Blog

Post 58 of 70

<< Last61605958575655First >>

Bacteria 2 craze

Yeah, I know, I'm neglecting this place.

Some interesting updates. Bacteria 2 download stats have been sky rocketing. With last month the game finally reaching GameHippo the attention soon spread around. 2 weeks ago it was featured on Novinky, a Czech website giving me an additional 5000 downloads. A few days ago Bacteria received 5 golden doves from Completely free Software, a members only site. Next month it's going to be featured on the coverdisk of BRAVO SCREENFUN, a german magazine with about 300.000 readers.
All in all, Bacteria 2 is finally getting some more attention. It broke the 15000 downloads border and is currently at

http://download.simondonkers.com/counter/14/image.jpg

from my website. Note that several websites mirror this game rather then hotlinking and killing my server with 1gb/hour at peaktimes.  
[/pluggage]

What do you think of the popularity of Game Maker games and which games do you know that gained popularity outside the GM world? Discuss

User comments

S-Chuck posted at 2006-04-04 08:53:03
Congrats Simon! I wonder how many of those who have downloaded this game have actually FINISHED it, though

Simon Donkers posted at 2006-04-06 00:14:28

Thank S-Chuck. From all the stories I've heard about people playing Bacteria 2 I've never heard any story of anyone beating Bacteria 2 correctly. Excluding that 'bug' you found in the last level allowing you to win quickly wink

.

Regarding the topic of GM's popularity. I was plasently surprised yesterday when reading this Gamasutra article (no reg required).
Although the article has some negative reference to GM as far as instable but still, a tool that can make a prototype game in 24 hours with people using it with no experience in GM at all does still make a nice promotion for GM I think. Anyhow, back on-topic. What do you, yes you, think of the popularity of GM games outside the GM community?

S-Chuck posted at 2006-04-06 21:32:38

GM already has one strike against it before any game is ever released, and that is its always being considered a "beginner's tool" (which it is, but only in certain respects). However, seldom is it ever mentioned beyond that point. So, for a GM game to become popular, it has to get over that "first hill" so to speak of not having the feel of a GM game before it is even considered a "good" game in the hopes of becoming popular ("The game was created with GM? I'm not even going to try it."

To put it another way: anyone can build with LEGOS, but not everyone can build with wood and nails. If you build an average cabinet out of wood, the average Joe will probably be impressed. Build a great cabinet and even expert wood workers will be impressed. Build an average cabinet out of giant LEGOS and certain LEGO enthusiasts will tell you that you did a nice job, but most of the same average Joe's will not be (as) impressed because they know that they could have done the same just as easily and the same wood workers won't be impressed at all.

For this reason, when a GM game becomes popular, I consider it a great testimonial to the game creator being able to surpass the criticisms and in turn show up the critics that GM is not ONLY a tool for creating "your first game" and "simple games". To create a great, popular game, it requires just as much planning and hard work.

S-Chuck posted at 2006-04-06 21:38:12
Why did my last post appear out of order (at the top instead of the bottom?) There's no telling where THIS post will appear!

Simon Donkers posted at 2006-04-06 23:36:51

Fixed, appearently my system had an unexpected 'feature' placing 'long' posts on top. Although I'm not entirely sure where this feature comes from I know overrule it by forcing to follow the post date. It's a shame it took so long in order for this 'bug' to be visible.

I quite often see replies like "I'd give this a 5/10 but since it's your first game you get a 7/10" or "I'd give a 5/10 but since you made this in [complicated program] I'd give you an 8/10".
Personally I value a program for it's final product. I see no reason to value a program because of the way it was made. I do value the creator on these apects though but I can quite easely enjoy a good game even if't made very easy.
I must admit though that the thought quite often crosses my mind when playing a game how I could do something easely in GM/other tool but if a game is good enough I just enjoy it.

Why grade something higher if the creator was 'stupid' enough to make this in a far more difficult programming language then he could with the same result.
If you make a good game you need to make sure it does not look like the programming environment but that it looks like a game. One often heard compliment of Bacteria 2 is that "it doesn't look like it's been made with GM".
I've been to Legoland a very long time ago and if you view the big structures there made from Lego then from a distance they don't look like Lego at all but look like big statues and buildings. They make me forget they are made from Lego and just make me see how well the end product is.

Just my 2 cents (plus a test to see if 'long' posts are now handled bugfree)

why posted at 2006-04-23 12:29:34
Why havent you make the map editor so we can USE it

Ghostkeeper posted at 2006-06-16 09:55:59

Talking about neglecting this place... <img src=

'> Well maybe that's because EO is down, and this blog is hosted by EO.
I don't understand Why's question. Which map editor?

I agree that Game Maker is a beginner's tool, but it can make advanced games as well. Just look at the high rated applications and games like Hover Tank 3D and Marzipan.
I like your comparision with Lego, S-Chuck! :p
Game Maker has made the dreams of many novice programmers come true. Ever since I played "Age of Mythology" by Microsoft Games, I had dreamed of making my own version of that game. I had sorted everything out in the years that followed, all units, buildings, monsters, the menu, scenery, campaigns, the editor, etc. I learnt about engines, and wanted to buy one, until I found out that they were like 100.000 euros apiece. I learnt about models and thought of incredibly high polygon count models, but I never came to actually bring my thoughts to practice. Then when I found a post on a webdesign forum saying something about Game Maker, and I took a look, and found the program GM5.3A. I was finally able to make the game (until I discovered this would take a lifetime on my own and extremely much programming experience).

GM is just a hobby for most people, not a tool to make extremely complicated games with.

SD: With the blog system synchronisation with Eo I've made the two systems so dependent upon each other I can't easely hack myself betwene them and still post comments.
Why's comment about a level editor is about an unfinished feature you can find in the source code of Bacteria 2.

Reply

It will take a little while before new replies become visible. Do not repost your reply!

61605958575655