As I was grousing, browsing, etc. around the tech news sites, I found an interesting article stating that Arm Holdings boosted the clock speed on a dual core Cortex A9 to 2 GHz to make a point, specifically that ARM processors are a viable replacement for chips like the Intel Atom. I've heard the general news that Game Maker is being rewritten in C++, but I do not know if that is just the runner or the IDE or both.

I know GM7 and below use DirectX, but the Mac port must be using OpenGL. If we have now a C++ runner with OpenGL, what else is there preventing ports to popular ARM platforms, like, say, the iPhone? I know quite a few people of all ages who would (and do) fork over a few bucks for iPhone games. It seems to me that ARM is the future of the low end computing market, and Game Maker games are smack in the low end of the gaming market.

Can someone who has at least a general grasp of CPU architectures explain to me why this would or wouldn't work, speculate on the future of GM games, and perhaps pontificate a little?

I'm not sure if there has been an official word on any c++ runner. Last I heard, they were developing the Game Maker Mac IDE/Runner in Lazarus (A Delphi emulator), which means that its not written in C++. I'm also quite certain that the GM 8 Runner/IDE are still running from Delphi/Direct X.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks!

There is no version of Windows for the ARM architecture (at least not a desktop version of Windows).

For every smartphone you would need to link against the libraries specific to that smartphone. iPhone development isn't happening either because you would need to actually compile the game code to get past the App Store restrictions.

So in summary:

Is it possible? Yes.
Is it practical? No.
Will YYG do it? Probably not.

He was asking if a c++ runner using Open GL would be able to run on another OS such as iPhone OS. Unless I interpreted it wrong.

No, you are correct. However, for every smartphone you would need to link against the libraries specific to that smartphone. iPhone development isn't happening either because you would need to actually compile the game code to get past the App Store restrictions.

So in summary:

Is it possible? Yes.
Is it practical? No.
Will YYG do it? Probably not.

Correct. Windows has nothing to do with this.
In this Glog comment, Chronic says
That would lead me to believe that there is indeed a C++ runner that should be portable to other architectures.


The App Store actually bans interpreters? If so, why? Some sort of "security"?

Now, I know little about the iPhone specifically, but OpenGL and quite a few variants are available on ARM. My uneducated logic says that you ought to be able to use the same OpenGL commands on each smartphone using that particular smartphone's OpenGL libs. Is that what you were saying? If this is true, it seems like it would be trivial for YYG to add support for a half-dozen or so major smartphones that use standard API's.

Rewriting the entire graphics engine - to take it out of DirectX and put it into OpenGL - for Game Maker, is not a trivial task.

Then there's the fact that DirectX is used for more than just graphics.

EDIT: Sorry, I'll try harder to apply my signature to myself too.

After a little bit of research, It looks like the Iphone OS, has a lib called "OpenGL ES" which is the "Open GL" for Iphone.


I found someones comment on another forum that reads:




But it's just a forum. How can a forum possibly have any valid information, right?

They already rewrote it without DirectX for the Mac port.


Well, there's also stuff like OpenMAX, OpenVG, and OpenML. Khronos Group's page claims OpenGL ES works on stuff besides the iPhone/iPod Touch, and it is actually a subset, so it seems like YYG ought to be able to pick a set of libs like those and run with them. This kind of thing could require more options in the game settings menu that would restrict the functions available based on what platform(s) you planned to compile for, but that should be technically quite feasible.

Yeah, that would be a nifty little feature, but for some reason I am highly doubting that YYG would do something like that.


I do agree with you though. If they could just find some libraries to use on the iPhone (or other mobile devices), then the Arm processor should be able to work.

No, because Apple wants to. If there is an interpreter on the iPhone, then Apple can't verify the interpreted code through their App Store reviewal process since you can easily change the code and make the iPhone do something Apple hasn't approved.

Flash CS5 actually compiled Flash applications to binary code just so that they could have the ability to run it on the iPhone.

I didn't realize Apple was that paranoid. If we can't have iPhones, then let's look even further ahead to Android. As I think about it, this would be even better than iPhone support, since it can give us a single environment on many devices. Verizon has now signed a deal with Google, and Android will be mainstream very soon.

The iPhone currently has the attention of mobile developers, but when Verizon starts selling Android devices, there is going to be a huge app vacuum. If Game Maker games were available on Android, they would be part of a much smaller pool than what is available for PC or even the iPhone, meaning much more exposure to potential customers.

You're required to use Java to develop on Android.

And, there's little breathing space for sloppy code as it is. If GM were to go through the insane process of being ported to work on the Android platform, even simple games would have a constant framerate of less than 10 or 20.
(I [am/have been] developing for Android)

Well, NPT said that GM8 Does not have the C++ Runner, and if GM8 doesn't have it, i'm almost certain GM7 or older does not either.
And no C++ runner means no Arm, I really doubt it, But if its done(and it works) I'll be darned.

GM8 does not use the C++ runner, however there is a C++ runner in development.

Sandy has posted about it on the GLOG, Game Maker Blog has commented on it, and I have tested a leaked version of it myself. It exists.

It, hasn't been implemented in either GM8, nor GM for Mac, they use the Delphi and Lazarus runners, respectively.

I'm not sure what the reasoning is behind the C++ runner not being implemented in 8, nor Mac, but can speculate that release of both quickly, was the priority. I suspect that in the future there will be a unification of the Windows/Mac codebase and at that time the C++ runner will be used.



The movement of the runner (and player) to C++, and unification of the codebase is the key to GM's future, once that is done porting to other platforms, while still challenging will become feasible.

Achieving much higher clock rates on the ARM, does demonstrate some potential, but don't read to much into it. Like most systems, running at a higher clock-rate isn't the issue, running at a higher clock rate while keeping the system cool is.

A 2 gig ARM is cool (but probably very very hot), getting it into a tightly packed embedded device, such as a phone, with acceptable temperatures is still a long way away.