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I'd really like to see some checks built into the data structures, so that if you (for instance) try to use a map function on a list, it'll throw an error. I can't tell you how many times in the past that has given me trouble.

Also, improving the documentation on string functions would be wonderful. It would be really nice to increase the clarity of what parameters and return values start their numbering at 1, which ones start at 0, etc. I find myself having to create a new sandbox game just to ensure I don't have any off-by-one errors when I do a lot of string handling. And it almost always takes at least three revisions to iron them out.

Increased control for audio files would be wonderful as well. It would be delightful to be able to seek a location in background music, for instance. And .ogg simply has to be supported by default -- there's just no question about it.

A built-in code obfuscation tool would also be absolutely wonderful. After all, obfuscation is essentially the only protection we have against losing our entire source files. Having some built-in utilities for this seems important.

Native support for skinning the window would make me very happy as well. There are some applications where skinning is a very important thing to be able to do, and it would quite simply be wonderful to have a built-in system for it.

And it's already been said a million times, but yes, mplay_ should definitely be removed or fixed. Not only is it slow, it has some pretty glaring problems. If a new online library is added, it must be very, very well-documented. We must be told exactly how it works. After all, it hopefully goes without saying that people will be attempting to implement cryptographic protocols over it. Speaking of which, it would be nice to have built-ins for some useful crypto tools. I wouldn't mind a hash function (a couple members of the SHA family maybe?) and a block cipher (I'd pick AES or Twofish). Maybe more than one of each -- flexibility can be nothing but good.

In addition, Game Maker should definitely increase its support for very large numbers, and its capabilities in that regard should be far better-documented. There are times when you just need to be able to handle a number that ends up being annoyingly big. Like 256 bits. And honestly, at the moment I don't trust Game Maker to correctly handle numbers that big.

It would also be kind of nice to have an eval () function. By the way, why is eval.( censored when you remove that period? Anyone know? PM me if you do, kthx. But yeah, it would make some things a lot easier. I honestly don't want to touch execute_string if I can possibly avoid it in absolutely any way, so having a slightly safer alternative for checking the value of strings would be wonderful.

And shortening the names of functions would be a lifesaver. I mean, really -- it's a bit of a pain to type out stuff like part_system_automatic_update or highscore_set_background or background_create_from_screen or ds_priority_change_priority time and time again. I'm a "keyboard person" so it irks me to click on the suggestions. It would be delightful to have shorter function names, or at least have some suggestion system (kind of like in OpenOffice Writer, where it sometimes offers to fill in words for you).

I'd also like to see more done with the built-in PRNG. For instance, maybe some documentation on how it actually spews out its numbers? It would be great to be able to know how big its period is, for instance. Or knowing how many outputs an attacker would have to see to determine the state of the generator. That would really be nice.

Also -- giving scripts their own namespace seems like a rather good idea to me. I don't know why it isn't done that way, to be honest.



And I also want a pony.

I thought about that, but what about calling functions within the expression? Some, like ds_list_set_value(), are obviously not part of an expression, while others, like ds_list_find_value(), would be completely legitimate. The only way I can think of to allow the correct functions and forbid incorrect ones is to simply have a map that includes every function in Game Maker, along with all my scripts, and keys each to a flag saying if it's harmful or not. And not only would that be slow as hell to work through, it's a little bit too much work for me.




Edited to fix a typo.

...yeah... That's why I used the full word. Also, that's not a built-in. I'm using GM7.0 if that makes a difference.

Very nice. Your demo seems to work perfectly, though since the camera starts pointing straight up it took me a while to figure out where the terrain actually was.

The simplicity of your system is impressive, it hides the nuts and bolts of terrain generation quite well. One question: Will lighting "just work" with this or will it take some modification of your scripts?

Yeah, it looks like you're using || incorrectly. It should look like this:

if (a = "yes") || (a = "no") || (a = "bacon") || (a = "whatever")
{
b = 1;
}
else
{
end_game();
}