Questions about game maker,can it do this,that...

[sali11]

hi every one,
I dont have game-editor yet. before I download it I was wondering if any one could clear up some questions I have about it?

Can it be used to make online games like yahoo pool?

can it be used to make a virtual pool game, as this is the type of game I want to make. I have tried using Game maker but have got stuck and it cant be used for online gaming any way.

How much support is available for newbies like me trying to make a complicated game?

I have a great Idea for a game and have been wanting to make it for years! but I keep getting stuck and that puts an end to that dream. any way if any one can take the time to answer those questions, it would be great thanks

[Fuzzy]

You can do a pool game. Multi-player Support is under development, from what I understand. I have no official line to the developers, but I recall Makslane saying something about it.

I'd get Game Editor if you can. Support for newbies here is Phenomenal.

[Just4Fun]

sali11:

I don't know anyone in this forum who would not recommend Game Editor to you. It will allow you to create a pool game with relative ease, and as ThreeFingersPete said, "Support for newbies here is Phenomenal." ThreeFingers is a pretty modest guy, what he didn't tell you is that he is,himself, an excellent 'C' programmer who helps the newbies(and oldies) here all of the time. Don't believe me? Search through some of his posts and you will see what I mean.

Game Editor can't create online games just yet, but Makslane(GE's brilliant creator) promises that support is coming. Updates to GE occur at a good pace so I believe that we will see the online support happen in the not too distant future.

One caution though, any authoring/programming system takes work to learn. If you don't have a lot of patience to do the work of learning how to use GE, then you will never be able to create your dream game with GE or any other authoring/programming system. That said, if you work through the tutorials and look at the demos, as well as study the docs, you will be able to put a simple pool game together in no time. I think one of my first programs was "Tiny Pong", it wasn't too hard, but I studied GE and Trajecto's online tutorial also helped me a lot.

Don't hesitate to invest in this program. It is fun to learn, though I do admit to a few hair pulling sessions, and it can help you do amazing things...Oh and don't forget, it is crossplatform compatible. Have I sold you yet?

Download the demo and start asking questions! I for one will help when I can...

[BeyondtheTech]

You can't beat the price and the amount of support either. Makslane is a true stand-up guy and everyone here can attest to that, as well as help each other out as often as they can.

[sali11]

Thank you every one for your replys , i am going to download the demo now and work through the tutorials, and docs, then if i think i can make the game i have been trying to make for ever, ill go for it. Im happy to hear the amount of support available for this game editor, sounds more helpfull then game makers fourums,

I dont suppose any one knows just how long till this can be used for online gaming? ill keep my eyes open for that and work on learning this software in the mean time.

I dont suppose any one could point me to some relevent forums or tutorial that will help me to make the pool game?

Thanks again all for answering my questions, ur stars

[Fuzzy]

Well, obviously start with the collision detection tutorials.

With 15 balls banging around, you might end up with some heavy lag, or collision errors.

The important thing to remember is to keep the ball speed lower than the size of the balls and bumpers.

What I mean by that, is this: if the ball is 10 pixels across, you want a velocity lower than 10 units. If you dont follow these rules, you can get balls passing through each other.

Let me(us) know how things go. If you end up with collision problems, I have some ideas on tricks you can try.

[sali11]

ok cool ill try that. the game im gona try to make will have 16 balls and one striker, striker being the whit ball.

do you think this will pose a problem in this software? i was gona try and make this in flash mx, but was told that it would not be able to handell so many collisions.

[Fuzzy]

I dont know; it MIGHT cause some problems, but nothing that cant be worked around. Let us know after you try.

[sali11]

ok, will do, thanks

[Game A Gogo]

With 15 balls banging around, you might end up with some heavy lag, or collision errors.

hehe, i tryed the tutorial and then just for fun, i copied the ball like 25 times and it work good whit my slow comp that i used to have!

[Parrot]

What do you mean by online games? Because I know for a fact that Game Maker can make multiplayer Internet games. Did you somehow get the idea that it couldn't? If you meant browser-based games... I don't think that kind of feature will be implemented in either GM or GE anytime soon.

Game Editor is a good choice for pool-type games too though. I think it's layout would be particularly suited to that.

[sali11]

when I say online games, im refering to games like yahoo pool where you log on with your username and password and challang other people who are also logged on.

[Parrot]

when I say online games, im refering to games like yahoo pool where you log on with your username and password and challang other people who are also logged on.

Sure, you can do that. There are tons of people using Game Maker who try their hand at MMORPG's. There's one popular 3D GM Game called Hover Tank where people get together on the server to battle. I tried it, worked pretty well... but I sucked.

I've looked over Game Editor's updates, still no multiplayer capabilities. But hopefully Makslane will be adding those in soon.

[sali11]

I know that GM had those capabilites, however I found that making the game was quite hard in GM, and the support was not so good on the forums, the help hear is brill, and the usability of the software is better too.

so I gess ill wait till GE can do it, I still have allot of work ahead of me in regards to making the game any way, so the wait is ok for me.

[Parrot]

I know that GM had those capabilites, however I found that making the game was quite hard in GM, and the support was not so good on the forums, the help hear is brill, and the usability of the software is better too.

so I gess ill wait till GE can do it, I still have allot of work ahead of me in regards to making the game any way, so the wait is ok for me.

Well, it's a personal thing which one you find easier. The GM forums can be a little confusing at times, but they do have mentors that have volunteered to show newbies the ropes. You can find a list of them in the novices forum. There are also some good tutorials people have put up if you look.

In the end, though, creating a multiplayer server isn't going to be a walk in the park no matter which program you use. And when Makslane does put in multiplayer capabilities, it might be only able to connect individual players rather than servers.

What would be good as a next step would be DLL support, then other people can program extensions to Game Editor so it could do anything.