Gamemaker or Gamesalad?

ADSentertainmentADSentertainment Member Posts: 397
in Miscellaneous
I'm sure plenty of people have gotten this before, but what do you prefer? Gamemaker, or Gamesalad? I personally think that Gamemaker has a lot more to offer, as you have more things you can mess with and preset variables, However, in Gamesalad's defense, they're only in 0.10.3, while Gamemaker is in version 8.1. Gamesalad however is more efficient in terms of programming. You don't have to have an event like an event, or whatever Gamesalad's equivilent of an Event in Gamemaker is (Rules maybe?). AND Gamesalad has different variable (attribute) types, whereas Gamemaker has one type of variable where you have to specify in the coding wether or not it has only integers, if it's true or false, if it's a string, etc. Which I find very inefficient. Also, making persistent variables that don't reset when you go to another room (Gamemaker)/scene(Gamesalad) like in Gamemaker. You can specify what a variable is upon startup of the game (only Global attributes though usually), and it's much more difficult in Gamemaker to do that. I do like however how Gamemaker has a coding language along with the drag and drop interface, as it gives programmers a decision of wether or not you want to do it the easy way with the drag and drop, or hardcode it, which I try to do as much as possible in Gamemaker. As I stated before though, Gamesalad is only in 0.10.3 beta, while Gamemaker has been around much longer and is 8.1. Another thing, is that I find the new Gamemaker programs a complete and total ripoff in terms of cost, you have to pay $200 for each platform for it to run on, $200 for windows, $200 for HTML, $200 for iOS, Android, Windows store (I think?), etc. And from what I've seen, the only real difference between the new one and 8.0 is the color scheme. I paid the original $25 for gamemaker, but now I can't even upgrade to 8.1 since I can't put in my activation code for the program anymore and I have to now pay $40 dollars for it. And the lite edition of Gamemaker takes a lot of tiny things away from you, and adds a watermark on your game, whereas the free Gamesalad doesn't come with a few features when making a game. These features are very big though, like inApp purchases, Game Center leaderboards, hyperlinks, etc. So you still want to buy the pro version, but you can still make a decent and advanced game in Gamesalad. I plan on getting pro once (or if) I get enough money from Galastar when it's finally released (hopefully by August). You can still make a good game with Gamemaker, but nothing very great unless you have the pro edition of it. Gamesalad does cost a bit, and it's yearly, but I still think it's worth it for the great features it comes with.

To conclude all of this: Gamemaker is more advanced, but tedious to work with, is a complete ripoff, and does too much for you (premade health, score, and lives variables) While Gamesalad might not be as advanced as Gamemaker, but it's easy to work with, and comes with a decent price I think since it offers a lot of great features with it, and I think you learn more about game designing with it, even though Gamemaker has more game designing features

also, I still use both, but I only make Gamemaker games for fun, while my Gamesalad games are serious projects.

Please post your opinions on the two programs. I'm very interested to hear them! :)

Having trouble with your game? Sounds like a personal problem.

Comments

  • tenrdrmertenrdrmer Member, Sous Chef, Senior Sous-Chef Posts: 9,934
    honestly this is not the place for a which do you think is better question. OBVIOUSLY the majority of people here prefer GameSalad. Otherwise why the heck else would we be here.
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  • ADSentertainmentADSentertainment Member Posts: 397
    honestly this is not the place for a which do you think is better question. OBVIOUSLY the majority of people here prefer GameSalad. Otherwise why the heck else would we be here.
    That is a good point actually ._. I'll remove this and probably put it in a less biased area.

    Having trouble with your game? Sounds like a personal problem.

  • Braydon_SFXBraydon_SFX Member, Sous Chef, Bowlboy Sidekick Posts: 9,273
    Free is always better, eh?* ;)



    * In other words...GameSalad! :D Never tried GM

    My GameSalad Academy Courses! ◦ Check out my quality templates! ◦ Add me on Skype: braydon_sfx

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    Yeah and with @codewizard running things now GS will be making major leaps on a monthly basis and by next year most outsiders are gonna be like wow that's gamesalad.

    Guru Video Channel   | Lost Oasis Games | FRYING BACON STUDIOS  

  • LoungeGamesLoungeGames Member Posts: 86
    I have used both and I prefer GameSalad. I like it that GameMaker has a grid and does not load every time you change the room/scene, but I think GameSalad is much better to work with for publishing and definitely is better for using rules. Also, if I had to use a scripting language, I would rather learn a real one like Lua or JavaScript. It also depends on how serious you are. GameSalad has mostly people who are serious and want to make their own, professional games.
  • brickamatorbrickamator Member Posts: 316
    I like game maker but thats for pc and is a lot more expensive. so, i like gs
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