07-20-2018, 09:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 07-22-2018, 12:49 PM by VinnyVideo.
Edit Reason: Fixed an oops
)
In the beginning, MFGG was a Clickteam-centric community. The vast majority of fangames were made in one of various Clickteam products, and even graphics files were usually submitted as libs - a format optimized for importing into Clickteam.
Then, a new tool called Game Maker entered the scene. By the middle of the previous decade, games made in GM started to become more common on MFGG. GM offered a very different interface (one that I found to be more intuitive than any Clickteam product) and a lot of powerful features. MFGG, YoYoGames, and other communities quickly pumped out engines and tutorials (which varied in quality, but were still useful, especially to new users) to help new GM users get started. Plus, GM was very affordable - the free version could do most of the things the Pro version could do, and the paid version only cost $20 for a permanent license.
Each new GM release - 8, 8.1, various versions of Studio 1, and Studio 2 - brought new features (and occasionally new bugs). Despite GM's occasional irritations, it became the dominant tool for making games on MFGG. Since 2010 or so, the majority of MFGG fangames have been made in GM.
GM was born as a tool for teaching computer science. Its target audience was students and amateurs - beginning-to-intermediate users. This is not a very lucrative market, and as GM added more features, it started trying to appeal more to a small-scale indie developers. GM still isn't ideal for more complex indie projects - especially 3-D development. But it's still good as a "jack of all trades, master of none". I still use it because I'm very comfortable with the GM ecosystem and I can make it do what I want it to do.
Unfortunately, GM is not as accessible for new users. The learning curve is a bit steeper than it used to be, since GM isn't as geared toward beginners. More importantly, it's a whole lot more expensive. The free version is very limited - you can only use a few resources, and it can't even compile a distributable .EXE file. Older versions were much more generous than this. If you want a version that compiles executables for Windows, you have to pay $99 (or $39 for a one-year license). Even though you get a lot of features with GM, it's prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, especially new users. YYG also tries to avoid supporting older versions that offer more generous terms.
Of course, GM Studio 2 will probably go on sale at some point, and I'm sure that some people will use shiver-me-timbers methods to get a not-quite-legit version. However, we can't count on the former, and I don't want to endorse the latter.
It would be awesome if MFGG offered more resources and tutorials for people wanting to get started with game-making tools that aren't GM or Clickteam. For example, Godot looks promising, but I'm fuzzy on how to make stuff with it. What if someone made a tutorial on how to make a simple platform game with Godot? There are lots of other good tools for making games, too. GM is still a great tool, but we shouldn't be putting all our eggs in this basket.
Then, a new tool called Game Maker entered the scene. By the middle of the previous decade, games made in GM started to become more common on MFGG. GM offered a very different interface (one that I found to be more intuitive than any Clickteam product) and a lot of powerful features. MFGG, YoYoGames, and other communities quickly pumped out engines and tutorials (which varied in quality, but were still useful, especially to new users) to help new GM users get started. Plus, GM was very affordable - the free version could do most of the things the Pro version could do, and the paid version only cost $20 for a permanent license.
Each new GM release - 8, 8.1, various versions of Studio 1, and Studio 2 - brought new features (and occasionally new bugs). Despite GM's occasional irritations, it became the dominant tool for making games on MFGG. Since 2010 or so, the majority of MFGG fangames have been made in GM.
GM was born as a tool for teaching computer science. Its target audience was students and amateurs - beginning-to-intermediate users. This is not a very lucrative market, and as GM added more features, it started trying to appeal more to a small-scale indie developers. GM still isn't ideal for more complex indie projects - especially 3-D development. But it's still good as a "jack of all trades, master of none". I still use it because I'm very comfortable with the GM ecosystem and I can make it do what I want it to do.
Unfortunately, GM is not as accessible for new users. The learning curve is a bit steeper than it used to be, since GM isn't as geared toward beginners. More importantly, it's a whole lot more expensive. The free version is very limited - you can only use a few resources, and it can't even compile a distributable .EXE file. Older versions were much more generous than this. If you want a version that compiles executables for Windows, you have to pay $99 (or $39 for a one-year license). Even though you get a lot of features with GM, it's prohibitively expensive for a lot of people, especially new users. YYG also tries to avoid supporting older versions that offer more generous terms.
Of course, GM Studio 2 will probably go on sale at some point, and I'm sure that some people will use shiver-me-timbers methods to get a not-quite-legit version. However, we can't count on the former, and I don't want to endorse the latter.
It would be awesome if MFGG offered more resources and tutorials for people wanting to get started with game-making tools that aren't GM or Clickteam. For example, Godot looks promising, but I'm fuzzy on how to make stuff with it. What if someone made a tutorial on how to make a simple platform game with Godot? There are lots of other good tools for making games, too. GM is still a great tool, but we shouldn't be putting all our eggs in this basket.
![[-]](https://forums.mfgg.net/images/emerald/collapse.png)