4 ms·

Not sure about the rest, but I know Mike Dailly is still in the industry, working for YoYo Games, makers of Gamemaker: Studio. They currently have a humble bund

Not sure about the rest, but I know Mike Dailly is still in the industry, working for YoYo Games, makers of Gamemaker: Studio. They currently have a humble bundle going on, $15 gets you the pro version and html5, iOS, and Android export modules. If anyone's interested in getting their feet wet on some game prototyping, I'd recommend it.

Pxtl 10y ago
I'm curious, how good is game maker for children? I'm looking to get my 9-year old something productive to do on the pc instead of spending all his screen time in terraria.
- mysterydip 10y ago
  There's two modes of programming in gamemaker: drag'n'drop, and regular scripting (in 'GML', a c-like scripting language). You can get by for quite a while with basic games or prototypes just from dragging and dropping events and commands, like: object ball - create event: start ball moving right - keyboard up pressed event: move ball up etc. I think it's accessible for kids if they take the time to go through some tutorials (there's one called "catch the clown" that's built in, and there's tons on youtube and various sites). As they get more advanced, they can change out their dropped in commands for "execute code" or "execute script (aka function)", and do lots of crazy things. Additionally, nothing else is really needed outside of gamemaker. There's built-in editors for drawing, so you can make backgrounds and sprites right in there, though importing files from more advanced programs is possible. You'll want something external for sound editing, however. Or just import mp3's and wav's. Here's the tutorial from an older version of gamemaker: http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/ca01000508/centricity/domain/1770/1%20catch%20the%20clown_gm%20_tutorial.pdf http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/ca01000508/centricity... While the gui has changed some since then, you can get the general idea of the drag'n'drop functionality, and judge for yourself if your kids can grasp it or not. Finally, there's a marketplace with (some free, some not) assets of varying utility. There are lots of game demos or 'something to get you started' that you can then have them modify: https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/ https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/ For example, there's a guy on there who is doing a series called "how did they do that" that shows the basic concepts of a given game. Here's super mario brothers: https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/3915/hdtdt-mario-bros https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/3915/hdtdt-mario-br... They can download that, see how they did that, then play with variables and mod it to see how that changes the game. If he has an android phone, and you set up the android environment on his computer, he can export his game to .apk right from there, and run it on his or his friend's devices (if you have a place online to upload it to). That has some serious cool factor among friends for sure.
  - mysterydip 10y ago
    Forgot to add that with the success of the bundle, they made a post with a great set of resources for beginners: https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/392 https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/392 There's also their 'learn' section with youtube vids that you follow along to in order to make space shooters, platformers, etc.: https://www.yoyogames.com/learn https://www.yoyogames.com/learn
- __s 10y ago
  I first started programming with Game Maker 5.3, at 12. Took me 3 years to move on with Python. Learnt a lot from it (kinda funny seeing YYG blogging http://www.yoyogames.com/blog/126 http://www.yoyogames.com/blog/126 back then about us kids learning how things tick) https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Rusky https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Rusky also hails from GM roots http://enigma-dev.org http://enigma-dev.org is a FOSS alternative to GM
- animal531 10y ago
  Have a look at Stencyl. It has many of the same frontend components as for example GameMaker, but it also has in-editor logic programming where you can select items from dropdowns to construct basic code with. If you look at their webpage, just scroll down a bit and you'll see an example: http://www.stencyl.com/ http://www.stencyl.com/ Even so it will probably still be a bit daunting for a 9yo to start off with, you might have to provide some guided learning and maybe make a basic game together.
  - Marazan 10y ago
    I can second Stencyl for kids (with assistance). It's a nice system.
- oneweekwonder 10y ago
  > terraria Have you tried to introduce him/her to Openclonk[0]? [0]: http://www.openclonk.org/ http://www.openclonk.org/
- dyates 10y ago
  GM was my first exposure to programming at about age 12. I would highly recommend it for your kid, for all the following reasons. It doesn't require programming. Pretty complex games can be made with the drag-and-drop interface, which is simple & intuitive and designed for kids. It naturally encourages a shift into programming. By age 14, I was completely off drag-and-drop and using the built-in GML programming language for everything instead. This programming language has some quirks to make it work with the GUI-driven system, but is still a decent introduction to programming (though these quirks mean I'd hesitate to recommend it to someone raised on more traditional languages). The system is designed to be simple and accessible but also flexible. Its object & room model is abstract enough that you can make most any type of 2D game with it, from puzzles to platformers to top-down RPGs. The system scales: your kid can learn the basics easily and do more complex things with the system as they get older and more experienced with it. Commercially successful games developed in GM include Hotline Miami, Undertale, Gunpoint and Cook, Serve, Delicious. Above all, it's easy to get results in. Unlike more complex systems & traditional programming languages, a beginner can assemble a rudimentary game in an afternoon, rather than spending a week learning to draw a square.
- baldfat 10y ago
  If you sell it right I recommend Scratch. https://scratch.mit.edu https://scratch.mit.edu I had to play it up for my daughter but she really ended up liking it for story telling. On to Racket in a few years. :)
biafra 10y ago
It seems GameMaker Studio Pro is only available on WIndows. There seems to be an older version also available for MacOSX, but the current version is Windows only, right? Please prove me wrong!
- mysterydip 10y ago
  As far as I know, that's correct. There's a way to interface with a Mac for macOS/iOS compilation and testing in the global settings area. I believe Mac users put it in a VM and use it that way.
jamesfmilne 10y ago
Russell Kay works with Mike Dailly at Yoyo Games too. http://www.yoyogames.com/ http://www.yoyogames.com/ Dave Jones is running Reagent Games, and they're working on a new Crackdown. http://www.reagentgames.com/ http://www.reagentgames.com/

Pxtl 10y ago

I'm curious, how good is game maker for children? I'm looking to get my 9-year old something productive to do on the pc instead of spending all his screen time in terraria.

mysterydip 10y ago
There's two modes of programming in gamemaker: drag'n'drop, and regular scripting (in 'GML', a c-like scripting language). You can get by for quite a while with basic games or prototypes just from dragging and dropping events and commands, like: object ball - create event: start ball moving right - keyboard up pressed event: move ball up etc. I think it's accessible for kids if they take the time to go through some tutorials (there's one called "catch the clown" that's built in, and there's tons on youtube and various sites). As they get more advanced, they can change out their dropped in commands for "execute code" or "execute script (aka function)", and do lots of crazy things. Additionally, nothing else is really needed outside of gamemaker. There's built-in editors for drawing, so you can make backgrounds and sprites right in there, though importing files from more advanced programs is possible. You'll want something external for sound editing, however. Or just import mp3's and wav's. Here's the tutorial from an older version of gamemaker: http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/ca01000508/centricity/domain/1770/1%20catch%20the%20clown_gm%20_tutorial.pdf http://www.murrieta.k12.ca.us/cms/lib5/ca01000508/centricity... While the gui has changed some since then, you can get the general idea of the drag'n'drop functionality, and judge for yourself if your kids can grasp it or not. Finally, there's a marketplace with (some free, some not) assets of varying utility. There are lots of game demos or 'something to get you started' that you can then have them modify: https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/ https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/ For example, there's a guy on there who is doing a series called "how did they do that" that shows the basic concepts of a given game. Here's super mario brothers: https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/3915/hdtdt-mario-bros https://marketplace.yoyogames.com/assets/3915/hdtdt-mario-br... They can download that, see how they did that, then play with variables and mod it to see how that changes the game. If he has an android phone, and you set up the android environment on his computer, he can export his game to .apk right from there, and run it on his or his friend's devices (if you have a place online to upload it to). That has some serious cool factor among friends for sure.
- mysterydip 10y ago
  Forgot to add that with the success of the bundle, they made a post with a great set of resources for beginners: https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/392 https://www.yoyogames.com/blog/392 There's also their 'learn' section with youtube vids that you follow along to in order to make space shooters, platformers, etc.: https://www.yoyogames.com/learn https://www.yoyogames.com/learn
__s 10y ago
I first started programming with Game Maker 5.3, at 12. Took me 3 years to move on with Python. Learnt a lot from it (kinda funny seeing YYG blogging http://www.yoyogames.com/blog/126 http://www.yoyogames.com/blog/126 back then about us kids learning how things tick) https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Rusky https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=Rusky also hails from GM roots http://enigma-dev.org http://enigma-dev.org is a FOSS alternative to GM
animal531 10y ago
Have a look at Stencyl. It has many of the same frontend components as for example GameMaker, but it also has in-editor logic programming where you can select items from dropdowns to construct basic code with. If you look at their webpage, just scroll down a bit and you'll see an example: http://www.stencyl.com/ http://www.stencyl.com/ Even so it will probably still be a bit daunting for a 9yo to start off with, you might have to provide some guided learning and maybe make a basic game together.
- Marazan 10y ago
  I can second Stencyl for kids (with assistance). It's a nice system.
oneweekwonder 10y ago
> terraria Have you tried to introduce him/her to Openclonk[0]? [0]: http://www.openclonk.org/ http://www.openclonk.org/
dyates 10y ago
GM was my first exposure to programming at about age 12. I would highly recommend it for your kid, for all the following reasons. It doesn't require programming. Pretty complex games can be made with the drag-and-drop interface, which is simple & intuitive and designed for kids. It naturally encourages a shift into programming. By age 14, I was completely off drag-and-drop and using the built-in GML programming language for everything instead. This programming language has some quirks to make it work with the GUI-driven system, but is still a decent introduction to programming (though these quirks mean I'd hesitate to recommend it to someone raised on more traditional languages). The system is designed to be simple and accessible but also flexible. Its object & room model is abstract enough that you can make most any type of 2D game with it, from puzzles to platformers to top-down RPGs. The system scales: your kid can learn the basics easily and do more complex things with the system as they get older and more experienced with it. Commercially successful games developed in GM include Hotline Miami, Undertale, Gunpoint and Cook, Serve, Delicious. Above all, it's easy to get results in. Unlike more complex systems & traditional programming languages, a beginner can assemble a rudimentary game in an afternoon, rather than spending a week learning to draw a square.
baldfat 10y ago
If you sell it right I recommend Scratch. https://scratch.mit.edu https://scratch.mit.edu I had to play it up for my daughter but she really ended up liking it for story telling. On to Racket in a few years. :)

biafra 10y ago

It seems GameMaker Studio Pro is only available on WIndows. There seems to be an older version also available for MacOSX, but the current version is Windows only, right? Please prove me wrong!

mysterydip 10y ago
As far as I know, that's correct. There's a way to interface with a Mac for macOS/iOS compilation and testing in the global settings area. I believe Mac users put it in a VM and use it that way.

jamesfmilne 10y ago

Russell Kay works with Mike Dailly at Yoyo Games too. http://www.yoyogames.com/ http://www.yoyogames.com/ Dave Jones is running Reagent Games, and they're working on a new Crackdown. http://www.reagentgames.com/ http://www.reagentgames.com/