Game editors

Kinoko · Wed 17/09/2008 07:22:54

For those of you who use, or have used, other game editors, I'm curious about what they are and how many you know? Also, how many different programming languages (or even just normal scripting languages) are you somewhat proficient in?

Right now, I am having a stab at learning Flash (though I've JUST started), I'm also using Inform 7 (what a comparitive breeze!), I'm hoping to get stuck into GameMaker, I'm curious about Multimedia Fusion, and I've just decided to take a look at the new AGS editor and see what that can do for me.

GOD. But this is all to the end really of finding which editor is best going to suit my needs and which I can get a feel for.

So, how about you, then?

bicilotti · Wed 17/09/2008 07:56:32

You forgot to tell us what you're aiming for, Kinoko (knowing your past works, I bet you're aiming to something good

)

I like scripting very much, so I've started messing with Allegro, a C++ library geared toward game making.

I like MMF2 very much, since it is very simple and clean (expecially the IDE): unfortunately (or luckily, for some of us), there's not much room for scripting (everything has to be done with nice but a bit timeconsuming checkboxes). One of my favourite games (Knytt) was made with it!

I find Flash to be very tempting: I never made something with it, but it is a standard nowadays and it feels "natural" even for the most naive end-users.
That means quite a lot, since a game made in Flash will probably get more exposure and players rather an .exe counterpart.

My two eurocents, good luck with whatever you're planning!

ThreeOhFour · Wed 17/09/2008 08:03:37

Multimedia Fusion 2 is very nice to use, agreed, even if it is a bit limited. However, I believe there may be a way to actually write your own code to go in the engine, so perhaps it's worth checking out? Try the demo - there's a tutorial there that teaches you to program a game in under an hour, so it must be good

.

Kinoko · Wed 17/09/2008 08:20:53

I'll take a look at it, sounds good. But I'm curious - how do you find MMF to be limited?

I'm actually a big fan of scripting myself, and so even if the drag-and-drop based software is "easier" to use, I'm not sure if I feel quite comfortable with that idea. Perhaps I have the impression that it's going to be more limiting - but if that's not the case, I'm more than happy to be corrected on the subject!

I'm not really working on another in particular. Or rather a couple of projects. One that I'd like to just finish and get over and done with already is something I started with AGS a couple of years ago. The reason I stopped, apart from being busy with a million other things, was that I was having some basic problems with the way AGS rendered the game. Specifically, in full screen mode, the graphics would be slightly fuzzy and antialiased, and my game requires a very sharp look.

So, that was one of the reasons I decided to give Flash a go.

But more to the point - what I'm trying to do ultimately is find an editor that I can become familiar with. Something I can have confidence in, in the sense that it won't limit me to a particular style of game. Even if I have to spend a lot of time learning a new language, I'm looking for an editor that I can just turn to and start making a game with, before getting half-way through and realising that it just plain can't do what I need it to.

If possible.

So I'm trying out a bunch and seeing how they feel, and I'm very interested to hear about other peoples' experiences, and what their opinions are. I'm not looking for anyone to tell me "use this one", as such

Just wanna know how you feel about stuff!

ThreeOhFour · Wed 17/09/2008 08:34:38

Quote from: Kinoko on Wed 17/09/2008 08:20:53
I'll take a look at it, sounds good. But I'm curious - how do you find MMF to be limited?

I'm actually a big fan of scripting myself, and so even if the drag-and-drop based software is "easier" to use, I'm not sure if I feel quite comfortable with that idea. Perhaps I have the impression that it's going to be more limiting - but if that's not the case, I'm more than happy to be corrected on the subject!

I guess I mean limited in the sense that you rely on Clickteam predicting what you wanted to do with it. The drag and drop interface is slightly less comfortable to me than AGS, for example, seeing as I cannot simply type in what I want done, I have to select it, but it is very intuitive with practise. I haven't had the software for very long, so I'm sure that it is me limiting the potential of the software, rather than the other way around, but sometimes when I want to achieve something I consider quite basic in the engine I feel like I have to work the long way around to get it to work.

But hey - I'm a bit of a dummy when it comes to scripting, so don't let me bum it down. I'm very happy with MMF2, even if I have yet to build a proper game in it yet.

zabnat · Wed 17/09/2008 08:45:57

I've made some games, well almost made (nothing finished), with python and pygame. There is no IDE or drag'n'dropping, but python is quite high level language so programming with it is fast and easy. This could be considered as one alternative.

Kinoko · Wed 17/09/2008 10:52:39

Yes, I've always been curious about Python. I've heard so many good things about it but I must admit that I am a bit intimidated by things with no IDE. I've never done just straight up programming like that and I wouldn't know where to start.

zabnat · Wed 17/09/2008 13:05:40

Well, there are general IDEs for programming with Python

. But they are not much different from any powerful text editor made for programmers. As for straight up programming, with the use of right libraries programming in Python is not much different than scripting in AGS (scripting something beyond simple interactions that is).

ManicMatt · Thu 18/09/2008 20:44:20

I always wanted RPG maker for the playstation 2, but it needs a hard drive, so it'll never get released in the uk. And it's looking creaky now anyway..

(Don't want to make 2D rpgs)

Domino · Thu 18/09/2008 21:22:06

Matt, I have RPG Maker 3 for my PS2. You can save your games to a Memory Card. I don't have a hard drive and i attempted to make an RPG, but after playing Oblivion, everything in RPG Maker 3 looks like pure rubbish.

Shawn

ManicMatt · Thu 18/09/2008 21:44:52

Oh, maybe that was an older RPG maker? I figured it had never been released in the uk because it needed the hard drive. I guess not then.

Yes it looks a bit crude, but I just love the idea of creating a world with my own story in it without having to learn much, and having 3D characters already made for me.

It probably is rubbish, but when you can't have something, it makes you want it more!

Case in point:

60gb ps2 backward compatible PS3s in the uk. Majority of people said "Too dear, forget it!"

Sony then deleted it, and brought out a cheaper 40gb ps3 that didnt have ps2 backwards compatibility. Majority of people starting buying the 60gb ps3s off ebay for more than they were new in the first place.

And even then, it was a crap emulator for ps2, unlike in America.

Dualnames · Sat 20/09/2008 19:25:32

Well, I always want to just go and download Wintermute to just check it out, but you keep me coming back for more AGS.

22 · Sat 20/09/2008 22:04:32

hi

if you want check other game creation software, visit this site:

http://ambrosine.com/resource.html

you will find there, all game creation software ever made.

Domino · Sat 20/09/2008 22:12:59

Thank you 22 for the link. I had that site once, but lost it.

deadsuperhero · Sat 20/09/2008 22:50:41

Glumol's currently in development and has a public release, it might be worth a look into. (Hey, it's GPL'ed!)

http://www.glumol.com

Layabout · Sun 21/09/2008 20:54:46

Haha, Glumol has been in development forever and was supposed to be the Adventure engine to destroy all other adventure engines.

I wouldn't even look at it personally.

As for wintermute, the only thing that interests me in that project is the 3d characters. But it doesn't interest me that much to be honest.

edmundito · Sun 21/09/2008 21:08:10

For what I've seen, people have made some pretty decent stuff with GameMaker, enough to get respected as a decent indie game editor, just like AGS, in the games industry. And i think it's fee, too.

Before my AGS days, I used to be in the Klik community (Klik & Play and children, including Multimedia Fusion), and I must say that those editors were alright but I didn't find them as fun and easy to work with them as I did with AGS. There's something about their interaction editor that I found really weird, and getting collisions to work right (in any way, including pathfinding) was a pain in the butt. I think Trapezoid was the only one who got a decent pathfinding system going there, and I've seen the code it was really some pretty hacked up stuff.

If you're looking for doing some more advanced stuff, then you could check out stuff like PyGame or XNA Game Studio, although you technically have to write your own engine for whatever type of game you're making (things like inventory, character, dialog, rooms, and other systems). You also have to develop a system for packaging the sprites alltogether like AGS does.

And about Flash, you should know that it's pretty technically limited because it's slow... very slow. Typically on the web the target framerate is 24 frames per second, and you have to do a lot of memory/sprite management to get that kind of framerate going. I'm not sure what it's like if you export to an exe, you might be able to up the power... You should probably also get a book about Flash and Actionscript programming to understand all the quirks (Essential ActionScript 3.0 is a pretty good book explaining it all).

Ultimately it depends on what you want to do, and on what artistic direction, genre, etc, you want to go.

Kinoko · Mon 22/09/2008 16:48:55

I'm curious about Game Maker, and hopefully, I will get around to playing with it properly, but I am a bit turned off using it for any large projects until they fix some of it's compatibility issues up, which I hear others who use it tell of.

PyGame seems to be coming up in conversation a bit lately and so I am also very interested to look into that.

For the time being, I am learning about and playing around with MMF2 and so far, I'm impressed and I feel quite comfortable with it. Have a problem at the moment with trying to move the screen by x amount rather than setting a definite x and y coord, and having trouble finding tutorials to help me out with it.

But, I am soldiering on. Overall, I like it but we'll see.

Game editors

bicilotti