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[Don Andy]

Construct is a pretty interesting project and a lot of people seem to be liking it, but I'm surprised that nobody has yet mentioned that it has a huge downside: it is DirectX-only. This is unsuitable for anyone looking to make a popular indie game today; OS X users make up a very large if not the major portion of indie gamers.

It is open source though, so anybody is free to take Construct and make it DirectX independent. I'm also pretty sure the creators mentioned they'd eventually move away from it, but don't take my word for that. I think Construct is one, maybe two, years old so that's pretty good so far.

But yeah, Windows only has neither stopped the Game Maker nor the MMF2 guys to make pretty popular games so far.

[SunnyKatt]

Pssh, GM is capable of plenty as long as you stay away from drag+drop and externally load everything.

And pretend the new logo doesn't exist.

[deadeye]

Having had a chance to play with Construct for a few days, I have to say it is in no way unfinished. It's up to v0.99 and it's very smooth to learn... haven't gotten into the deep coding yet but the GUI designing is straightforward and has lots of options.

Yeah, I dived into it yesterday and I'm finding it pretty intuitive. For the uninitiated, here's a very helpful Platformer tutorial by Deadeye.

http://www.scirra.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2154&sid=95289f6bda7bbbc9f438a965fb346856

If you're going to use these tutorials, keep in mind that I haven't updated them in quite a while.  Yes, you can get a general idea of the basics, but a lot of the info is outdated or obsolete.  In fact, if you try to run those tuts in the newest version of Construct, the animation is broken, and I think some of the other controls like climbing ladders and such is too.

I've been meaning to update them for a while, but I've completely re-written them four times now already (in order to keep up with Construct builds) and I still haven't even finished the damn series.  I've been putting it off because I don't want to have to keep re-writing them from scratch each time a new build breaks something.

Eh, I guess I should make an attempt though.  People keep linking to it, it'd be a shame if I was driving away potential Construct users because they open the tut in the latest build and say "this broke ass shit sucks donkey ballz."

[Hangedman]

Well, you do make clear that it's for novice users, not beginners, and Ghost Shooter works like gravy for getting a handle on it, so it's fine. Wait 'til stable 1.0 before fixing it again, at least, and then just add a caveat to the post.

The announcement that 2.0 will have no legacy support irks me a bit.
I mean, pulling an RPGMaker and saying 'we're done! feel free to use this, but it'll be obsolete soon anyway' is a bit annoying, but I suppose as long as they continue to support 1.0 I won't be too concerned.

[Ninteen45]

Ninteen45, Visual Basic isn't that much game oriented.. And I haven't heard too many good things about it, either. (if some VB-lover wants to speak out, now is your chance!) I'd go with something like python instead, at least if you have used GML and not just the point and click interface. It's that crucial bit more advanced.

I understand that Visual Basic is evil to game making, but I'm sure it's good enough for a simple text based game. besides, I'm sadomachoistic with code!

[Triplefox]

Ninteen45, Visual Basic isn't that much game oriented.. And I haven't heard too many good things about it, either. (if some VB-lover wants to speak out, now is your chance!) I'd go with something like python instead, at least if you have used GML and not just the point and click interface. It's that crucial bit more advanced.

I understand that Visual Basic is evil to game making, but I'm sure it's good enough for a simple text based game. besides, I'm sadomachoistic with code!

It is good enough for a simple game, yes.

The distinction between VB and Python, or other languages, is more like "what can I express with this, and is it easier here than it is there" than an absolute of "only this tool can do what I want." VB exposes fewer concepts than Python, which makes it easier to start with, but harder to use in the long-term. Learn the concepts that appear in other languages, and you're 80% of the way towards knowing the languages themselves - plus you gain a new perspective to apply to VB code, simultaneously.

[James Kaudewitz]

I think this is one of my favorite topics. So much awesome info! I'm goina try LOVE mainly for it's cross-platform capabilities... what file does the finished game get exported into?

As far as GM goes, I don't mind it too much. If you do it right, it can go pretty far... it's just, Windows only is a bummer.

[Tycho Brahe]

VB can be good for learning basic concepts like:
-variables
-functions
-basic maths
-boolean stuff (if, else, switch)
-loops
-classes

However, its got a lot of auto complete stuff with it, so its not very good practice for writing code in a strictly typed language (like c++)
Its also a basic deriviative, so probably unlike anything you'd use for writing a game, except for the structure. I would reccommend starting learning to program with processing (www.processing.org) as it has a c like syntax, requires semicolons at the end of lines and is very easy to get visible results with quickly.

[Mipe]

Lately I am trying my hand at Ruby. It was a pain to set up, but I am slowly adopting it. It offers so much freedom once you get used to it! So many possibilities.

First I have to learn the basics, of course... Well, in any case, Ruby has some libraries that aid with game development such as RubyGame and gosu.

[C.A. Silbereisen]

Oh god. No you didn't. I still have nightmares of that horrible horrible program. CREATE A GAME BY CLICKING ONE BUTTON!! ITS SO EASY! and the result is something that barely qualifies as a screen saver

I bought that when I was a kid. Some electronics retailer had it in the bargain bin. Even though I quickly realized it was crap, I had lots of fun making tons of little bullshit "games" in 30 seconds, having a car shoot little cartoon Indians and shit like that. I think I even managed to get one published on a (now defunct) German freeware games portal. It's funny to think how low the standards for free games were as recently as 2002. Ah, fun times.

On a related note, I think someone should organize an inofficial 3d Gamemaker compo round here.  :D

[Alevice]

Should I learn Unity today, or learn WebGL tomorrow....

[deadeye]

Has anyone tried Game Editor?
http://game-editor.com/Main_Page
I have only tried a few minutes of the demo. It reminds me of Game Maker in some ways, but the user interface is kind of sloppy in my humble opinion.

It's a goddamn conspiracy.  Retarded smiley logos are taking over the indie gaming world.

What sinister plot is hiding behind that smile?

[James Kaudewitz]

I think PacMan is the source of all this dang non-sense...

[retrogamer4ever]

Go with Flash :-) Super easy to learn and it's a skill that can be applied to many other areas, web development (RIA), desktop development, mobile development (Flash CS5 will allow you to make IPhone games), more game companies actually starting to use Flash for prototyping, making spin off games for their bigger games.  Dragon Age Journeys, Mirror's Edge 2D are great examples of that.  EA just bought out Play Fish a facebook gaming company that makes flash games...  Id say it's a pretty good investment considering all you get from the Flash platform.  It has an amazing community rich with really smart people and everyone is always willing to help you out with things :-)

[Skofo]

Go with Flash :-) Super easy to learn

I stopped right there.

[Hideous]

He's right though, Flash is awesome and easy to learn.

[Tanner]

but html5 is going to make flash obsolete

[davidp]

well, we're gonna move on to html5 when it comes out. learning a lot of different stuff isn't necessary a bad thing

anyway, i shifted to flash from gm (still use it for prototyping and my last attempt of creating at least decent game), but i guess i'll try löve to.

[Jolli]

while you guys decide... i make gam

[Skofo]

Why HTML5? Just use Canvas. http://www.paulbrunt.co.uk/bert/

The downside to making raw browser games is that Chrome is the only browser capable of running them at decent speeds.

He's right though, Flash is awesome and easy to learn.

Not at least when I tried it with the Flex SDK.