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Question - Code Some questions from a programmer's perspective

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Xaron

Guest
Dear all,

I'm new here and never used Gamemaker Studio before. Just downloaded the trial and like what I see. I've used Unity before (released a pretty successful (for me) mobile 3d game) and have used Monkey for another 8 released 2d mobile games.

I want to make more 2d games but as the title says I have more a pure programmer background, C++/C# and NO visual editor stuff (well beside Unity). This question might sound weird but as a programmer, is it easy to grasp all these visual concepts? ;)

1) Are there any known issues/limitations with GMS?
2) I guess stuff like Admob and IAPs are working out of the box?
3) What about networking, does UDP/TCP socket stuff work (server will be done in C++ or C#) for all platforms?
4) What is the size of an empty APK for Android?

Thanks so much and hello from a probably new member. :)

Oh and btw: I LOVE that you use Xenforo! What a nice forum softoware!
 
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Jeffrey Hartley

Guest
Unlike you I have more of a pure art background, I find the visual tools super easy, you can probably watch a YouTube video and get the hang of it relatively quick. It really is up the the artist to make the most out of those pixels really.

Also, early on I was worried if the game rooms would have limitations as far as how many objects I could cram in, but I've found no issues or limitations myself, the only problem I've ever had was underestimating GameMaker, I've seen people make some amazing games over the years.

P.S. What was the 3D mobile game you had made anyway?
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
I want to make more 2d games but as the title says I have more a pure programmer background, C++/C# and NO visual editor stuff (well beside Unity). This question might sound weird but as a programmer, is it easy to grasp all these visual concepts?
Probably easy. In fact, if you'd call Unity "visual", GMS isn't too far off from your interpretation of that term.

1) Are there any known issues/limitations with GMS?
2) I guess stuff like Admob and IAPs are working out of the box?
3) What about networking, does UDP/TCP socket stuff work (server will be done in C++ or C#) for all platforms?
4) What is the size of an empty APK for Android?
  1. The issue with GMS 2 now is how young it is to the market. That makes learning resources more scarce and bugs more common. But if you buy before April 9, you'll get a 1.4 license with it, and 1.4 is pretty mature as a product at this point. The programming language here is also unique to the product and not object-oriented --- Java and C# monolinguals have issues with that, but if you're a truly rounded programmer it's probably fine.
  2. Advertisements and monetization functionality are added as free YoYo-maintained extensions on the Marketplace. They used to be built-in, but the terms and APIs shifted so often that it's more sensible to keep them separate from the main engine.
  3. All platforms not based on HTML5 can use TCP and UDP.
  4. I got around 9.5MB for a blank GMS 1.4.1763 project. But do note that this is just the default settings --- you can trim some fat out by cutting support for certain architectures or API versions, for instance.
 
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Xaron

Guest
Thanks guys! :)

@Jeffrey: Search for Silent Depth. It's a 3d submarine game. :)

@FrostyCat: I see, thanks for that! Sounds good. But no networking for HTML5?
 

FrostyCat

Redemption Seeker
@FrostyCat: I see, thanks for that! Sounds good. But no networking for HTML5?
Of course there is no TCP/UDP networking on the HTML5 export, any web developer who has been reading the news can tell you that.

The HTML5 export runs on a browser and is constrained by what browser-side JS supports. One of the things it doesn't support is native networking --- the W3C started on it and backpedalled for security-related concerns. You can argue for writing an extension that embeds an invisible Flash object or Java applet to proxy the TCP/UDP calls, but both are increasingly blocked by default or doesn't run at all due to a string of high-profile zero-days since 2013.

Websockets is an alternative that's still possible via an extension, and in fact I'm the one who wrote the first GMS 1.x extension for it. It hasn't seen much use because it requires writing and running a separate Websockets server, and client-side JS doesn't support that.
 
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Xaron

Guest
You're right, my bad. Of course I meant websockets for HTML5! Thanks, sounds good! :)
 
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