221 replies to this topic

[Nocturne]

So is the game maker team doing something regarding making game-finding easier? ex: move the sandbox or something?

I think you can safely assume that the Sandbox will not be getting any higher a profile than what it has right now...

[robert680]

For a while YYGs was interested in targeting the games the community was making. That was part of their slogans and it was prominent when one visited the web-site.

They are no longer interested in that, and I don't blame them.

The majority of the games are absolute crap. Catch the clown and other tutorial remakes, poorly done clones. They simply didn't portray GameMaker and its abilities favourably. It was likely costing YYGs a bundle to maintain and didn't translate to sales. YYGs dumped three years of resources into that crap-hole and got little back in return.

They have since decided to focus their efforts towards appealing to a more professional user, with this we now have GM:HTML5, and Studio around the corner. I'm thrilled their efforts are targeted towards developing the products.

As much as I'd have to agree with the fact that most games are crap... I have had the perspective of the other side and will have to admit that maybe it's unfair to assume that all crappy games don't deserve to live.

Someone once said something like 'hey, just because we [n00bs] can't make totally awesome 3d realistic games doesn't mean that you should ignore us. we aren't as good, so what? isn't the point of game maker to help us who have no experience and skill in making computer games to start out and improve that?'. And I'd have to agree. My first few games were nothing exciting, but they were my first attempt at creating computer games. I was excited and proud of myself, who wouldn't be? To be told 'your game isn't good enough to be featured on the website or in any list and because it isn't top notch professional we are going to remove it since we all think it sucks... oh and by the way good try on your first game' makes people like me back then feel that we would never had potential and that we aren't capable of making computer games, which means we don't use game maker and mark overmars (back then) or Yoyogames (today) won't get any sales from us n00bs.

So in a sense, from their perspective, I feel that if we want those n00bs to become better at making games, we should encourage them so after they make their catch-the-clown-clone that is really bad, they can be more familiar and comfortable with game maker by that point and try harder to make something original. Of course, there are some who will never want to learn, and only make rip off and they are just trolls and such. I don't mean them. I mean people like me who were completely serious in wanting to make cool games but didn't have the knowledge or skill or experience to do so. And might never be encouraged to improve if they keep being told that their "clone sucks".