09-04-2018, 12:28 AM
It's kinda unfortunate to see how Game Maker has went from being a great tool for both beginners and experts that just want to make games to something that, although it has some neat features (animated tiles and auto-tiling are a couple that stood out to me), doesn't seem to be made for beginners and hobbyists. Game Maker nowadays seems to have a rather high price, a free version that is rather restrictive, and such. I've been doing pretty good with Game Maker 8.1 and GameMaker: Studio 1 for quite a long time, but I have not even tried out GameMaker: Studio 2 and I'm not sure if it'd be worth spending about $100 for it or not. I have taken a look at a few other game-making tools a few times to see if there's an alternative that doesn't cost as much or is even free while being quite flexible.
Unity seems nice, being able to produce both 2D and 3D games, although the full versions seem rather expensive ($35 per month just so you can have the plus version? Really?). The free version doesn't seem to be so restricted, though, so it may not be so bad for those that just want to make fangames. Godot Engine looks rather great; it can do 2D and 3D like Unity, but it's also free and open-source! It might be worth checking out someday, even though, I have heard that it may require a different mindset than one that would be used while working with Game Maker and Clickteam.
I'd also like to bring up something that I found through MFGG Wiki, which is ENIGMA. It seems to be like Game Maker, except that it's free, open-source, compatible with Game Maker projects, and can make games with less file space and higher speed than Game Maker games with little (if any) differences in the game content.
Whatever ends up being the next widely-used game-making tool, I think it would benefit MFGG if that tool was free, open-source, and can be used in more than one platform. As far as I know, Game Maker can only be used with Windows and while it can produce games for other platforms (such as Mac), nearly all games that are released on MFGG will only work with Windows and not other platforms without any special programs. Having games that work not just on Windows but also on Mac and Linux (and perhaps more) could attract a broader audience and using a tool that either doesn't cost much or is free may make it easier for beginners that are trying to get into making fangames.
Unity seems nice, being able to produce both 2D and 3D games, although the full versions seem rather expensive ($35 per month just so you can have the plus version? Really?). The free version doesn't seem to be so restricted, though, so it may not be so bad for those that just want to make fangames. Godot Engine looks rather great; it can do 2D and 3D like Unity, but it's also free and open-source! It might be worth checking out someday, even though, I have heard that it may require a different mindset than one that would be used while working with Game Maker and Clickteam.
I'd also like to bring up something that I found through MFGG Wiki, which is ENIGMA. It seems to be like Game Maker, except that it's free, open-source, compatible with Game Maker projects, and can make games with less file space and higher speed than Game Maker games with little (if any) differences in the game content.
Whatever ends up being the next widely-used game-making tool, I think it would benefit MFGG if that tool was free, open-source, and can be used in more than one platform. As far as I know, Game Maker can only be used with Windows and while it can produce games for other platforms (such as Mac), nearly all games that are released on MFGG will only work with Windows and not other platforms without any special programs. Having games that work not just on Windows but also on Mac and Linux (and perhaps more) could attract a broader audience and using a tool that either doesn't cost much or is free may make it easier for beginners that are trying to get into making fangames.
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