41 replies to this topic

[ellisvlad]

What makes a game good? Originality is hard to muster up these days, and even when you have a brilliant game idea, how do you get it known and played? What I think makes a game stand out, is how the developer interacts with his community. Your opinion isn't going to be exactly the same as that of your audience. You need to be able to get feedback from your players, and statistics on your game as much as possible so you can expand your target audience, and get more people interested in the game. And that, is where Zure comes in.

For those who don't know what this project is about, I hope to bring a Steam/Xbox Live/PSN/whatever you want to call it type of platform to Game Maker, allowing users to login to a single account and be able to do an enormous variety of things.

For developers, having an account will allow you to register your games to Zure and receive dynamic statistics and feedback from the system, and the enthusiastic community.

If you are gamer, Zure will allow you to connect with friends, and easily contact both developers and other players to discuss whatever you choose. Whether you have a brilliant idea that you would love to see implemented, or just want to boast your high score to other players, Zure and its community are awaiting your input!

Leave a post here or on the Website (Website address will be changing mid July)
Thanks guys :D Vlad

{Will be uploading a new demo vid tonight!}

Edited by ellisvlad, 16 August 2012 - 09:28 PM.

[D1g1talAli3n]

• Zure sounds like an excellent name. Just make sure you're not violating any copyrights.
• Yes I would be. But there are competitors, like CrySet and Reflect Games
• Color combinations that work well: Gray/Green (would match the GM theme), Gray/Orange, Gray/Blue (Preferably light blue). You could perhaps go for the Windows 8 "Tile" theme which is kinda popular recently.
• I hope you know what you're getting into because it's gonna be one hell of a task.

Edited by D1g1talAli3n, 09 April 2012 - 04:16 PM.

[TerraFriedSheep]

I think a system like this would be good, especially if you create a system for highscore sharing and stat sharing etc, much like Game Center for iThings and the achievements system on Kongregate. If this became more than just a place for playing GM games then I'm sure it could become very sucessful, and with ad sharing as an extra incentive to use it I'd certainly look into using it for games designed for PC's.

[ellisvlad]

• Zure sounds like an excellent name. Just make sure you're not violating any copyrights.
• Yes I would be. But there are competitors, like CrySet
• Color combinations that work well: Gray/Green (would match the GM theme), Gray/Orange, Gray/Blue (Preferably light blue). You could perhaps go for the Windows 8 "Tile" theme which is kinda popular recently.
• I hope you know what you're getting into because it's gonna be one hell of a task.

1) Thanks I probably will use Zure.
2) Good to have healthy competition, everyone likes a underdog
3) nice suggestions
4) i think ill manage, hopefully

[YellowAfterlife]

People tend to do this kind of project every now and then.
The problem is, making your own 'Steam'-like system is a very ambitious task.
Not as many experienced programmers would be able to push it until finished state, not talking of novice and intermediate users that think in lines of "Look, N is just (...). I think I can do that!".

Last project of this kind that I've helped with, was Icosa. It have made it until fairly functional beta, and that is considerably far for things of this kind.

I am not trying to demotivate here, but think carefully when planning such projects. They consume resources of many kinds, many of which are not easily refillable.

[Overloaded]

Sounds like a good idea to me. Continue hard work!

[ellisvlad]

I know what i am doin is ambitious, but i need a challenge that will keep me entertained very bored recently. plus, i recon i will manage it :D

[Dylan93]

1) Can you think of a name for such a system. I've only thought of Zure. If you like Zure please say so, or if you would rather a different name tell me here
2) Would you be interested in using such a system in your games?
3) color scheme?
4) anything else you want to say or ask I will answer every question

1) GM Connect, Connect, Zure sound good too.
2) Depends, is the system safe, efficient, perhaps customizeable and the features of course.
3) Like I said, maybe let the developer choose the colors for the overlay in the game.
4) No...

@D1g1talAli3n
Cryset is indeed working on a Steam like thing for Gamemaker but Reflect on the other hands is only an account system and not a Steam like application.

I know you did something like this before, it used string_execute() functions, just saying that stuff like that is NOT safe and efficient.
Good luck and keep us posted.

[D1g1talAli3n]

...

I am not trying to demotivate here, but think carefully when planning such projects. They consume resources of many kinds, many of which are not easily refillable.

Yes I also cannot stress what you're attempting to get yourself into. I am not underestimating your abilities, for I am sure you will surprise me; but a task like this, if to be done by one person, would require incredible skill. Skill equal to or beyond the abilities of our moderators and administrators (which, I know, are extremely talented game designers).

[ellisvlad]

@Dylan93 I remember my old one too, since then I have been hard at work learning all about new technologies and languages, and I think now I am finally ready :D
@D1g1talAli3n I know it is quite difficult to do, but I see my self with the skill set required, and I am ready for such a task, be ready to be pleasantly surprised :D

[D1g1talAli3n]

@Dylan93 I remember my old one too, since then I have been hard at work learning all about new technologies and languages, and I think now I am finally ready :D
@D1g1talAli3n I know it is quite difficult to do, but I see my self with the skill set required, and I am ready for such a task, be ready to be pleasantly surprised :D

Well good luck! And if you need any help, we'll be here

[Oelip]

lol ok.


1. Name sounds very good actually yet déjà-vu.
2. If it works well, and doesn't eat up too much resources, the maybe yes.
3. Something desatured for the background with elements colored.
4. You do realize this is very hard to do? If you do, all I can say is good luck. I support you.

[JAk HAk]

Not a big fan of the name, but I wish you well. I certainly would use the product, both to distribute and play.

Perhaps the name could be more indicative of its nature, such as Game-Shelf. Unfortunately, with GM's name being as boring and descriptive as it is, there's no good way to play off of the name and be unique. Like, "Game" here could be referring to GameMaker, but outsiders would never know. Some other names I came up with (and checked that they aren't already in use): Cubby, Mine, Hoard, Medley. I especially like Mine, as it's a double reference to things you possess and the process of sifting through to find gems. "Zure" looks good, but it's pretty close to Zune and I'd never know whether to pronounce it Zoore or Zhure (where zh represents the consonant fricative ʒ like in Asian and garage). It's always in your best interest for people to be able to pronounce a product name properly.


Anyway, I've also helped out with one or two of these in my time, and it's unfortunate that they never became very successful. The problem, I think, is that they were made in GameMaker. While GM has its strengths, you really shouldn't be using a frames-per-second approach to software like this, as that's too processor intensive and cumbersome for a program that's not going to perpetually prioritized, and GM no-longer allows you to make software without a rigid FPS approach. I hope I'm not discouraging you--just helping you be more aware of what you're getting into. I'll be keeping an eye on this.

[ellisvlad]

@JAk HAk Your comments were not at all discouraging, in fact, 'Challenge Accepted!'.

Info to anyone following the project:
Development is going well. So far this is all working:

• Server for Zure Client to connect to.
• Website template created.
• Set up databases for users, friends and games.
• Client connecting and login works.
• Client notifications are shown in a notifications bar.
• Started a UI for client, however I would prefer to keep the images to a minimum for the ui, because the filesize bumped up 900kb when i added a background, WIP.

Also, what features would people like to see? I'm thinking, Account, Friends, Cloud data, Auto-Update, what else

[JAk HAk]

Cool. Well, a good messaging system and a chat system would be nice. Games should have user ratings in relevant areas, as well as possibly staff ratings (or an area highlighting certain games at a time). Being able to see what games your friends have, play the most, what achievements they've earned, et cetera.

[D1g1talAli3n]

Also a really good looking and well organized UI goes a long way.

[darkai]

Do you plan on making this with GM or a real programming language?

[ellisvlad]

I have already started development in the form of a c++ dll for Game Maker, so it will all be C++.

[connor4312]

Hey ellis. I recently drafted a concept for a system that allows users to create MySQL databases, tables, etc. (the whole shabang). Here's the link, everyone feel free to comment. I've not actually started programming yet, but I'm interesting in working with other people (partly for the motivation ). Do you think I could sign on with your project? I'm very experienced with GM and am fairly experienced with C#, and am also extremely experienced with websites and databases, which you would definitely need for your project.

[ellisvlad]

@connor4312 Hi, thanks so much for the offer, while I would love some help with this project, I have exams at school starting in a weeks time, so development will be very slow if any for the next month or so.. this means it would be very hard to get any contact between us both. However, after my exams, my last is on June 27th, I have 11 weeks of freedom, in which I will be developing this a lot more :D that would probably be a much better time for some help with the project, so if you are still interested by the end of June, I would be more than happy to have another pair of eager programming hands working on this :D