next »

[danlthemanl]

I want to make games!
I see these awesome games like Super Meat boy, Canabalt, Retro City Rampage, Gish and Braid. When I play them it just makes me want to make my own games! I have tried using XNA and pygame, but just finding myself overwhelmed by the unnecessary steps it takes to develop a game. I'm not the best programmer, I would like to make games using more creative thinking rather than focusing on the algorithm for animating a spritesheet, i want to just have an easier way of doing the simple stuff.

Does such a thing exist?

[shadowdim]

Game Maker.

[imaginationac]

There are a few GUI based game-creation suites that probably fit your bill.

Game Maker is a Windows & Mac based program which is allows for the creation of games based on drag-and-drop actions, which can be substituted/supplemented by the internal scripting language Game Maker Lanugage (GML). There a lite version available (Windows only for the moment) that's free. The Pro version costs $25 US. Website: http://yoyogames.com/make

Construct is a Windows based, and creation of programs is based on giving objects events to follow. Levels are constructed using the layout editor, and you determinte how objects respond using the event sheet editor. Construct is free and open-source software. Website: http://www.scirra.com/
Multimedia Fusion 2 / The Games Factor, are Windows based solutions from Clickteam. From my understanding, they are very similar products (Fusion is oriented to creating applications in general), and very similar to Construct (thought it's been a while since I've used either one). There are 30 day demos available for them. Website: http://clickteam.com

I suggest also checking out the Developer's Tool (WIP) thread: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=66.0

Anyway, welcome to the TIGSource forums. Introduce yourself over here: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=45.0

My personal preference is Game Maker by the way.

[voidSkipper]

I want to make games!
I see these awesome games like Super Meat boy, Canabalt, Retro City Rampage, Gish and Braid. When I play them it just makes me want to make my own games! I have tried using XNA and pygame, but just finding myself overwhelmed by the unnecessary steps it takes to develop a game. I'm not the best programmer, I would like to make games using more creative thinking rather than focusing on the algorithm for animating a spritesheet, i want to just have an easier way of doing the simple stuff.

Does such a thing exist?

Try GameMaker and Multimedia Fusion.

But. Please adjust your thinking a bit... it's fine that you want to find an alternative to programming, and there are plenty available, but if those steps were "overwhelming" they've obviously not "simple stuff", and when you're using a no-coding environment, someone else is doing that for you - meaning they're not "unnecessary" either.

[antymattar]

  Ahhh another minion! Great!!!

Seriously, Game Maker is the best for beginners! I would suggest it because altho the pro version is 25 shmuckers the lite edition still rocks!

[Guillaume]

finding myself overwhelmed by the unnecessary steps it takes to develop a game

No step is unnecessary- only your mind makes them so!

[danlthemanl]

Thanks for the tips everyone! I'll try out Construct and gamemaker to decide which one I like the best.