37 replies to this topic

[Express Game Maker]

We are pleased to announce Express Game Maker (EGM)!


Ever wanted to make games but you don't know how to program or draw? Wait no more! Express Game Maker is a 2D game making software that requires no programming or artistic knowledge to use. Make games for Windows, Xbox Live, and Silverlight.


What makes Express Game Maker different from the rest?

Intuitive user-interface… powerful C# engine… ease of use… loads of features… and multi-platform deployment.

EGM is designed from the ground up to be user friendly as well as powerful. Keeping in mind both beginner and advanced users, EGM has features to cater for all.

Beginner game developers will be able to take advantage of:

• Project templates that come with pre-setup data to quickly get them started.
• Resource packages that provide graphics, font and audio they can use in their games.
• The release version of EGM will also come with a built-in tutorial system to guide you through creating your first game.

Advanced users will be able to make their own project templates and take full advantage of:

• The custom databases.
• The powerful event editor.
• Multi-Variable System.
• The particle system.

Programmers can enhance their games by adding their own code to the fully open source C# engine written on top of XNA and even share the code with others.

ExpressGameMaker.com/Features
More features will be revealed every three days (some sooner), so check back soon.


ExpressGameMaker.com – Our main website
facebook.com/ExpressGameMaker - EGM on Facebook
twitter.com/EGMaker - Follow us on Twitter


Place one or more of these in your signature and spread EGM! (Link back to this thread or our website)









The Release Candidate’s Release Date is planned to be sometime in February or March 2010.
More info will come to follow, so check the website frequently.
expressgamemaker.com/BetaPortal.aspx

[LaDestitute]

No offense, but it looks like a copycat of RPG Maker XP.

[Chief]

pro to look-a-like:
Similar alyout, easier to learn for those uprgading to it from RM.

Con to look-a-like:
can be assumed to be a rip-off, in which case is unattractive to those of whom are not willing to research the program properly.

[Polraudio]

Looks like a nifty little maker. Cant wait to try it.

[Agckuu_Coceg]

C#? Interesting. That is, such projects can be used in professional web applications? Is not bad. I hope that this thing will not keep you waiting long.

I personally know quite a lot of similar projects, and I'm curious to see your decisions.

[Broken Messiah]

even the tilesets are from xp, im interested tho

[Marked]

This looks really interesting. I'm a bit surprised everyone else is saying this looks so much like RPG Maker. I'll admit the interface looks very similar from a thumbnail but apart from that this is its own engine. You guys should look at the screenshots in full-view.

What I would really like to see is a sample game made from the engine.

Broken Messiah, on 01 February 2010 - 04:07 AM, said:

even the tilesets are from xp, im interested tho

I don't see any XP tilesets. Link?

[Polraudio]

Marked, on 01 February 2010 - 04:10 AM, said:

I don't see any XP tilesets. Link?

I think he is talking about the pic of the trees. It looks like XP's trees when you dont view the full image.

[Marked]

Polraudio, on 01 February 2010 - 04:23 AM, said:

I think he is talking about the pic of the trees. It looks like XP's trees when you dont view the full image.

Yeah they do. Members should be viewing the full images before saying this looks like RMXP.

[Express Game Maker]

Update
We've just revealed more about two features!
The Animation Editor and the Map Editor. Check them out!

Thanks for the interest guys!

About the similarity of the RPG Maker series, the interface is completely re-organizable. This means you can "drag n' dock" all the windows you see to anywhere you like. I've designed the interface (while in the game maker itself) you see in the screenshots similar to the RPG Maker series because this is a predominantly RPG Maker forum and I thought you guys would like the familarity of the game maker as well as customizability of it. I assure you, while it right now seems similar to Rpg Maker, when you use it, you will see how different yet easy it is. We will post more screenshots in the upcoming days and videos to make it more clear .

As for the graphics, they are 100% custom. EGM will be release with a resource package and that resource package will be updated.

Sorry for the misunderstanding the thumbnails have caused (you can click on them and they will link to bigger images). There will be a special on the graphics in the upcoming days.

[Noob Saibot]

One question and that there concern. OS? Windows XP, Lynix, MAC, Windows Vista 32bit, Windows Vista 64bit, Windows 7 32bit, and Windows 7 64bit...

[Express Game Maker]

Hebi Kumo, on 02 February 2010 - 05:50 AM, said:

One question and that there concern. OS? Windows XP, Lynix, MAC, Windows Vista 32bit, Windows Vista 64bit, Windows 7 32bit, and Windows 7 64bit...

Any OS (32/64bit) that supports the .Net 2.0 framework and up and XNA framework. This pretty much includes all Windows since Windows XP and up to Windows 7. No Mac support yet. As far as I know, XNA can't run very well on Mac yet.

[Ragnyrok]

I agree with Marked. You can't really write this off as a clone...
As it introduces a new feature(coding with C# and XBL support, as well?)
This could possibly be what IGM should have been. lol

Even with that said. I'm not buying anything w/o a trial of the program.
x3

[Noob Saibot]

Ultyma, on 02 February 2010 - 06:51 PM, said:

I agree with Marked. You can't really write this off as a clone...
As it introduces a new feature(coding with C# and XBL support, as well?)
This could possibly be what IGM should have been. lol

Even with that said. I'm not buying anything w/o a trial of the program.
x3

It would still be a clone even if it was coded in C++ as programming language doesn't mean anything (e.g. new feature). But you can clearly look at the screen shots and they don't look like any RMXP/VX tile set I have ever seen. As for a trial version something like Game Maker, but better.

?? Day Trial--- You have access to ever feature durring thie trial version (something GM doesn't do).


@EGM-- Also I read where you stated that it is diffrent because you can move the windows around...nothing new. Being a programmer and software designer your layout reminds me of RMXP; regardless if the user can change it means nothing. Personally I am tired of seeing poeple design a new GM/RPGM and their design resembles RMXP.

Also try not to do what Enterbrain and YoYo Games does by coming out with a new version instead of just creating a update patch for the users who already have it. Something to think about.

[CrimsonInferno]

WOW! This looks great!

I've a question...would it be able to import other resources, from RPG XP and stuff?

[RATED-RKOFRANKLIN]

This looks great. I will have to try it out.

[CrimsonInferno]

I hope you can change the sprites...those things kinda scare me >.<

[Express Game Maker]

I won't be able to answer all your questions due to the amount I can reveal at this point .

You can import your own graphics in of course! Videos, images, sprite fonts, and audio can imported.

By layout, I assumed the window placements but I see you mean something else. And of course, we are not too fond of selling "patches" as new programs . We have a great product line up (can't say what) and we, with your support, hope to improve the game maker community in the following years with these great tools.

I wouldn't buy a software before I tried it out either .
Thanks for the interest everyone, if you have any suggestions, we would love to hear them here.

[LaDestitute]

Can I suggest the future feature to convert RPG Maker XP/VX project files to a format that can be edited by EGM? I take back what I said...this looks...cool!

[Noob Saibot]

Express Game Maker, on 03 February 2010 - 08:16 AM, said:

I won't be able to answer all your questions due to the amount I can reveal at this point .

What did you expect by posting a topic? People would not have questions? Perhaps you should have thought it through before making a topic that is now pointless.

[Polraudio]

Miles Castea, on 03 February 2010 - 08:50 AM, said:

Can I suggest the future feature to convert RPG Maker XP/VX project files to a format that can be edited by EGM? I take back what I said...this looks...cool!

Thought i replied to you already.

That would be a very bad idea no offense. It would be like them trying to fight a shark(Enterbrain) with just a match 20 feet underwater. I think Enterbrain would flip their car and try to attack EGM for that.

[CrimsonInferno]

Hebi Kumo, on 04 February 2010 - 01:54 AM, said:

What did you expect by posting a topic? People would not have questions? Perhaps you should have thought it through before making a topic that is now pointless.

You don't have to be mean to him/her

[Noob Saibot]

CrimsonInferno, on 04 February 2010 - 03:47 AM, said:

You don't have to be mean to him/her

I'm not being mean just stating the truth. Even I would not post a topic about something I was apart of but could not 100% answer questions people will have. It would be a waste of their time and mine. This is just like Stencyl who gave people information and then later no longer tell people anything about it. Pointless and bad promotional tool to be used.

[Ragnyrok]

Hebi Kumo, on 02 February 2010 - 08:20 PM, said:

It would still be a clone even if it was coded in C++ as programming language doesn't mean anything (e.g. new feature).

If you read the OP once again...
You'll notice that it says...

Quote

Programmers can enhance their games by adding their own code to the fully open source C# engine written on top of XNA and even share the code with others.

So, as I said. It's not a "clone". Because it does introduce a new feature...
...even if it is just coding with another language(i.e.-not Ruby).

edit @ hostility lulz

Quote

What did you expect by posting a topic? People would not have questions? Perhaps you should have thought it through before making a topic that is now pointless.

o.0"
There's no need for that, really...
He posted a thread that promoted a new Game Maker Engine.
It's not really pointless if people who didn't know about EGM now know about it as a result of reading this thread.
Right?

[CrimsonInferno]

Hebi Kumo, on 04 February 2010 - 05:23 AM, said:

I'm not being mean just stating the truth. Even I would not post a topic about something I was apart of but could not 100% answer questions people will have. It would be a waste of their time and mine. This is just like Stencyl who gave people information and then later no longer tell people anything about it. Pointless and bad promotional tool to be used.

It's an inconvenience for one to point such...rude things out. He or she, is trying to keep some things a secret, for better surprise later on when such news is released. Now, if he or she, went and blabbered out everything, what do you think would happen to his or her engine?

Just because he or she didn't answer all of the questions, doesn't mean it's pointless.

[Chief]

I agree with Crimson. Most "companies" release news/info/features one at a time in order to increase excitement and suspense. Its a great advertising tool, you just seem a bit grumpy about it for no reason. I dont see why.

[CrimsonInferno]

So, any new updates? I can't wait to see how this works

[Express Game Maker]

We are having problems with the website at this time and we are working on to resolve the issues. Sorry for the delay. We will post more information ASAP and we will of course also post the information that we were supposed to before ("every 3 days").

Again, sorry for the delay.

[CrimsonInferno]

S'okay! I do have a question, if it can be answered. Will this be a free program? Or will it cost money? And if so, how much?

[Express Game Maker]

We are planning it to be shareware at this time but we haven't determined the final cost yet. We are planning multiple licenses so we can provide a more suitable cost for each user base (ie. Hobby, Commercial/Indie, Team, ect.) However, it won't be expensive as some other game makers out there .
And there will be a trial of the program.