Your thoughts on GameSalad or GameMaker

stephensmithstephensmith Member Posts: 1
edited October 30 in Working with GS (Mac)

Hi I am a new game developer trying to make a game for mobile platforms. I was very successfully learning programming till i learned about GameSalad and another GameMaker. I thought if these things are so popular why is every game not being made on these. I am confused, should i use them or not. I want your thoughts on it. It seems like a short and easy route but I feel something fishy and unsatisfying about it ?

Comments

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,159

    Why is every game not made with this: both GameSalad and GameMaker have some limits on the types of games and power you have over customizing games. Here's how I'd look at things:

    • GameSalad - 2D, Single Player, you don't have a lot of experience coding or would prefer build in a UI in a low code / no-code
    • Game Maker - 2D only, more powerful as it allows you to code which means more customization, but a bit harder to learn
    • Godot - 2D & 3D, not quite a powerful as Unity and Unreal (yet), but is open source and completely free
    • Unity / Unreal - 2D & 3D, even more powerful, but much more complex to use

    Basically each tool fits different roles depending on your skillset and requirements. GameSalad targets either people who don't have the mindset for code or coders who want to rapidly prototype with a GUI and quick preview.

    Game Maker is (or at least was) pretty popular, but has a bit more of a learning curve. For a time, it was the darling of the indie game set, used to make a lot of games.

    Unity & Unreal are pretty much the "standard" now. There are other game engine, of course, but those are only used by people who want to learn to build from scratch or need to squeeze the last bit of performance out of their games.

    Godot is a relative newcomer, is open source, and is sort of bridging the game between things like GameMaker and Unity (especially if you're concerned with licensing issues)

  • adent42adent42 Key Master, Head Chef, Executive Chef, Member, PRO Posts: 3,159

    If you're coming from a web programming background another way to look at it:

    • GameSalad = Square Space or Wix
    • GameMaker = WordPress
    • Unity / Unreal = React / Vue
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