Garry Kitchen's Gamemaker
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''Garry Kitchen's GameMaker'' is an
integrated development environment An integrated development environment (IDE) is a Application software, software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. An IDE normally consists of at least a source-code editor, build automation tools, an ...
for the
Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...
,
Apple II Apple II ("apple Roman numerals, two", stylized as Apple ][) is a series of microcomputers manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1977 to 1993. The Apple II (original), original Apple II model, which gave the series its name, was designed ...
, and IBM PC compatibles, created by Garry Kitchen and released by Activision in 1985. It is one of the earliest all-in-one game design products aimed at the general consumer, preceded by Broderbund's ''
The Arcade Machine ''The Arcade Machine'' is a game creation system written by Chris Jochumson and Doug Carlston for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. Louis Ewens ported it to Atari 8-bit computers. Broderbund ran a contest from January–June 1984 ...
'' in 1982. Several sample files are included: a demo sequence featuring animated Sprite (computer graphics), sprites and music, a recreation of ''
Pitfall! ''Pitfall!'' is a video game developed by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and released in September 1982 by Activision. The player controls Pitfall Harry, who has a time limit of 20 minutes to seek treasure in a jungle. The game world is popu ...
'', and a birthday greeting. Two add-on disks are available for the Commodore 64 version: Sports, and Science Fiction. These include sprites, music, and background elements for loading into GameMaker.


Construction

GameMaker is divided into five tools, each of which consists of a graphical interface controlled with the joystick: * SceneMaker - for creating background graphics * SpriteMaker - for creating movable objects (i.e., Sprite (computer graphics), sprites) * MusicMaker - for composing musical scores * SoundMaker - for creating sound effects * The Editor - for programming the actual game The programming language used by GameMaker is reminiscent of other early programming languages like
BASIC Basic or BASIC may refer to: Science and technology * BASIC, a computer programming language * Basic (chemistry), having the properties of a base * Basic access authentication, in HTTP Entertainment * Basic (film), ''Basic'' (film), a 2003 film ...
, but with several proprietary and tightly integrated graphics and sound facilities. Rather than enter the language via keyboard, GameMaker uses a novel contextual menu-based system. The user selects possible instructions, and then customizes the active objects of the instruction, such as variable names or numbers.


Limitations

Some limitations of Gamemaker are imposed by the Commodore 64 architecture, and some by the software itself: * Only eight sprites may be displayed at once (a C64 limit) * Each sprite and background may have a maximum of four colors, out of a palette of sixteen (a C64 limit) * Only two stationary background screens may be employed per game (a GameMaker limit) * Only 3553 total bytes are available for game resources — including sounds, music, sprites, and code (a GameMaker limit) * The games themselves may not access the disk (a GameMaker limit)


Reception

Arnie Katz in ''
Ahoy! ''Ahoy!'' was a computer magazine published between January 1984 and January 1989 in the US, covering on all Commodore color computers, primarily Commodore 64 and Amiga. History The first issue of ''Ahoy!'' was published in January 1984. The ...
'' stated that with ''GameMaker'' "a professional designer could use ''Gamemaker'' to produce a commercial-quality game, and even amateurs will be surprised and gratified". ''
Computer Gaming World ''Computer Gaming World'' (CGW) was an American Video game journalism, computer game magazine that was published between 1981 and 2006. One of the few magazines of the era to survive the video game crash of 1983, it was sold to Ziff Davis in 199 ...
'' called ''GameMaker'' "excellent". ''Compute's! Gazette'' called it "a thorough, complete package that makes it relatively easy to design arcade games that actually work."


See also

* ''
The Arcade Machine ''The Arcade Machine'' is a game creation system written by Chris Jochumson and Doug Carlston for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. Louis Ewens ported it to Atari 8-bit computers. Broderbund ran a contest from January–June 1984 ...
'' (1982) * ''
Pinball Construction Set ''Pinball Construction Set'' is a video game by Bill Budge written for the Apple II. It was originally published in 1982 through Budge's own company, BudgeCo, then was released by Electronic Arts in 1983 along with ports to the Atari 8-bit comput ...
'' (1983) * ''
Adventure Construction Set ''Adventure Construction Set'' (''ACS'') is a game creation system written by Stuart Smith that is used to construct tile-based graphical adventure games. ''ACS'' was published by Electronic Arts in 1984 for the Commodore 64, then for the Appl ...
'' (1985) * '' Shoot'Em-Up Construction Kit'' (1987) * '' Arcade Game Construction Kit'' (1988)


References


External links


Official GameMaker WebpageBeginner's Guide to Game Development BasicsThe GameBase64 Collection
a compendium of user-created games {{DEFAULTSORT:Garry Kitchen's Gamemaker Activision DOS software 1985 software Apple II software Commodore 64 software Video game development software Video game IDE