Game Maker 8.0 Beta
The first beta of Game Maker 8.0 is now available for testing.
For this we will use our official Mantis bug reporting system. However, to make it possible for everybody to test the new version we created a special open version. You can access this at http://gm8.yoyogames.com.
To obtain the beta go to http://gm8.yoyogames.com, sign up for a new account, fill in the information, use the confirmation email you receive to activate the account, and log in. Now use the link Get Beta at the top left to obtain the beta. Install it and test.
Report all bugs through the Mantis system. We will not consider bugs reported in other ways. In particular don’t send us email. Also don’t post questions, only report bugs. Carefully follow the instructions provided on themain page. If you don’t you will give us a lot of extra work resulting in less bugs being solved.
For a list of the most important new features see the “What is New” page in the included help file. Note that the beta is not yet feature complete. We will still include some further (smaller) features.
Mark
102 Responses to “Game Maker 8.0 Beta”
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July 3rd, 2009 at 8:22 am
Very cool! This is awesome.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:35 am
Great news!
I will test it and report any issues.
When we will see the full version?
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:41 am
sweet I am going to love this must try this program it’s a absolute must bug test.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 am
It’s great! I like the new script editor, it’s helping me a lot. Plus the detailed sprite editor and the faster loading times.
But I was expecting to see more 3D features. Since the GM6.1 there was nothing new about this. I was hopping to see stuff like the ability to load models of various formats, 3D animations, 3D level editor and stuff like that. I know that many people of the community are asking for those things.
Keep up the great work Mark. I hope to see even more updates after the beta.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:15 am
Game Maker is not meant for 3D so that is not where we put our efforts.
Mark
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
I know
Game Maker is perfect for 2D games and even the ability that it has for the support of 3d features is really great and it helped me a lot with all my 3D games.
I was just hoping to see some updates in to that subject
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:29 am
Greatness !! GM8 Rule
gonna sign and see
Thanks all for your all efforts Mark Overmars and yoyogames.
July 3rd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Alpha-blending finally helped my sprites to make the anti-aliasing appear!
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
[...] today Mark Overmars posted details of how to obtain a copy of Game Maker 8 beta on the YoYo Games blog. To receive a copy of the [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
This is really great news! I’ll test it out immediatly!
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:38 pm
Great! I´m downloading right now…
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I can’t find the spot in the top left corner for installing?
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Mark are we going to see anything new for the 3d features?
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
looks good, but isnt so really faster: I tested with gm7 (game with ultimate 3D) it was 58 fps in Game maker 8, 61 fps
I hope game maker will be faster, else i will go one ogre and c++
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
Mark, Everything looks great and I have been at it all morning. I think all the additions so far are good. I am particularly fond of the script editor and the png support. I was expecting some form of updated multiplayer, ogg vorbis support, and the addition of the Yoyo games online highscores.
Now don’t get me wrong I like what you have done with GM8 so far but are any of those even a thought?
I appreciate your work and time sir … keep it up
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Hey guys I know you all can read so for questions about 3d … he replied a long time ago with …
“Game Maker is not meant for 3D so that is not where we put our efforts.
Mark”
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:50 pm
[...] WE HAVE A GM8 BETA!! 3 07 2009 Earlier today, Mark announced the GM8 BETA! Like said on a previous glog post, GM8 has TONS of new features, lots of features are added that [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
I guess new 3D stuff would be nice, but then again, I don’t really need it.
Oh, and Mark, did you read my questions on the GM8 Features article? (reply #83)
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 pm
With the image editor as good as it now is I just wish there were layers (PNGs can remember layer information).
Still, it’s looking pretty good. A little uncomfortable, but only because I’m so used to 7.0 – I’ll grow into it.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I’ve noticed that everything feels alot faster. The only thing I wonder is where the timeline pause feature went?
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Ah, nevermind. I suppose that would be timeline_speed and set it to 0. My bad D:
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:27 pm
Yeah layers (like in photoshop) would be nice in the sprite editor.
About the 3D thing: Guys read the f***ing comments and get the answer from there.
One thing I still doesn’t like though is the Cursor for the eraser. It would’ve been much easier and more relaxing to look at if it was like the eraser in Paint. Apart from that, I have nothing to complain about.
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Mark can I ask where specifically the speed enhancements are?
I notice that variable assignment speed is greatly improved and script execution also. What other areas are improved?
-flex
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:51 pm
There are not much real speed improvements. Scripts might be somewhat faster though, and loading times are faster.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:13 pm
If you make a sprite in it try making biger pen omg ! i made so nice sticky and crosshair it’s AWESOME !!!
il buy this right avay =) !!!
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Mr. Overmars the beta and the .exe will connect to the internet (the firewall notice me) during execution.
It’s only for testing?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:15 pm
[...] This post was Twitted by tektoma [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:21 pm
I asked this in the features post on GM8, but I’m sort of wondering: will there be support for foreign languages that go outside the 256 ASCII characters?
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:26 pm
what about console support?
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Roby:
It would kind of make sense that the Beta would access the internet, as it gets news from there.
Don’t know about the games though.
July 3rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
I imagine the games connect to the internet to check the date, since the Beta and all games created with it will cease to function after August.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Amazing. The frame rate on my SHMUP jumped from 17 to 60. The frame rate on my first person shooter jumped from 30 to 50. The frame rate on my third person shooter jumped from 10-12 in intense gun fights to 23-30. Oh my gosh. Intense.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:43 pm
[...] 03 Jul, 2009. The first beta of Game Maker 8.0 is now available for testing. Read the original: Game Maker 8.0 Beta This entry is filed under Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 [...]
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
QUOTE:
“There are not much real speed improvements. Scripts might be somewhat faster though, and loading times are faster.”
Well there are definite speed improvements in variables and scripts. Some people are reporting good speed improvements fro their games. I think you would be wise to outline any speed improvements made as it is a good selling point.
By the way the Mantis system is great. I hope that you will leave it up permanently even after beta testing has finished. It is easy for people to make suggestions / bugs reports and it’s also easy for others to then see all the bug reports made.
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:02 pm
I agree with Flex … I have noticed a speed improvement especially when using draw functions. Everything feels quite a bit snappier for sure. I have a few old games I loaded in 7 and maxed out the fps which provided ok results but when the same was done in 8 … I had a significant jump
July 3rd, 2009 at 9:48 pm
Hey guys why in game maker 7 IN scrip editor alvays when i use ALT GR + B for B creates a new background ?? it’s annoying beacause that i have to use notepad.
tomorow i start again with better knowoledge to learn first GML chapter in book and after next da tic tac toe and they in 2 days that tomb game and in wednesday last chapter…
after that il have wery much knowoledge abount gm and il start making a game and my website will soon be under construction as soon the creator sends me a message. =)
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
@flexaplex nice suggestion re Mantis willco !
July 3rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
[...] See the original post: Game Maker 8.0 Beta [...]
July 4th, 2009 at 3:17 am
Game Maker 8 is very nice looking, it feels good and smooth. Seeing the new code editor in action, it just feels so good. The only thing I don’t like is that the crop feature in the sprite editor works so differently.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:24 am
I hope you guys are taking all suggestions seriously. I’m starting to get worried. http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=438604
Please check this topic, read the replies and get an actual opinion on what the users of GM want instead of just fixing the ‘easy’ bugs.
July 4th, 2009 at 3:28 am
The new feature of having games run as stand alone .exe files when testing them and even having real stand alone .exe files is all I could need I love this product.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:12 am
Hi Mark, Sandy and the GM Team.
I noticed in the Mantis main page that you all are complaining about having a few hundred bugs in a short time frame.
Being in the game industry for many years, you guys are very lucky to have so many people at your disposal to help you test your project.
The QA Teams I’ve worked with from teams of 10-100, you would be dealing with far more bugs then the potential you guys have to deal with by having thousands of testers help you.
The teams I work with produce 30-100 bugs each a DAY, depending on class and severity. The team I work with now of 12 testers, they EACH produce 40-100+ bugs a day on every game project we are assigned to.
If you are complaining about a few hundred reported bugs now, then you guys should look into having a QA Lead sift through the bugs for you and then assign their severity and whether they will be As Designed, Known Shippable, etc; before they get passed to you guys to fix or not.
If you want Gamemaker to be taken seriously as an excellent professional teaching tool for game development, then the development side has to operate professionally too.
If you guys want/need volunteers for QA Leads, let me know
I bought GM5, GM7, and recently got a new PC and bought GM7 again in June for it so I can get GM8. You guys have a great product and resources for your users. You guys have got to have thick skins/polite manners and be able to take ALL types feedback from your users/employees, no matter how aggravating some of them can be.
July 4th, 2009 at 9:19 am
I am VERY appreciative of the better visual way the Opacity and Transparencies work on my GM7 project in GM8. My project loads and runs faster now too, with less CPU resources being used with, or without mp3 and wav audio being played. I am impressed
July 4th, 2009 at 11:02 am
lovely stuff looking forward to the release.
July 4th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Can I make another suggestion about the Mantis system.
If it is possible I advise making 2 separate forms. One to report bugs and the other to make suggestions.
This way the suggestions will not get mixed in with the bug reports which will be both easier for you deal with and easier for others to see what has been reported already.
-flex
July 4th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
It might also be wise to consider temporarily closing the mantis system until the next beta is released. Then you can catch up with all the reports and it will stop most of the duplicate reports when it is reopened.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I found a kind of weird bug… Idk if i just messed up on Drag n drop or it is something else, but i made a simple platformer and when he moves. It creates a frozen frame of him and it continues.
July 4th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
XYZ:
Why don’t you make an account on the bug tracker and report it there instead of report it here whereas Mark CLEARLY said he wouldn’t consider fixing bugs that WEREN’T on the Mantis system?
Can’t you read?
July 4th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
Excellent work! Congratulations! I installed the beta GM8 and is excellent. I am waiting for the final version
But the program still is not compatible with the icons the 32×32 format for games. Can make the program be compatible with more formats of icons (48×48, 128×128 ,…)?
Thanks
July 4th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
just curious, will the games we make in the beta be playable with the final version, or will all my work on a game be lost at the end of the beta?
July 4th, 2009 at 11:21 pm
“just curious, will the games we make in the beta be playable with the final version, or will all my work on a game be lost at the end of the beta?”
The GM8 Beta splash screen clearly says:
“This version is only meant for testing the program, not for producing games. You are not allowed to distribute games created with this beta release in any way.
This beta release is not guaranteed to be compatible with the final release of this version.”
Historically, every beta that Mark has released has had a similar statement. To date every beta file format has been compatible with the final version.
Having said that, every beta has also produced idiots who open a file in the Beta, then save it, and can no longer open it in the previous version. I expect a record number this go round as this time the file extension .GMK is shared between 7 and 8.
July 4th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
Great work.
July 5th, 2009 at 4:49 am
damn it NPT, what took you so long to post? It’s too late for me now….
Also, please add coloring for strings.. .__.
July 5th, 2009 at 7:43 am
heuh ? the site doesn’t work anymore for me… all; other site just work but gm8.yoyogames.com don’t work anymore (can’t find the site)…
help?
first it does but now it doesn’t anymore…
July 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am
@Jora: Ya man, I am having the exact same issue. On my aunt’s laptop, I downloaded GM, but now that I am home, I wanna more throughly test GM8 on my PC. Unfortunately, I can’t as the sight won’t load.
July 5th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Website don´t works
July 5th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
website work again
July 6th, 2009 at 2:25 am
make it easier to do the 3-d mode. Like create a fuction where you can see all of it just by event like create – 3-d. Have all the fuctions. Then let us create objects 3-d in game maker. Not outside. Like a fuction to make it 3-d
July 7th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Ok – while I think Mark and YoYogames are ont he wrong path – I have to side with Mark on this one -people are asking about 3D – I agree with Mark that this is meant as a 2D application – let’s be fair. If you want a 3D game creator there are other tools to do so, much better than GM, but still a far cry from commercial quality FPS.
I think Game Maker 8 is a disappoint and does not raise the bar like we all expected. It is riddled with bugs, it does not have anything new significant, it has major flaws like when you call a sound to be played it does not play right away, this is CRAP – how can you make any decent game if sounds are delayed like this…..
Everybody is reporting speed increases – this is a load of BS – the borland compiler is code optimized and might offer more speed than C – I don’t know why and how people are reporting significant speed increases but it is an illusion. Game Maker 8 uses OpenGL and no longer Direct3D – the fact the runner is C does not make it that much faster. Game Maker still has a lot of optimizing to be done.
One MAJOR new feature of GameMaker 8 would have been included dynamic function to call from an external resource file, resources as they are needed – Example room 1, resources are loaded from a file or resource file, room 2 new sprites, etc, are loaded from another file, etc, all using GML, instead of using plugins.
Game Maker 8 is still very resource hungry – empty projects gobble up tons of RAM – instances are used twice in RAM, everything is decompressed in advance in RAM, making some simple games use tons of RAM.
Game Maker 8 is still recognized as trojans, viruses and spyware as per virustotal website scanning.
We have waited so long and I honestly expected much more – I have said that GM has great potential for being a one of a kind program – but no efforts is being put – Game Maker 8 will end up like Multimedia Builder 4.9, an abandoned program !
A lot of bugs were reported during GM7 beta and were never corrected. Are we going to have to wait for GM9, in 2 years for getting these issues fixed ?
Also one of the major flaws of GM 8 is the absolutely poor manual. Actually I should say GM7 – there are no included comprehensive documentation, going through each GML command with examples, NOTHING to help the beginner want to even learn GML !
Nothing SIGNIFICANT in GM8 is worthy of my money – to me this is Game Maker 7.5 !
July 7th, 2009 at 2:16 am
Oh yeah I’d like to add one more thing……
I think member skarik above is a shill for Yoyogames – his frame rate has jumped from 17 to 60 – that is bloody rubbish ! If your own game was running at 17fps on your system, then you have issues mate.
I have 2 computers, one dual core and one of the latest quad core, 4GB of RAM and one system has 9800GTX SLI and another a 8800GT, peeps who say GM8 is significantly faster, I think this is rubbish !
July 7th, 2009 at 5:31 am
“It is riddled with bugs”
You do understand what a beta is for don’t you? At this stage it’s expected to have plenty of bugs. If you’ve been following the bug reports you’ll see that many of them are being dealt with.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:37 am
it would be nice for allowing images in the game info
July 7th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I think that the gamepad/joystick stuff should be expanded upon…there’s not much information regarding it, even in the help file. Plus – I’ve got a gamepad, and it’s got 17 buttons on it. From the way it looks, GM only has capability for 8 of them. I don’t know if it’s possible for a user to “add” more commands, like a variable, or something, but expansion on that part of GM would be great.
July 7th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I also think the gamepad/joypad stuff should be made a lot easier to use. At the moment it’s quite awkward & fiddly just to get direction keys working properly. This could definitely be simplified (ie: up, down, left, right direction D&D buttons etc.)
Also, I always notice many people asking for “better 3D” & this gets slammed down fast – *but* actually (I think) what a lot of people want is *easier to use* 3D – typically “2.5D”. Again, at the moment there are no D&D solutions to creating things in 3D – there should be.
Also, I preferred the old way of manual bounding boxes as it gave more control & meant not having to use more sprites for collision.
Overall, I really like GM8.. but would like to see these things looked into in the future
July 7th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Where can I find the “what’s new”-list, since I won’t bother to even sign up as long as I am not sure that the bug with file_text_write_real hasn’t been fixed.
July 7th, 2009 at 4:26 pm
Greg24,
You don’t have a clue what you are talking about.
“I think Game Maker 8 is a disappoint and does not raise the bar like we all expected”
You didn’t expect GM8 to raise the bar, as a matter of fact, you started your uninformed bleating at the announcement of the feature list.
“It is riddled with bugs”
It is a Beta, and as far as Betas go, there really hasn’t been all that many. If you follow the Mantis reporting system, Mark has been fixing the reported bugs at a quick pace.
“Everybody is reporting speed increases – this is a load of BS – the borland compiler is code optimized and might offer more speed than C – I don’t know why and how people are reporting significant speed increases but it is an illusion”
The speed increase is not an illusion, it’s also very testable. Write a script, execute it a million times, get the start time before and after. Do the same thing in GM7. It’s measurable. On every script I’ve seen an increase in speed of 40%-60%.
“Game Maker 8 uses OpenGL and no longer Direct3D”
GM8 does not use Open GL, it IS still using DirectX. This demonstrates emphatically you are making crap up.
“the fact the runner is C does not make it that much faste”
GM8 is not using the new c++ runner, it’s using the same codebase as GM7. More made up crap.
“Instances are used twice in RAM, everything is decompressed in advance in RAM, making some simple games use tons of RAM.”
You obviously don’t know anything about the Directx or Open GL API. They expect the graphics to be in uncompressed bitmap format. Your suggestion would require that the compressed images be repeatedly uncompressed. Have you got any idea what that would do to performance.
There is a reason that every Dx/OGL developer keeps images in native format in RAM.
“Game Maker 8 is still recognized as trojans, viruses and spyware as per virustotal website scanning.”
Never experienced. No one on the GMC is reporting this.
July 8th, 2009 at 6:53 am
It really doesn’t load that much faster. I hope the final release will. I can’t wait for it!
July 9th, 2009 at 4:23 am
magma24, I believe this is because the BETA does a check (during loading time) via the web to see if the time period has expired yet. This will not be an issue in the final release.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Well if it is “Game Maker” then why should we be limited to just 2D?
I can’t really think of anything to ask that hasn’t already been asked. Some of these might be already asked, if so then pay no mind.
How about more fonts?
How about some good filters for the image editor. For some of those bigger sprites.
More draw functions?
A take video function?
July 10th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
It’s livable, but the 3D saw no speed improvement. Please, I am begging you, speed up the 3D.
I did notice in that department that one rather annoying graphics issue has been remedied, whether purposely or as a result of C++, which if I remember correctly, you are using?
July 10th, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I agree that GM8 is far from the upgrade we all expected, and I don’t know why some people make stuff up – I never said negative comments about 3D – In all fairness I agree with Mark on this one – GameMaker is meant as a 2D game design tool, the 3D stuff in it is just a bonus – Why the hell should they spend money and time on 3D when most people want to use it for 2D stuff – Making 3D games is a very lengthy process, all the design involved in the levels, etc. People want to make games fast. If you want 3D, go elsewhere and use FPS Creator or 3DGameMaker or other crappy tools like that – GameMaker is and always will be used for 2D stuff – I rather they spend money and time on making it better and faster (which it isn’t).
If you want to make 3D games, there are far better tools for that mate, GameMaker will never be on par with 3D commercial games, and for that I do not blame yoyogames for not pushing it that way, I want to see them push gamemaker to making those cool 2D games, platformers, etc….
GameMaker 8 still uses way too much CPU resources for so little tasks – this is a major issue with interpreter apps…. Even competitor products have this problem….. And people asking for GameMaker to be a compiler LMAO !!! you are dreaming in colors ma, some n00bs here (I won’t mention names) claiM I don’t know anything about stuff, well you are wrong, just stay n00bs ! GameMaker will never be a compiler, and it will NEVER compile your games into machine code, that would take a ridiculous amount of time and efforts – The RUNNER portion will be in C++, for portability, NOT for speed, people think it will be faster because of C, it won’t….. it might actually even be slower.
That’s the reason why they are moving towards OpenGL too, portability… To be honest I think they should speed up GM8 before portability – the last thing we want is laggy XBOX, Nintendo DS, etc, games.
GameMaker 8 is a repeat of 7 – disappointment – all this bloody time we’ve been waiting for something big – The biggest new addition to GM8 is its resources, probably comprised of thousands of n00b sprites nobody will use anyway.
n00b blocky sprites remeniscent of the 1st bloody game consoles.
July 10th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
from Mark:
—-
There are not much real speed improvements. Scripts might be somewhat faster though, and loading times are faster.
—————————
Sorry that is not bloody good enough – one of the major limiting factor of GM was speed in the first place – POORLY optimized code. Ever since GM6 things have slowed down to a crawl, since GM6 we are asking for speed improvements, you haven’t listened and released GM7, now you do the same for GM8 – You’re not getting my money this time.
Congratulations on throwing such a great potential of a program in the toilet – you clearly are showing everyone that you only intend to take gamemaker forward baby steps but not improve it drastically which it is in dire need of…….
if I want to create games, mate, I want to use more than 1 sprite on screen – I want my fans to stop bloody writing me e-mails saying a simple game takes 100% of their CPU resources eventhough they have quad cores and their top of the line graphics card, I want them to stop telling me how such a simple game gobbles up half of their system RAM…… If game maker is meant for creating 2d games I agree with you 100% but at least make something HALF decent with half decent speed FFS !
July 10th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
@greg24 Try Unity 3D, it’s absolutely brilliant and does ALMOST everything you seem to want from Game Maker and the ‘Baby” version is only $199…not that you can publish any games with it…that costs another $1,000+ or do you think that should be $25 too ?
I can listen to (and enjoy hearing) diverse opinions, but you really are talking through your bum.
July 10th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
@Greg24
As a person with a quad core system, I can honestly say that simple 2D GM7 games only normally use 10% of the CPU max and an absolute maximum of 500mb RAM (which I don’t consider unreasonable for a game). If your games are running slow on these sort of systems then YOUR clearly not optimising your games very well.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:53 am
@Greg24, I don’t know if you mean well or not, you’re obviously frustrated, that much is clear, perhaps GM isn’t the program for you? I think your speed/processor problems are related to your code or graphics rather than GM.
What I will say is one *BIG* thing I was *reeeally* hoping to be fixed in GM8 is the “screen tearing” that has existed in GM since it was first made. Please, please, please if your reading this Mark – please add some additional options to deal with this issue – perhaps “double buffering” or “triple buffering” would solve it?
Keep up the great work, GM8 is shaping up nicely.
July 11th, 2009 at 11:54 am
I’ve been using gamemaker for years with a computer that’s fairly average and i’ve never had any speed issues.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
why did they add the 3D functions? And why use many people them?
I dont see the point of only 2D…
AND I SEE A SPEED INCREASE!!
July 11th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Aragon – They added the 3D function as a BONUS for more advanced users you can still make 3D stuff, very simple stuff – I think in all fairness I do agree with Mark on this one – I can’t blame him for not adding more 3D – I rather he improves and further optimizes GM to make it faster and better because even if they add more 3D functionality, it takes significantly longer to make a 3D
As to Sandy and talking out of my arse – well prove me wrong – I think that many people have reported that GM is slow in general, and yes you DID say ahead of time GM 8 won’t be a major update – I think GM is very promising and has potential which is why I wished it was significantly improved – Who said anything about $25 ? I would gladly pay $75 for it Sandy. As to Unity 3D, you are joking right ? That is way out of my league – uses NET / J
@dadio – I don’t know if the tearing is GM related, I have not seen it – GM uses DirectX, so you should be able to configure your driver accordingly. About the tearing, that would happen and be very apparent if your frame rate were lower than your refresh – example 15-20 FPS and your refresh is 60 Hz. In my drivers I use triple buffering and VSYNC ON in all game games.
July 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
“As to Sandy and talking out of my arse – well prove me wrong”
My previous post proved you wrong, on numerous points.
July 11th, 2009 at 9:41 pm
@ greg24
A little bonus why? The functions sucks. They are really slow so why add them? I dont see the point of BONUS if really advanced users try to built a real 3D game go to another game source? because the are advanced why should they still used gm? Even for 2D games it is slow….
July 12th, 2009 at 12:42 am
The tearing *is* GM related – in so much as there aren’t enough video drawing options available to set.
Every (non-GM) game I play on my PC either has no tearing by default or has options to get rid of tearing.
I shouldn’t have to fiddle with graphics drivers settings.
I should have the option to give the option to set double buffering & triple buffering or whatever is needed for players of my games *if* they are experiencing bad tearing.
I’m not alone with this problem – it’s just that most people either don’t notice it or just accept it.
So yeah… would love to see a fix!
July 12th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Yeah, the reason GM was ported to C++ was because of speed, really. When I test my games from GM7 in the new GM8 Beta, the speed does not even negligibly increase.
I’ve tested particles effects and still have the same slow speed on GM8 when instances of particles are high. I notice the many drawbacks to speed functionality is how people are programming games WITH Game Maker and how developers programmed it IN Game Maker.
First off, every value is a high-bit double precision float (real). I think memory can be significantly enhanced with detecting if the values the are input should go in a high-bit memory buffer or a smaller buffer (less memory). Variables can have more flexibility, let the user set the type of variables.
These are small issues though. The main part is GM’s object control. A LOT of instances that take up the whole room will lag. In C++ games, they do not lag. Although Game Maker allows deactivation of instances, it still would run at the same speed if C++ didn’t have objects “deactivated”.
I see people here talking about 3D and so I want to address that Mark has this aimed for educational purposes, it’s a lot easier to teach someone to program in 2D than in 3D, because you don’t have to deal with advanced 3D terms like polygons, texturing, UV, mapping.
If more advanced users are going to use Game Maker, which I see, than it might be an appropriate time for 3D features. The question is, why not? There are 3D IDEs out there that may be easier than Game Maker but do not have the desirable features GM offers. Game Maker balances in ease of use AND extensive features. Other programs are harder to use and require learning another language.
Since it is always built for 2D, it seems unpleasant to ask for 3D. There are more important things in Game Maker we need to fix. I know many people would greatly desire full 3D functions in Game Maker, so let’s keep that in mind.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Can I just clear up some points ? GM 8 is written in DELPHI.
Mark has spent a LOT of time on getting the most out of the existing GM code base and there ARE some very noticeable performance improvements, but it has nothing to do with C++. There isn’t a single line of C in GM8.
The C++ Runner was not written to make GM faster, but to make it possible to write games on the PC (or Mac) and then run them on OTHER DEVICES. More on that quite soon.
The new features seem to be more valuable to some more than others, but that is understandable. Mark is working on fixing bugs more than adding other features and there WILL be another Beta before we release GM8 later this year.
Game Maker is a 2D development environment and probably always will be because we want Game MakING to be something that anyone can try…and Game Maker is the thing that makes ALL of this possible. This was Mark’s original vision and, even with the appearance of YoYo Games this hasn’t changed. We crave ACCESSIBILITY…giving you (and many many others who haven’t as yet become part of our community) the chance to PLAY, MAKE and SHARE games. I have a strong feeling that the “MAKE” part can also mean the best developers can MAKE MONEY from 2D games..more coming soon ….
If you want to write the next Halo or Metal Gear Solid, Game Maker will give you a great grounding in game design and an easy way to start understanding how difficult it is to design a game and programming. You can learn how to design games that are compelling, progressive and immersing but it will NEVER take you all the way…if you want to write the next blockbuster game on console, then borrow $20M from someone and spend the first $20K on training and tools for yourself (have you seen the cost of a Unity or Renderware Professional license ??) …then hire a team of about 20 people and hope like heck that the $25 you spent on Game Maker has taught you everything you need to know ….
Finally ….If you have any doubt that 2D games can’t be compelling and exciting then ask yourself how Nintendo have managed to sell more than 100 Million DS’ ? Anyone heard of Pokemon ??
July 13th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
[...] part can also mean the best developers can MAKE MONEY from 2D games..more coming soon” -YYG blog [...]
July 13th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Very nice points Sandy! Loved your part about 2D games. So true.
Looking forward to the more info on the MAKE part.
-Elmernite
July 13th, 2009 at 4:41 pm
Marc? Mark? Both exist at YYGs. Are you using the correct Mark/Marc?
July 13th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
@nakedpaultoast…you caught me out… thought I had edited that one
(I have now !)
July 14th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Will there be a GM8 to GM7 converter anytime soon? Because I, for instance, totally f-ed up the latest version of my game by opening it with GM8, making me unable of undoing it, or exporting a good executable with it.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
Sandy, that’s some interesting information you let slip there. Although we’ve heard about it before (a year ago?), glad to hear you still have big plans!
Just tried the beta for a bit, I’m really liking it!
I was hoping the Room Editor would also see some improvements (similar to the code editor and sprite editor, more options, easier to work with). For example I was hoping for a zoom function.
Waiting for the next beta! and whatever happens I already know it’ll be a great experience once GM8 released. Thanks.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:47 am
I am very very excited about the portability that is being discussed as part of future build in a runner.
I just hope that I am not getting more excited than necessary.
It is definitely a good thing to hear that there are plans to follow continue to follow through on making GM more platform independent. As a developer that is taking the first baby steps toward making money off of game development, I would love to use Game Maker as one of the tools I use.
It would be a good source of revenue for the Yoyo games staff as well if the different dev packages for different platforms required different licenses.
Unity does it, and I image they are rather successful. From my experience with it Game MAker is definitely a competitor in the 2d game development market.
July 16th, 2009 at 4:30 am
comment 83. – Sandy. Again, well said!
July 17th, 2009 at 11:33 pm
@Sandy
“Finally ….If you have any doubt that 2D games can’t be compelling and exciting then ask yourself how Nintendo have managed to sell more than 100 Million DS’ ? Anyone heard of Pokemon ??”
Okay, I usually don’t post here, but there is something I really need to tell you. Yes we all know about Pokemon, and those are really good games, but the point is, since you talk about 2D, and Pokemon on DS (not sure if it’s only for ds you meant though) that I think you should know, those games are in 3D!!!!!! Not Halo 3D and stuff you guise talking about all the time when people talk about 3D for GM, like no one want that for GM, and no one have ever asked for it, but if we look at Pokemon for DS again, is GM capable to make a game like that? the answer is YES, but not as far as nice as Pokemon. So the only thing everyone is asking for, is just a TINY upgrade on the 3D function so we can be able to make at least a game looking as good as Pokemon for DS, it is just a 2D effect, but the 3D function in GM got really bad 2D support.
http://www.4colorrebellion.com/media/pics/08/07/plat.jpg
Thanks.
July 18th, 2009 at 3:48 am
@Wireless
GM isn’t stopping anyone from creating a game that looks like that.
Not having a multi-million dollar budget and a development team of more than ten people is what hinders that.
July 18th, 2009 at 9:48 am
[...] Mark Overmars posted details of how to obtain a copy of Game Maker 8 beta on the YoYo Games blog. To receive a copy of the [...]
July 18th, 2009 at 9:48 am
[...] Mark Overmars posted details of how to obtain a copy of Game Maker 8 beta on the YoYo Games blog. To receive a copy of the [...]
July 18th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
@Nailog
I didn’t talk about the whole game, I talked about the look, and that is hard create because when you start to draw 2D sprites etc. in 3D view, all types of strange bugs starts to appear, especially when you set the texture_set_interpolation to true, witch is necessary to get the game to look nice, i know this got to do with the depth of the object, but it shouldn’t be like that.
Anyway, hope you understand what I’m trying to say here.
Thanks.
July 19th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
@Wireless
The only thing “stopping” a game from looking that good, is (as Nailog said) not having multi-millions of dollars to spend on professional coders who can work around the limitations of the system they are working with.
I have seen some mighty impressive 3D games created with GM, even some with 2D sprites. But I do see where you are coming from, and the best we can do is hope. GM is all about access, and that is what it does best. Looking forward to getting a shiny new GM with new functions to mess around with.
Oh, and no-one listens to you Greg24, especially after NPT counters your faulty argument with facts and you completely ignore him.
July 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I have a question. Who has the ability to feature games? (Give a game the featured status on yoyogames)
Can any of the Mod’s do it? Only the Admins? Only YoYogames staff (IE: Sandy, Mark, etc…)
-Elmernite
July 20th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
“Now, Greg- is it OK if I call you that?
Now, your mother has signed you up for me in order to help you work out your anger issues at YoYoGames. Now, we must find the source of your intense anger and ha-(CRASH)
Now, Greg… I’m here to help… you can put down the chair… Greg… heh…(CRASH) AAUUUUUUGH!!”
Greg24’s psychiatrist’s body was discovered, bloody and wounded, 10 minutes later. He was rushed to the hospital, but it was no use…
July 21st, 2009 at 6:00 am
You do not have to have millions of dollars and a huge team to make successful 2d games on consoles, mobiles or computers.
Some examples: Braid, World of Goo, Castle Crashers, any of PopCaps games, Alien Hominid, Geometry Wars series.
GM can make a huge variety of games. When I teach kids or anyone how to start making games, after paper prototyping, I use GM to show them how to make games. Start them out with recreating and analyzing Pong, then working their way through the generations and decades to the latest 2d sensations.
If GM opens up where we can make games on iPod Touch/iPhone, PC, Mac, and other platforms, it opens up so many things that are very difficult to do otherwise when getting started in game development.
Sometimes I give you guys a hard time, but I love your product, and the community rocks.
July 30th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
GO XYT! So true! Kyle Gabler is my ultimate hero. He is pure awesome.
August 1st, 2009 at 10:05 am
SmallChild your name suits you well mate – and your IQ & age are probably identical – sure you can call me that, it’s not my real name, n00b!