33 replies to this topic

[BretHudson]

GMINDIE AND GMVISION HAVE TEAMED UP TO PRODUCE a Game Maker survey which will produce a list of what Game Maker users do on average, as well as help with the development of the popular software, Game Maker, by YoYo Games, Ltd.



The survey is exactly 60 questions in length, and features questions like What was the first version of Game Maker you ever used?, What new feature(s) do you think Game Maker needs?, Do you think the mac port is good, or a waste of money?, etc.

Contributors: (Name / Amount of question contributed)
Brian Fetcher (44), Micah Stairs (5), The Hidden App (4), Cole Marlar (3), Joshua Pedroza (2), Mike Scott (2)

Click here to take the survey!
Help GMIndie, GMVision & YoYo Games by taking and sharing this survey.

Article written by GAME MAKER GAZETTE
  -Bretboy129 ~ Bret Hudson

Edited by bretboy129, 29 August 2010 - 03:20 PM.

[thatshelby]

I took it, interesting. Some answers could use work, because the Other didn't work for me.

[2Dcube]

Done!

This made me laugh:

* 42. Do you use debug mode?
Yes
No, but I accidently use it sometimes

[robert680]

Some of the questions assumed you use GM8, and I use 7...

[theg721]

Did all 60 questions, and I think you'll laugh at some awnsers

[newkill]

Yeah I asnwered all questions too

[paul23]

wow many questions I can't fill in:

* 22. What kind of music do you like to use for Game Maker games?

never used music

* 23. Level designing - Which do you prefer building?

what fits best in the game

and all those things "do you use" - well I do, if it is the fastest & most clear way to solve a problem. (How can anyone say he doesn't use them..)

* 56. NEW feature: Do you use the 'Splash' actions?

- missing: "no, since my game didn't fit for such & programmatic I could incorporate messages better into my game"

also: other doesn't work - you still have to click an option.

[roytheshort]

Done

[TheMagicNumber]

This made me laugh:

* 42. Do you use debug mode?
Yes
No, but I accidently use it sometimes

Well, I know I miss the button.

[Tepi]

Ok the survey had two kinds of questions:

• What's your favourite color? (Who needs this information?)
• Aren't all the useless features that are in Game Maker all useless? And aren't stupid Yoyogames doing everything wrong? (Answer options: "a) Yes, Yes, but not often".)

[RTII]

Aren't all the useless features that are in Game Maker all useless? And aren't stupid Yoyogames doing everything wrong? (Answer options: "a) Yes, Yes, but not often".)

Yes, the useless features are useless, but I find the useful features quite useful. And I love YoYo Games.

Did the survey.

[True Valhalla]

Some of the questions were fairly pointless, and you'll get some inaccurate data because the other function didn't work. However, it was kinda fun, so yeah, you've got my answers.

[iluvfuz]

I enjoyed question 42 as well. I can remember all of the countless times I went for the green Run button and accidentally pressed the red.

Anyways, I thought I 'd be able to see the results of others after taking the survey.

[luenardi]

i tried filling it out.. but it wont let me continue..
if you fill the other option it tell me to still pick a question..

Edited by luenardi, 29 August 2010 - 10:49 PM.

[Andy]

I took it!

[BretHudson]

Dear Game Maker Community

I think that a lot of Game Maker users have forgetten that there are both beginners AND experienced users. The survey is pointed towards questions that BOTH the beginners and advanced users can answer.

I think it would be rude to make any questions unanswerable or cause confusion because both groups cannot answer it.

There were many questions I wanted to put in the survey. But at the same time, I didn't want to make Game Maker users take 25 minutes just to fill out a survey. So we covered the basics in addition to the features for Mike Dailly (because he wanted to collect a list). Plus, one of the other questions was for Sandy Duncan.

We actually did have a nice collection of questions for the advanced group, but-- that didn't work out when we actually thought about it the way I just explained above. Maybe we'll release a separate survey for the advanced users who have lots of experience with Game Maker.

None of the questions in the survey are useless, since we have a reason for them, and need them for one reason or another. Almost all feature related questions are there to see how many people use it. For example: If nobody uses a feature, we know which features are useless (so to speak). If it served a good purpose, it wasn't a useless question, wouldn't you agree? If not, get some help...

Hope you understand. The survey is fine if it serves its purpose.

I would like to thank all of the Game Maker users who took a few minutes out of their busy schedules to fill out the survey. This will help both us and YoYo Games. Don't forget to get your friends to take the survey too!

Peace

-- Brian
Founder & CEO of GMIndie


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@Tepi lol not quite. We weren't asking anyone questions that won't have useful results.

@RobinT Well, if enough people use the features, they aren't useless. That's where the survey comes in handy--to find out how many people use the features.

@True Valhalla One person's trash is anothers treasure. It wasn't so pointless after all--now we know how many Game Maker users do what...

@paul23 It might be your browser. As far as I know, it works with Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.

@iluvfuz You will get to see the results in a week. It'll be posted on the Gazette, and this topic.

@luenardi Yeah, it's a stupid PHP problem. If you choose "other", we can only see what you put in other in the results. Don't worry about that.
-Bretboy129 ~ Bret Hudson

Edited by bretboy129, 30 August 2010 - 03:49 AM.

[Revel]

I took the survey.. Some of the questions were lame, but hopefully this actually helps GM a bit..

Edited by Revel, 30 August 2010 - 04:36 AM.

[True Valhalla]

@True Valhalla One person's trash is anothers treasure. It wasn't so pointless after all--now we know how many Game Maker users do what...

I'm not saying it was pointless in general, I'm saying some of the questions were(seemingly). However, if you believe there is a use to the data for those questions then at least someone will find it useful.

On a side note, perhaps you could ask Mike/Sandy to do a glog post on the survey, so they can get some feedback from the YYG community too.

-Tv

[BretHudson]

I'm not saying it was pointless in general, I'm saying some of the questions were(seemingly). However, if you believe there is a use to the data for those questions then at least someone will find it useful.

On a side note, perhaps you could ask Mike/Sandy to do a glog post on the survey, so they can get some feedback from the YYG community too.

-Tv

We actually already asked them! We are just currently waiting for a reply. Thanks for the suggestion though!
-Bretboy129 ~ Bret Hudson

[NakedPaulToast]

The quiz has some design flaws and its usefulness is suspect. For example you must choose a single GM version. I use GM8 and GM4Mac. You are forced to answer every question, though some don't apply. Having a N/A, for some questions is important. Some questions are subjective and won't have concise meaning to every one. For example, "How often do you save your project?", the choices are meaningless.