by BRIAN FETCHER
GAZETTE — Folks I'm going to be featuring Open Source game maker project engines that serve as tutorials for players to learn from. Made a great example? Post it on Game Maker Community forums. The great ones will be features on the Gazette.
Stay tuned!
by BRIAN FETCHER
GMGAZETTE — So you're looking for a boost in your game. You're looking for something to keep the players playing so that people aren't just playing your game for 5 minutes and then never picking it up again. This is what every game developer wants. Try one or more of the things below:
These are some of MANY. Try one. Heck, try them all!
1. Extra Rewards: Offer great in-game rewards. Players love to feel accomplishment. Let them collect trophies! Add an achievements system in your game for doing things x amount of times or doing things x amount of times with a certain technique.
2. Competition: Players like to compete with either themselves or other people. Add some competition in your game. Have the player keep trying to beat their previous score -or- have an online highscore table and let the players compete with eachother for the Leaderboard.
3. Gamble: People love winning, but people also love being given the chance to win. Like a slot machine at a casino, there's a chance to win a giant reward. Some games implement this by making the players work to get keys to unlock chests which are located throughout the world, and the chests give random things: anything from being empty to dropping amazing loot!
4. Abilities: Offer the players abilities. Let them earn points to buy abilities for doing the same thing over and over again. It makes repetition worth it by rewarding the player.
by BRIAN FETCHER
GMGAZETTE — Folks, I was looking through an old article ("GM8 crack means money loss for YYG") and thought I'd give Ron a shout. He monitors download pages and keeping record so that he can test for increases and decreases in downloads by date. I asked him for a more up-to-date graph. The previous article claims $47,390.00 was the value of all these downloads combined.
The Updated Graph:
2011-2013: $58,850.00 value
Please note that we're only halfway through 2013, making this number incomplete.
Ron says more than half of the links he follows have been active 3+ years (many of which are still to this moment active). This shows the response time for YoYo Games removing illegal downloads to be somewhat lacking. For research purposes he does not report the links, but rather expects someone else to. He also noted that these links were so easy to find that anyone could find them.
"Use of any version of GameMaker without paying for it is piracy pure and simple, it drains our resources and withholds funds (that we use to improve GameMaker) any loyal fans and users should condemn this practice and have nothing to do with those that do." -- Russell Kay, CTO, YoYo Games, Ltd.
by BRIAN FETCHER
GAZETTE — We're getting ready to revamp the blog here. Fixing script bugs, interface issues and color schemes. New version of the Gazette will feature a cleaner layout and a new logo. No exact date set for this, but we do plan to do this in the next couple weeks.
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
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.
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!
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
For the longest time, GMIndie Radio has been split into two separate groups. Group A and group B. Sometimes the groups are low on attendance and no one but the host would show up. This is a problem for us. In order to solve this problem we've merged both group A and group B.
Our radio team are
Brian Fetcher - Host
Bret Hudson - Host
Henri Niva - Co Host
Nathan Hurde - Co Host
Cole Marlar - Co Host
Jonathan Martin - Co Host
Christopher - Co Host
The radio show will continue to be weekly on Saturdays.
Our radio team are
Brian Fetcher - Host
Bret Hudson - Host
Henri Niva - Co Host
Nathan Hurde - Co Host
Cole Marlar - Co Host
Jonathan Martin - Co Host
Christopher - Co Host
The radio show will continue to be weekly on Saturdays.
Please note that these games are in no particular order!
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!
RunMan: Race Around The World! (YoMamasMama / MattMakesGames)- Join RunMan in his race around the world! An interesting twist to the platform scene, somewhat like Sonic but the next level. Hit Z to jump, X to "zoom", which allows you to go faster, break through breakable walls, but also can cause you to wake up some nasty enemies. RunMan is a very interesting and, of course, another great game by Matt Thorson, and it kept me going for hours trying to get gold metals on all the levels.
Link: RunMan: Race Around The World!
Survivor (Soulsnatcher)- "There's only one thing running through that poor mans mind... Just Don't Die..." Survivor is an addicting little mini-game that is based around you being stranded on floating crates (no, not the island right behind you), and you have to dodge many hazards, from sharks undernieth you, to bombs in crates, to acid precipitation and more. This game is completely wacky and out of the box, but it's what makes it so great. Try to survive as long as you can. Try to beat my score of 2 minutes. It's harder than it looks. Try to get the highest online score!
Link: Survivor
Tales of the Maguse (Chicken)- The Maguse are as seems a special race of magic barrers, and you are the next one of them. The Maguse each have there own power, and your goal is to master each one and collect the four elemental gems and open the demon gate. We all know the story. But here is an interesting twist of style that is a top-down magic shooter which is super fun due to its many power-ups and collectibles. They always make a game more fun. Sit back and play a TDS-RPG and become a true Maguse!
Link: Tales of the Maguse
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!
RunMan: Race Around The World! (YoMamasMama / MattMakesGames)- Join RunMan in his race around the world! An interesting twist to the platform scene, somewhat like Sonic but the next level. Hit Z to jump, X to "zoom", which allows you to go faster, break through breakable walls, but also can cause you to wake up some nasty enemies. RunMan is a very interesting and, of course, another great game by Matt Thorson, and it kept me going for hours trying to get gold metals on all the levels.
Link: RunMan: Race Around The World!
Survivor (Soulsnatcher)- "There's only one thing running through that poor mans mind... Just Don't Die..." Survivor is an addicting little mini-game that is based around you being stranded on floating crates (no, not the island right behind you), and you have to dodge many hazards, from sharks undernieth you, to bombs in crates, to acid precipitation and more. This game is completely wacky and out of the box, but it's what makes it so great. Try to survive as long as you can. Try to beat my score of 2 minutes. It's harder than it looks. Try to get the highest online score!
Link: Survivor
Tales of the Maguse (Chicken)- The Maguse are as seems a special race of magic barrers, and you are the next one of them. The Maguse each have there own power, and your goal is to master each one and collect the four elemental gems and open the demon gate. We all know the story. But here is an interesting twist of style that is a top-down magic shooter which is super fun due to its many power-ups and collectibles. They always make a game more fun. Sit back and play a TDS-RPG and become a true Maguse!
Link: Tales of the Maguse
GMLive got a new logo. you can see it here.
GMLive Broadcast 7 was canceled shortly after starting (approx 20 minutes). It has been put off til January 30th.
Philip Gamble says...
GMLive Broadcast 7 was canceled shortly after starting (approx 20 minutes). It has been put off til January 30th.
Philip Gamble says...
Usual host Joshua Pedroza did not turn up until half an hour before the start of the show and that was after it had been found that the server used to stream the had crashed.
Brian needs a volunteer host for Monday shows. These shows are not going to be like the usual GMIndie LIVE radio shows. These shows are Game Maker Conference and may soon play an important role in the development of game maker. Discuss ideas for future versions of game maker, discuss new ideas for yoyo games and whatever else comes to mind. 15 minute show time max.
Go GMIndie
Go GMIndie
Apparently GMIndie Radio wasn't allowing callers for the last 7 episodes.
Brian says...
Brian says...
On saturday shows you will be able to call in to GMIndie radio as a special guest. We might even be doing the same thing for Wednesdays shows =)
GMIndie announced that they will be making 2 episodes of GMIndie Radio per week. Both are LIVE. The regular one that is allowing callers to call in to the 15 minute show will be on Saturdays at 3pm EST. The other episodes will be on Wednesdays and a time hasn't been given out yet. 
Also. Get a wind of this. GMIndie left Shoutcast and Listen2MyRadio for 1000Mikes. Both myself and a few others have good reports about this because it doesn't restrict listeners to particular regions.
Still on break? Looking for a half-hour of fun to spend on your computer? Well the GameMaker Gazette is here to tell you about my favorite holiday based GameMaker Game-
Merry Christmas, Have a Ridiculously Hard Game (QOG)
In this Interesting game, You play as Santa, or some other guy in a big red suit as you run through 7 or 8 levels of pure frustration. My biggest question is, why does everything try to kill me? What did Santa do to you? Are they non-believers? ARE THEY JEWISH! (I'm Jewish, hopefully you didn't find that racist) Anyway, after you fight your way through homing missile balls, Spikes, Weird Jumps, and other Santa Hating Obstacles, you get a Game Win screen like any old NES Game would give you. "Merry Christmas, You Win!" That was a tad disappointing.
Now to make your game day a bit easier, lemme give you some tips.
1) When avoiding spikes on walls that are on both sides, jump directly up, and press L/R Arrow mid-air to avoid spikes.
2) To avoid homing missiles, right when they are about to hit you (when you are on ground) JUMP.
3)On levels that are difficult with lots of objects, the faster you run, and the less you think, the easier it'll be.
4)For the up/down Shuriken/Ninja Star/Blades, when the star closest to you hits the ground and begins to go up, start holding down L/R Arrow, as you'll make it through.
Linkage: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/platformer/merry-christmas-have-a-ridiculously-hard-game/1283/
Ed
Merry Christmas, Have a Ridiculously Hard Game (QOG)
In this Interesting game, You play as Santa, or some other guy in a big red suit as you run through 7 or 8 levels of pure frustration. My biggest question is, why does everything try to kill me? What did Santa do to you? Are they non-believers? ARE THEY JEWISH! (I'm Jewish, hopefully you didn't find that racist) Anyway, after you fight your way through homing missile balls, Spikes, Weird Jumps, and other Santa Hating Obstacles, you get a Game Win screen like any old NES Game would give you. "Merry Christmas, You Win!" That was a tad disappointing.
Now to make your game day a bit easier, lemme give you some tips.
1) When avoiding spikes on walls that are on both sides, jump directly up, and press L/R Arrow mid-air to avoid spikes.
2) To avoid homing missiles, right when they are about to hit you (when you are on ground) JUMP.
3)On levels that are difficult with lots of objects, the faster you run, and the less you think, the easier it'll be.
4)For the up/down Shuriken/Ninja Star/Blades, when the star closest to you hits the ground and begins to go up, start holding down L/R Arrow, as you'll make it through.
Linkage: http://gamejolt.com/freeware/games/platformer/merry-christmas-have-a-ridiculously-hard-game/1283/
Ed
source and credit: donald geargod brian and brandon
Last year, a program designed to extract resources from Game Maker games was created. "The documentation about the encryption and how its broken can be found on the internets." - GearGOD. Supposedly the program was only being distributed to people who were trustworthy and would only use it to extract their own game resources in case their computer crashed and they were in the need to get their resources back. The original creator had GearGOD re-post the program. This year, a new psycho Game maker user has made his plans to rip the resources from every game maker game (as long as it's of some quality) and give the resource away on the internet for free!
I was told by valuable sources that the following games had been extracted and were going to be placed on the internet as open source (Sprites and sound effects). The following games are just some of the many games that have been ripped:
1. Crimelife 2 by sakisa
2. Caveman Craig by RhysAndrews
3. Infinite War (2009) by sakisa
4. Venture V8 by andyh44
5. Age of Crime - Alphanstein City (beta) by Arbideon Studios
6. Little (2009) by Zack064
7. Assassins Blue by BanovG
and we're not sure how many more... He just started posting these. There could be dozens more.
(image has been blurred so that you don't steal sprites from screenshots we are using as proof)
At first I just assumed this was a big hoax. Then a few of the staff and I looked around for proof and found Marco's website with Crimelife 2 models, Caveman Craig sprite sheet, and more. He's even giving away the sound effects and music claiming they are open source and were leaked. His website has been reported for copyrighted fraud and we're waiting to see what happens next.
Protect your game resources!
Anti-Decompiler - Abfuscator.
He's stealing resources and posting them on the internet!
In an email just a few days ago...
In response to the original creation of the program...
People are saying that Mark Overmars did fix it and successfully blocked the program. I was told earlier today that they have figured out how to make it work with Game Maker 7.0! I hope Mark Overmars quickly fixes this before the release of Game Maker 8 or we're going to have a hard year.
The decompiler GearGOD posted is the older version which decompiles Game Maker 5 games. The new decompiler has not yet been found. We are still looking. The moment we find it, we're alerting Mark Overmars.
We aren't providing a link to his website simply because: We don't want these sprite sheets getting in the hands of people who are going to use them.
The point of this article is... A while back they had given this resource theft a break. But this time it's a bit serious. They are at it again! This article isn't about the decompiler, it's about the recent theft of many game resources.
Keywords: (Used to real in googlers)
free game maker decompiler, game maker decompiler, decompiler, game maker 8 decompiler, game maker 7 decompiler, game maker 6 decompiler, how to use game maker decompiler, how to open decompiler, game maker decompiler, game maker decompiler download, download game maker decompiler
Last year, a program designed to extract resources from Game Maker games was created. "The documentation about the encryption and how its broken can be found on the internets." - GearGOD. Supposedly the program was only being distributed to people who were trustworthy and would only use it to extract their own game resources in case their computer crashed and they were in the need to get their resources back. The original creator had GearGOD re-post the program. This year, a new psycho Game maker user has made his plans to rip the resources from every game maker game (as long as it's of some quality) and give the resource away on the internet for free!I was told by valuable sources that the following games had been extracted and were going to be placed on the internet as open source (Sprites and sound effects). The following games are just some of the many games that have been ripped:
1. Crimelife 2 by sakisa2. Caveman Craig by RhysAndrews
3. Infinite War (2009) by sakisa
4. Venture V8 by andyh44
5. Age of Crime - Alphanstein City (beta) by Arbideon Studios
6. Little (2009) by Zack064
7. Assassins Blue by BanovG
and we're not sure how many more... He just started posting these. There could be dozens more.
(image has been blurred so that you don't steal sprites from screenshots we are using as proof)
At first I just assumed this was a big hoax. Then a few of the staff and I looked around for proof and found Marco's website with Crimelife 2 models, Caveman Craig sprite sheet, and more. He's even giving away the sound effects and music claiming they are open source and were leaked. His website has been reported for copyrighted fraud and we're waiting to see what happens next.Protect your game resources!
Anti-Decompiler - Abfuscator.
He's stealing resources and posting them on the internet!
In an email just a few days ago...
"why yes. i have extracted sprites from game maker projects to create sprite sheets for my website. sprite sheets for fan games are popular. why not make for game maker? im going to rip every game maker game of its resources as long the game isnt complete crap and im going to give them away" - Marco
In response to the original creation of the program...
"I hope you know, I will sue you to the full extent of the law. Not only does this program break the EULA, but it’s just down right pathetic." - Mark Overmars
People are saying that Mark Overmars did fix it and successfully blocked the program. I was told earlier today that they have figured out how to make it work with Game Maker 7.0! I hope Mark Overmars quickly fixes this before the release of Game Maker 8 or we're going to have a hard year.
The decompiler GearGOD posted is the older version which decompiles Game Maker 5 games. The new decompiler has not yet been found. We are still looking. The moment we find it, we're alerting Mark Overmars.
We aren't providing a link to his website simply because: We don't want these sprite sheets getting in the hands of people who are going to use them.
The point of this article is... A while back they had given this resource theft a break. But this time it's a bit serious. They are at it again! This article isn't about the decompiler, it's about the recent theft of many game resources.
Keywords: (Used to real in googlers)
free game maker decompiler, game maker decompiler, decompiler, game maker 8 decompiler, game maker 7 decompiler, game maker 6 decompiler, how to use game maker decompiler, how to open decompiler, game maker decompiler, game maker decompiler download, download game maker decompiler
sources: fredfredrickson
About a month ago, Sandy claimed that he would not be using Softwrap in Game Maker 8. But apparently using Softwrap will make the release date of Game Maker sooner. But is it really worth it?
Sandy and Mark Overmars are letting you choose. Login to Game Maker Community and vote in the poll: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=457106.
We recommend that you vote 'no'. Getting Game Maker sooner may be look like the better choice, but we would be stuck with softwrap for another year or two. Softwrap is bad news.
Sandy's original message (quoted from YYG Glog):
Please go vote and we'll hope for the best no matter what comes out of this.
About a month ago, Sandy claimed that he would not be using Softwrap in Game Maker 8. But apparently using Softwrap will make the release date of Game Maker sooner. But is it really worth it?Sandy and Mark Overmars are letting you choose. Login to Game Maker Community and vote in the poll: http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=457106.
We recommend that you vote 'no'. Getting Game Maker sooner may be look like the better choice, but we would be stuck with softwrap for another year or two. Softwrap is bad news.
Sandy's original message (quoted from YYG Glog):
I'm still feeling a bit battered and bruised from the announcement of the new Game Maker Logo... so I'm a bit reluctant to do anything that might appear controversial. Every Friday Mark Overmars and I have a Skype call for at least an hour on discussing YoYo Games and Game Maker. Last week Mark raised the issue that the website changes we require to support removing Softwrap are behind schedule and are now at least 3 months away. Mark has been VERY busy at the University and he was worried that his ability to provide some of the code we need might take even longer.
The situation is pretty simple. Game Maker 8 is pretty much finished. Mark has taken a few days vacation to do a few small fixes and we'll be happy that we can release the product. BUT we can only do this quickly if we use Softwrap again.
We will hopefully be able to release before the end of December and Mark is ready to try and get the additional work required to support Softwrap completed during his vacation next week. As this his is NOT something we've been planning for, there may be issues we haven't anticipated, but we're both optimistic we can get the work required done quickly.
So, rather than just make a decision that I think is the right one, I thought I would repeat the positive part of the logo decision making process and give you, The Community, a chance to vote on the issue.
BEFORE you start getting excitable ..... at least take the following points into account, and then please just give us your vote!
1. Going with Softwrap means you get GM8 in the next few weeks (our target is end of December)
2. We will use a different version of Softwrap from last time, which will hopefully reduce the few problems that persist
3. The YoYo Games solution will not be ready until at least the end of March
4. The YYG solution is a "Soft-DRM" and still requires some online activation
5. The YYG solution initially will have no more payment options than Softwrap currently provides
It's up to you, so please vote YES or NO to Softwrap.
Please go vote and we'll hope for the best no matter what comes out of this.
The point of announcing this is in hopes that you will call in to the show about the games.You can check out the show topics here: http://gmvision.tv/gmvision/home/2009/12/gmlive-discussion-topics-12-19/
He adds: This weekend, it is “Global NAL Day”. We will be discussing just a few of his games, as well as a live interview with him, internet connection permitting. - which doesn't make any sense.
source and credit: gmg
GMG stands for Game Maker Games. It's a game maker website with over 21,500 users.
Atom Bomb Jr., a GMG monster user announced that monster users now have moderator powers. Is this really a good idea? So some random person could log on to GMG and spend about 5 days getting a huge post count and then become a mod?
so now whats the point of the mods? we dont need them anymore as long as we have the monster users.
Read original article
GMG stands for Game Maker Games. It's a game maker website with over 21,500 users.
Atom Bomb Jr., a GMG monster user announced that monster users now have moderator powers. Is this really a good idea? So some random person could log on to GMG and spend about 5 days getting a huge post count and then become a mod?
so now whats the point of the mods? we dont need them anymore as long as we have the monster users.
Read original article
credit and source: Brian Fetcher
After the successful launch of GMIndie Radio (a radio previously owned by GMS until separation - of which some said wouldn't work - but they were wrong), GMIndie has decided to launch a new magazine! The magazine issues will come out the same day as each GMIndie Radio episode (on Saturdays) every week.
First issue is coming out on December 19th 2009.
Brian says, "they arent going teh be your average magazine issues at all. they will be shorter. thats why i caled it gmindie magazine 'Game Maker Mini Magazine '"
Visit GMIndie's website
After the successful launch of GMIndie Radio (a radio previously owned by GMS until separation - of which some said wouldn't work - but they were wrong), GMIndie has decided to launch a new magazine! The magazine issues will come out the same day as each GMIndie Radio episode (on Saturdays) every week. First issue is coming out on December 19th 2009.
Brian says, "they arent going teh be your average magazine issues at all. they will be shorter. thats why i caled it gmindie magazine 'Game Maker Mini Magazine '"
Visit GMIndie's website
