indie(News);

GameMaker:Studio Video

2011-11-21T14:35:00.000-08:00

by Bret Hudson

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — NAL posted a video on debugging Innoquous 4 on his Xperia PLAY Android device via GameMaker:Studio! NakedPaulToast discovered the video and posted it on the GMC, and we've copied the embed video and put it here for your convenience.

GMC Jam #4 - October 29th

2011-10-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — The fourth GMC Jam is coming up this weekend, starting Saturday at 00:01 GMT. The short jam will last for 72 hours (exactly 3 days). The theme has not been announced, but the hint is *A*S, with the stars representing letters we don't know yet. To keep updated on when it starts in your time zone, please redirect yourself to The GMC Clock.

GMC members are current voting on which method they are going to use for the jam judging method. If you'd like to participate, go to the official announcement topic.

GM Obfuscator - 8.1 + Sprite Support

2011-10-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — Schreib just uploaded a new version of the Game Maker Obfuscator that supports GameMaker 8.1. The new version not only has been upgraded to support the latest version of GameMaker, but also obfuscates your sprites!

For more details and download links, please visit the GMC topic. The topic explains what the obfuscator is, how it works, how to run it, etc.

indie(Magazine); Issue #16

2011-10-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The sixteenth issue of indie(Magazine); was released on the afternoon of Sunday, October 2nd. The issue consists of an interview with Tululoo creator SilentWorks, game reviews, a tileset tutorial, and more.

Links:
[1.6 MB] View in Browser [SD]
| Mirror [HD]
| Download [HD]

indie(Radio); Broadcast #16

2011-10-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — indie(Radio); broadcasted #16 this Saturday. The show had the usual news, they talked on the #indieFunction IRC channel, and read the interview with SilentWorks that showed up in indie(Magazine); Issue #16.

Broadcast Date: October 1st, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 19:22 (Min:Sec)
Live Listeners 9

Listen here:

Download here:
Dropbox.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #16 [17.7 MB]

Show Topics Include:
Indie Game Development News
Scirra Updates
StencylWorks 1.2 Features
GameMaker:HTML5 Beta Started
Tululoo v1.0.7 + Linux Version Released.
IRC Chat
Talked with Jacic
Interview
Tululoo creator SilentWorks

GameMaker:HTML5 Public Beta

2011-09-22T14:07:00.000-07:00

by Bret Hudson

YOYO GAMES NEWS — We are thrilled to announce that YoYo Games has entered public beta for GM:HTML5. However, you must pay to be part of the beta. If you're part of the beta, you will receive a free upgrade to the full version. Buy here: GameMaker:HTML5 Checkout.Also, if you were on the mailing list for the beta, check your email for a $20 off coupon, bringing the price down to $79.99. Check out http://yoyogames.com/gamemaker/html5 for more information.

GM:HTML5 Price Announced

2011-08-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES NEWS — The final product of GameMaker:HTML5 has been announced to be $199. However, during the beta testing, it will be available for $99! The beta is going to happen in September, and for those of you who haven't signed up yet, click here.

Tons of complaints have gone around the GMC talking about how it's "too expensive", "no one's going to buy it", and that "it won't sell". Now, GM:HTML5 isn't expensive. Go take Unity, that's $1,500. Some may argue "but that's a professional program!". Well, this is a professional tool as well. $200 is a small fee considering you could make big money by selling your games via the Chrome App store. You could sell your game for $1. Get 100 people to buy it (not hard to do if you make a good game) and there's $100 in your pocket. This product will sell, and it's definitely a nice addition to any professional's collection of game development tools.

RekameMag Returns with Issue 4

2011-08-18T16:07:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

REKAME MAG — NAL (Andrew McClusky) released the first issue of RekameMag in approximately year (the previous issue came out shortly after YoYo Games Competition 06 ended!). NAL says "RekameMag Issue 4 is the latest issue of the magazine that focuses predominantly on my own personal opinions and expressions of the world of GameMaker.

Download: Link 1 || Link 2 || Feedback

The magazine starts out with a welcome page, summing up everything that's happened with YoYo Games since the last issue. It also points out some issues he ran into while making RekameMag and some other things he's been up to. Following the introduction, the magazine continues with three articles, consisting of "The Flaws of Ratings", "Budgetless Besides Billions", and "Money for Something". Next up is a face-to-face interview with Darrell Flood, an artist, GMC member, and YoYo Games employee.

The magazine also features reviews of "Air Hockey Unlimited", "In A Dungeon", "Highway Racer", and "The Little Cars in The Big Race". Along with the final review, NAL is hosting a contest in which the reader completes a puzzle within the magazine and can win a copy of the game. The magazine wraps itself up with a humorous article on if Game Maker invaded the film industry.

FEEDBACK - What do you think? Post a comment and let us know! Article written by INDIE(NEWS);

GMC Jam #3 Winners

2011-08-18T06:22:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — The GMC JAM #3 voting ended on Friday at 23:59 GMT, and the votes were counted up. Out of 56 submissions (57 games were made, one wasn't uploaded before the deadline), the following games ranked highest:

1st Place

Doodledoo by TheSnydr

Description:

A platformer set on TheSnydr's desk. The theme was incorporated in Mr. Balloon's quest to live. Play as Mr. Balloon and run around a constantly changing piece of paper in which things come to life as a hand draws them. The hand, however, can make the game tricky, as he doesn't have to draw faster than it has to! This original entry placed 1st.

Tied for 2nd Place

The Statues Live! by chance

Description:

The Statues Live! is a platform-based puzzler that contains elements of both traditional platform games, such as jumping obstacles, and dodging enemies -- as well as logic/puzzle elements. The goal is simple: escape the dungeon. To accomplish this, the player alternately controls one of two characters (statues), enabling them to work together so that one of them can escape the dungeon.

Don't Die by CoolGamrSms

Description:

This game is a sidescrolling shooter, where you play as a secret agent. Just as you finish up one of your most impressive missions, you realize your mistake. Someone had seen you, and many more foes and been forewarned of your whereabouts. Your only chance at survival is to fight your way through the horde of black garbed ninjas to, hopefully, find refuge on the other side. I've just updated the game, and it now includes a bunch of new features.

Good job on all the submissions, and congrats to the winners!

Official GameJolt Comp: Aug 20 - Sept 24

2011-08-17T06:25:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAMEJOLT — Over at GameJolt, there was recently a topic posted about a new official competition going on. Since a member posted it, it was unsure if it was real or not, but both Ashley and Jimmy (GameJolt moderators) have backed up this statement. The original post with all information can be found below.

Now, don't sh!t your pants. GameJolt is hosting an official competition with indie(Function);!
Official Announcement Topic

The competition will be hosted over at GameJolt by the site and the recently popular indie(Function); organization. This competition's plan is to raise activity over here at GameJolt and provide some fun for the community. This post is going to be short and to the point, we're not going to waste your time because you probably have already soiled yourself from excitement and need to change.

When is going to happen?!

AUGUST 20TH - SEPTEMBER 24TH
This competition will run for approximately a month! Yeah, this isn't just a weekend jam. This is a full blown competition! Generally, the longer it is, the more time developers have to come up with good game ideas and actually have time to perfect their work. Now, let's look at what prizes we have laying around:

The Theme:
- This won't be announced until it starts. [img]http://gamejolt.com/img/forums/emotions/yush.png[/img]

The Prizes:
- Top 3 games featured on GameJolt
- Top 3 games featured on indie(Magazine);
- Top 3 games featured on indie(Radio);
- And quite possibly a cash prize for the 1st place game!

The Rules:

Your entry must be an original game created just for this contest.
Your entry must relate to the chosen theme.
Your entry must be playable on Windows.
Collaborations are fine. Go for it with someone else! We like team work!
Only one game submission per person/team.
There are no restrictions on creation tools, libraries, file sizes or anything like that. We like diversity. Make it in Flash, make it in Construct, code it up from scratch yourself, we don't care.
Pre-existing code bits are acceptable, but for this contest, we'd prefer you not to use premade game engines. Libraries such as FlashPunk and Flixel are fine. Code bits must have been made by you originally.
No mandatory fullscreen or resolution changing. Can include a fullscreen/window switching option in-game. Games MUST start in a windowed mode.
You're encouraged to place the contest poster in your game, although it's definitely not a requirement. [Coming soon]

How to Enter:

To enter your game into the contest, you must upload the game to the main site. After doing that, reply to this forum post with the URL to your game.

Judges:

Here's the list of judges. Wanna win? I heard they like cookies...

- Jimmy
- Bretboy129
- UnknownGamer

In Closing:

Spread the news! Let all your game development buddies know so they can freak out with you! More information coming later this week.

indie(Magazine); Issue #10

2011-08-16T19:10:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The TENTH issue of indie(Magazine); was released very early Sunday, August 14th, 2011. This was full of news, a couple of game reviews, two tutorials, and a humorous entry by Greg Lobanov.

Only an HD Version has been uploaded so far, and can be found using the below links:
HD Version [5.1 MB] View in Browser
| Mirror
| Download

indie(Radio); Broadcast #10

2011-08-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — indie(Radio); reached the double digits this Saturday with their 10th broadcast. With an impressive line-up of news, and an interesting debate on whether competitions or jams are better, this is a broadcast you should listen to.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, August 13th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 27:44 (Min:Sec)
Live Listeners: 25

Listen here:

Download here:
Dropbox.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #10 [25.4 MB]

Show Topics Include:
Indie Game Development News
IndieCity Beta
IndieVania
Stencyl Game Competition Results
GameSalad Arcade Now HTML5
Game Maker HTML5 Beta Registration Open
TIGJam #4
We Want OGG
C/C++ in HTML5
IndieGames Blog Jam
Ludum Dare #21
LittleIndie
IndieVision Back in Business
XBLIG Games Coming to PC
MineCraft "Wedding Weekend" Promo
GMC Jam #3 Winners Announced
Just Ask Kong

Debate
Jams Vs. Competitions

indie(Magazine); Issue #9

2011-08-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The eighth issue of indie(Magazine); was released late Sunday, August 7th, 2011. This short issue contained

Only an HD Version has been uploaded so far, and can be found using the below links:
HD Version [1.3 MB] View in Browser
| Mirror
| Download

indie(Radio); Broadcast #9

2011-08-09T21:11:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Broadcast nine of indie(Function);'s indie(Radio); was broadcast Saturday, August 6th. The show was only a recap of the news, but did a great job finding many great topics to talk about.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, August 6th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 13:03 (Min:Sec)
Live Listeners: 7

Listen here:

Download here:
Dropbox.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #9 [11.9 MB]

Show Topics Include:
Indie Game Development News
YoYo Games Forums Hacked?
YoYo Games Tech Blog
GameMaker HTML5 Demo
GMC Jame #3 Ends + Voting Begins
Humble Indie Bundle Gets Better and Better
GameJolt Official Competition
New Kongregate Features
GameTunnel Relaunches
FlashPunk 2.0
Mojang Announces Las Vegas Minecraft Convention (MineCon)

YoYo Games Starts Tech. Blog

2011-08-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES — The YoYo Games Tech. Blog was secretly reveiled August 3rd. The only reason we say secretly is because the only way to get to it is a link in the YoYo Games News. The tech. blog will be a great source of news about development on GameMaker, GM HTML5, and GM Studio.

The tech blog can be found here.

The first post contains information about HTML5, which browsers it works in, and HTML5's limitations. The first post can be found here.

GameMaker HTML5 News

2011-08-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES NEWS — We've been REALLY bad with news over here at indie(News); lately, and we wanted to apologize for that. We're going to catch up with all of it in this post, since most of it has been HTML5 news. That's perfect, though, you can get it all in one source right now.

The latest news is probably the most exciting, so we'll inform you of that first. The GameMaker HTML5 Beta might be released early September. If you'd like to be a part of this beta, you can request an invite at http://yoyogames.com/gamemaker/html5/beta.

YoYo Games released the first preview of what GameMaker HTML5 can do with their animated scroller on the new YoYo Games site. Now, they've released a video showing an actual game made in GM HTML5. Their game, GraveDigger, can be seen in the video below.

YoYo Games announced that we might see a GM HTML5 beta as soon as September! However, Mark Overmars released on Twitter that the IDE will only be available on Windows. That's depressing news for Mac users.

YYG is going to the GDC (Game Developer's Conference)! There, they will be showing off the new GM HTML5.

New GMC Category

2011-07-26T10:27:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — A new category just arrived at the GMC, called GameMaker General Discussion. This category has three subcategories, GameMaker 8.1, GM4Mac, and GameMaker Legacy. The whole point of this separate section on the forums is to keep The Community forum clear of all Game Maker-related questions.

[From the GMC announcment] FredFredrickson said:

With many different versions of GameMaker floating around now, and in an effort to better organize the forum, we have introduced a new set of forums for the continued discussion of GameMaker itself. From now on, all discussions about GameMaker, including updates, possible bugs, compatibility/performance questions, etc. should now take place in those forums, and not in Community. This way, people seeking discussions specifically about the latest updates to Game Maker 8.1, code-porting issues for GM4Mac, or compatibility issues for past versions of GameMaker all have a place to go.

You can find the new forums below the Community section, under the new header GameMaker General Discussion.

This is a trial of sorts for this idea, which as proposed by various members of the community and staff. If the new organization proves unintuitive or confusing over time, we will tweak it or change it back to the old way. For now though, please follow the new guidelines and post your GameMaker questions in the new forums. Thanks, and apologies for taking so long to get this done!

indie(Magazine); Issue #7

2011-07-26T10:18:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The seventh issue of indie(Magazine); was released late Sunday, July 24th, 2011. With topics ranging from an interview with OverReact Studio's Connor Hart and Allen Webster, to the beginning of a tutorial series on online gameplay in Game Maker, to some great game reviews, issue 7 will give you tons of entertainment.

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [3.1 MB]
SD Version [1.4 MB]

indie(Radio); Broadcast #7

2011-07-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Broadcast seven of indie(Function);'s indie(Radio); was broadcast Saturday, July 23rd. The news was nice and short, as it simply recapped what had happened this week. The variety in the news was really nice, there were topics most people hadn't heard about. An interview wrapped up the show with TWO people, Connor Hart and Allen Webster from OverReact Studios.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 38:35 (Min:Sec)
Live Listeners: 34

Listen here:

Download here:
Dropbox.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #7 [37.3 MB]

Show topics include:
Interview
OverReact Studios - Connor Hart and Allen Webster

Indie Game Development News
Unity Secures $12 Million in Funding; Expands to Asian Markets
YoYo Games News
GameJolt Has Been Re-electrified
Weekly GameJolt Race
Ongoing Steampunk Competition
Indie Game: The Movie Doubles Their Set Goal + Pre-orders Finished
GMC Summer Jam - Next Weekend
Stencyl Works 1.1 "Major" Update Announced
GameJolt Members Strike Back

indie(Magazine); Issue #6

2011-07-19T05:47:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Issue 6 of indie(Magazine); was released Sunday, July 17th, 2011. The issue featured Part II of the Punk Invaders tutorial, some great game reviews, some new designs, and magazine exclusive questions with Uriel Griffin.

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [5.0 MB]
SD Version [1.5 MB]

indie(Radio); Broadcast #6

2011-07-19T05:41:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The sixth broadcast of indie(Radio); was aired on Saturday, July 16th, 2011. The radio show's introduction was different than the usual, which was nice to see some originality in this episode. The show starts off with an interview with the well known Uriel Griffin, head of VetraGames, GMC moderator, and GM4Mac enthusiast. Following that, they give the listeners the weekly dose of news, and then wrap it up with the credits.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, July 16th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 23:43 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #6 [21.7 MB]

Show topics include:
Interview
Noel Berry - NoelFP [previously aka Drazzke]

Indie Game Development News
New YoYo Games Website
FlashDevelop 4.0.0 Beta
GMDigest Returns + Issue 9
GameMaker HTML 5 Features Released

OverByte Issue 4

2011-07-12T21:29:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

OVERBYTE — After a year of not releasing any issues, the monthly magazine OverByte (organized by Greyson Wright) has returned with their 4th issue. This issue has a nice layout other than the fact the spacing crams way too much information in a page and almost makes it hard to read. This magazine has a negative vibe, so if you like kitties and unicorns, you may be turned away from it. Download here.

INCLUDED INSIDE OVERBYTE ISSUE 4:

Articles
"Tips to Keep You Motivated" by RC
"Does the Community Support GM" by RC
"A Look Into the nD" by RC
"2D Game Marketing Survey Results" by RC
"The Making of Hero Core" by Daniel Remar

Interviews
"Connor Ullmann" by RC
Reviews

"Tectoccular" by RC
"Narrow" by RC
"Squirrels With Machine Guns" by RC

indie(Magazine); Issue #5

2011-07-10T19:56:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — indie(Magazine); Issue 5 was just released moments ago. This issue returned the design from Issue 2, while adding in new elements such as the Tweets of the Week and the returning "Whiteboard". Within this issue there is an interview with Noel Berry (aka NoelFP or Drazzke), a lengthy FlashPunk tutorial, which is separated over this issue and the 2 following, and a couple of game reviews.

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [4.5 MB]
SD Version [1.2 MB]

GMC Jam #3 Announcement - July 30th

2011-07-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — The third GMC Jam was announced very early today by Nocturne on the GMC. The theme for this competition was chosen by Theg721, and has been censored out, so you have to guess what it is. The theme will remain a secret until it starts July 30th.

The theme is:

O****w**** T**********e g***, *** ***c**, *** A***s**** *****

The jam will last 72 hours, and you'll need to make sure you convert your timezone with GMT if you're interested in competing. There's quite a few rules, and instead of re-writing them, I simply just copy and pasted Nocturne's rules as they are very straight forward.

Additional information:

WHEN
1. Starts Saturday 30th July (This is not fixed!!! See the top vote...)
2. 72 hours long from 00:01 AM GMT Saturday ...to... 23:59 PM GMT Monday

THEME
1. Each Jam has a theme, and participants are encouraged to use it.
2. Using the theme is NOT obligatory, but will be valued when voting.
3. To encourage use of theme, the highest-voted theme-based game gets to choose the theme for next Jam.
4. The theme will not be revealed until just before the start of the Jam to prevent any advantages

VOTING
1. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be chosen using the SSE method. Voters may rank the games in order of their preference. Voters may rank as few, or as many, games as they wish.
All games are eligible (themed and non-themed), but voters should take "use of theme" into account. (Remember: non-theme games can win, but they CANNOT pick the next Jam's theme. see above.)
2. Voters may give an "Honourable Mention" vote for a game whose features they liked, but wasn't good enough to win. These can be graphics, sound, gameplay, idea, etc.
When voting, leave feedback about WHY you voted for the game(s) you chose. (Optional)
Participants may not vote for their own game.

PARTICIPATING
1. Games must be posted in the WIP/Games forums before the finish deadline for the Jam. Hosting is up to the individual user.
2. A link to your game and a short description must be posted in the official Jam topic.
People are welcome to use any outside sites, and are also welcome to promote such sites, but the posting of topics and the voting will be done on the GMC.
3. Teams are encouraged and can be organised by you with whomever you wish or you can participate in a random team (see below for more details)

PRIZES
1. Prizes will be as before... A special graphic/banner, bragging rights and (if your game is a themed game) the possibility of choosing the next Jam theme.
2. Community prizes will also be offered as members of the community contribute whatever the feel appropriate. EG: Coverage on their web site, custom graphics for the game, a video of the gameplay for YouTube... Whatever
3. There will be ABSOLUTELY NO MONETARY PRIZE. This is forbidden by the forum admins.

ADDITIONAL PRIZES
These are prizes kindly and very generously offered to us by GMC members. To all who donate their time/experience/whatever to this community endeavor I thank you very, very much!

IceMetalPunk - Banners for the top 3, a special web page (with reviews, comments, descriptions, screenshots, and downloads) for the top 2 games, and free hosting for that page for the winner for a year on my site http://imperfectdesigns.dyndns.org/

Theg721 - One month of freelance programming and graphic design services as well as a "Lets Play" video of the winning game on YouTube.

indie(Function); is also planning on giving out some prizes, but it hasn't been confirmed yet!

GameMaker's Digest Issue 10

2011-07-10T03:24:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAMEMAKER'S DIGEST — Issue 10 of Brian Fetcher's GameMaker's Digest was released yesterday, Saturday, July 9th. This issue features an interview with SuperJoeBob (Landon Podbielski), a quick talk with some of the staff at YoYo Games about the new website changes, and a new section called the "Weekly Survey". This week's survey is "Do you like the new YoYo Games site?", and the survey link can be found in the magazine. This issue was an improvement over the previous issue. It included more content, removed blank pages and advertisements, and was much more fun to read. GMDigest is headed in the right direction, and I can't wait to read next week's issue!

Links: (PDF - View/Download)
English Version
Dutch Version

indie(Radio); Broadcast #5

2011-07-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The fifth broadcast of indie(Radio); seemed pretty bare, only an interview and four news topics. I'm hoping next week's show has much more content. I'm definitely looking forward to the interview with Chevy Ray. :D

Broadcast Date: Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 26:36 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #5 [24.4 MB]

Show topics include:
Interview
Noel Berry - NoelFP [previously aka Drazzke]

Indie Game Development News
New YoYo Games Website
FlashDevelop 4.0.0 Beta
GMDigest Returns + Issue 9
GameMaker HTML 5 Features Released

GameMaker's Digest Issue 9

2011-07-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

by BRIAN FETCHER

GAMEMAKER'S DIGEST — The weekly magazine has returned on the 4th of july. The new magazine offers a completely different kind of eMagazine layout called side-by-side.

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/71/unled1pm.png
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/9733/unled2hve.png

This issue didn't contain as much content as was hoped. A combination of YoYo Games and real life issues got in the way. A lot of work was still put into the magazine.

Contains: Sponsor links, GameMaker ad, an article, an interview and in-GM tutorials.

Link: http://www.box.net/shared/d6u4iyk61hhavgkfpzv3 (PDF - View/Download)

indie(Magazine); Issue #4

2011-07-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Articles in issue 4 include a couple of interesting tutorials, an article about an experience with gaming in the world, and a special section full of code that can create an American flag in both GameMaker and Flash, without using a single image (works with FlashPunk and Flixel, as well).

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [2.4 MB]
No SD Version was released.

indie(Radio); Broadcast #4

2011-07-03T13:56:00.001-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The fourth broadcast of indie(Radio); was released yesterday. No interview or game reviews this week, but an interesting game design section and debate.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, July 2nd, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Length: 27:06 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #4 [24.8 MB]

Topics include:
Indie Game Development News
New Construct/Scirra Website and Blog
Book: 250 Indie Games You Must Play
Lots of Unity Updates
Minecraft Beta v1.7 Update
Minecraft Reachs 10-Million Users
GMDigest Returns

Game Design
Story Struction

Debate
Should Game Portals Have a Separate Sections For First Games?

The Elements: Part[5] = Replay Value;

2011-07-01T12:00:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

Part[5] = Replay Value;

Read Part 4 HERE, Part 3 HERE, Part 2 HERE, and Part 1 HERE

What is Replay Value?

Replay Value is exactly what it sounds like. It’s the value to play the game again. Games like World of Goo and Minecraft *twitch* have great replay value. I’ve played through World of Goo four times and spent a shameful amount of time on Minecraft. My brother has played over 300 hours of Fallout 3, and another 200 or so on Fallout: New Vegas. Those are games with great replay value. In my personal opinion Call of Duty: Black Ops didn’t have good replay value. I played the story once and don’t want to play it again, and only played multiplayer a few hours before returning to Modern Warfare 2.

Is Replay Value important?

YES! Replay value is what would make me want to buy your next game. If I only got a few hours out of Minecraft then I wouldn’t think highly of buying a game from Mojang in the future. If your game has replay value I’ll tell my friends about an awesome game I’ve played for a long time. Replay value will be determined on how original your game is, if it’s challenging, if there is always something to do, and if you can continually do things. It’s not something coded, it’s what is done, replay value is a perfect balance of everything, making your game, awesome.

Things that help:

Making a long game doesn’t make it better or have more replay value. Make it creative with plenty to do.
Don’t make a stupid lock pick minigame that you do 500+ times before completing the game. *cough* Oblivion *cough* Mass Effect *cough*
Don’t have too many cutscenes

Summary

There we go, we’ve gone through the 5 chosen elements of a game. The fifth element of the most powerful, but we don’t know what it is. Now, I leave it up to you to decide which element of a game is the most important, the greatest, the fifth unknown element. To vote use the poll on the sidebar, voting closes on Monday, where the results will be posted.

Vote soon,

Nikc-Nack

Conclusion Coming Soon...

The Elements: Part[4] = Graphics;

2011-06-30T12:00:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

Part[4] = Graphics;

Read Part 3 HERE, Part 2 HERE, and Part 1 HERE

What are Graphics?

Graphics are what you see. Graphics can be anything visual in the game. Some things are not graphics that you see, but generally, everything is. Graphics are not what make the game, the game makes the game, graphics make it look nice. There are two main types of graphics (excluding 3D models). Backgrounds normally are of course in the background of the game and don’t move, this is the case with most games, but some games, like Oblivion or Fable have day/night cycle, these are mostly code, but the backgrounds do change quite a bit. Then there are sprites, these can range from a tree, to the player, or anything else. Lots of sprites are still images that don’t move but add something extra to the scene, while others, can be the animations of the player walking. They all work together to make a stunning scene.

Are Graphics Important?

This has been debated for as long as I can remember. It’s a yes and no. There are reasons they are not important. A game can still be really good without good graphics, look at Minecraft or VVVVV, it comes down to the Gameplay. But on the other side, most people will say they are less likely to try a game that looks horrible than to try one that looks really good. Also, graphics can add lots of detail to the game to help the player along the way. Imagine trying to play Call of Duty if everyone was blocky like Minecraft. It would be immensely annoying to have a cube shaped head, making snipers have a much better advantage. And fitting behind cover would get annoying as well. In the end, there are reasons graphics are very important, but there are also reasons that they aren’t, most of the time it depends on the game. As a word of advise, unless you are a respected game developer don’t advertise your game as “retro”.

Things to keep in mind:

DON’T overdo your graphics if your game isn’t good enough. It just leaves people disappointed.
DON’T underestimate the good the graphics can do for your game.
DO attempt to make all your graphics original
DON’T rip graphics and sell your game

Summary

Graphics sure are a great thing to have done well in your game, personally, it’s my favorite part of developement. But even though it’s very important it doesn’t make your game the biggest hit ever. So is it worth of being the Fifth Element?

Hope you enjoyed,
Nikc-Nack

Part 5 Coming Soon...

The Elements: Part[3] = Story;

2011-06-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

Part[3] = Story;

Read Part 2 HERE, and Part 1 HERE

What is Story?

Story is what happens in the game that does not technically effect the game. The story of a game brings purpose to a game, also it opens up doors to creativity. A game with a story is almost always better than one without. The story generally refers to the part of the game that is more like a book. Most of the time dialogue and chatting to used to reveal the story.

Different Methods

In lots of linier games you will tend to find good stories. Simply because it is a lot easier to make a story that won’t have a lot of options. Games such as Call of Duty are easier to add in a story than a game like Minecraft. Obviously Call of Duty is a linier game, there aren’t many (or any) options that change the game. Linier games are simply much easier to add in story.

Sandbox or Open World games can be much harder to add in a story. Most Open World games tend to have a small main story (or none) and provide lots of mini quest to do. Mini quest are really great to have in games and I would recommend adding them in. The game Runescape is a good example of this type of game, it doesn’t actually have much of a main story, at the beginning it sets up the game and gives information, but otherwise it’s a completely open world game with lots of quest to do. I would recommend trying it in your spare time.

Purpose of Story

Games use stories to draw people in, and when well written will keep the player coming back until he wins. Stories should be clever written to be understandable, but clever so that the player will not know what would happen next. Most games with deep written stories will have moments in the game that build the story up in a climax, or reveal some dramatic fact (I am your father), these are commonly referred to as Story Arcs.

Summary

Having a good story has definitely shown to be immensely important in a game. And it can really add a lot to your game just to have a small story. Stories are definitely important, but are they important enough to be the Fifth Element?

Hope you enjoyed,
Nikc-Nack

Part 4 Coming soon...

The Elements: Part[2] = Sound;

2011-06-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

Part[2] = Sound;

Read Part 1 HERE

What is Sound?

Just like last time this section is slightly silly, but I wanted to get into some detail on everything. Obviously sound is what you hear. In most games there are two types of sounds, one being sound effects and the other being music. Music generally refers to what plays in the background of the scene and doesn’t really have an effect on a gameplay. In my personal opinion a good indie game should have 3 or more songs, arcade games are an exception, but the more the merrier! Sound effects are mostly things that play when something happens, for instance, you fire a gun, and the shooting sound effect is played. Your player jumps off of a spring, a BOING is heard. So fast review, sound is when an action happens, music is in background.

Purpose of Music

Most of the time music is added to “Make the scene” or fill up what could otherwise be a boring part of the game. Games often change music into faced passed whenever in a combat scene or a chase scene. Music mostly just fills up dead air in a game when no sound effects are being played.

Music is often changed on dramatic scenes and on dangerous spots. Just like in movies the scene can be completely ruined by the wrong music or it coming in at the wrong time. Be careful when using your music, MAKE SURE IT’S PERFECT!

Purpose of Sound Effects

Sound effects are there to add a lot of fullness to the game as well. It wouldn’t be very fun if you had a laser gun, but you couldn’t hear it shooting through the air. Or you couldn’t hear it hit a wall, bounce off, hit the bad guy, evaporate him, and his screams of death and suffering as his life came to a cruel pathetic end. Without sound effects you wouldn’t here the sound of the monkey falling to his death, the sky burning, or the small two year old being shredded by the giant food processor.

Summary

Sound definitely is a extreme element in a game, and can be used to you’re your game extremely better or it could send your game to the dumps! But is Sound worth of being the Fifth Element!

Thank you,

Nikc-Nack

Part 3 Coming soon...

The Elements: Part[1] = Gameplay;

2011-06-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

Introduction

The Elements. When I say that I’m sure most of your minds go to Fire, Water, Dirt, Wind, and then into a large thought process about the fifth element and all your theories you’ve been devising over the many years of your life. Of course, this wouldn’t be the best spot to debate this. What I’m talking about are the essential elements of games. Just for fun, I picked out five key features I look at when I’m playing a game. Throughout the articles I’ll attempt to give some in depth detail on each feature. After all 5 of the articles are released you must decide which you think deserves to be the fifth element.

What is Gameplay?

I’ve seen too many people give these insane definitions for what Gameplay is, when it’s very simple. Just look at the word… look closer… closer… THERE! Understand? Just in case you didn’t I’ll explain. The Gameplay of the game is of course, WHAT YOU PLAY! The Gameplay can include everything that is coded. Examples of Gameplay are: Physics Engine (that you use), chatting, and so much. Here are some examples of things that aren’t the Gameplay: Graphics (what you actually see), Sounds (what you hear), and HUD/GUIs. Hopefully that gives you a decent description of the Gameplay actually is. If that doesn’t satisfy you then find a chatbox, go in and ask. Have fun!
Note: Just pretend they’re laughing with you, even though they’re laughing at you.

Why is Gameplay important?

Why is it not? Obviously without the Gameplay there wouldn’t be anything except still images and some really annoying music that plays 50,000 through before you could possibly beat the game (oh wait you get that anyways). The Gameplay is everything, it’s what you do, and it’s what makes fun.

Summary

I know this was a short one, but it’s hard to write a long article about something that controls everything and there wouldn’t be anything without. So Gameplay is super important and if it’s done wrong the entire game is messed up. It’s good, but is it good enough to be…

*dramatic music plays*

THE FIFTH ELEMENT!

Nikc-Nack

Part 2 Coming Soon...

indie(Magazine); Issue #3

2011-06-26T16:24:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Articles in issue 3 include an interview Ted Lauterbach (Rotten_Tater), a massive game review of the commercial Game Maker game "Koya Rift", and an interesting topic about how competitions and themes affect the quality of games.

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [2.6 MB]
SD Version [1.0 MB]

indie(Radio); Broadcast #3

2011-06-25T16:04:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The third broadcast of the new indie(Radio); was broadcast today at 1:00 PM, US Central Time. The show was actually really long, lasting a second short of 52 minutes. It included an interview with Ted Lauterbach (Rotten_Tater) and had some interesting debates.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, June 25th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Live Listeners: 25
Length: 51:59 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #3 [47.6 MB]

Topics include:
Indie Game Development News
Official GameMaker Obfuscator Details
YoYo Games Website Updates
YoYo Games June Updates
GiTD #20 (Game in Ten Three Days) Jam

Game Reviews
Magnetico by silentworks [Game Maker 6/7]

Debate
#1: Should indie game developers get girls for being featured?
#2: Should indie developers look into HTML5 game development?

Interview
Rotten_Tater - Ted Lauterbach

YoYo Games June Updates

2011-06-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — The monthly update from YoYo Games just arrived on the glog.

YoYo Games stated that they want GameMaker to be more than an entry tool for game development. They want it to not only be that, but also a strong professional tool that will be used by some of the biggest names out there. They did say that they may loose some users from this decision, but also gain many more.

YoYo Games Says:

Our aim to gain further reach into gaming markets and gain a larger reputation amongst developers.

On the website side of things, they said that they are 80% done with it! Very exciting news for many GameMaker users. YoYo Games stated that the old site will remain linked on the main menu, for existing users to use.

YoYo Games Says:

The uploading of your games will be alive and well on the old site, this hasn’t changed. All the games previously submitted will stay. Nothing is being deleted. We think this is a good compromise for new visitors seeing a much cleaner site while still offering the same functionality for existing members.

It's good that YoYo Games isn't planning on taking down any of the older games. YoYo Games mentioned adding a part on the site where game developers can meet up and chat. The site is aimed towards being up early next week, and a small group will be chosen to test the site, mainly Admins and Mods.

Believe it or not, you can now follow Mark Overmars on twitter. His username is simply @mark_overmars.

YoYo Games Website Updates

2011-06-22T11:59:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — There are quite a few rumors going around about the new YoYo Games website. Little snipplets of information are being released on Twitter every now and then by the YoYo Games, and we've been waiting a while to put all the information together in one news article. Here is the first preview we've gotten of the new website:

*If you'd like to read an article about all the little details on the site, please read indie(Magazine); Issue 2.

The new website is suppose to look darker, sleaker, and appeal to an "older audience", since YoYo Games believes GameMaker is not just a kid's program. They spelled Game Maker with it's new spelling (GameMaker) and the original (Game Maker) on their new design, so whether or not GameMaker will retain the space or not is not clear.

YoYo Games said this site will take a couple of months on a glog post a week ago, but is aiming for the "first round" to be finished by the end of July.

YoYo Games said that their current website "looks like a kid's play site". YoYo Games claims that their site shouldn't be regarded as that, so the new design will be geared towards a more mature audience. They are really trying to make the site look professional and attractive to programmers/game developers who are giving GameMaker a first look.

The new site will be added in parts, that way nothing gets lost (like your uploaded games!) in the process of upgrading. One of the new features a lot of people are sad about is that you will only be able to upload games made in Game Maker 8.0, GameMaker 8.1, and future releases. So, if you're using Game Maker 6, 7, or possibly even 5.3, you won't be able to upload your games to the site anymore!

YoYo Games is also planning on making the Instant Play plugin open source so people can embed it into their own websites. No longer will you have to download games off your website; you'll be able to play it by running it out of your browser!

indie(Magazine); Issue #2

2011-06-19T10:14:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The second issue of indie(Magazine); was released minutes before this post. The magazine features an interview with FlashPunk's Rolpege, a couple of tutorials, and 5 game reviews, 3 of them finished, 2 of them still a "work in progress".

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [2.3 MB]
SD Version [1.0 MB]

indie(Radio); Broadcast #2

2011-06-18T11:42:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The second ever indie(Radio); broadcast was live today at noon, US Central Time. The show was rather short, and lacked of their game design section, but they had both an interview with Rolpege and a guest speaker, Greg 'Banov' Lobanov.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, June 18th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Live Listeners: 53
Length: 22:39 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #2

Topics include:
Interview
Rolpege - Abel Toy i Díez

Indie Game Development News
indie(Kickoff); Recap
Jack Oatley Joins YoYo Games
Super Snake HD Released
XNAPunk Released

Game Reviews
Phantasmaburbia Demo #2 - Banov [GameMaker 8]
Noggins - ChevyRay [FlashPunk]

Debate
Should indie game developers be able to develop and publish to consoles?

Super Snake HD

2011-06-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Another android and iOS game was just released by YoYo Games, called Super Snake HD. The one who made it is the creator of the Game Maker program, Mark Overmars, with assistance from Jochem Schut. This game is a clone of the popular snake game, where you eat objects and your snake gets longer, and you must keep your snake from running into it's own tail. This version features a full 80 levels, and there seems to be many game modes, including "Simply Snake", "Tasty Revenge", and "Deadly Rivals".

Super Snake HD is available for Android and iOS devices for the low price of $0.99. Updates and new levels will be coming soon, according to the Super Snake HD website.

indie(Function); Hiring Center Open

2011-06-16T09:24:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The new team indie(Function); is now accepting new people to join their team via the "hiring center". Anyone can join, as indie(Function); will go over your application and see if they have any available jobs for you. The form requires you to put your name (or nickname), email, Skype username, skills you can contribute, and why you want to be a part of indie(Function);. The application can be found at the indie(Function); website under the hiring center tab.

Gazette renamed to indie(News);

2011-06-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — The Gazette has a new design along with a new name: indie(News);. This is part of the indie(Kickoff); week, and is for the third to last day. The layout will most likely be changing more, possibly to a whole new site, so stay tuned for more updates.

Also, tomorrow for the kickoff week will have indie(Hiring Center);, and Friday will have a surprise.

indie(Books); Preview Released

2011-06-14T18:40:00.000-07:00

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The first preview of indie(Function);'s new book series, indie(Books);, was just uploaded to YouTube. The video is a short 57 seconds, and just shows the basic layout of what they've been working on. So far, an introduction and the instructions to install FlashDevelop/FlashPunk have been put it, and more will be worked on as the weeks go by.

Jack Oatley Joins YoYo Games

2011-06-13T17:16:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — The YoYo Games team has hired (another) new staff member, the 4th in the last 30 days. His name is Jack Oatley, and he's worked with the GameMaker software for quite some time now. His account on YoYo Games showcases some of his impressive work, including a game influenced heavily by Minecraft (I'd call it a clone!).

Jack Oatley's description is a "Junior Software Engineer", and YoYo Games claims that he will be working on a work in progress and a new game. Most likely, he will be developing some new iOS games and games to be released to non-Windows platforms. We hope to see you make a positive change in YoYo Games as well, Jack!

indie(Function); Website Launches

2011-06-13T17:04:00.000-07:00

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The new website for indie(Function); just launched, and can be found at indieFunction.com. The new layout is a HUGE step up from the previous one, as the layout is no longer just basic HTML and CSS, it includes some fancy new features from CSS 3, including rotating text in the navbar (can only be seen on modern browsers, such as FireFox and Chrome).

The website will be having new pages everyday as new things come out for the indie(Kickoff);.

indie(Magazine); Issue #1

2011-06-13T16:39:00.000-07:00

INDIE(FUNCTION); — The first issue of indie(Magazine); was just released, after a 30 hour delay. The indie(Function); team is truly sorry for the delay, and have made arrangements so it doesn't happen again. The magazine features a vast range of topics, from the radio interview with NAL, to the unveiling of a new indie game console, to the "Freebie of the Week", which is a massive GameMaker 8.0 icon, having over 1000px x 1000px in size!

Follow the below links for both online and downloadable versions of the magazine.
HD Version [4.8 MB]
SD Version [2.1 MB]

5 Signs You're a Hardcore Gamer

2011-06-11T12:25:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — Ever wonder if you're a hardcore gamer? If you've gone over the top? Well, if you fit all of the below facts (or at least half of them), you may want to take a step away from the computer and enter this dimension called RL, which stands for the words "real life", whatever that means. You know you need to take a 15 minute break (yeah, it says that at the beginning of your manual for every game!) when...

1. Your girlfriend comes over, and asks you what your dream house is, and you tell her you'll take her to it. You describe this amazing, beautiful beach house and tell her to follow you and she can come see it. You sit down at your computer, boot up Minecraft, and show her your beach house. Not only does this prove you're a little addicted, but it also proves you won't be having a girlfriend much longer.

2. Decided to go back to your childhood. All little kids like dressing up as superheroes. Even some big kids do. Sadly, even some adults do (and I'm not talking about on halloween!). Anyway, that's a bit dorky, but there's nothing that says "NERD" than making your own superhero. Now, that wouldn't be bad, but when you make it out of NES accessories, you need to go get a life (and come to the new decade, the 80's left a LONG time ago).

Picture from Full Frontal Gamer

3. You're hiding in your neighbour's bushes used to mean that you were spying on them. If they saw you, you'd be out of there in a second, and you'd hop the fence and just keep going and going. Now, hiding in bushes is even more common, as gamers need to play World of Warcraft at all hours a day. If your power goes out, go next door. If you didn't pay the internet bill, go next door. If you loose your house because you don't know what "real life" is, go next door. This is just sad. Quit hiding out in your neighbor's bushes disguised as a gnome, stop being cheap, and go get a life! (And no, a 1-UP won't cut it, Mario).

4. You live with mom. Still. And you're 40 years old. Oh well, guess there's one plus: COOKIES!

5. Your job in World of Warcraft is more important than your real job. Being a level 80 Nightelf with maxed out leather-working is much more important to you than going to work every day and making little pieces of plastic for who knows what, it's time to hit that button next to the "Reset button" (yeah, it does more than turn on your console, it also turns it off.)

If you fit any of these attributes, you may want to reconsider gaming as a lifestyle.

indie(Radio); Broadcast #1

2011-06-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

INDIE(FUNCTION); — Today, at noon, indie(Radio); attempted to have their first broadcast. Microphone wasn't working, so they had to resort to sending it to another team member, which cost them a good TWENTY minutes. After the late start, the show lasted for half an hour, with okay sound quality. We promise the next broadcast will sound better, just the way we were doing it there was no way it would produce a high quality stream.

Broadcast Date: Saturday, June 11th, 2011
Broadcast Time: Noon US Central Time
Live Listeners: 21
Length: 30:42 (Min:Sec)

Listen here:

Download here:
UpUrLoad.com - indie(Radio); Broadcast #1

Topics include:
Interview
NAL - Andrew McCluskey

Indie Game Development News
indie(Function); starts
Welcome to the YoYo Games Team I
Welcome to the YoYo Games Team II
New FlashPunk website
Minecraft Pocket Edition Reveal
FlashPunk Monthly Challenge - June
Stencyl Released
YoYo Games in Top 100 Game Studios
Punk.UI Released
Box2FP Released
PunkWeek Competition #3
nD Website Launched

Game Reviews
Innoquous 4 [GameMaker 8]
Game #2

Tips and Tricks
Game Design: Choice

Debate
Should GML‘s syntax be more strict?

indie(Kickoff);

2011-06-10T20:20:00.000-07:00

INDIE(FUNCTION); — indie(Function);, my new indie game development media and education team, has decided that we are going to have a kickoff, and just like all the projects, it'll be used in the "indie function", like so: indie(Kickoff);. The plan for the kickoff is as follows:

Saturday: indie(Radio); Broadcast 1
Sunday: indie(Magazine); Issue 1
Monday: indie(Website); finished
Tuesday: indie(Books); preview
Wednesday: indie(News); Revamp
Thursday: indie(Hiring Center); open
Friday: To be announced

We hope everyone enjoys our products, and we'll make sure to keep ourselves from dying like many have in the past!

Welcome to the YYG team! Part II

2011-05-30T11:54:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Once again, within the same week, another member has joined the YoYo Games staff.

Darrell Flood, also known as Dadio will be helping Geoff with things related to artwork. Many of YoYo Games' future games will have artwork "polished" by Darrell, as well as gameplay mechanics and level design. Darrell loves Anime, after living in Japan for 9 years, and as YoYo Games said "[he] claims to be a serious games junkie!". Welcome to the team, Darrell!

ALSO, YoYo Games met up with the famed Mark Overmars (the creator of Game Maker, for those of you who don't know). They discussed some of YoYo Games' future projects, and the future of GM.

Welcome to the YoYo Games Team!

2011-05-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Chris Harrison and Paul Cosgrove have joined the YoYo Games growing team.

Chris Harrison is a Senior Programmer, and has had much experience in the Scottish games industry.

Chris has worked with projects including Visual Sciences, Cohort Studios, Realtime Worlds, and eeGeo.

Paul Cosgrove is a web developer, and will be working on web-related projects for YoYo Games. This could include the new HTML5 project with YoYo Games, but only time will tell if that is true. Paul has worked with projects including Realtime Worlds and i-design Multimedia.

Welcome to YoYo Games, both of you, and we hope to see you two help Game Maker become even better!

Simply Solitaire HD Updated!

2011-05-19T12:25:00.000-07:00

by NIKC-NACK

YOYO GAMES— YoYo Games has released a great upgrade to Simply Solitaire! This new upgrade has loads of new features!

This update includes great new things, such as:

OpenFeint
38 New achievements to unlock with Game Center and with OpenFeint
The ability to challenge your friend to the same hand to see who is fastest!
Global Leader-board, become the best WORLDWIDE!
FaceBook and Twitter integration!

Along with these new things some parts have been changed. The option menu has a great new simple design to save you time. Also there are new card backs to see!

AND if you're too frustrated take it out on the all new stress toy!

On a final note remember you can download this for free on Andriod and iOS!

YoYo Games May Update

2011-05-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — YoYo Games decided to give us a little recap of what's going on over in the YoYo Games office, from new team members, to an update with publishing, to the mysterious GameMaker Studio. It would be pointless to summarize it here, as there's too much information; a summary would be a book of it's own. The YoYo Games Glog post can be found here.

Article written by GAME MAKER GAZETTE

FEEDBACK - What do you think? Post a comment and let us know!

Game Maker 8 Cookbook

2011-05-11T19:35:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

[PACKT] PUBLISHING — Uriel Griffin is publishing a Game Maker educational book through [PACKT] Publishing, that will be released June 2011. The book is called the "Game Maker 8 Cookbook", which will have "recipes" that allow you to create certain effects in your Game Maker creations. The book will be released in both a physical copy and eBook, both will be the same price. You can pre-order this book at http://www.packtpub.com.

GameMaker's 3D Speed Update

2011-05-11T19:33:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — YoYo Games has recently released the awaited GameMaker 8.1.77. This version contains updates that allow you to use stronger 3D functions in GameMaker at faster speeds. The improvements are rather amazing, and many more people will be likely taking up programming in 3D within the program.

Surfaces are being fixed, you can now use them without having to use any external DLL's! A demo of the new 3D features can be found here.

GMC Jam #2 - April 29th

2011-04-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — The GMC Jam #2, or GMC Spring Jam, has been organized and has a set date. The jam will start next Saturday, April 30th. The theme will be chosen and announced April 29th. Click here to see the original forum post with additional information.

Don't know what a jam is? Read the quote below.

Nocture says

The Jam is a community event that we are organising to encourage people to experiment with GM and make something that will be interesting or entertaing within the limited timescale of 72 hours. The rules are pretty simple...

Remember everyone, the aim of the Jam is not to win, but to participate, experiment, and have as much fun as possible!

Rules:

TIME
72 hours long from 12:01 AM GMT Saturday ...to... 11:59 PM GMT Monday

THEME
Each Jam has a theme, and participants are encouraged to use it.
Using the theme is NOT obligatory, but will be valued when voting.
To encourage use of theme, the highest-voted theme-based game gets to choose the theme for next Jam.
The theme will not be revealed until just before the start of the Jam to prevent any advantages

VOTING
1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be chosen using the SSE method. Voters may rank the games in order of their preference. Voters may rank as few, or as many, games as they wish.
All games are eligible (themed and non-themed), but voters should take "use of theme" into account. (Remember: non-theme games can win, but they CANNOT pick the next Jam's theme. see above.)
Voters may give an "Honourable Mention" vote for a game whose features they liked, but wasn't good enough to win. These can be graphics, sound, gameplay, idea, etc.
When voting, leave feedback about WHY you voted for the game(s) you chose. (Optional)
Participants may not vote for their own game.

PARTICIPATING
Games must be posted in the WIP/Games forums before the finish deadline for the Jam. Hosting is up to the individual user.
A link to your game and a short description must be posted in the official Jam topic.
People are welcome to use any outside sites, and are also welcome to promote such sites, but the posting of topics and the voting will be done on the GMC.
Teams are encouraged and can be organised by you with whomever you wish or you can participate in a random team (see forum post for more details)

PRIZES
Prizes will be as before... A special graphic/banner, bragging rights and (if your game is a themed game) the possibility of choosing the next Jam theme.
Community prizes will also be offered as members of the community contribute whatever the feel appropriate. EG: Coverage on their web site, custom graphics for the game, a video of the gameplay for YouTube... Whatever
There will be ABSOLUTELY NO MONETARY PRIZE. This is forbidden by the forum admins.

GameMaker Studio Announced

2011-04-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — YoYo Games just announced the newest version of the GameMaker software, GameMaker Studio. GameMaker Studio, working title, is going to be an upcoming update to the software. GameMaker Studio will allow you to create games for Mac, iOS, Android, PSP and HTML5 formats, independent of YoYo Games.

No date or price is yet confirmed for this version.

First GameMaker 8.1 Update

2011-04-19T14:02:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — YoYo Games released the first update of GameMaker 8.1 today, which is GameMaker 8.1.69. It mainly consists of bug fixes, but also contains some new features.

New features include;

The new parameter checking system is now able to be turned off.
Anti-Alias settings in the FONT dialog can now be controlled
New folder links were added so you can find your tutorials, libs, and extensions in Windows Explorer

A full list of added features, fixed bugs, and addressed issues can be found here

GameMaker 8.1 Released

2011-04-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES — The moment everyone has been waiting for: GAMEMAKER* 8.1! We're going to make this simple, so here are the download links:

Want the lite edition?
Lite Edition - $0.00
Want the standard** edition?
Standard** Edition - $25.00

*Game Maker has been renamed (sadly) to GameMaker
**Standard is the new name for the Pro edition.

ATTENTION GAME MAKER 8.0 PRO USERS: You can upgrade to GameMaker 8.1 Standard FOR FREE! You can upgrade your version of Game Maker for free until June 1st, 2011. After that, it's not available. Also, the price will go up from $25.00 to $39.99 the same day. So all you lite users better upgrade soon to save $14.99! The upgrading process can be found here: YoYo Games Glog.

Have fun making games with all the new features of GAMEMAKER 8.1!

GM 8.1 Announcement

2011-03-28T14:43:00.000-07:00

by BRET HUDSON

YOYO GAMES GLOG — A week ago (that's 7 days ;) ) YoYo Games announced the upcoming Game Maker 8.1. Currently, there is no release date, but a free upgrade will be available from GM 8.0 Pro to GM 8.1 Standard* until June 1st, 2011, which means that GM 8.1 will be released in either April or May.

*GM Pro has been renamed to GM Standard. GM Lite will retain it's name.

Pricing
Game Maker 8.1 marks the second time in GM's history that it will have a price increase. This time, however, it will not increase a mere $5, it's going to jump up $15. That would be a total of $39.99 for this product. You may think this is quite a bit of money, but, when you compare it to other professional products like Adobe CS5, it's VERY cheap. The reason why the price is going up is due to the addition of staff members at YoYo Games.

If you own Game Maker 8.0 Pro, you can upgrade for FREE to Game Maker 8.1 Standard (the new name for Pro). If you upgraded from Game Maker 7.0 Pro to Game Maker 8.0 Pro for free, you can upgrade a second time and save even more money!

Store Publishing
YoYo Games will be soon releasing their YoYo Game Store, which allows you to upload games and earn money by players purchasing your games. However, in order to do this, you MUST own Game Maker 8.1 Standard. You gotta remember, it costs money to make money, but usually the money made is greater than the money spent!

Features
Direct from YoYo Games Glog:

No more Softwrap!
Changed room editor RIGHT mouse click priorities. Menu for normal, CTRL+RMB for delete
You can now RIGHT CLICK an object and EDIT it from within the Room Editor
You can now use the mouse wheel to ZOOM in/out in the Room editor.
Middle mouse button PANS around the room
A customisable background grid has been applied to the room editor.
The Image Editor has been updated to use the mouse wheel and middle button for better zooming and panning.
You can now PAN around inside the PATH editor using the middle mouse button.
You can now change the default background colour for rooms (when no ROOM background has been set)
You can now disable background room filling, so you can see the background GRID when no ROOM colour has been set
A new and improved NEWS system, bringing together news and tech tips from across the community.
New, more secure .EXE encryption.
New GML commands such as draw_self() and d3d_light_define_ambient.
Some custom YoYo extensions brought into the fold, such as os_type and os_device to aid multiplatform coding.
Better 2D and 3D support with a 24bit ZBuffer and faster rendering.
Improved code editor features include:

Faster rendering
Block TAB’ing
Better accented character support
Easier to use Code Completion support
Customisable background colours.
ClosingGame Maker 8.1 Lite and Standard will be coming out soon, so be prepared! The YoYo Games team has worked hard in 2010 and so far in 2011 on making this a reality, and it's almost here! Put your hands up for the crew over at YoYo Games! We really appreciate your hard work so we can use this program, and we hope GM 8.1 is as successful as ever!

Game Maker Gazette is Back

2011-03-27T02:33:00.000-07:00

Picture from sensobi.com

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — After a 2 month hiatus (we didn't get to post a notice until earlier this month; the hiatus started at the end of January), Game Maker Gazette's status has changed from "idle" to "active". Game Maker Gazette will be hiring more staff members, so if you are interested in working for the Gazette, please comment below and/or send an email to bretboy1@gmail.com.

Hiatus

2011-03-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — I regret to inform you that Game Maker Gazette will be on hiatus. I haven't had internet since January 25th (yes, I'm counting). We're low on staff members, and they haven't done much lately, so we will be on hiatus. When we come back, however, we will make sure that the site is the most up to date Game Maker news site there is, that way you don't have to visit numerous sites in order to find news - you only have to come here.

We are deeply sorry for this inconvinence, I thought the staff was keeping it up while I didn't have internet, but they weren't.

I love you,
bretboy129 ~ Bret Hudson

Wait.... that's not right. s:

GreenTechPLUS+ out on PSP

2011-01-26T10:40:00.000-08:00

Image from YoYo Games

YoYo Games — The YoYo Games Competition 04 winner has finally got his game out on the PSP. A outstanding landmark for YoYo Games as a company! Last year YoYo Games were discussing and developing a runner for the PSP, but mysteriously stopped talking about it and got into developing for the iOS and Android. Many rumors spread about that they gave up because it was "too hard" and that they couldn't do it. Obviously this was not true!
GreenTechPlus+ can be bought from the the YoYo Games Store for $2.99. This is about a dollar less than buying the game for PC, which you can find on the VERTIGO Games Store for $3.95. The PSP game contains 6 tiers of difficulty to challenge your reflexes. 30 different levels so that you will be playing for hours, and 40 NEW screens!

So get it!
Join and try to SAVE THE PLANET!
There is no real evidence to support the fact that the planet is dying

Thanks,
Nikc-Nack

Simply Solitaire on Android

2011-01-20T12:15:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES — Just a few hours ago YoYo Games released their first android app! Simply Solitaire is now available on the android market for download. It is free, just like the version for the iOS.
I am very happy to see that YoYo Games is now developing runners for items that aren't overpriced. My excitement comes from the fact that my dad owns an android phone and I intend to download it tonight. Whenever I have a good change to play it I will write a good review and post it up here on the Gazette.

The game appears to be the exact same as the iOS version. Which was released back in December. I am anxious to see what other devices they will get the game ported on. This definitely looks like the highest quality solitaire I've seen in the android marketplace!

Keep Reading,
Nikc-Nack

Two Game Maker Games Released for Mac

2011-01-20T10:20:00.000-08:00

VENBRUX | BLOG — Jesse Venbrux announced here on January 8th that he's released two of his previous games on the Mac platform. These appear to be the very first two Game Maker games to be released to Mac!

Along with Uriel Griffin (Vetra Games), Jesse Venbrux/2Dcube has released:

Frozzd
$0.99
Category: Games
Updated: Jan 14, 2011
Current Version: 1.1
Size: 10.7 MB
Language: English
Seller: Uriel Griffin
© 2011, Jesse Venbrux and Vetra Games
Rated 4+
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later

You Probably Won’t Make It
$0.99
Category: Games
Released: Jan 05, 2011
Version: 1.0.0
Size: 8.4 MB
Language: English
Seller: Uriel Griffin
© 2011, Jesse Venbrux and Vetra Games
Rated 12+ for the following:
Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
Frequent/Intense Horror/Fear Themes
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later

GameJolt Invention Contest - Hosted By NAL

2011-01-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

GAMEJOLT — GameJolt's newest contest started a little while ago, and is running until Valentine's Day, 2011. That would be Feb. 14th, for those of you who don't know. The contest's theme is "Invention", and is being hosted by the famous NAL. The original topic can be found here.

KniteBlargh

You can interpret "invention" in any way you want (i.e. not everything has to be about inventing the light bulb), so be creative with your usage of this theme!

Prizes:
The prizes for this game are rather creative (compared to most money based competitions). They are games (NAL's favorites), and each place gets to choose from a list of games.

1st place: VVVVVV + Psychonauts or Bully: Scholarship Edition or Super Meat Boy or Minecraft Alpha Code or £8 of games of their choice on Steam or £5 PayPal

2nd and 3rd Place:
VVVVVV or Psychonauts

The Rules:

KniteBlargh

- Your entry must be an original game created just for this contest.
- Your entry must relate to the chosen theme.
- Your entry must be playable on Windows.
- Collaborations are fine. Go for it with someone else! We like team work!
- Only one game submission per person/team.
- There are no restrictions on creation tools, libraries, file sizes or anything like that. We like diversity. Make it in Flash, make it in Construct, code it up from scratch yourself, we don't care.
- Pre-existing code bits are acceptable, but for this contest, we'd prefer you not to use premade game engines. Code bits must have been made by you originally.
- No mandatory fullscreen or resolution changing. Can include a fullscreen/window switching option in-game.
- You're encouraged to place the contest poster in your game, although it's definitely not a requirement.

Make sure you do not user pre-made game engines! That includes 2Dcube's fancy 360 degree gravity platform engine! Do not use them!

How in the world do I enter?
Upload your game to GameJolt and put a link to your game in the contest topic, which can be found here

KniteBlargh

Disclaimer:
This contest is not endorsed by, or affiliated with, YoYo Games Ltd in any way.

Have a fun time programming and may the best indie game developer win!

Game Maker + Apple Mac Store

2011-01-13T17:24:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Game Maker for Mac/GM4Mac has been accepted by Apple and has been uploaded to the Mac App Store! The uploaded version is 7.5.77, and can be found here.

YoYo Games Glog:

We will continue support for the current version (bought from our store) in the normal manner, currently there is no upgrade path from our store to the Mac App Store but we will support everyone through our current upgrade mechanism.

Death of the GMCG and GMCG 2.0

2011-01-12T15:09:00.001-08:00

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — The Game Maker Community Game, aka GMCG, has been having a long period of inactivity due to the creators of the project being too ambitious. The project was quite a bit for the GMC to do, considering they were making a massive action RPG that depended on the players actions in order to create the story. Even for some big video game companies, that's quite a bit to do. For a community of game makers new and old, experts and beginners, it is a very unlikely task, unless the team is super dedicated. The team was dedicated for a while, but soon lost interested in the project and no work was getting done.

Now, the GMCG "1.0" has been sent to the grave. They are starting up a new project called the GMCG 2.0, which will be a completely new game. More information can be found both in the quote below and in the article, which is located here.

Meta Black Yoshi says

Recently, the GMCG team has started a new project, GMCG 2.0.
This is a simple amusement-park themed mini-game collection type game in which the player controls a character through a theme park that is split up into a number of different themed areas...This is an invite to all GMC members to come join GMCG 2.0. We are looking for more members who are interested in helping with mini-games, mini-game ideas, art and other things. If you are interested in helping out with the project and want more information, or if you have any questions, just visit The GMCG FAQ and Introduction topic, or post a reply to this topic.

GMCG 1.0 or EVE, was set to be a story based, player choice driven, action rpg that took place between two massive parallel worlds, and that in the end turned out to be too ambitious of a project. Over ambition I think was the main issue with GMCG 1.0 though I personally think there were also a few other problems with the way things were being run.

So after a period of no progress and some discussion, we decided to drop that project and make plans for something more manageable. I figure that there should be some way to distinguish the two projects, not only to let people know that the GMCG had moved on from Eve, but also to try and disassociate the new project from any negative views members might have had formed from the first project. Plus, because of the game type we're going with, it really is a different type of project from what the Eve project was. Hence, GMCG 2.0.

Grimmjow and Opacas left the team some time ago before 2.0 had gotten started, leaving Dannyboy and myself to run things.
Everything from the first project still currently exists and is being stored in a hidden forum. At some point in the future, I plan to go through and gather together all the resources to have them stored on an external site. (audio resources have already been gathered together) This is basically what has become of the first project.

More information can be read in the original post.

GMVision and Game Polisher

2011-01-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

GMVISION AND GAME POLISHER — Earlier today, I attended a meeting between the popular GMVision team and the dead Game Polisher team. Caniac, aka Joshua, and hd4life represented GMVision and Game Polisher respectively. They have decided to revive both their teams from the dead space of the internet.

GMVision has agreed to give rights of the Gazette to Game Polisher. This blog is now owned by both teams, and I, Bret Hudson ~ Bretboy129, have joined the Game Polisher team. Game Polisher wanted to come back after disappearing from the world, and this time the team has chosen to not go alone. Game Polisher offered help to GMVision in their attempt to come back as well, so, both teams will be supportive of each other and will continue to grow until they reach their previous status, and possibly an even greater one.

Game Polisher has also decided to continue the legacy left behind by GMIndie. GMIndie had many, MANY projects going on, and when GMIndie shut down, these projects were halted and ultimately forgotten. Game Polisher wants to cast revive on these projects, and get them on the road again.

Game Polisher CEO hd4life said

"After all this rambling, what I'm trying to say is Game Polisher is going to follow in GMIndie's footsteps ... We're pretty much gonna put on the GMIndie shoes, grab the glasses, and get rolling."

GMVision CEO Caniac said

"I just want to make videos at the end of the day, and about games is a perfectly fine topic .. And now that I have the equipment and software to do it there is nothing stopping me so I should get started"

Is this just a small piece of news? Or a start to a new beginning for the GMIndie projects, GMVision, Game Polisher, and possibly something bigger? We'll just have to wait and see. For now, GMVision.tv is still offline, but Game Polisher has moved to a new host and their new (temporary) url is GamePolisher.x10.mx.

2010: 100 GM Games in 10 Minutes

2011-01-06T21:30:00.000-08:00

GAME MAKER BLOG — In order to celebrate the New Year, Game Maker Blog has created a video on the top 100 Game Maker games of 2010. The video can be seen by clicking here, or right below this text.

YoYo Games Warning! Decompiler Ended?

2011-01-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Thee hath been warned! YoYo Games is taking a stand now against the people who create the "decompliers" for Game Maker. They send a soft warning to the creators of this to stop developing the decompilers. Perhaps it was cute the first time, but seriously, they have gone far enough. This is specifically pointed towards the iOS decompiler. As this seems to be the most important project of YoYo Games right now.
    Hypothetically speaking, if I were to create a decompiler then I would not have been so open about who I was. Instead the creators seemed almost happy that they had created this. Of course they must be very intelligent to have created this, but perhaps, not very wise.
    YoYo Games unprofessional? I have heard some talk from people saying that it was unproffessional for YoYo Games to leave a blog post reguarding the matter. While this may seem unproffessional, I believe this was a smart thing for them to do. They don't brutally threaten the creators, but they do send a strong warning to them, in a professional way. And along with "hopefully" stopping their problem, they will stop future problems like this, from other users who may create things like decompilers. The creators were also banned from the Game Maker Community, which is completely fair punishment.
    Did they really stop? I suppose there is no real way to know for sure. I would assume (not that I have anything against the creators) that they have kept the project for themselves, and may or may not use it. But, according to the E-mails sent to YoYo Games, they have stopped. Another thing that makes me suspicious is the comment that Brad posted on the Glog post, which was not apologetic, at all!

Brad Says:
January 5th, 2011 at 9:51 pm

Hello YYG!
Me and Zach have done nothing illegal.
Should you end up hiring a real lawyer and sending a valid, formal cease and desist, you will eventually lose in court.
We have not distributed any of your property. Please provide some proof of an instance where we have distributed your property.
So until a formal cease and desist is written to me personally via email or mail, the SOURCE to the decompiler/compiler will be released.

Thanks and have a good day.

In my interpretation(hopefully in everyone), that last sentence appears to say that they may still release the project. Very stupid of them indeed.

Is it Wrong? OF COURSE! This is completely wrong, plus illegal. And "EVEN IF" the project isn't technically illegal, what the program will be used for will be illegal. So take my advise, don't create something that is intended to steal someone else work. It's also illegal because it's a game that most likely created profit. The only ones entitled to distribute the game are YoYo Games, Apple, and the creator(s) of the game. It wrong, logically, legally, and morally! So don't!

The Game Maker Gazette and authors are strongly against ALL decompilers created for Game Maker and do not intend to support the further creation of these

Fix, fix, fix...

2010-12-31T16:15:00.000-08:00

by BRIAN

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — So I noticed the website hasn't had much in the way of "fixing". When I left a while back, Bret said he would try to fix it. Well, it's been like what, a year? I'll fix it. Might even modify some other things here and there.

Hmmm ... Starting with this weird featured article glitch ....

Sorry from the GMGazette

2010-12-31T15:41:00.000-08:00

by BRET HUDSON

GAME MAKER GAZETTE — Sorry for all the readers for our inactivity lately. With my birthday, Christmas, and Driver's Ed I haven't had much time for the blog. On top of that, I have had limited computer access. Nikc-Nack thought I was going to be posting over Christmas break and I assumed he would be, so no work was getting done. We are incredibly sorry for the delay of news, but we are now back on track. I'd glad to say we will be 100% back on track next year. Don't worry, next year is tomorrow. So no, it won't be long!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE GAME MAKER GAZETTE!!

Mike Dailly on 2010 and 2011

2010-12-31T15:37:00.000-08:00

THE LIFE OF A GAMES PROGRAMMER- BLOG BY MIKE DAILLY — Mike Dailly talks of his experience in 2010 with joining YoYo Games, working on Game Maker, and making some good friends at his job at YYG. He talks about his experience with YoYo Games over the last year, struggles with Game Maker and the ports, working with Jesse and Andrew, and other things here and there, but in this post, we will be focusing on what we've been waiting for: Game Maker 8.1 news updates!

First thing right off the bat is the fact he's working on the much asked for Zoom Feature in the room editor! He agrees with us the room editor needs this feature. He says he plans on "improving Mark's already damn fine program". He also mentions hows it's great that it's finally getting added in.

Now this had made the room editor need a speed boost. He's going to be modifying the drawing code for the editor. It's not currently hardware accelerated, so he says it's doing good for that fact! He's going to change it so it is, but for now, he's going to finish other things and get GM 8.1 out. After that, he's going to fix it all up!

Mike will also be working on a ton of bug fixes. He'll make sure most of the small ones are fixed and some bigger ones will be corrected. He's excited to expand and improve Game Maker!

Mike says:

So finally... looking forward to 2011. What does it hold for us? Onwards and upwards I hope!!! We're building some real momentum here, and it's looking better and better for all things Game Maker and YoYo! We have big plans for both community games, and Game Maker itself, and I am literary tingling with anticipation! I'm a games coder at heart, and the thought of helping you make more great games is a real buzz.

So lets all hope for a good 2011, and we'll see you all on the flip side!!

Mark Overmars Recognized by Game Developer Mag.

2010-12-31T15:17:00.000-08:00

GAMASUTRA —

[Gamasutra here reprints the latest installment of Game Developer magazine's Game Developer 50, which attempts to put faces and names to some of the most significant contributions to the game industry over the last year. This article first appeared in the November 2010 issue of Game Developer, for which physical and digital subscriptions are now available.]

People are what power our industry. Development teams pull together to create awe-inspiring pieces of interactive technology, and rarely outside of the indie world is any one piece of a game a single-person effort. But at times it's nice to single out those who have made great strides for our industry, on an individual level, even as a team leader.

And so, we present here our second-annual editor-chosen list of 50 important accomplishments of the last year-or-so, in the fields of art, programming, design, business, and evangelism, attempting to focus on the specific achievements of specific persons.

...

Mark Overmars
YoYo Games

Mark Overmars' Game Maker engine is a key learning tool for budding gave developers. By abstracting game creation with simple drag-and-drop functionality, Game Maker allows beginning users to easily build working games without programming. Those wanting to go deeper can utilize the Game Maker Language to script complex game logic, as well.

This, combined with the tool's nominal cost, has lowered the barrier to game development to almost nil. But don't assume that amateur hour is the rule of the day. Standout indie titles like Spelunky and Seiklus are creative examples of what is possible with the tool.

Congrats Prof. Overmars from the Game Maker Gazette!

YYG 2010 Review, 2011's Plans

2010-12-31T14:33:00.001-08:00

YoYo Games Glog — Well, 2010 has been a big year for YoYo Games. They made a "glog" post about what they've done this past year, achievements, and their goals for 2011. LOTS has happened, and here's a summary of it all:

YoYo Games has started working with the iOS platform. Simply put, iOS is the operating system (in smaller words, the programming inside the device) that both the iPod Touch and iPad use to run their apps. So, if you put all this together, it means YYG has started porting some of the Game Maker games to the iPod/iTouch/iPad devices.

YoYo Games had competitions 5 and 6, which both focused on a "PSP theme", due to them working on the PSP runner for Game Maker. So that's two new platforms they've been trying to get working this year. So far, only the iOS games have been released, no GM-PSP games are out yet. Not much has been heard about it yet, but in a comment on the glog there's a little info about it.

sandy Says (comment on the glog post):

@Mister L … and others

It will take a long time to rewrite the “Maker” part of Game Maker as we will not be doing this in Delphi. We will most likely use the C++ runner at that stage, possibly before then, but we haven’t decided yet. We will NOT be using the C++ runner in GM 8.1....

...Re PSP we’ll publish our first tow PSP games after Xmas. We definitely refocused our efforts last September on IOS, so PSP got left behind a bit. The Runner wasn’t the issue, it was finished in September, Sony make the process of getting a game published difficult compared with Apple.

@SunnyKatt We’ll start using the C++ runner in games we put up for sale at some point. At the moment it doesn’t have all of the GM8 functionality built in since we’ve spent all of our time porting it to other platforms rather than adding full GM8 feature support. One of the things we’ll do with GM8.1 is try to make sure that “joining” the C++ runner to your game is at least easy for us to do manually. You will most likely see the C++ runner as part of GM8 sometime next year, but probably not in time for 8.1.

At the end of the comment, Sandy mentions Game Maker 8.1. 8.1? We'll have to wait until we get to that part of the story, we're still in 2010. Just hang in for a little bit, it's in a few paragraphs.

Game Maker (the program itself) was ported to Mac this year. The version ported is 7.0, so some features in the PC version have not yet been added to Mac. Originally, the Mac port was a 10 hour demo of GM 7.0 Pro. The 10 hour demo wasn't 10 hours after installing, it was 10 hours of use. So, it only counted down while you had it open. Just recently, they released GM4Mac Lite, which is the standard version of GM 7.0. Hopefully they'll put the demo of Pro for PC users soon!

iOS games have been being sold on the iTunes market, and YYG has a special way of making money for you. Every games submitted gets a certain percentage of the revenue, so you can make money by submitting your games. There is a HUGE collection of rules and guidelines to uploading, getting your game submitted, and making money on the GM Wiki. Go there if your interested. These rules don't just apply for iOS, but to PSP and any other mobile platforms they will be releasing in the future.

That leads us to another big point in 2010, the GM Android Runner that was released days before the glog post. Game Maker [games] are now running on Android. You cannot make them run yourself, YYG has not yet made it public, just like the iOS and PSP runners. Something to look forward to in 2011, I guess.

We're almost to the 2011 section, but one last thing that will tie in with it. GMIndie (now dead) and GMVision produced a special GM Survey 2010 about Game Maker user's thought, opinions, complaints, and complements about GM. Some sections told you to rate certain features, some sections asked you what you would like to see in future versions. YoYo Games has been given the results and they have actually planned to use some of the ideas. Wait, did I just say plan? Well, get ready for more plans, as we're now entering the 2011 section!

WHOO HOO! Future plans! Gossip! Things to be looking forward to (and possibly be disappointed when they don't come true)! PSP games are planned to be released next year (possibly this year, as they talk about how it's going to be after Christmas). This is exciting! It will help YoYo Games get even more publicity. The iOS games have already boost popularity of Game Maker and YoYo Games, and I'm sure the PSP runner will enhance these statistics even more!

The Mac App Store will be open January 6th. This store is for Mac apps, much like iPod/iPad apps. They will run on the Mac computers, and YoYo Games plans on making it another platform for the Game Maker games to run on. YoYo Games also hopes GM4Mac is released on there the day it launches, so cross your fingers! Actually, don't, I've heard it's bad luck!

Some of the current iOS games will be released on the Mac App Store when it launches, so for you Mac users, look out for some fun games such as They Need To Be Fed and SkyDiver on the Mac!

YoYo Games will also be adding a section for PC games. Now, they already do PC games, right? Well, this section will be a special section for those superb GM games. What makes this section so important? It will be another store, where you can upload your GM games and have them sold by YoYo Games! Now if you want to sell GM games you don't have to make it for a PSP, iPod/iPad, the Mac, or Android. You can sell it on PC as well! How exciting!

YoYo Games mentions a new major version of Game Maker (that would be GM9, just in case you weren't sure) being STARTED next year. That means they will start developing it next year. They also told about how it most likely will not be released by the end of 2011, so it's something to look forward to in 2012. But...

Game Maker 8.1 will be released in January 2011. WHOO HOO! Not only that, YoYo Games wants to have more "regular updates" released, so once a month or more there will be a new minor version of Game Maker released! Now, don't be thinking "it's never gonna happen", because they've already started working on it.

Finally, we want to do a much better job of updating Game Maker and distributing regular updates to you in 2011. We discovered how to do this effectively with GM4Mac earlier this year and in the early part of 2011 we want to get this built into Game Maker 8. We also want to fix many of the bugs and possibly add some new features. We’ve also identified a few changes we’d like to make to Game Maker that will make it easier for you to submit games to the YoYo Games Store. We have already started work on Game Maker 8.1 and hope to get it out as a Beta in the first few weeks of 2011. This will be a free upgrade for anyone who has a legitimate license for Game Maker 8.

That is most of what is going on, you can read more at the YoYo Games Glog. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from both YoYo Games and the Game Maker Gazette!

Game Maker Android Runner Video

2010-12-31T14:29:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Out of the blue, on December 17th, YoYo Games submitted a blog post on the YYG Glog about the Game Maker Android runner! So far, they have GM Solitaire and Teka Teki. What an exciting surprise right before Christmas! Now, to show us they're not all talk, they included a video to the post. The video can be seen below (in case your blind).

Mike Dailly -

Speaking of getting games… we have now started to contact a (very) few authors to try and get our publishing pipeline working smoothly, so if you’re lucky enough to be contacted by our shiny new Executive Producer Stuart, don’t worry! It’s not a scam! ... There were also several questions about runner performance and what we’re planning on doing about it, you can read a somewhat extended post on my blog site ... I will be doing another one about the current state of the runner and what the move from Delphi gives us in the near future.

Teka Teki - iPhone & iPad

2010-12-31T14:15:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES STORE — December 15 marked Teka Teki by the famous (in GM world) Rhys Andrews being released to the iOS platform.

Teka Teki is a fun, tetris like game that involves many new, creative elements. You have to match food tiles and animal tiles, and there's a lot going on in the game. This game was a runner-up in the YYG Competition 4, and has had a few modifications for the new iOS version. Also, it has a lite version!

YoYo Games Glog:

YoYo Game Store have made a Lite version for all to enjoy, yep, that means absolutely FREE!!!

* Play the first 3 levels of this incredibly addictive game
* Beware of “special tiles” that are unlocked as you play. Some help you. Others won’t.
* Integration with the game center: global highscores. Compete with your friends! The full version has over 15 levels of increasingly difficult and freaking addictive gameplay!

Enjoy another iOS game created with Game Maker!

39dll for Mac: 39dylib

2010-12-13T21:06:00.000-08:00

GAME MAKER COMMUNITY — 39dll, a dll for Game Maker (Windows) has been ported to the Mac platform of Game Maker. Now, Mac users has access to many online functions in their games. The port has been named 39dylib, and was ported by ugriffin.

ugriffin says:

39dylib is a port of 39dll to UNIX platforms. 39dylib breaks many of Game Maker for Mac's barriers, giving you access to the internet. 39dylib can be used for virtually anything that uses the Internet, but here's a few examples:

Online Games
Interacting with PHP servers and anything that had to do with the web
Online HighScore Systems
Some achievement API’s (for example, Game Jolt’s)
Most (if not all) of Game Maker’s MMO games use 39dll.

Features:
TCP networking
UDP networking
Full access to OS X's BSD Sockets system
Fast and powerful networking
Being a port of 39dll, it is fully compatible with 39dll (both networking and code)

As of December 11th 2010, 39dylib is a Beta application. Since this is a port from a Windows .dll, some functions such as File I/O may not work, or like dygetmacaddress(). This list is not properly documented. It is highly recommended that you test your game thoroughly before releasing anything with 39dylib Beta, since unexpected behavior may pop up here and there!

Well, there you have it! Have fun with the new beta of 39dylib and make sure to report any bugs or comments here!

Lite Version of GM4Mac Released

2010-12-08T14:14:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Sorry this article is so short, but there's not really much to say here. Game Maker 7 for Mac now has a "Lite" version*. Originally, you could download a trial, but after 10 hours, you were required to upgrade.

If you would like to download the new "Lite" version of Game Maker 7 for Mac, or would like to try it out, please follow this link: YoYo Games Store.

*Minimum Spec:
Intel Mac, running Mac OS Leopard v10.5 or Snow Leopard v10.6.

Solitaire - Free for iPhone & iPad!

2010-12-08T08:50:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Are you ready for a free game? Yes it's true, YoYo Games released a totally free game for iOS devices. It is solitaire, but done in game maker! It has lots of other features in it that most other solitaire apps do not include.

    The game has really nice graphics, and of course a huge YoYo Games watermark on the back of the card mat, just to make sure it's visible at ALL times of play. The graphics go fairly realistic and they look really sweet. YoYo Games made it where the cards do not align straight, they get a bit con-jumbled as you play the cards, but this isn't very extreme, the cards are still perfectly readable. It also has several different backgrounds, I'm not sure if all of them have the YoYo Games logo on them, but I assume that they do. They also say the game has special effects, but they don't state what these "special effects" are, I'm assuming just cool graphical stuff.
    They game features different things, such as: Klondike, 1 card draw, and 3 card draw, as well some different game modes. The cards move simply by drag and drop, and it also includes double card tap. The game has a high scores table, but they don't say if it is online or not, since it allows you to compare scores against friends I assume it has a online high scores table.
     Also, one thing that may excite everyone, NO ADVERTISEMENTS!!! Yes, it's true, even on a free program YoYo Games chose not to place advertisements, even though they won't be earning money off of the app, I believe this is a very smart move for YoYo Games.
    So if you own a iOS device go download this app and give er' a try! You won't lose anything if you don't like it.
    You can download it for iPad here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/simply-solitaire-HD/id404016931
    Or for iPhone or iPod users here: http://itunes.apple.com/app/free-solitaire/id406477514

Thank you,
        Nikc-Nack

Jesse Venbrux iOS Help

2010-12-03T15:19:00.000-08:00

Jesse Venbrux Blog — Our friend Jesse Venbrux, developer of popular titles such as They Need to be Fed, had left a blog post giving everyone a nice set of tips for when they are developing their games that they hope to be apps. This nice post gives you information about what you can do to prevent your game from being rejected. In short, these are some of the things you have to do, and the things that you SHOULD do.

Let me go through and analyze his post:

All these different devices have different resolutions. iPhone (retina and the “old” 480×320), the iPad, as well as later possibly PSP, Android etc. Unfortunately at the moment it’s not easy changing your game from one res to the other. I had to change the room sizes of a bunch of levels manually which is annoying with a lot of levels. I don’t know whether YoYo Games has a solution for this yet (or whether I missed one) but simply changing view sizes through code doesn’t work; the iOS version takes the actual sizes in the room editor.
For this and other reasons you should be sure to be 100% done before you do other versions. I can tell you it’s a pain changing small details over and over in different versions. Unfortunately this will happen inevitably because you’re never 100% done. : )
Also to keep in mind is that not all devices have the same screen ratio. For example iPad’s 1024×768 is 4:3 and iPhone’s 480×320 is 16:9 (if I’m correct).

    As he said in this section you need to be sure that all your rooms are set perfectly with the resolution of the device that the executable is going to be used for. It think it may be best if you duplicate every room during your development process, that way you can save time later on while you are trying to get your game submitted, you will also save YoYo Games a lot of time since they won't have to go over your game twice!

    He wrote a paragraph on how small rooms can lead to your game feeling claustrophobic. In rooms that you stay in the same room for a long time it is very important to make it feel very free and open. He said that is can be really annoying to feel claustrophobic on a small screen like on an iPhone. So be very careful when doing your rooms.
    He notes that when you are doing your graphics that using vectors are best, as they can maintain good quality while scaling. He explained how the iPhone using the same graphics as the iPad except they are scaled down 1.5 times. He said they were able to use view_scale.

Touch controls
Games actually designed for the touch screen work best on the device. Clicking on stuff, dragging stuff, drawing lines. However when you make such a game keep one thing in mind: Your finger will be in the way! This might not be obvious when using the mouse on your pc. Many iOS games solved this problem by having you interact with the game and then “sit back”, such as in Angry Birds, where you shoot the bird away and then watch, and Cut The Rope where you only need your finger for quick slices cutting the ropes.

This is a very important thing that I never even thought of while I was working on iOS games. It seems obvious that your hand is going to be in the way of the screen but never came into my mind while developing. Glad that he mentioned it here! Everyone should definitely watch out for this while you are developing your games!

Virtual keys
On iPhone I prefer games that are designed specifically for touch, but of course when you have some PC game concept it’s easy to just port it and use virtual buttons on screen. I’m guilty of this myself! When you do use virtual keys, make sure they are big enough and in comfortable positions. Try holding your hands in the positions on your own device (or any object that comes close enough if you don’t have one) to see how it feels. Especially on iPad I noticed you need to be careful. My hands aren’t small so I had no problems with my initial button positions…. until someone with smaller hands played it. If you don’t have an iPad (like me, I could only test when I was at YoYo) make a paper one!
I recommend making the actual touchable areas much bigger than the button’s graphics. It should be easy to play the game in different situations (portable device after all) and for people with different hands.

Another very nice thing to talk about! If you didn't know virtual keys would be the ones that you want in the game that replace keys on the keyboard (up, down, a, ect.). These are very important to place in a comfortably position and make them a reasonable size so that people can use them easily. For the iPhone 100x100 would probably be a good size, 80x80 may work as well (if you prefer binary), I'm not exactly sure since I don't own one myself. As for iPad, I would suggest going larger, but not too large. maybe 150x150 graphics would work well depending on the game, in some games you may want to be very large, like 128x128. It really depends on the device and the game.

App Icon
Design a good app icon that clearly shows what the game is about. Don’t just put in the name of your game. The best example of this I can think of is Cut The Rope, where the icon essentially shows you the entire concept in a simple picture:

(You cut the rope to get the candy into the creatures mouth).

     As you read it is very important to make a descriptive icon. It doesn't matter if you are no good at graphics, go to the Game Maker Community and under the graphics category show everyone your game and ask for an icon. Icons are simple and small so people should get it done really fast! I think that app icons are 57x57 pixel graphics, so make sure you tell everyone the size and be specific! YoYo Games requires a 57x57, 72x72, 114x114 and 512x512 size, make sure that you use .png format.

Jesse also provided everyone with some pictures of him doing hard work at YoYo Games:

    If you have any further questions feel feel to ask me at nikcnackgames@yahoo.com


Hope this helped,
                Nikc-Nack

This Is Indie Issue 4

2010-11-24T23:07:00.000-08:00

THIS IS INDIE Issue 4 was released November 24th, 2010. Right before turkey day in the US! Even though some of the information is outdated (they are just now commenting on KC LC leaving the GMC), it still has some good articles.

THIS IS INDIE ISSUE 4

YoYo Games and GameSpark

2010-11-23T15:17:00.000-08:00

YoYo Games Glog — Recently, the website GameSpark has been gaining popularity with the Game Maker community. In case you don't know, GameSpark is an online video tutorial website specifically designed for Game Maker! They have six courses, two of which are tutorials on 2D games, and four are for 3D games. Each course is set up as follows:

3D Racing Course
Lessons: 15 - Total time: 1 hrs. 36 mins. - Includes desert racing resources pack
Create head-to-head racing action, inspired by games such as Mario Kart! Race off-road over several laps, competing against another player, as well as computer-controlled racers.

Courses include 2D Maze Course, 2D Platform Course, 3D Maze Course, 3D Racing Course, 3D Arena Course, and 3D Scrolling Course. Now, there is also a price factor involved in this. Each 2D course costs $19.95 and each 3D course costs $29.95. To check out the courses in more detail, click here.

They also have resources available on the website to buy. You can either browse the resources by type or theme. Types of resources include: Theme Packs, Sprites (2D Games), Sprites (3D Games), Sprites (3D Racing Vehicles) Backgrounds & Textures, Skyboxes, Sounds (Music & SFX), and 3D Models. Themes include: Underwater, Everyday, Super Hero, Space, Fantasy, Egyptian, and Desert.

The courses and overall site have been positively received by YoYo Games, and they have actually began to endorse GameSpark. So, don't be surprised if you see advertisements for GameSpark around the site! Also, as an added bonus, "exclusively for YoYo Games visitors", type "YOYO" as the discount code while in the check out and you will receive a 20% discount on all purchases.

Hope to find some good games made with the knowledge that is learned from GameSpark!

Many games, NOT iPhone material

2010-11-18T23:19:00.000-08:00

by BRIAN FETCHER

GMVISION — Tommy Refenes talks about the IPhone app store and how it is "garbage".

(read past the quote for the rest of the article)

Click here to watch the video, or just read the quote below for everything that was said in the video.

I was going to do a talk about how you're an independent developer, and you're basically allowed to do whatever you want to do, and I was going to relate that to how we do press for Super Meat Boy and everything, but I decided to take that idea and do something totally different (because I can).

What I want to talk about is the IPhone app store. If any of you know me (some of you do), you know I absolutely f------ hate the IPhone app store. I think it's awful. I think it's horrible!

About five months ago I started an experiment (and this experiment was to basically prove that the app store is kind of s--- for most things). There's people like Adam that have Steve Jobs come over every week and drop like a truck load of money in his yard. It's a giant novelty check, and Steve Jobs comes over. It's a big to do. Adam is one of the lucky ones. It's one of those things where the majority of people that do anything for the app store: they work on it, and they get screwed over.

My theory about the app store is basically that it is the Tiger hand held game (of this generation). The reason I say this: Back when I was small, I had Mega Man 2, I had Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I had mortal combat, and I had this little bar code thing where you could do like different moves by swapping the bard codes. I had all of these, and I was a fan of every one of these games. But they were horrible! They were bad. They didn't control well, they didn't look good. They were LED crap. I kind of compared the app store because honestly, who had beaten Mega Man 2 on the IPhone? Anybody? No? Anybody beaten Sonic? Anyone played all the way through Sonic on the IPhone? No. See? Yesterday, what came out, Street Fighter 4? And I know Greg was saying it's really good or whatever. He was, he was out there like "Oh this is really good. You're going to love it". I was like, "No I'm not!". It's a fucking touch screen. You can't play Street Fighter 4 on a touch screen. Just like the Tiger hand held. You cannot experience Street Fighter on a Tiger hand held. You can't experience any of these games.

What I did, about 5 months ago, my app store subscription basically ran out. And it ran out a long time ago, and somebody contacted me about a game called Free Money that Kyle and I made as a joke. They wanted to buy it so they could do lottery tickets for various state lotteries. And they wanted to buy my scratch technology. I led them on for a little bit, and they wanted to give me like 5 thousand or something for it, and then they just kind of disappeared. I didn't care because I didn't take them seriously in the first place.

I renewed my app store subscription so I could show them the game, and at that point I had a game that I did with Adam called Zits and Giggles (which was also another joke game). It's a wonderful wonderful game. I put it up there and it wouldn't sell, and so I decided, well fuck it, I'll put it up to fifteen dollars. The day I put it up to fifteen dollars, three people bought it. So I was like "Okay, I'm going to put it up to fifty dollars". 4 people bought it. Then I go, "okay. I'm going to 150 dollars, and every time someone buys it, I'm going to raise the price here". It is at 350 dollars now. But that's not the best part! I stopped paying attention to it after a while, and checked it on Valentines day. 14 people bought it at $299.

So my conclusion to all of this: The people that you're selling games to on the app store... They're not necessarily gamers. There are some games that work very very well on the app store. But I think for the most part, when you have stuff like Street Fighter and Assassins Creed, they are a way to sell a brand (just like the Tiger hand held). And that's what I think of the app store.

-Tommy

Developers should seriously think about what games they publish. Sure, it's really great to have games created by the people that use Game Maker published on a commercial hand held devices, but some of the games these developers may create might not be a good experience on the IPhone, or even the PSP for that matter.

I think that when you create a Game Maker game, and want to move on to a wider variety of devices so that you're not restricted to the PC, you have to think ahead and choose the right devices so that your game is played at maximum experience. You want people to enjoy your game, not play it and say "This game was not meant for this device"

Have fun at the YoYo Games Store!

P.S. Haha, Don't you dare try and raise the price to $300.

http://store.yoyogames.com/

COMING SOON!

They Need To Be Fed - iPhone & iPad

2010-11-18T06:16:00.000-08:00

Image from YoYoGames

YoYo Games Glog — Recently the YoYo Games Glog announced the release of They Need To Be Fed(by Jesse Venbrux or better know as 2DCube). It appears from what they say that the full PC game is on the iOS. They don't say that they've cut out anything on the blog article, but I shall have to wait until I find someone who ones one.
For those of you who don't know, They Need To Be Fed(TNTBF) is the winner for the YoYo Games Competition 05. The goal of the game is like any other platformer, get to the end ALIVE. One thing that makes this so different is that you won't have to worry about falling, OH NO! This game has taken platform gravity to the extreme! The game uses 360° gravity, enabling you to jump off the side of one platform and land on the side of the other.

Each world has 7 exciting levels and a special “x” one to unlock.
Do you have what it takes to perfect every level?
Features:
* 7 worlds to complete
* 360°gravity gameplay
* Over 50 levels to play
* Physics-based platforming
* 25 challenging achievements
* Slick visuals
* Fantastic soundtrack by Jake Almond

From the YoYo Games Glog

    I know for certain that there have been a FEW graphics changes just by looking at the iOS version. Also it sounds like from reading the Glog article that the sound was changed, I don't know if that was the original artist or not.

    Anyone who has an iOS device should download this game now so that you can play a great Indie Game anytime and show off to your friends!
    For anyone who does not own a iOS device you can still play the original game at the following links:
Download from Jesse's Website: http://venbrux.com/games/TNTBF.zip
Download from YoYo Games: YoYoGames(I shortened this down because of the HUGE url)

Thank you,
        Nikc-Nack

New YoYo Games Team Members

2010-11-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — YoYo Games gave us a little update today with new members to the YoYo Games team! Also, Jesse Venbrux has left the team after working with them for a month due to a game development job in Kyoto, Japan! Congratulations Jesse! YoYo Games said Jesse made some games while working with YoYo Games that may soon be released for the iOS systems, so look out for some good 2DCube games!

But back on topic, please welcome:

Geoff Gunning – Art | Lee Turner – Web | Stuart Poole – Production | Malcolm Collins – QA

CLICK HERE TO ENLARGE

From left to right: Geoff, Lee, Stuart, Sandy, Malcolm, Jesse, Andrew, Kirsty, Russell, Mike

Publishing with YoYo Games 3

2010-11-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — As YoYo Games promised, they are keeping us up to date with new glog posts about publishing with YoYo Games, and today's topic (well, actually yesterday's) is the new Base Line Spec. The full article can be found in this wiki article.

Before reading either the wiki article or the rest of this post, please consider the following:

YoYo Games Glog:

So for those who are interested in submitting games through YoYo Game Store, these are the requirements we require for you to adhere to. So to save everyone time and heartache please carefully observe these specifications otherwise it is guaranteed your submitted game will not be accepted! The Game Store http://store.yoyogames.com/ will be ready for submissions VERY, VERY SOON..!

For those of you who are reading this, the Base Line Spec is basically an outline of what your game should and should not do. Requirements, limitations, and other things along that line are included in this. This post will summarize what the Base Line Spec says, although we do recommend you to read it as well.

The current runner has no support for cameras, compass, retina, tilt, push notifications, in app purchase etc. YoYo Games has noted that they will come, just not yet. If you want to have a special splash screen (with a "Tap to start" message), you may put it as the first room in your game. If not, YoYo Games has a standard splash screen that will be used instead.

More info can be found on the wiki article, please check it out for more info.

Maddening HD - iOS Release

2010-11-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Congratulations YoYo Games and NAL (Andrew McCluskey)! YoYo Games has successfully released a second game to the Apple/iOS market! This time, we venture into the crazy mind of NAL, with a remake of his recently popular game, Madness, Madness, Madness. This time, it's "Maddening HD". Here's some screens and more info:

YoYo Game Store Info:

Available on iPad.

Enter the realms of MADNESS, take yourself over and beyond the EDGE of sanity, feel the intense panic of the ever threatening WALL.

Maddening is a new and revolutionary game, which takes you through 50 stages over 10 levels of highly Addictive, fun filled gameplay. Escape the ever chasing WALL, through goo, past spikes and off bouncy things. Each game will take you deeper into the depths of Lunacy. Collect the circles of insanity and receive the mad ramblings of NAL.

Game Features:
• Addictive, Fun, Intense Gameplay
• 50 Levels to run, jump and bounce your way through
• 5 Difficulty levels
• Find all the Collectables
• Mad Poetry from the crazy mind of NAL

Join thousands of Maddening fans trying to escape the WALL of DOOM!

Languages: English
Requirements: Apple iPad only, soon to be available on all iOS versions of iPhone and iTouch devices

Publishing with YoYo Games 2

2010-11-01T10:08:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — As YoYo Games promised, they are keeping us up to date with new glog posts about publishing with YoYo Games. All the new info can be found in this wiki article.

YoYo Games updated their Terms and Conditions for uploading games, and should definitely be noted before submitting your games!

YoYo Games Wiki

Terms and Conditions need to be accepted by the developer before publishing can start. Please make sure you read through and understand them before accepting.

You must be over the age of 18 years or else have your parent’s or guardian’s consent to submit your Games to the YoYo Games App Store. By submitting your game you therefore confirm that you are over 18 years of age or else have your parent’s or guardian’s consent and that your parent or guardian has read and agreed to these terms. By submitting a Game you confirm that you understand these terms or have had them explained by a parent or guardian who does.

Also, YoYo Games made this nice image to help us out with understanding the publishing process:

Sorry that it's so hard to read, YoYo Games probably should of made it a little bigger.

Skydiver Mini Comp Results

2010-10-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG— I'm sure you all remember YoYo Games announcing thier lovely mini comp for skydiver. Asking users to come up with a short little review for it.

Well, the results are in! And some of these were just a good laugh! You can check out the blog article for yourself by going to theblog post!

From the YoYo Games Glog:

Game Maker Gazette Favorites:
Vergere submitted’ ‘From birds to helicopters, to explosions and lost limbs, there is hardly a dull moment to this unexpected gem’.
Ruzzle astounded us with thier Skydiver Mech Two Poem ‘with smooth movements and a quick steal, the parachute is mine: it’s so unreal'

The Winner:
Click to Enlarge

So CONGRADULATIONS to all the entries in the mini comp!

Also if you haven't already tried out skydiver for your apple product then download it now!
Download from the appstore NOW!

YoYo Games says that an update is due very soon, "featuring shiny new stuff and fixing any outstanding issues with iOS", as Kristy announced on the glog.

Thank you, Nikc-Nack

Publishing with YoYo Games

2010-10-27T18:40:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Since YoYo Games has been working on porting the GM Runner to PSP and Apple products, such as the iPad and iPod Touch, they thought it would be a good time to announce how to get your games ported to these devices! On the YoYo Games glog, and the YoYo Games Wiki, YYG posted all about how to publish your game through the "YoYo Game Store".

The wiki article first talks about how to publish your game. They have a few rules, which can either be found here or summarized in this post! The first thing you do is upload your game to the Store. In order to do this, you must accept the Terms and Conditions (coming later this week). They do ask for you only to upload really good things, because they will only be accepting excellent games.

YoYo Games Wiki:

We want to get a reputation for publishing GREAT content. That means it is our plan to sell ONLY THE VERY THE BEST GAMES. ...We will review your game and if it’s not good enough we’ll do our best to tell you why it is not suitable.

We expect to be very busy doing this, so you’ll need to take our response as a final decision. We are heavily into publishing a list of games already so you will appreciate we are too busy to debate decisions.

You can re-submit your game if it’s previously been refused, but remember that we’re prepared to spend time and money making them GREAT. If your game gets rejected once, and you do not make changes we advised, it will not be accepted.

Between now and Christmas/the end of December, YoYo Games plans on publishing one game a week! Also, if you guys are worried about copyright, YoYo Games says that they will never own your game!

The new platforms do not yet need special versions of Game Maker. YYG will modify your games to work on the devices, and they can also add new features into your game such as high score tables for the iPod and/or Playstation Network services.

YoYoGames will be spliting your profit with you 50/50. Now, your probably saying to yourself "Nuh uh. No way. This is bogus!". Actually, YoYo Games will probably only get 25% of your profits. The other quarter goes to Apple, Sony, or Google (if they get Game Maker working on the Android). It could take them 90 days (approximately 3 months, if you don't like to count) to get your profit to you via paypal. Now, this might be irritating, but patience pays off!

That's it for now, YYG said there will be more news coming up soon, so after reading that long fun post, I hope you learned a lot!

The Game Maker's Companion Released

2010-10-27T18:13:00.000-07:00

YoYo Games— The Game Maker's Companion has been released fully now. As announced on the YoYoGames Glog. The book is written by Jacob Habgood, with co-authors Nara Neilson and Martin Rijks. The book goes through the making of games in D&D, then shows you how to convert and D&D into professional GML.

You can check out the book on Amazon!

Along with the release YoYoGames has showed three YouTube videos from the book. The YouTube Videos give a nice look into what you will be creating.
The Game Maker’s Companion (Zool)
Shadows on Deck (Cut Scene)
Shadows on Deck Gameplay

GMVision Down

2010-10-26T14:47:00.000-07:00

Image from Google Images

GMVision— Not long ago the famed GMVision went down! According to thier website they are just moving to new webservers and will be back soon! So don't worry, but while they are gone, Caniac left us a video.

YoYo App Store Renamed

2010-10-24T10:20:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAME STORE — The "YoYo App Store" is now known as the "YoYo Game Store", possibly due to copyright (App Store is a trademark of Apple). Also, please note the new site is the "YoYo Game Store" and not the "YoYo Games Store"! Also, the address has also been changed from Appstore.YoYoGames.com to Store.YoYoGames.com.

The GameMaker Blog did a little research on the submit button on the website:

According to the post, you can actually access the submit section of the website right now. I wouldn't recommend doing so, but the test showed some nice things.

GameMaker Blog says:

After supplying your game name, description, details of the controls used and assigning your creation to a category you can upload an editable (Game Maker 6+) version of your game, an executable file or zipped folder. All uploaded games must be approved by YoYo Games before they appear in the store.

No pricing/revenue information is available, other than a suggestion that payments will be made through PayPal.

Documentation and terms and conditions are not yet present so it is unclear as to whether this process is for the submission of PC games only or for those that are to be/have been modified to appear on iOS.

Let's hope more info comes soon on this interesting topic!

Nikc-Nack Games Competition 02 Winners

2010-10-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Nikc-Nack Games Competition 02 Winners — It's over! The second competition by Nikc-Nack Games has ended. Sadly with less entries then the first.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the competition!
Here are the final results:
After many hours(about 20 minutes) of work the judges have determiend a winner!

Here they are!

Coming in in third place is...

Climb Upwards by Phaze

Coming in second place is...

Tower of Babel by CubinJ

And finally

the moment you've all been waiting for

the great

the intence

the bone crushing

mind boggling

the dirty

the smelly

the winner

is...

Climber by MakerManCan

I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the competition greatly, and stay tuned for Nikc-Nack Games Competition 03!

Skydiver Mach II - iOS Release

2010-10-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

YOYO GAMES GLOG — Today has been a big breakthrough for YoYo Games, they released the first ever official Game Maker game for the Apple iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch Market. How exciting! The loading screen is at the top of this post, and has the YoYo Games logo around the loading screen. We've believe that it's just on the loading screen, so don't worry. If you want to purchase the game for you Apple product, follow this url: Skydiver - Apple App Store

Also, YoYo Games announced another "mini" competition, which, for the first time, does not involve making games. Here is more info on the topic:

YoYo Games Glog:

YOYO MINI COMPETITION

We have a mini competition running in conjunction with Skydiver as you are our avid users and players. We know how passionate you are about games and really appreciate your active feedback on YY games. We are offering a prize of the latest 32GB iPod Touch and $50 worth of iTunes vouchers for the best review left on iTunes. Not bad eh?

We are looking for an inspired write up of Skydiver; one that shows a witty, captivating description with a constructive and positive vibe that puts a glow in our little hearts. You need to buy the game first to be able to write a review (only $0.99). The higher the score, the better You need to use your YoYo username so we can identify you. We’ll give you to the end of this week and let you know by Monday, so you’ll need to get your skates on!

...YoYo depend on your continuing community support. Our aim is to publish the best of YOUR games on iPad, iPhone, Android, PSP, PC and Mac. Your input is so incredibly valuable to us that in return for your on-going loyalty to promoting Game Store, we promise funds will go toward improvements on Game Maker, the website and the forums. So please help to spread the word!

Bret's Weekly Top Games: 10-18-10

2010-10-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

BRET HUDSON — Please note that these games are in no particular order!

As started back in March, found in this post, I started a weekly post about my top 3 GM Games of the week. It only lasted one week, but I am "casting revive" on it. Here we go!

From the original post:

Well, it's always nice to see new games on the front page, but you don't always know which one to pick. Sometimes some of the good GM games aren't even on the yoyogames site, so you don't always know about some of the best games. Well I'm always the same way, so I've decided to take some time and play some games, and give you THREE games of the week, which all have been made within the last 3 months!

Circle Rider (SpyDog)- An alien inventor one day creates a "Grand New Discovery", which he describes as a "Circle Rider Device". This device allows you to spin around on a cirlce, which can expand and shrink. A space monster comes along and you must track down the monster using the "Grand New Discovery", exploring maze like levels. Explore the easier levels to find much harder levels where the circle's center point moves around the room! A fun, creative game I thought would place in Competition 06, but again, YoYo Games disappoints.

Link: Circle Rider

Saut (Kapser)- Reading, reading, ah! Here! Controls: "X". What? One control!? Are you insane? Saut is an completely original game in which you only have one control, "X", which allows you to jump right. Now the game starts out easily, but you must jump using small and big jumps, depending how long you hold it, slide down hills to gain speed, and avoid obstacles in later levels. Overall, this is a fun addicting game that starts out okay, then fun, then even more fun, and more fun, and then becomes an irritating, difficult game. If you like fun games, this game is a possible game for you, if you like challenge, be prepared - it gets hard.

Link: SAUT

Ninjammin' Beat Jitsu (LiamBarden)- This is a "Genre Bending" game that consists of Rhythm, Action, and Platforming elements. Play as "808" and go on a quest given to him by his Great-Great-Grandfather from the past. Given ninja like powers from an ancient device, which looks quite a bit like a flash drive, he must venture though each level with style to match the kick-@$$ tunes in the game. When your feeling bored, or in need of some really upbeat music, or want to see some pretty colors, Ninjammin' Beat Jitsu is ready to be played.

Link: Ninjammin' Beat Jitsu

Competition 06 Winners

2010-10-15T16:00:00.000-07:00

YoYo Games Glog — Congratulations to the winners of the sixth YoYo Games competition! Judging went by faster (at least felt faster) than previous competitions. The reason it felt so quick was probably because of all the updates they put on the competitions.yoyogames.com site. Well, after waiting for a month and a half, here are the winners!

THIRD PLACE: SECOND PLACE: FIRST PLACE:

WARP by GraniteGear BLACKOUT by Mark13673 THE HIVE by Vannie/titusthreex

YoYo Games Glog:

This has been a really great competition with some FANTASTIC games, so thanks to everyone who entered. We’ve been very impressed with the high quality of games and are still amazed at how much creativity has gone into them – it’s not gone unnoticed!

If you missed out this time, we’ll be announcing the details of the next YoYo competition in the very near future. Keep watching..

Article written by GAME MAKER GAZETTE
FEEDBACK - What do you think? Post a comment and let us know!