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Legacy GM Using 8.0, Should I buy Studio?

A

Azure Spectre

Guest
I've been using Game Maker since 8.0 came out (5-7 years?) as a hobby, just playing with mechanics and systems and whatnot. Recently I've taken Game development more seriously and I am in the early stages of making a game I plan to sell on Steam. I am extremely familiar with 8.0, and can make just about anything given enough time, but I've been eyeing studio for awhile, and some of the features look very useful for my current project. I would just like some clarification and advice from those who have some experience with Studio or ideally both versions.

My main questions:

Can I open my GMK with studio?

Are my skills with 8.0 mostly transferable?

I am using a lot of place_meeting(), position_meeting(), surfaces, and blend modes. Are those systems changed enough that I would have to re-work major portions of my code?


Other:

Vector graphics would be extremely useful for me, how are they handled in Studio?

Any huge performance issues using shaders?

Has 3D support improved at all?

I've read mixed things, does it generally run faster or slower than older versions of GM?
 

Yal

šŸ§ *penguin noises*
GMC Elder
  • Yes, but a chunk of functionality has been deprecated and may force you to change the ways you code things (you can't execute arbitrary text strings, for instance, but you can put all the code in scripts and run those).
  • Yes, there's no huge changes in neither GML or the GUI.
  • No, and there has been new complimentary functionality added that you might want to look into (shaders and buffers).
  • Direct import of Spine and SWF files (if I remember correctly), there is no real support for editing them in GM and they lack some of the functionality normal sprites has.
  • No, but it's hardware-dependant (if the player lacks support for shaders or they don't compile properly, the game crashes, so you might want to check whether they work at game start).
  • Not functionality-wise, but there's been huge boosts to performance and you can use surfaces in 3D mode now.
  • Runs faster IMO, but compiling a game (both for test playing and making a standalone) takes a lot longer. Saving and loading as well, but it's not as noticeable. It also forces a save each time you test play the game, so be careful when experimenting with major changes.
There's also a free 'full' version of studio available if you register that has most of the functionality but a watermark, you might want to check that out before buying. (The Lite version easily gets too limited to do anything serious in, and registration isn't that much of a hassle)
 
C

Chris Goodwin

Guest
I picked up GMS awhile back when they had one of their sales going on (I think in November) and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. If you are serious about making games it's almost a must with all the great advancements they have and will be making. Cheers!
 
A

AnonyMouse

Guest
I've switched to GMS before, hm, 2 years maybe. I made tests and games are much faster but the GMS itself is heavier fol old PC. The bad thing is I must rewrite my whole game again... Most things doesnt work and it crashes on mistakes.
I think the skin stressed me too much at the start, I still dont like that greenish style...
P.S. I see that humble for the first time. Is there some trick... prices are too low?!
 
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Azure Spectre

Guest
I've switched to GMS before, hm, 2 years maybe. I made tests and games are much faster but the GMS itself is heavier fol old PC. The bad thing is I must rewrite my whole game again... Most things doesnt work and it crashes on mistakes.
I think the skin stressed me too much at the start, I still dont like that greenish style...
P.S. I see that humble for the first time. Is there some trick... prices are too low?!
Green skin put me off a little too, but it looks like it's definitely worth it even if I have to re-write a buch of scripts.

Right?! I feel bad even paying 35$ for it... but I'm certainly not complaining! :)
 
M

McWolke

Guest
I've switched to GMS before, hm, 2 years maybe. I made tests and games are much faster but the GMS itself is heavier fol old PC. The bad thing is I must rewrite my whole game again... Most things doesnt work and it crashes on mistakes.
I think the skin stressed me too much at the start, I still dont like that greenish style...
P.S. I see that humble for the first time. Is there some trick... prices are too low?!
They are gonna release GMS2 soon i guess, thats why they try to get some last money out of gms1. Just a guess though
 
A

Andy

Guest
GMS has so many benefits over GM8. The enhanced performance alone is a selling point for Windows projects.
If you can, go GMS. Just be warned, your GM8 projects may need some re-coding. Some GM8 functions are obsolete in GMS.
 

Cpaz

Member
I've switched to GMS before, hm, 2 years maybe. I made tests and games are much faster but the GMS itself is heavier fol old PC. The bad thing is I must rewrite my whole game again... Most things doesnt work and it crashes on mistakes.
I think the skin stressed me too much at the start, I still dont like that greenish style...
P.S. I see that humble for the first time. Is there some trick... prices are too low?!
Green skin put me off a little too, but it looks like it's definitely worth it even if I have to re-write a buch of scripts.

Right?! I feel bad even paying 35$ for it... but I'm certainly not complaining! :)
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/gamemaker-studio-theme-directory.1349/
(I reposted the FANTASTIC metro skin by 7rustDev)
 
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