Attention all game maker users!

I used Game Maker once - now that I use Linux, it's not an option. And for those who use it, you'd be best moving to C(++) - it's not hard, it just requires you to use good coding pratices & there'll probably be a library that makes game development as easy as Game Maker, sometime.

Okay, comparison time!

Game Maker 7

• Large starting executable size
• Requires DirectX 8-compatible 3D hardware (S3 cards unsupported)
• Long startup time
• No resource cleanup (in fact, may possibly have serious memory leaks)
• Timing system is frame-based, but machine-dependent (no built-in frameskip)
• Game's code is interpreted
• Improper V-Sync method
• Only runs on Windows
• YoYo Games owns all the rights to your game

C with the Allegro library

• Small starting executable size (though you also have a 253kb DLL - you may compile it into the EXE if you wish)
• Runs on just about any computer that can show a 2D image on the screen (can use DirectDraw or GDI)
• Startup time pretty much non-existent, apart from in-game loading
• Resource cleanup is feasible (but requires coding on your own part)
• Game timing can use any system you want.
• Game's code is compiled, for ultra-fast performance (unless you choose to make your engine run on scripts)
• A very accurate software V-Sync simulator, plus support for hardware V-Sync in pageflip/triple buffering modes
• Runs on DOS, Windows (Vista compatible), Linux, X11, OS X, BeOS, QNX, and a few others too.
• You own the rights to your code and game and can license the program however you wish (unless portions use GPL code in which case a thousand angry GNU fanboys will charge at you unless you also release under the GPL)

To be fair, if you take the more traditional C approach, you will need to do a lot of the work yourself (and be sure your code is optimized) but the end result is far, far nicer than what you can ever get from Game Maker.

And personally, I don't like C++. It's basically C with silly extras tacked on and inconsistent syntax.

So you could do something like this picture but better?

A movie for you people can understand me -----> <---- Just click it...


(Ok.... I feel obsessed with the Tails Doll...)

Are you using GM7?

yes... *rolls eyes*