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How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

gamemakerblog.com

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Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#51

Post by Nekorosu »

derefr wrote: post #46
Nekorosu wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can see your point but I can also see a clash with reality because a lot of successful mobile games are built with lua-based game engines. Maybe the clash is due to the fact bad code has nothing to do with the quality of the gameplay and rather simple game with a top-notch gameplay can be build with duct tape and bubble gum. From my experience the tools which enable makers to create better gameplay are the tools wh…

Note that I didn't say anything about the programming quality of the resultant games. Gameplay is a matter of design quality. We can build tools that help us make better games, but they have nothing to do with programming tools (tools that help us make games, better.)

My fault. I skipped the "Maybe we could rely on tools..."

Now I can see your real point.

I tried to read a book on game design which abstracted out the game mechanics into formalized simulation but it was too technical that was taking out the fun from the process so I stopped reading it. The name of the book is Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design.

But yes, maybe there'll be tools advanced enough to help not taking the fun out.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#52

Post by TrueValhalla »

saejox wrote: post #34
speeder wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Beside the skull incident the guy in the other reply mentioned, we had for example: DRM from Game Maker 6 and 7, made the software refuse to launch entirely sometimes, it was specially worse when other products with the same DRM were installed (interestingly, the other products worked fine... I believe GM implementation of the DRM that was particularly broken). Also the forums frequently had people complaining of the…

Sound's terrible. Also, the blog's author sounds just like "I'm earning $10000 a month, click here to learn about it" ads. I suspect he is in collusion with yoyo games.

I'm not associated with YoYo Games in any form. Game Maker Blog is a completely independent news resource.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#53

Post by kbenson »

speeder wrote: post #13
kbenson wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any (non-identifying, if you prefer) details?

Beside the skull incident the guy in the other reply mentioned, we had for example: DRM from Game Maker 6 and 7, made the software refuse to launch entirely sometimes, it was specially worse when other products with the same DRM were installed (interestingly, the other products worked fine... I believe GM implementation of the DRM that was particularly broken). Also the forums frequently had people complaining of the…

It upsets me when people and companies react without rational thought. If you've already bought three copies of their software, you've demonstrated a business relationship, and there's no lost revenue from you using a cracked version. It should be viewed as an extremely relevant bug report; your customers are resorting to back-channel distribution (it's not piracy, you've stolen nothing as you are licensed to run the software) or altered versions to get around your software's bugs. Not software problems or $limitations, bugs*.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#54

Post by NoodleIncident »

mercurial wrote: post #14
popopje wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

think i made my point rather badly.. gunpoint and spelunky were my examples of good gamemaker games which make money.

Hotline Miami also uses Game Maker.

Huh. I did not know that. It's obvious now that I think of it...

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#55

Post by krapp »

popopje wrote: post #2

it's unfortunate that the process doesn't result in games that are particularly enjoyable to play. Spelunky (the original - the newer, paid version is not made with game maker though was made possible through the popularity of the original) and Gunpoint were both made with game maker and have been very successful monetarily - Gunpoint in particular was the first game the author made, and its success means he is now a…

I think the problem in this case is a tool like Game Maker doesn't teach you design, and creating a game (which is good, fun, with original graphics, etc) takes a lot more talent and time and work than the typical Game Maker user (which is one person) is ready for. So you end up with a million Mario clones and every now and then something decent.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#56

Post by TrueValhalla »

mratzloff wrote: post #26

So if I can sum up: the author made some games with Game Maker, made a small profit, then started primarily making libraries for Game Maker. Now he buys GameMakerBlog.com and posts an article about how much money you can make with Game Maker and you should really use it.

Uh, not quite. Try this summary: spent years using GameMaker, eventually made enough money from games to live comfortably, used that success to build a platform and audience, leveraged platform to sell a few products (in order to diversify income) while continuing to make games.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#57

Post by TrueValhalla »

dave_sullivan wrote: post #40
mratzloff wrote: post #26

So if I can sum up: the author made some games with Game Maker, made a small profit, then started primarily making libraries for Game Maker. Now he buys GameMakerBlog.com and posts an article about how much money you can make with Game Maker and you should really use it.

I'll bite because I've seen this sentiment generally on HN. Basically, everyone knows the way to get rich in a gold rush is to sell picks and shovels rather than mine for gold. Start as an application, then become a platform. The cynical view of how this works is: start doing something, find out you can make a little bit of money doing it, decide you can make a lot of money by essentially selling services around doin…

Good comment.

To clarify, I only sell a single information product, and the reason for publishing it was simply to diversify my online income instead of being solely reliant on HTML5 sponsorships. Overall, it has only made up about 10% of my total revenue, so it's not a big part of the equation.

That said, I'm certainly not against selling picks and shovels.

Re: How I Make A Living Using GameMaker

#59

Post by amarsahinovic »

astrodust wrote: post #47
amarsahinovic wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As with everything else in life, it depends. If you want to build 3D games, then by all means, use Unity (or equivalent). But if you want to build 2D games, I think that GameMaker does a good job (I know you can do 2D games with Unity, but still).

Unity offers a full C# or JavaScript(-esque) development environment, far more flexible than GameMaker. It also supports 2D or 3D depending on your preference, even allowing you to switch between them if you want. Keep in mind a lot of "2D" games are really just 3D ones with no depth because OpenGL and Direct3D are the only way to do real-time graphics. Unity "free" is superior to GameMaker in virtually every regard,…

It probably is superior (I haven't used it, read a few tutorials just to check it out), I'm just saying that there are people who don't need all the stuff Unity provides and are very satisfied with GameMaker.

I remember using GameMaker years ago, and was very pleased when I made my first "game", and all I did was use couple of basic features. For the things I am interested now (simple 2D games), GameMaker seems like the best choice. When Unity 4.3 goes out, I'll check it out and see how it compares to GameMaker based on my requirements.

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