Tag: HTML5

Game Maker HTML5: First Impressions

reviews
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[Editor’s note: Be sure to read the follow-up to this article.]

I’ve only been a Game Maker user since August 2010, but I have found it very easy to pick up and learn quickly — so much so that by February 2011, Packt Publishing noticed my blog and asked me to contribute technical review on their upcoming Game Maker Cookbook. Game Maker has its quirks, but it has one of the gentlest and most accessible learning curves of any programming environment that I’ve tried so far. It has its detractors, and it does have some weaknesses, but overall I like it a lot.

YoYoGames is giving away licenses for their still-beta Game Maker HTML5 for participants in Global Game Jam. Kudos to them. What a great way to support indie game developers! Considering that the beta for GM-HTML5 is $100 for a license, and Global Game Jam is free, this is a rather good deal. I happen to be participating in Global Game Jam this year, so it provided me with a code that allowed me to download a copy of the software for use with a time-limited license key.

Wasting no time, I spent the rest of the evening producing a quick demo game to get familiar with the new program, and learn how it works. I was able to build a mostly-working Space Invaders clone in just a few hours.

Here, then, are my thoughts on the product so far: (more…)

Game Maker HTML5 test drive & demo game!

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Too tired to write full blog post. This shall suffice for now.

I finally got my hands on Game Maker HTML5 beta, and whipped up a quick HTML5 Space Invaders demo. It’s decent, but has a number of bugs that are not present in the Windows .exe build.

You can play it here:

https://csanyk.com/cs/releases/games/HTML5/SInvaders/

What’s broken in HTML5: The game over function, and the level reset function. That’s basically it.

Still unimplemented: sound effects, high score board, the mothership, invader speedup.

I cheated a bit and made the invader movement be smooth instead of stutter-stepping. If I go through the trouble of improving this all the way, I’ll take care of that at some point.

Look for a post on my thoughts about Game Maker HTML5 sometime after Global Game Jam weekend.

In the meantime, play the Space Invaders demo and let me know how it works. I’m curious how it performs in different browsers, so definitely drop me a comment if you try it out, and let me know how it is on your browser.