My first encounter with Game Maker was actually in December 2003, when I downloaded the software but was puzzled as to why the buttons didn’t work. As it turns out, they were drag-and-drop. I didn’t figure out I was supposed to drag them until I gave the software another shot in February 2004. That’s when I officially set forth to become a game developer – for better or worse.
In 2004, I was really fascinated with the concept of making a console game with destructible terrain. (You can only imagine how I felt when Minecraft arrived.) I began learning to code in Game Maker the way most people do – downloading the example games, taking the code apart and seeing why things work the way they do. I think this was the most magical time for me as I was learning to make games, because for the very first time I was peeling back the veil that conceals how games work.
I made “Soldier”, a top-down shooter, simply because I wanted to. There were several other simple games I made at the time that sadly don’t survive. Some of my first games were example edits – a common method of self-expression for starters. It wasn’t too far from level editors in a video game – you took an engine you barely understood and added levels and new features, learning as you break things along the way.
I remember one platformer edit I really loved, and still wish I had a copy of. That was when I began getting into designing elaborate bosses. There were also at least two example games I modded into Sonic fangames – a pseudo 3d running game and a top-down snowboarding game.
After about six months of playing around with drag-and-drop in GM, I had learned enough to switch to writing code instead. Coding was much more efficient and encompassed far more than the surface features you got from drag-and-drop. I became enamoured by the infinite possibilities of what I could code.
In October 2004, I set forth to program the destructible terrain-focused game I envisioned as “Battleground Zero”. It was a relatively straightforward 2d platformer. You played as a tank, very similar to Blaster Master from NES (which I could never beat). Most of the terrain throughout the game was green, giving the game a very lofi retro look that recalls the era of 90s PC Gamer demo discs.
You could theoretically tunnel through anything, but resources made it limited so you couldn’t just blow up the entire level. In practice I could’ve made the navigation a lot more user-friendly, but then again, you’re in a tank. You can jump, you can shoot, and you can fire rockets upwards. Pretty standard for a 2d platformer in the mid-2000s, but I regret not thinking outside the box more.
Then again, development only lasted about two months or so. I made 50 levels with 10 uniquely designed bosses that I was particularly proud of. There were an additional five hidden levels that led to a secret boss if you found them all. I have only the vaguest memory of where some of these hidden levels are, so I doubt anyone will ever find the secret ending in Battleground Zero.
When I released the game to the Game Maker Community in January 2005, I only got a handful of responses, but one of them was “darthlupi”, a major inspiration of mine with his game “Legend of Shadow”. He congratulated my destructible terrain code for running smoother than any he had seen thus far. With that nod of approval, I decided I would continue my journey making games. Coding was already an inescapable part of me by age 13.
I began working on another 2d platformer that would’ve been a Jumper clone – or a Celeste clone, depending on how you look at it now. I was a huge fan of Maddy Thorson’s games even then. But the source code was sadly lost during a thunderstorm in March 2005. I thankfully still have an .exe, albeit only of the tutorial and first level of the game. I imagine my example edits were lost during that thunderstorm as well.
I continued experimenting with other game ideas, such as drawing out landscapes for a potential point-and-click adventure game. But my own personal life took over for a while, and I became uncertain about Game Maker’s future for a brief time when its creator Mark Overmars sold the software to a then-unknown company called YoYo Games in January 2007.
In that time, the original cast of the Game Maker Community underwent seismic shifts. Peripheral GM-oriented sites also suffered problems. The largest unofficial GM community, Game Maker Games, went offline sometime in 2008. In addition, 64digits was hacked and lost most of its original userbase while it was down in 2009. By the time I returned to release a new game in 2010, most of the people I knew from the golden age of indie games had moved on.
[ To be continued…? ]
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