Forum Overview :: Black Hole :: Re: Try GameMaker 7.0

[quote name="Bananadine"][quote name="Ice Cream Jonsey"] Yeah, I've heard some good things about Gamemaker 7. I went and bought something called Blitz3D as an impulse purchase last year. I haven't done much with it but make the Polybius logo descend from the top of the screen and then segue into the Tempest clone they provide, for that Youtube video we shot last summer. I *think* Blitz3D compiles to Windows, Mac and Linux, but for all I know other systems do that as well. On one hand it would be nice to learn how to do stuff in OpenGL or DirectX, but I'd be making nothing but slop for five years and it's not like I'm going to make it my job someday. A system like Gamemaker seems like an okay compromise. ICJ[/quote] Java 2D is also a decent way to fling sprites around in a window without having to learn a huge amount of arcane stuff first or put together a complicated set of DLL's and command-line scripts just to begin working--you only need to download Eclipse (the best programming environment I've ever used, and free at that!), make a project, throw in whatever simple tutorial code you can find online, and start tweaking it. OpenGL is more powerful and just as free, but harder to learn and harder to set up. Game Maker is still a lot friendlier to beginners than any such general-purpose programming setup--it tells you what you can do with its little event and command icons, rather than opening the whole world and expecting you to choose the right thing, and it takes care of a lot of basic sprite-engine functions like movement and collision.[/quote]