I’m trying to get back into game development. This is something I keep coming back to in various forms. This time, however, I’m trying to actually make some games and get them out there, rather than trying to write engines from scratch and not getting anywhere. This article describes a tendancy of mine very well, and I’m trying to break out of that habit.

With that in mind I’ve started learning Game Maker. The reason I chose it is that it’s a full “batteries included” game engine that focuses on 2D rather than 3D. I prefer making 2D games as I feel I have some hope of making the art to go with them, and it simplifies the programming a bit most of the time. This ties in with my goal of trying to actually make things rather than getting bogged down in the programming side of things. The main downside of Game Maker is that it’s a paid product, although the standard version is free. Apparently there was a humble bundle where I could have picked up the premium version with all the optional compilers, but I missed that.

Over the last week or so I’ve gotten to grips with it and made a short game that I consider “complete”. It’s small in scope but I’ve implemented the whole of my initial vision. It’s a little Breakout clone with a fun twist.

Picture

My next and more ambitious project is an RPG which is best described as a combination of Pokemon and an obscure GBA RPG based on an anime called Medabots. I’m going to try and stick with it at least as far as a functioning prototype.

That’s it for now.