Have you guys heard of Game Maker? It's pretty awesome.

BASICALLY, Game Maker is a program (has a free version, but Pro is obviously better) that allows the general public, like you and me, to make computer games. The kicker? It's easier to learn than you could ever imagine, and it makes some pretty good dang games if you know what you're doing.

Why did I post this in the Aeon Development board? Well, YoYo Games recently announced that it has successfully built a prototype that exports games as HTML5. This means that--assuming YoYo Games releases this prototype to the public someday soon--games made in Game Maker can be played online, just like Flash, and can also be ported onto Android devices, iPhones, and the whole shebang. In other words, if this HTML5 version is released, any game made in it would be more universally supported and sharable than any game made in Flash. This would be ideal for Aeon.

If the HTML5 version is NOT released? Well, Aeon could still be made much faster, and be better contributed to as a site-wide project, but it would have to be downloaded. This is a worst-case scenario.

My proposal: cease working on Aeon as a Flash-based project, and begin building it in Game Maker.

I already talked to Livio, and he said he would be up for this if it proves a popular idea, and feasible. In my experience with Game Maker, everything that Aeon would require, from level editing to multiple character support, would be quite doable--and pretty simple at that. Additionally, we could all contribute to it. Imagine how fast progress could be!

What are your guys' thoughts on this? I personally think it would be a great idea, and Livio said he'd be cool with it as well. What do you guys think?

Depending on another site's program and building it through another site would just make it another game. This is the interguild's game, not  another site's 'level' or 'section' or 'playermade game' (can't think of anything). What would make aeon any different from any of those games that took a 8-year-old boy that took an hour to make? Unless we make the best game in the history of ever, this wouldn't be a good idea.

Don't worry, it's not like that. Game Maker is a downloadable application, just like Adobe Flash. We wouldn't be sharing it with another community or anything: we'd just be making it with a different, more practical piece of software. And we'd still obviously make it good. We wouldn't just make it cheap. Game Maker is very robust: it can make simple games, but it can also make very complicated games.

I am against this because I believe that you are overestimating this community's ability to actually make worthwhile contributions to this. Most of us aren't familiar with GameMaker at all, and Livio for sure isn't, while our main developer actually IS familiar with Flash.  

Instead of each of us swarming around each other to work on Aeon, I recommend that you try your own personal project first. It will all be much easier that way.

It's not that everyone has to make contributions. It's just that everyone could. I know I could, and Livio would learn quite quickly. Flash is quickly deprecating, and we've all seen how slowly Aeon currently runs.

Jellsprout--who are you talking to?

You, mostly, with your suggestion of turning Aeon into a site-wide project. Aeon is already on development and Livio already knows AS. Learning to use GM and rewriting the entire game with it takes a long time and much effort and it is still more limiting than directly coding the game. I don't think it will also be too beneficial to the progress if we were all contributing small parts to the game everything will quickly become confusing and we will spend as much time trying to understand what everybody else has been doing as working on the game ourselves. It would probably be better if instead of all collaborating with each other we would simply work on our own games the way want them to be ourselves.

Haha, fair enough. The only counterargument I'm gonna give is this: Game Maker is REALLY easy. But yeah, that's a valid opinion, and I see where you're coming from.

Teach us then.

Amazing idea. I've made a bunch of 2D-platformers with Game Maker before. I think Game Maker would be perfect for Aeon.

Deku said that Game Maker is extremely easy to use, but it's so professional that N was made with it. Game Maker is very powerful.

Cedric, source on that please, because I don't believe it at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N_(video_game)

Also, the default level background for Game Maker is a light grey, and the background for N is the same color (light grey), although that prove a lot, that may have been a coincident.

Huh, I didn't know that. I can't find any other sources indicating that, so I don't know if I believe it, but I DO know that it is very possible to make a game like N in Game Maker.



If people agree to do this, I would definitely be willing to.

I undid Cedric's Wikipedia edit, as I presumed it was vandalism.

Okay, sorry, I was lying, but I still believe N is made with Game Maker.

I agree you should teach people how to use Game Maker, Deku, and I volunteer to help unless you want to teach alone.

I have also banned Cedric from karma rating.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSu9FhuwPQ8

I'm not sure if it's the actual N game testing, or just someone making a duplicate, but it definitely works to show what Game Maker can do.

It's a duplicate.

I think we need Livio to comment here, haha. Opinions are pretty split.

N is a Flash game. I don't think there is any GM version that exports Flash files.

There isn't. Cedric_09_ was lying.

I wasn't lying, I thought N was made with Game Maker... There will be a Game Maker flash exporter once HTML5 is released. Also, there might not be a GM version that exports to Flash files, but there might be a seperate program that does. Think big.

I was lying that there's proof, I wasn't lying that I thought N was made with GM. Anyways, I'm not talking.

No, you stated as a fact that it was made using GM: