly orange theme. :p
Looking around for game engines I was like "Wait, this one publishes directly to the web?" and it seemed the best thing possible because ya know, people wouldn't have to download .exe's from strangers.

HTML5 modules have been top priority for me since. All my best learning experiences come from rapid player feedback that I get from gamejams and the like because of web accessibility. GameMaker simply is the best. ;)
 
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ThinPixels

Guest
I started making useless crap with 4.2 I believe, and now I'm making much more refined useless crap with GMS2 ;)
 
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rpsrosario

Guest
I can't recall exactly the year I started using GM but I do remember I started out with 8.0 LITE. I never really got to use the professional version except a couple of times in some friend's house. I kept up with upgrading whenever possible, but always in the free path. Except for GameMaker Studio 1.4, when the Humble Bundle came up and the price was ridiculously low. I asked a friend to purchase it for me and then I paid him back a few weeks later.

After much wait GMS 2 showed up and I immediately purchased it. Honestly, I'm not that fond of GMS 2 nor have I used GM actively for quite some time (mostly due to my work as a backend developer) but I felt it was something I should do in order to at least support YYG's staff in some way for the really good product they put out. I won't probably use GM as actively as I have on the past for quite some time still (and if I have to be honest, I have been poking around at other places), but I will continue to always fall back to GM (sole reason why I even use Windows) from time to time.

Writing this post actually made me realize how much of the initial spark for gamedev I lost over the years... I definitely have to get that back somehow!
 
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amysgames

Guest
I started with I think GM7, but I remember using GM5 for a while for some compatibility reasons with ye olde GM for Mac. What a wild time, lol.
 

Juju

Member
I first used GM probably about fifteen years ago? I want to say it was 5.x.
v5.3 was April 2004. v4.3 was March 2003. v3.3 was April 2001. I remember using GM when it had a blue icon so that'll be at some point between 2001 and 2003, which is about 15 years ago. It's likely we started around the same time!

I am really curious what it was like working on GM1
Bad. GameMaker is based on an even older tool called "DRAPE" that was entirely visual coding. GML wasn't introduced until version 4 and all programming was done using Drag and Drop. DRAPE version 2.0 was released April 10 1998. DRAPE was, for all intents and purposes, the first iteration of what we now know as GameMaker.

I think before version 4 or 5 you couldn't make an executable but had to run them from the gm interface.
You could export "stand-alone" executable files from GM1. They still work on Windows 10!



For those interested, the earliest definite date I have for the first copy of GameMaker is version 1.4, released June 2000. I think I have a copy of 1.1 somewhere that was released late 1999, but I don't have that to hand at the moment. GameMaker's 20th birthday isn't far away.
 
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theweirdn8

Guest
GMS 5. I think I downloaded 1.0 just to see the origin story.
 

Shut

Member
GM v3.something? I don't remember the exact version, but it was the one with the blue icon.
 

DukeSoft

Member
Version 4 :D Found out about it in a Game Magazine at a friends house. First thing I did was kick my mom off the phone and download it. Afterwards spent a LOT of summervacations behind 5.3 and 6.1.

Also, @Juju - the GM6.1 and lower versions don't work out of the box on Windows Vista and up, you will need to convert the runner inside the applications (I think I uploaded the tool somewhere around here a while back).
 
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Laurent57

Guest
I still use GM 8.1, I do not develop for mobile phone and i don't want to have some problems with bugs and not fixed issues of the latest versions. I usually use nice dlls. It is enough for me.
 

DukeSoft

Member
That might very well be the case yeah. I'm sure the 5.3, 6.0 and 6.1 executables dont run. (they just eat up 100% of 1 core silently until killed) :p
 
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Danny Colclough

Guest
5.3a!

This was back when I had dial-up internet and so I struggled to download the original install file for Gamemaker.

Thankfully, there was the very helpful option to download the installer as six separate files and combine them during installation.

This was also back when if your WIP game was more than 1-2MB, people would hesitate to try it!
 

Blokatt

Member
6.0 back in 2007! I didn't like 7 for some reason (can't remember why). Fun times were had, regardless.
Eventually switched to 8 and then Studio when it came out.
1945.gm6, anyone?
 

cidwel

Member
GM6 I guess. Remember trying to create a golden sun similar RPG as a first project.... how silly I was
 

Bearman_18

Fruit Stand Deadbeat
LOL I am very knew. I keep being jealous whenever I read about you guys talking to Mark Overmars and stuff. To me, he's a guy from videogames history books.
 
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DraXX

Guest
Did anybody use Klick'n'play? That wasn't related to gamemaker, if I recall, but it certainly must have pre-dated it. I remember you could only have 3 custom variables per object, and there wasn't even a square root function. Still managed to do some pretty interesting things with it though.
I was young (was that out about 92?) and all I can recall is one of the really cheesy demo sounds saying "Nooodllleeeeess" and "Chicken Soup!".

I think that made Game Maker an obvious stepping stone when I stumbled across Game Maker 6.1 years later, when I had started working and could afford the delights of paying for an internet connection.

Over the years I have one unfinished TDS, 3 unfinished RTSs, a completed multi-setting alarm clock for my laptop and recently handed in a completed Turn Based Strategy Game as a module for my Masters.

I don't know if anyone else would class "Learning how not to make games, plus all the mistakes along the way" as a cost-effective strategy, having purchased GM 8, Studio 1 and 2 along the way, but hey, it's still fun.
 

MeBoingus

Member
I started off using Game Maker 4.0, eventually worked my way up to GM7 lite. I wanted to buy the pro version so badly. I was like...10 years old back then. My dad still emailed Mark and asked if we can pay for it via bank transfer, after my family had saved up for two months so that I could get it and he said no.

Shout out to Mark Overmars for crushing 8-year-old me's hopes and dreams!

Ended up sitting on version 5.3A for AGES, as for some reason my computer couldn't run GM7 games when my graphics card broke, and GM6 crashed whenever I made it full screen.

Eventually when 8 came out we had enough money laying around for me to buy a license for that, so my parents bought me a license.

I bought GMS on the humble bundle package.

Aaaand now I'm slowly working my way up in my industry so that I can afford GMS2.
 

Kyon

Member
I used 5.1 for a very long time. Then 6, 7 and 8. Learned everything on those versions.
Now learning my way with GMS2.
 

Maximiliano

Member
I started with Game Maker 6 and also used 7. Stopped using it after that until recently. I never completed any project in 6 or 7, I would start making a game, get it somewhat working, then get bored of it and move on to making a new game.

It's the tool that taught me programming and got me interested in making games.
 

Yal

šŸ§ *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
I've used GM1.0 a bit ironically, but got introduced to it via GM5. Most of my big projects in the past were done in GM6.1, but I transitioned over to GM8 about the time the final Yoyo competition was run and then later to GMS1 for reasons unknown. I'm still too much of a source code management hipster to consider GMS2, but perhaps I'll go straight for GMS3 once that comes out.
 

Dan1

Member
I started with version 4.3, I think this was back in 2003, just before version 5 came out.
Registration back then was just Ā£20 and it came with no exports other than windows and it was very different to what we have now.
My first ever game on there was a simple maze game I'd imaginatively called "MyMaze" haha

 
Game Maker 7 was the first one I used; I made a couple small mario fangames in it, one of which was just called "super difficult mario bros" and had an absurd difficulty level throughout xP
 
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japreja

Guest
Game Make 3 was my first version, if I recall properly this was before there was a charge for all the features, I've used all versions since then but have only paid for GameMaker 7, and Game Maker Studio 2. Hope to get the Ultimate version by next summer! Before I used GameMaker I used WoS (Well Of Souls by Synthetic-Reality).
 
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ramses

Guest
I vaguely remember 5 but I started with 7. Catch the Clown ftw!

Oh and hi Yal, chance, TV and other GMC oldies hiding under a different name now :D
 

WarpDogsVG

Member
I definitely started with 4.x something in high school and then convinced my dad to purchase a 5.x license. I read about GameMaker in some book and thought hey, what better tool to make games than one literally called Game Maker?

I was surprisingly bitter when I heard that Mark was working with YYG on later versions. Not that I didn't like them specifically, but I just loved the idea of an entire engine made by just one person. Felt like a secret club or something. Of course the YYG partnership couldn't have worked better, and when I began to work on Village Monsters full time I was thrilled to see just how much GM changed with the Studio series
 

cgPixel

Member
I've used GM1.0 a bit ironically, but got introduced to it via GM5. Most of my big projects in the past were done in GM6.1, but I transitioned over to GM8 about the time the final Yoyo competition was run and then later to GMS1 for reasons unknown. I'm still too much of a source code management hipster to consider GMS2, but perhaps I'll go straight for GMS3 once that comes out.
Wasn't GM1.0 called Animo back then?
I think the first "real" Game Maker version was 1.1.

The oldest version I've used was Game Maker 1.1 (not my first version), very uncomfortable.
 
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