Free Shmup-makers for pc?

[Lili-Xiang]

Is there such a thing? I wouldn't mind trying one out...

[battlegorge]

I have seen a shmup maker somewhere in the shmup-dev forum but i cant find it now.
I recommend gamemaker:
http://www.gamemaker.nl/
Its easy to learn an has only few limitations.

[Ixmucane]

Touhou Danmakufu, see this english-language introduction:
http://pooshlmer.com/touhouwiki/index.p ... _Danmakufu

[worstplayer]

Game Maker is clearly the best option (unless you want to learn some real programming language). Other apps are either very limited or hard to learn.

Edit: There's also http://game-editor.com/ which is similar to GM, and can also make executables for Linux, cellphones and GP2X.
But i don't like it's GUI.

[Lili-Xiang]

Arigato gozaimasu for the replies to my topic.

LOL! Can't find the english tutorial for the Touhou one (but it looks interesting)

[Shatterhand]

game maker is a real good option indeed.

[Kaiser]

game maker is a real good option indeed.

It's drag&drop interface gets awful if you want to create some decent patterns, or even damn simple player shooting... no delays function in GUI

[battlegorge]

For delay or cooldown you can use the alarm events.

[Kaiser]

For delay or cooldown you can use the alarm events.

tried, they didn't work at all....

[Shatterhand]

there a lot of ways it can be done using the drag&drop interface, you just need some imagination

No doubts though, you will want to learn GML if you want to do something really good. But basically that's the way it is, the better you want your game, the bigger is the effort you need to pull it off, no matter of what tools you are using.

[Shion]

For delay or cooldown you can use the alarm events.

tried, they didn't work at all....

Then you are doing it wrong. Set the alarm once using:

Code: Select all

alarm[0]=100

Of course you can change the alarm number, or duration. 100 here means 100 frames. Which is about 3 seconds in a room running with 30 speed/fps. Just make sure you only set it once. If you put it in an event that's continuously being executed, it will refresh the timer.
If you drop this code in a create event, it will only be executed once. This can also be done with the drag and drop UI, but I prefer working with code only.

If you want something to happen, say, every 10 steps, just put another alarm set in the alarm event. This way it will keep looping.

Here's a small example of how to create a 360 degrees spread, released by an enemy every 20 frames:

Code: Select all

for (i=0; i < 360; i+=10) {
    ID = instance_create(x,y,obj_bullet);
    with (ID) motion_set(other.i,4);    
    with (ID) image_angle=other.i;
    }
alarm[0]=20;

This code can be placed in an alarm0 event. Make sure to have an object called obj_bullet. Don't forget to initialize the loop by setting the alarm once before (like in create event).

GM has almost infinite possibilities, if you know what you're doing. Learning GML is fairly easy compared to other languages, because it includes a HUGE library of game functions which you don't have to worry about.

[Shatterhand]

what Shion said


I can even code in "proper" languages, but for making games, Game Maker makes the job so much easier that I prefer to use it over other languages.

[Kaiser]

Gah, i need to learn how to code in game maker at all : P i+=10 means it shoots bullet every 10 degrees from 360 degrees? awesome

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Gah, i need to learn how to code in game maker at all : P i+=10 means it shoots bullet every 10 degrees from 360 degrees? awesome

haha I wish it were that simple.

The i variable is an iterator. Its value gets increased by ten with each loop. Programming is forcing data to get evaluated within a series of looping commands. Data is processed while inside the loops if a loop is no longer needed and the looping condition is met, it is programmed to exit said loop and the program continues to the next line or simply exits.

I'm not an advocate of Game Maker ( I did start in it however) you would be better off learning a lower level language or something in between like Blitzmax. Game Maker presents a poor foundation for understanding how classes and objects work. Plus you will be fighting 12-15 year olds every time you want to know the best way to handle a situation. I would be glad to teach you myself in Blitzmax if you wish. If you are interested drop me a PM.

[Shatterhand]

Game Maker presents a poor foundation for understanding how classes and objects work.

This isn't much of a problem if the guy isn't interested in actually learning programming, but just want to make his own games in an easy way. I wouldn't recommend Game Maker for someone who actually wants to learn programming properly, but if the interest is in just making games in an easy-to-learn way, Gamemaker is a good tool for it.

Plus you will be fighting 12-15 year olds every time you want to know the best way to handle a situation

This is a serious problem indeed

Blitzmax is paid, isn't it? Game maker is free, so that's another reason for me to recommend it (The "pro" version is also very cheap)

[Pixel_Outlaw]

Perhaps I was too hasty in my reply. Game Maker is great for the price Blitz max is 80 usd. If you are just out to make games and don't really plan on programming outside of the inbuilt capability then Game Maker is probably alright. Personally I found that I wanted to do more complex things and speed was important. Many of the quality games contributed to shmup-dev were done in Game Maker so it would be unfair to say that you can't make good shmups with it. Thanks to some of our members the genre is gaining popularity on the Game Maker forums meaning that there is a chance for faster help. If you do use it try to break free from drag and drop as soon as possible. You don't want to have 1000 lines of button code.