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[Cheezmeister]

How is Game Maker's age relevant? I mean, some stuff gets better with age (see vim, linux, whisky), some not so much (RIP Flash).

Polly pretty much has it: use it if you want to, or don't. Hating on GM won't finish your game.

[Alessio]

I nowhere said that i hate or dislike GM as a software anyway

But it's hard to like GM's room editor and overall interface, that's what i've written generally. In the YoYo forums even the staff admitted that everything needs a revamp but i also read that they couldn't update it because GM:Studio was heavily based on GM8 and changing them would have caused problems. Indeed GM's scripting language (GML) and its script editor are one of the few things in the program that are very good (i use GM8's interface in Studio because the icons of the green Studio scheme look, well, pretty terrible).
But it's pointless to talk about it, since it's said that GM2.0 will be a total revrite so, hopefully, a lot of things will be changes.

[Juju]

YYG have stated several times that an improved room editor is a priority for the future, potentially the near future.

I'd estimate around a third of complex GM games will have some kind of level editor layer built into them. This can be massive advantage over a generalised editor. HLD has a native editor that does exactly what it needs to do and no more and it's a pleasure to use. Building good tools is almost always worth it; if good tools means a custom level editor then make it. It'll teach you a lot about GUIs if nothing else.

[FathomSchmidt]

To the question: You should build(Or buy) whatever tool you need to do the job you have as easy as possible.

What ever game you make, use the tools to make it easier, If they do not exist or work the way you want, then you can build your own.

No game engine/tool is perfect, short of building it from scratch to do what you need and only what you need for your game.  Then that is the best engine/tool for your game.

[muki]

In case some here are as out-of-touch and break-prone as I am YYG have "released" GM Studio 2.0. I think in open beta. The room editor looks SO MUCH improved (among other things)





I'll try and give it a spin tonight.

[kerempooh]

With the new GMS2 there really is no reason to...

With the old GMS1, there are all the reasons in the world...

I actually postponed a largish project I've been working on for 6 months because I realized there is no way in hell I'll be able to do all the levels in GMS1 level editor, which is as atrocious as they get. Also I calculated that it would take me much more time and effort to program a separate level editor for V1 than to port the existing game into V2 and enjoy all the level editing goodness there.

Just consider the fact that every time you change your game, you have to adjust and tweak the level editor as well... and they have to communicate seamlessly all the time. Backward compatibility can be an issue as well. Having a capable and flexible editor right inside your integrated game development system can be enormously time saving.