May 22, 2012GameMaker:Studio Launched!
YoYo Games follows directly on the heels of SpaceX with a historic launch of their own. GameMaker: Studio is finally out! Cross-platform delivery has never been easier or faster.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I just can't help it. I love the promise of this empowering product. The fact that YoYo Games have used this product to bring to market 25 games over a span of 20 months speaks volumes.
GameMaker:Studio is priced at a very affordable $99. The base package provides both Windows and OSX delivery options. The software is further extended by purchasing modules for additional delivery platforms. HTML5 delivery costs $99. Those who purchased GameMaker:HMTL5 before the release of GameMaker:Studio are entitled to a free upgrade to GameMaker:Studio including the HTML5 module (a $99 savings). Modules for iOS and Android delivery cost $199 each.
Just because GameMaker:Studio has been launched doesn't mean it is a finished product. There are still more features to come in its future and updates are expected to remain free. These include a new networking system for multiplayer games, 3D support for HMTL5 games using WebGL, and general performance enhancements to the base feature set as browsers continue to develop and improve their own HTML5 support.
I'm so incredibly stoked for what the YoYo Games team have accomplished by reaching this amazing milestone. Well done!
September 29, 2011GameMaker:HTML5
GameMaker:HTML5 has been unleashed. Finally, GameMaker users will be able to embed their games within web pages. Games should run in any HTML5 capable browser, including mobile devices, with no "plug-in" required.
Beyond this core feature, others have been added or are coming soon including some that have been desired for a very long time such as improved collaboration and physics. There are also some understandable limitations to the games supported by HTML5. At the moment, games requiring DirectX features including 3D, textured primitives, color blending, are not supported (or supported minimally in the case of color blending). WebGL will restore these features in the near future for browsers which support it.
As GM:HTML5 is currently in beta, it has some problems. The YoYo Games crew are working at a furious pace to patch the various bugs as they are reported.
You can read much more about this exciting new version of GameMaker and how it differs from what you may be used to by following the link below.
April 17, 2011Life's Challenges
A new challenge has been posted. The subject is John Conway's Game of Life.
The primary challenge is to demonstrate a functioning "Gosper Gun" running as quickly as possible on a 40x40 grid. This challenge affords many opportunities for optimization. It should be interesting to see how participants choose to tackle the problem.
A secondary challenge is also provided for those brave or foolish enough to attempt. Same rules, but with a grid and pattern 100 times larger in size.
Entrants are encouraged to submit any sort of interesting tricks they've used to solve this problem, even if they aren't the fastest methods they have come up with. Like all GMLscripts.com challenges, prizes include bragging rights, expanded horizons, and camaraderie.
Entries should be submitted before May 1st. See the challenge topic for more details.
March 27, 2011Spam and You
Sorry, GMLscripts.com lurkers. If you have registered but have never posted in the forums, your account is now a casualty of the War On Spam.
Beginning with the New Year, GMLscripts.com gained the dubious distinction of becoming a target for spammers. Over the ensuing weeks, fraudulent registrations increased to 50-60 per day. Manually clearing out forum spam became a tiresome daily challenge. Eventually, I opted for a more automated solution with Akismet and it's proved a valuable ally. It catches about 90% of posted spam. However, most of these spam accounts were sleepers, laying in wait to pounce.
Despite banning many spammers everyday, the number of silent spammer accounts rose to nearly 2000 and it was clear more needed to be done. After seeing it on the Bit Collective forums (makers of the indielicious Winnitron 1000), I decided to insert a simple challenge question into the registration process. For now, this seems to have completely halted spam registrants. I have a more sophisticated system in mind should the current challenge cease to be effective.
Unfortunately, that's where you come into the story. You see, there remained the matter of the hundreds and hundreds of sleeper accounts. After a few hours of chipping away at them, it became clear that more drastic measures were required. Any account that has never posted to the forums has now been deleted. This means several of you very helpful members who have submitted scripts but have never posted to the forums will have to register again. I apologize deeply for this, it should never happen again -- but if it does, you may be able to save yourself some future trouble just by posting a nice "hello" in the forums introductions topic.