Script News & Announcements
May 13, 2013GameMaker: Studio Documentation Now Online
YoYo Games have quietly launched online documentation for GameMaker: Studio. For a long time GMLscripts.com has provided online documentation for all versions of GameMaker released in the last ten years. For reasons given below, links to some of them have not been published and all will cease to function in the future.
Over the last several months, during the ongoing site update, enabling help file access to all versions of GameMaker was a big relaunch goal. Through some scripting and a lot of regex magic, I developed a simple system to automatically convert GameMaker CHM help files into files suitable for the web and that goal was largely achieved. Getting the GameMaker: Studio documentation online has been troublesome due to the use of mixed-case file names within the help file. On Windows, these are not an issue, but on a web server with a case-sensitive file system, this often results in broken links. This is one reason the documentation has not yet been publicly linked.
However, a bigger issue is YoYo Games themselves. They have been very clear recently that they do not want anyone but themselves hosting their copyrighted documentation. Although I believe hosting this information falls under a fair-use copyright exemption, I will respect their wishes. After a lot of hard work, it disappoints me to say I will no longer be hosting any official GameMaker documentation here.
One of the original missions of GMLscripts.com was to provide a way for the GameMaker documentation to be annotated and accessed. There are always places where things in the documentation can be made more clear or supplemented with examples. Mark "Nocturne" Alexander's hard work on the official GameMaker: Studio documentation has gone a long way towards eliminating that need.
That said, extra clarity is always welcome. I encourage all GMLscripts.com users to visit the GMDeveloper blog. There you can find news, tutorials, and an evolving supplemental guide to GML. It is still in its early stages but I'm hopeful we will see it continue to grow.
Posted by xot at 04:31 PM - Comments: 0
October 02, 2012GameMaker: Studio now on Steam
Today, YoYo Games announced a new partnership with Valve Software, creators of the extraordinarily popular Steam game distribution network.
The first part of this partnership regards the opening of the new Steam App Store. Steam is moving beyond games and will begin selling application software as well. GameMaker: Studio will be one of those apps and I'm told that it will be the only development software available during the expanded service launch. Steam users will be able to download the recently released free version of GameMaker: Studio to try out, and will of course be able to purchase the standard version and its various development modules. It looks like GameMaker: Studio is about to get a lot more popular. Hopefully, this also means downloading updates to GameMaker: Studio will go a little more smoothly and quickly for members who link their software to the Steam service. This is wonderful news in and of itself, and with any luck it will be lucrative for YoYo Games, but that's not the end of the story.
The second part of this partnership is a lot more interesting. GameMaker: Studio will be integrated with the Steam Workshop for users who wish to interact with this large creative community. This is expected to work a bit like the Sandbox on the YoYo Games web site, but with the full might of Valve's servers and community behind it. GameMaker: Studio users (including users of the free version) will be able to create Steam Workshop community pages with information about their projects (including pictures and videos), upload their games to the Steam servers, and provide the ability to launch those games from within Steam. It may even be possible post HTML5 games right in the Workshop environment, but this is not yet clear and is admittedly doubtful. YoYo Games have been working closely with Valve tweaking GameMaker: Studio to ensure it is a "good fit" for their creative environment. Valve are reportedly "very excited" to see what GameMaker: Studio users will bring to their community -- and who can blame them! This also looks like a smart way for developers to get going on Steam Greenlight since it should be very easy for them to link directly to a Workshop page to launch a game, demo, or prototype with almost no barrier to entry. For the start, only Windows games will be supported, but Mac support should be coming soon after. More information about working with the Steam version of GameMaker: Studio can be found on the YoYo Games wiki.
This partnership has the potential to greatly increase the reach of GameMaker users to Steam's vast online community, as well as bring more attention to GameMaker from people who want to create games themselves but don't know where to get started. The Steam Workshop has always been a great way to jump into game development and now it's just gotten better. The existing Sandbox community on the YoYo Games web site will continue to operate and may see some minor updates in the future. It is hoped that games already posted there will find new players drawn from within the Steam community. In the distant future, the Sandbox may give way entirely to Steam Workshop. Only time will tell ... but what exciting times they are!
UPDATE:
YoYo Games has now posted its formal announcement.
Posted by xot at 05:52 PM - Comments: 1
May 22, 2012GameMaker:Studio Launched!
YoYo Games follows directly on the heels of SpaceX with a historic launch of their own. GameMaker: Studio is finally out! Cross-platform delivery has never been easier or faster.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I just can't help it. I love the promise of this empowering product. The fact that YoYo Games have used this product to bring to market 25 games over a span of 20 months speaks volumes.
GameMaker:Studio is priced at a very affordable $99. The base package provides both Windows and OSX delivery options. The software is further extended by purchasing modules for additional delivery platforms. HTML5 delivery costs $99. Those who purchased GameMaker:HMTL5 before the release of GameMaker:Studio are entitled to a free upgrade to GameMaker:Studio including the HTML5 module (a $99 savings). Modules for iOS and Android delivery cost $199 each.
Just because GameMaker:Studio has been launched doesn't mean it is a finished product. There are still more features to come in its future and updates are expected to remain free. These include a new networking system for multiplayer games, 3D support for HMTL5 games using WebGL, and general performance enhancements to the base feature set as browsers continue to develop and improve their own HTML5 support.
I'm so incredibly stoked for what the YoYo Games team have accomplished by reaching this amazing milestone. Well done!
Posted by xot at 06:55 PM - Comments: 4
September 29, 2011GameMaker:HTML5
GameMaker:HTML5 has been unleashed. Finally, GameMaker users will be able to embed their games within web pages. Games should run in any HTML5 capable browser, including mobile devices, with no "plug-in" required.
Beyond this core feature, others have been added or are coming soon including some that have been desired for a very long time such as improved collaboration and physics. There are also some understandable limitations to the games supported by HTML5. At the moment, games requiring DirectX features including 3D, textured primitives, color blending, are not supported (or supported minimally in the case of color blending). WebGL will restore these features in the near future for browsers which support it.
As GM:HTML5 is currently in beta, it has some problems. The YoYo Games crew are working at a furious pace to patch the various bugs as they are reported.
You can read much more about this exciting new version of GameMaker and how it differs from what you may be used to by following the link below.
http://www.gmlscripts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=1901
Posted by xot at 05:59 PM - Comments: 0
