The way I see it is that there are 8 different type of Game makers/developers who are creating games:

Ideasman:
A person who has many ideas for a game they want to develop - these ideas are amazing, usually so amazing that they cannot properly put them into there games.

Spriter:
A person who can create great visuals and usually focuses there games on high graphics.

Programmer:
A person who is very experienced at coding/DnD and can create very "feature full" games with lots of cool features and gameplay - yet most of the time their graphics let their games down.

Musician:
A person who creates all things to do with sound to put into there games - from creating the best sound effects to the most inspiring in-game musics. This type of gamemaker is rare.

Fast creator:
A person who can create cool mini games in small lengths of time. There games however are not the type of games with huge storylines or beautiful graphics.

Beginner:
A person who can create very basic games with allround stats, but is still learning the fundementals.

Master maker:
A person who is very advanced in all categories, they can create profesional games with time given. They need almost no help at all. They will create there own sprites and music and rely on almost nothing but the gamemaker software.

So now you've seen all the categories, please tell me which you are and why!

I am a Ideasman, I have great ideas but I have not got all the skills I wish to have

I would have to say I am either a programmer, or an ideasman.

GMKR Type : I am a Spriter and Fast creator for the mini games, can i create mini games in 30 minutes or 1 hour

Beginner.

I'm a programmer. I usually make my own graphics and ideas.
But I can't call my self a professional in all these categories though.

so many different game makers LOL.

LOL.

I would say i am a Programmer, That description matches me exactly XD

Your categories are all described quite "extreme" so that I apply to the descriptions of most of those things partly, but none exactly...

Ideas: I can produce pretty decent original ideas, but I wouldn't consider them "amazing" in any way. But I like thinking of new ideas and when I think of them, I envision how I want the game to end up. And indeed sometimes that doesn't quite work out (but fortunately, sometimes it would)

Graphics: I'm not really good at spriting, but I do try to create everything myself and having done so in the past, I learned a lot. I may not be good at spriting, but at least I try to make everything fit together. Biggest item of pixel art I used from others is chumbucket's platform character outline.

Programming: I started the whole game maker thing because I liked programming (and games) and I still like the programming part and am pretty decent at it, but I won't call myself an expert. Also I am too lazy to produce "very feature full" games, I like to create gameplay, not computer programs (menus and other navigational stuff that should all be in computer games are actually not part of het game, only part of the computer application that runs the game), so usually I rather device an alternative to the default menu structure to make it easier to create.

Sound: I try to create all sound and music for my own games, but it would be wrong to say I'm great, or even good, at it.

Fast: I can't really create games very fast - I can create engines very fast but spend a lot of time on extras (and testing )

Beginner: well, I was at this stage when I started using BASIC, since that was my first programming language, but when I started GML, because of a few years of experience with BASIC, I had the fundamentals (the logic of programming, so to speak) already learned

Master: The fun thing is, I think your "master maker" description applies most to me. Not that I think I'm an expert, but indeed I ask only very few questions on game making (of course, in the beginning I did more often), I try to create everything myself (idea, engine, graphics, sound) and actually never used DLLs or extensions; the only external code I used are a few scripts from gmlscripts.com.

I don't think "Beginner" is really a category on it's own, just an inexperienced version of one of the other categories.

Most of the beginners in the GMC woul probably be ideasmen or programmers, just not very good ones

I am definitely a Programmer. My graphics suck...

Master Maker. I don't really have much to explain why.

I'm a spriter

Programmer + Spriter mainly.
I'd say master if it weren't for music, which I can't do for the life of me.
It never stops me from finishing games, but it constantly stops me from releasing them to public.

Programmer + A tad Musician.

I program well, but can't sprite. Plus I do a little composing here and there, not much with SFX though.

Beginner and Ideasman. Love to make ideas, but lack of skills.

I agree with Erik... Your categories aren't all very good. While I could find some really good examples of people fitting to some categories and while I kept nodding on some categories, I must say there are currently whole lot of people who don't fit into any of them because of the way they are brought up. Sometimes too much detail, sometimes just not very common.

Graphics must be a let-down? It doesn't take a genius to know how to code and make good graphics.

(Also, programmer... DnD ?)
Why not beautiful graphics? What could really limit that?

The category that recieves most respect and consists of super-humans? Rely on almost nothing but the Game Maker software? Like not relying on any DLL or an external editor and then professional games?

Where's the options for those who are designing games but have not earlier published any? Does the number of games made in a time given reflect your true talent?

I'm beginner spriter, a moderate programmer, a good 'ideasman' who doesn't have enough time to put them into action...Which category should I be in? (Err...Maybe you should add a 'Jack of all trades, master of none' category)

I am mainly an "ideasman" but also a programmer to some extent (not a beginner, more like intermediate).

I see my self as excelling in programming.
Graphically, I am new but improving.
Ideas/design, I like to twist existing game concepts, but have difficulty thinking up something original. Any tips?
I create most or all of my resources(unless working together with another person). This does not created as good of a result as if I used better quality resources done my others, but it grows me more and moves me closer to being able to create a polished final project.
I, however, do not agree that a "Master" must use no resources external to GM. I wanted 3d physics for my games, and it is unreasonable to expect that to be done in realtime using GM alone for a complex environment. I went ahead and created GMNewton, but I don't think that makes me any less of a GM user.
It is interesting to see how different people specialize in certain areas over others, and with good structure it is easier to make a polished game with multiple people than attempting to fill all the shoes yourself.

There's my input I rarely post in community topics...

-hanson

I see myself as a musician, ideasman and programmer. I can make graphics too, but at a relatively low level. About fast games, yeah i enjoy doing that but unfortunately i'm the only one who likes them meaning they usually are algrorythm tests or all sorts of simulations, optimisation challenges etc..
Also, i have to agree with Erik, i mean beginner is not a category at all; the categories in my opinion are not based on skills.

I'm a selfish game maker.

I'm a game designer and programmer.

I'm a master maker. I mastered Gama Maker, and can make some of the best graphics out there. My sound designing skills are astronomical, so my games always turn out professionally. /Sarcasm

Although I do admit to being a master maker, this is only because I usually don't ask for other people's graphics and sounds. I can do it all on my own. Though I am a programmer when it comes down to exact description.

EDIT: Good one KC LC. That makes me an annoying game maker.

Me too

Here, its hard to explain so i'll show you:

--------------------
|Top Programmers|-----------knows EVERY line of code
--------------------
| |knows 3d coding
| |Knows multiplayer coding
| |Learned all 2D code, knows basics of 3D and multiplayer coding--------------------------ME!
| |Learned all 2D code
| |More advanced, but still learning
| |Learning code
| |Advanced D&D
| |D&D
-------
|Noobs|------those people that don't know what D&D is.
-------

I guess you could label me a "Master Maker" by your definitions. I don't use teams, and I am fairly capable of filling every role that takes part in making a game. Although, you might want to change the last sentence - "and rely on almost nothing but the gamemaker software". I usually rely on my graphics programs, music programs, and other things for content.

I suppose I would consider myself the "Master Maker", for lack of a better term .
I make everything for my games myself, that's what makes game making fun. When I was first starting I was always full of idea's, but when I tried to make the ideas into a game I never had graphics or sound effects, so my games never got very far. Thats when I decided I had to learn to do everything so I could truly express my idea's into a game.

Unfortunately, I've only released about 1/100th of what I've created, because I'm a perfectionist and I can't get things perfect yet . Don't worry though, I'm working on something thats going to seriously push the boundaries of what Game Maker can do, then I can perhaps proove myself worthy of the term. That is if I ever finish it of course!

I'm a lazy gamemaker

Definitely something I'm working on.

It really seems that the quality of the categories is a matter of viewpoint. Everyone seems to think first about a super category: one where no one can belong to. Really, think about this example:
Like does remembering every single inbuilt function and variable make you a top programmer? No it doesn't. A person who knows every single library for C++ doesn't exist, but that doesn't mean top programmers don't exist.

In my opinion this is not even near to being necessary. To me a "top programmer" is one that knows the structure of the programming language, knows how to code fluently with it and can adapt new functions without much effort even if he/she hadn't used them before. And no, a "top programmer" or "master maker" doesn't have to know how to code in all aspects of a game. That's like requiring an undergraduate to specialize in every single available field. I think this mentality is mainly due to the lack of perspective about the gaming industry outside Game Maker.

Sure, there exists people who are somewhat near to the ideal super programmer everyone dreams about. But the definition doesn't reflect the true skills of such user. There are quite many programmers who may really be more skilled than he/she is, but belong in the lower categories just because of the rather utopistic restrictions in the definitions of the categories.

The special categories such as musician and spriter do fulfil their mission, but they are also quite rare cases. Most of the people take place in between, which is why I think the number of categories should be increased or the contents generalized.

As for me, I'm partly an ideasman (20%), partly a programmer (30%), partly a spriter (25%), partly a musician (5%) and partly a master maker (20%). Without some restrictions, my percentage would be much higher at the second and last mentioned categories (and the others would naturally be lower).

a top programmer is the one who can search for a function in then manual/api and read it and know how it works...

Bummer, it appears I don't fit into any of these categories, by your descriptions.

Well tell me the things you can and can't do and I'll make a catorgory for that.

Beginner for sure! I have yet to finish my first game!

Of the ones up in your list I'd say I'm a "master maker". Or maybe a "programmer", but without the fail in the graphics department.

I am the good kind.

Programmer

Definitely a programmer.

Master maker.

Game Maker cramps my style.

Did you guys know that C++ has a built in list class? I've been using the vector class for everything, but then comes the list class, and now I'm in heaven for organizing my texture handles.

Tell me, if it was built in would you have to type "#include <list>"?

I'd have to call myself a programmer.

Ideasman and intermediate coder here. Got some graphics skills too, but not nearly enough to count (unless we're talking the 8-bit retro type).

Kinda wish to be a master maker someday... but that takes time, patience... and a lot more music-composing knowhow than I have right now. ;p

I'm more of a graphics person than a programmer.

I'm definitely a programmer.

I lol'd so hard... *highfive*


I consider myself a precursor to "Master Maker". I'm roughly-efficient in all aspects(besides programming) of making games. I can do mostly everything myself, and it all goes relatively smoothly. I do have constant overdesign problems with my bigger projects. And they usually end up being such a mess of cluttered features the game isn't even fun anymore.
I also would say that I fit Tepi's description of "top programmer".

ideasman trying to get the hang of programming

Not to brag (though I do LOVE to brag), but I think I'm in the "Master Gamemaker" category, for the reason that I do all my own coding, graphics, sounds, music, etc, and all are below par, so to speak, but not necessarily a hole in one. There should be another category for this, I should think, but this is most fitting I believe. My problem is the time limit thing, as I have yet to finish a game... and it's been ten months now since I started!

[offtopic]Speaking of not finishing a game, I have about twelve right now that are around 50% done lol.[/offtopic]

EDIT: To clarify, by "below par", I mean above average, not subpar. It's a golf metaphor, which is funny because I hate golf.

If you're the standard for selfish, we're all doomed to be self-indulgent time-wasters.

More on topic though, I honestly don't really like the idea of people trying to form a comprehensive list of the basic types of game makers. I think I'm a little bit of several of those categories!?

I'm not sure why you say that a Musician as a type of Game Maker is rare. How do you know this? Are you just saying that it's not too common for people making games to only make music? I think that's kinda obvious, in the same sense that not too many movie directors make their own music for their productions. It's just plain easier to have somebody else. (who usually has relatively little knowledge of GM because oh so coincidentally they've focused in the past more on music)

I don't appear to fit into any category. With the cup half full, I guess it makes me unique. But with the cup half empty, I'm no good at anything.

I am probably a programmer.
althought, I do have some ideas.

I am pretty much all of these categories on a small scale because I can make not-too-bad games with no help that look alright and are kinda fun. I'm no where near perfect though