This is discussion archived from a time before the current discussion method was installed.
Korval: Game Maker is not really a "Game Maker"; it's a Game Engine, similar to Torque Game Builder. A Game Maker is usually fairly hard-coded towards making a certain kind of game. For example, you can't use RPG Maker to make a Mario game. You can't use Zelda Classic to make a Kirby game. Game Maker can make all four of those kinds of games. It's too general-purpose to be classified as a game maker.
At the very least, if a product can make a side-scroller and a top-down scroller, or a first-persona and a third person game, it's a Game Engine, not a Game Maker.
I'm removing it for the time being, with a note that it is not a game maker:
- Game Maker
- A general-purpose program with excellent documentation and a decent library of example games (for download on the website). Game Maker handles object collision, wall bouncing, gravity and the like with simple routines, and can go as far as (if you register) data structures, runtime pixel manipulation and rudimentary 3-D. The infamous fan game Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is made using this tool.
- If you get past the beginning stage of programming, you'll probably want to switch to a better software, but for beginners who want to make something like Pac Man, Arkanoid, Space Invaders or scrolling shooters, it's a very good start.
- Game Maker actually has a very deep scripting language that allows online multiplayer and 3D games. A lot of professional programmers that are familiar with multiple languages still prefer GM for making games.
- A general-purpose program with excellent documentation and a decent library of example games (for download on the website). Game Maker handles object collision, wall bouncing, gravity and the like with simple routines, and can go as far as (if you register) data structures, runtime pixel manipulation and rudimentary 3-D. The infamous fan game Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden is made using this tool.
Nornagest: I feel compelled to mention that it isn't the complexity of programming languages that makes them difficult — most actually aren't that complicated. It's the abstraction of programming languages, particularly low-level ones, that makes them difficult to learn and use. A couple examples might be illustrative:
- The standard manual for Perl is the O'Reilly Programming Perl "camel book", about 600 pages long. Perl is generally thought to be a very intuitive, easy-to-use language despite its huge feature set.
- The standard manual for C is the K&R book, about 200 pages. C is a difficult, abstract, low-level language, though it's sufficiently powerful to stay in very wide use anyway.
- The simplest programming language I'm aware of has only eight operations and can be fully documented in about two pages of text. It's called "Brainfuck", and it is.
Korval: Perl is neither intuitive nor easy-to-use. Well, not if you're reading someone elses Perl code.
OODavo: Python is, though, and it's got an enormous standard library.
Eric DVH: What about games primarily intended for playing 3rd-party stuff, like the Gold Box Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures, Neverwinter Nights 1/2, and Blades of Exile/Avernum?
OODavo: Aren't the terms Game Maker and Game Engine mixed up? The application entitled Game Maker can make games of all varieties, whereas, say, the Source engine isn't very useful for anything apart from first-person shooters.
