Game-Editor Revival

[bat78]

Your revival will cater for those that already use GE as long as they are willing to use GE exactly how you think they should be using

Good thing i don't "think it" then

[knucklecrunchgames]

do you not think that might be the problem?


7 years ago (actually it's more 2 - 3 years ago but we will use your 7) this was a very active forum with people trying new things. It was a time when people still downloaded 2D games to play on pcs.

Now there seems to be a small number of people developing and from what I've read, they seem to start out with GE and then move on to development tools that allow them to do more things.

Now people don't want to play 2D games on pcs. People want to play games on facebook and share there scores, or invite others to join in. People want to download apps for their latest phone. Apps that do cool things and apps that do pointless things that pass a couple of minutes while waiting for the bus.

It is true that I am into programs from the last milenium. I have a vast collection of games from the 80's and 90's. Though I'm not sure how that relates to my suggestions?

Also the following is dictating what people can use GE for.

Also Game-Editor IS Game-editor and noone will start ruining its avocation. If you want to make screensavers, use Easy "ScreenSaver Studio" why the hell Game-Editor.
Turning Game-Editor into something else, is not possible unfortunatelly, but i can suggest you other good programs if you want to build Facebook games, animations etc if want.

update* -Just to add to this but you say it's not 7 years ago, but nothing about game editor appears to have changed much considering what was being worked on when I stopped using it. I know there has been work done behind the scenes but there is nothing I'm using now that wasn't available to me prior. Even the same bugs are present. So it's unfair to pass judgement about me not moving with the times when GE still has an option to compile for GP2X when that feature broke years ago.

This is what I'm always telling the forums, but they always say shut up and stay out of this (Not true words but what I hear in my mind(No offense guys but thats what you say in my mind))

[knucklecrunchgames]

Wow, and I thought I caused all the fights

No but really bat, it's great that you started this topic, but people aren't really gonna come swarming to ge if it is from 7 years ago. The people want new and the majority of gamers are players who play on their androids and iphones when they are bored. Yes there is iphone support. But what if we want to share images online, what if we want to get more dlc. GE needs one major update, and if you reply with crap like do you know how long it takes to code all that? and GE is for the people who love old games Well guess what? this isn't 1990 anymore guys wake up! Do you want ge to be for the elderly? I don't know about you guys but I don't.

[MrJolteon]

Nobody likes DLC though.

[knucklecrunchgames]

Nobody likes DLC though.

I do.

[MrJolteon]

Nobody likes DLC though.

I do.

So you like throwing money at big corporations in order to allow them to produce more crap?

[foleyjo]

This is what I'm always telling the forums, but they always say shut up and stay out of this (Not true words but what I hear in my mind(No offense guys but thats what you say in my mind))

That's kind of the impression I just got. In fact at what point that is basically what I was told.

Bats got some nice ideas for improving GE for current users though.

[NightOfHorror]

DLC isn't bad when they use it to improve a game such as New Super Luigi U. I just hate when they hinder you from the full experience of a game for DLC.

[skydereign]

I think what some people aren't realizing is gE does get new users everyday. They just don't stick around. What bat78 is wanting to do, something I've been working at in my free time, is to improve user retention. Just say 1000 people find and try gameEditor a month. Maybe only 20 of them will continue using it past a few weeks. Even fewer will continue it beyond that. You could add more ports which will definitely increase the number of users that will come to try gameEditor but it does not address the problem that only a small number of them will stick around. As an actual development environment, gE is severely lacking.

All the users on the forums are biased. By definition we have been able to look beyond gE's flaws, but the vast majority of people can't do that. There is a reason that no one I've shown gE to has started using it. And yes an html5 port would give people more of a reason to stay, but gE still looks amateurish. As an easy tool to pick up gE still loses to other programs like gamesalad, game maker, and construct2. But it is in a lot of ways more powerful than those, the problem is that appeal is lost on the audience you guys seem to want to target.

And to get these new fancy ports, we need a larger development team. And note that gE's developer retention is even worse than it's user retention. We have only had one developer that wasn't already connected with gE develop for it. We need to improve things so that people stick around. And a lot of the fixes suggested in these various topics simply aren't realistic at this time. Do remember there have only ever been three people working on gE's source. We need to work on what we can, and improving gE's core and user retention is something that we can do realistically.

[NightOfHorror]

I am trying to make GE3 to focus on the point of gaining more developers, as a matter of fact, that will be a good portion of it.

[bat78]

I am trying to make GE3 to focus on the point of gaining more developers, as a matter of fact, that will be a good portion of it.

Then join, NightOfHorror

[DeltaLeeds]

Wow, I've kinda been waiting for a topic like this. Yep, gE development is at the brink of a halt, but with this topic around, I think it might not. I chose advertising, because frankly, some of my friends in school got a bit interested in gE, one even downloaded it and started trying it around. Bat78, this is really an excellent topic for reviving gE. Now for replying posts...

@Foley's and Bat's arguments: Sure we can add html5 and android support, but as bat78 said transforming gE too much won't make it gE anymore, it'll make it something else...

I think what some people aren't realizing is gE does get new users everyday. They just don't stick around. What bat78 is wanting to do, something I've been working at in my free time, is to improve user retention. Just say 1000 people find and try gameEditor a month. Maybe only 20 of them will continue using it past a few weeks. Even fewer will continue it beyond that.

This is the sad truth... I see new users everyday, and only a few stay for a little while, and almost none stay even longer... I'm still active, I wish I can help, but I still suck in programming, and let's add the fact that life is always in the way for me (And most of us xD) I'm looking forward of gE's revival and development. I might have IT after graduating high school, and maybe I might be able to help.

but gE still looks amateurish. As an easy tool to pick up gE still loses to other programs like gamesalad, game maker, and construct2. But it is in a lot of ways more powerful than those, the problem is that appeal is lost on the audience you guys seem to want to target.

GE however is not amateurish, I mean, look at what lcl made, a 3D engine... Using.. gE. gE can make a lot more than just 2D games, though it's not really easy to do that. What we need is to make gE more simpler for doing more advanced stuff, like making an actor move to the actor closest to it easier. There should be some easier way to do it, instead of getactor, clone, and pretty difficult code for newbies to understand. 90% of people (Like me...) also hang around the forums producing very little games, and not posting in the gE development thread. Bat78's thread is actually really useful to make more people want to help gE's development. gE WILL grow overtime if we take action, but life is in the way, and it is easier said than done... Hopefully, more people will develop gE's engine than just the handful of people developing it now...

(Sorry for the shallow comment, I was in a stress rash when I posted this. (Lost mah wallet. D:))

[MrJolteon]

Wow, I've kinda been waiting for a topic like this. Yep, gE development is at the brink of a halt, but with this topic around, I think it might not. I chose advertising, because frankly, some of my friends in school got a bit interested in gE, one even downloaded it and started trying it around. Bat78, this is really an excellent topic for reviving gE. Now for replying posts...

@Foley's and Bat's arguments: Sure we can add html5 and android support, but as bat78 said transforming gE too much won't make it gE anymore, it'll make it something else...

I think what some people aren't realizing is gE does get new users everyday. They just don't stick around. What bat78 is wanting to do, something I've been working at in my free time, is to improve user retention. Just say 1000 people find and try gameEditor a month. Maybe only 20 of them will continue using it past a few weeks. Even fewer will continue it beyond that.

This is the sad truth... I see new users everyday, and only a few stay for a little while, and almost none stay even longer... I'm still active, I wish I can help, but I still suck in programming, and let's add the fact that life is always in the way for me (And most of us xD) I'm looking forward of gE's revival and development. I might have IT after graduating high school, and maybe I might be able to help.

but gE still looks amateurish. As an easy tool to pick up gE still loses to other programs like gamesalad, game maker, and construct2. But it is in a lot of ways more powerful than those, the problem is that appeal is lost on the audience you guys seem to want to target.

GE however is not amateurish, I mean, look at what lcl made, a 3D engine... Using.. gE. gE can make a lot more than just 2D games, though it's not really easy to do that. What we need is to make gE more simpler for doing more advanced stuff, like making an actor move to the actor closest to it easier. There should be some easier way to do it, instead of getactor, clone, and pretty difficult code for newbies to understand. 90% of people (Like me...) also hang around the forums producing very little games, and not posting in the gE development thread. Bat78's thread is actually really useful to make more people want to help gE's development. gE WILL grow overtime if we take action, but life is in the way, and it is easier said than done... Hopefully, more people will develop gE's engine than just the handful of people developing it now...

(Sorry for the shallow comment, I was in a stress rash when I posted this. (Lost mah wallet. D:))

He said it looks amateurish.

[skydereign]

Yep, gE development is at the brink of a halt,

Actually it's the opposite. gE's development will start up again since I am graduating this week. I don't intend to leave gE, and will therefore continue working on it bit by bit.

This is the sad truth... I see new users everyday, and only a few stay for a little while, and almost none stay even longer... I'm still active

I'm more concerned with retaining users that don't join the forum. Only a very small number of people downloading gE join the forums.

GE however is not amateurish, I mean, look at what lcl made, a 3D engine...

As MrJolteon points out, I did say it looks amateurish. But also gE as a development tool is still amateurish. And don't get me wrong, this doesn't mean you can't make amazing things. I am fully aware of the great things that gE can do. But that doesn't prevent the fact that there are still features lacking in gE that are essential for it to succeed.

[foleyjo]

I did a post earlier this morning but it's not here???
I can't remember it but it was good but heres the gist

@Foley's and Bat's arguments: Sure we can add html5 and android support, but as bat78 said transforming gE too much won't make it gE anymore, it'll make it something else...

This is not true. gE is for making games. Android is a big platform for the types of games being made with it, as are HTML5 and facebook. Just do a search for HTML5 games in google to see what people are creating.

Bat's argument about changing gE was more to do with my suggestion of using it to create websites, live wallpapers and screensavers. I understand where he is coming from but I also think it's a bad attitude to have. We should be limited by our imagaination (and the engine of course) not what something was initially intended to be used for. Remember GE was a 2D editor but it has evolved to use 3D too.
Something like an interactive screensaver for windows can already be made. It just needs to change the fileextension. It can't be to difficult to make GE compile an exe with a different file-extension. Nothing else changes about GE, it's still the same software with just 1 extra use.

And yes an html5 port would give people more of a reason to stay, but gE still looks amateurish. As an easy tool to pick up gE still loses to other programs like gamesalad, game maker, and construct2. But it is in a lot of ways more powerful than those, the problem is that appeal is lost on the audience you guys seem to want to target.

It needs both. There is no point in having a professional looking tool with outdated compilers but then there is no point having current compilers with an "amateurish" looking tool.

And to get these new fancy ports, we need a larger development team. And note that gE's developer retention is even worse than it's user retention. We have only had one developer that wasn't already connected with gE develop for it. We need to improve things so that people stick around. And a lot of the fixes suggested in these various topics simply aren't realistic at this time. Do remember there have only ever been three people working on gE's source. We need to work on what we can, and improving gE's core and user retention is something that we can do realistically.

I agree they do seem realistic at this time. But to imply that the features are not important because nobody has mentioned them before (as Bat did) is the wrong way to go about it.
Discussing the benefits of different features may help encourage someone to start working on them. Maybe somebody passing by the forums will think "Hey I can do that".
I would even attempt to do it myself if I had any idea what I was doing