Tom Hall -> New Platformer Editor

http://kck.st/11Bbfl2

Since I've been learning photoshop, maybe I'll make a Keen Successor. I actually have a pretty good idea of how I want it to be. Lush and Deep and LOTResque. :D

Them diamonds mang, them diamonds...

(of course i'm gonna viral this)

I dunno, I'm not feeling it.

Getting more a Hyperspace Delivery Boy than Keen feel from this.
Also, platformer game creation kits aren't exactly something new.

kristus said:

Getting more a Hyperspace Delivery Boy than Keen feel from this.
Also, platformer game creation kits aren't exactly something new.

Most of them also aren't very easy to use for newbies.

*sigh* If only this thing could've been finished and released back in either 2007 or 2008 when I started working on my Amy Rose fangame, cause building a platformer in GameMaker7 is too hard and glitchy.

Seven days later, Hall will be closing down this Kickstarter as well in order to "prepare for something bigger."

I think that this is a great idea but really it doesn't really do anything that something like Unity, Game Maker or Construct can't already do. In fact from what I see it's pretty much a slightly more simplified Game Maker that's cross-platform, only you can do less with it. I wish Hall the best with it, and I would probably play around with it if it gets funded but expecting $400,000 for it is a little excessive. In fact he'd probably gather more interest in it by just announcing the funding of a Commander Keen successor. Also that video just screams Braid rip-off.

Stroggos said:

Also that video just screams Braid rip-off.

The only reason you say that is because they demonstrated a feature in the game engine where you can rewind. Not something Braid pioneered anyway. Everything else is just standard platformer fare. So no, it doesn't.

Braid has a built-in level editor too, so there's that.

Stroggos said:

In fact from what I see it's pretty much a slightly more simplified Game Maker that's cross-platform

Uhm, that sounds pretty good to me.

What is wrong with making a simpler version of game maker that is easier for normal people to learn how to use and can be used on lots of platforms.

I think lots of people forget that "being able to do more" doesn't mean more people will use it.

A simpler, but user friendlier platform game creator might end up being more popular then the perhaps more advanced and more complex and harder to use Game Maker.

kristus said:

The only reason you say that is because they demonstrated a feature in the game engine where you can rewind. Not something Braid pioneered anyway. Everything else is just standard platformer fare. So no, it doesn't.

That and the character they used reminded me in some way of the Braid guy.

hardcore_gamer said:

Uhm, that sounds pretty good to me.

What is wrong with making a simpler version of game maker that is easier for normal people to learn how to use and can be used on lots of platforms.

I think lots of people forget that "being able to do more" doesn't mean more people will use it.

A simpler, but user friendlier platform game creator might end up being more popular then the perhaps more advanced and more complex and harder to use Game Maker.

There's nothing wrong with that at all. As I said, I'd probably play around with it if it gets funded, I just meant that if it doesn't get funded it's really no huge deal to the game development community. In fact, one thing that irks me about game maker is that they made a huge deal about creating a Mac port and version to create HTML5 games but failed to realise that there is a market for a Linux version out there. I understand why they didn't create a Linux port, it's just a little sad that they didn't.

This is the sort of Kickstarter project that pisses me off. It's a commercial, unoriginal idea, from someone whose industry connections could secure investment without recourse to crowd-funding, with an exorbitant target and lame rewards (forum badges!). It feels like Kickstarter is just being gamed as a marketing tool. If they don't reach $400k, are they really going to abandon the project, or will they simply donate the shortfall themselves?

It's not really a big deal, but I do worry that every project like this from a high-profile figure inevitably robs attention from smaller, truly indie ideas, and depletes the pool of funding available to them.

Jonathan said:

This is the sort of Kickstarter project that pisses me off. It's a commercial, unoriginal idea, from someone whose industry connections could secure investment without recourse to crowd-funding, with an exorbitant target and lame rewards (forum badges!). It feels like Kickstarter is just being gamed as a marketing tool. If they don't reach $400k, are they really going to abandon the project, or will they simply donate the shortfall themselves?

It's not really a big deal, but I do worry that every project like this from a high-profile figure inevitably robs attention from smaller, truly indie ideas, and depletes the pool of funding available to them.

I don't agree, because:

1. Nobody forces you to give them your money.

2. Just because someone has connections does not mean that those people would be willing to invest or give money to any project. One of the key advantages of kickstarter is that it allows people to give money to projects that publishers or the big players in the games industry would normally not be willing to support. If some famous video game developer created a kickstarter campaign for a new Tie Fighter game, then there would be nothing wrong with that since publishers and the big players don't appear to care for creating a new one by them self's.

Except this is not a kind of project that generally lacks backing. We got platformers and creation tools coming out in droves. Be it Little Big planets, Minecrafts or more advanced stuff like game creation suites like Torque 2d and 3d. I agree too with that they seem to be requesting quite a lot för very little.

kristus said:

Except this is not a kind of project that generally lacks backing. We got platformers and creation tools coming out in droves. Be it Little Big planets, Minecrafts or more advanced stuff like game creation suites like Torque 2d and 3d. I agree too with that they seem to be requesting quite a lot för very little.

Then don't give them your money.

I honestly don't get it why some people act as if they have somehow been screwed over if they don't like things like this. Its not like anyone forces them to give these people their money.

Only people who are interested give their money, and everyone else don't have to and lose nothing.

hardcore_gamer said:

I honestly don't get it why some people act as if they have somehow been screwed over if they don't like things like this. Its not like anyone forces them to give these people their money.

Believe it or not, some people actually get the urge to speak up against snake oil claims, scams, etc. and actually feel pissed off from the fact that people actually fall for them. Even if it's "their choice" and "their money".

hardcore_gamer said:

Then don't give them your money.

I honestly don't get it why some people act as if they have somehow been screwed over if they don't like things like this. Its not like anyone forces them to give these people their money.

Only people who are interested give their money, and everyone else don't have to and lose nothing.

Rest assured, I'm not giving them my money.

But that doesn't mean I don't have the right to critisize them. Are our dissenting opinions ruining your enjoyment from supporting them? Well, you don't have to read our posts. See, that works both ways.

hardcore_gamer said:

I don't agree, because:

1. Nobody forces you to give them your money.

Thanks, but I think we all knew that already. It's possible to dislike something regardless of whether you're being forced to pay for it.

2. Just because someone has connections does not mean that those people would be willing to invest or give money to any project. One of the key advantages of kickstarter is that it allows people to give money to projects that publishers or the big players in the games industry would normally not be willing to support. If some famous video game developer created a kickstarter campaign for a new Tie Fighter game, then there would be nothing wrong with that since publishers and the big players don't appear to care for creating a new one by them self's.

There's no guarantees of anything in life, but having connections and a track record in an industry is a massive advantage to gaining funding, either from investors or from banks. Witness the folks in Silicon Valley who create half-a-dozen tech startups in a row, or the new games studios that inevitably sprout shortly after an old one closes.

Of course, investors and banks tend to want things in return for their money that go beyond forum badges and lunch with the development team, such as business plans, shares of profits, scheduled loan repayments, and legal guarantees. Maybe it's easier to get a $400k cash cushion from a bunch of internet backers then deliver the project, or don't, at your leisure. If you screw it up, or take forever, what are they gonna do?

As for industry support, as others have said, there's already plenty of it for game creation kits; it's not like this is a revolutionary project. That's not to say it's a bad idea, just unoriginal. I suspect the finished product would be pretty neat, but I'd prefer to see what four unknown teams with genuinely groundbreaking proposals could do with $100k each than see it go to an established industry figure.

I'd still MUCH rather play SMBX... it was a free Super Mario game / editor that made $0. He didn't need $400,000. Then he went on to make Terraria and got his millions.

I don't think this sort of 'game' needs $400,000 I think it needs $40,000 if that. There are Korean companies that will do all your graphics for $5,000.

Then you get $5 or $10 per player and still make a million dollars.

His team looks far far too big unless they're just alpha testers playing.

Oh and if Megaman didn't follow through with their Megaman game maker due to lack of interest why will this game work?

>> edit >> someone pledged $10,000???

>> edit again >> I just found my free 2011 copy of Stealth Bastard that Steam sells for $10. It has a level editor and they lived off donations and from the look of it you can do a lot more with their game. I'm downloading 1,138 levels now for a grand total of 25 MB.

I'd still MUCH rather play SMBX

Just play them both, duh.

I don't like the art style of the game much, looks like a stale version of jazz jackrabbit. I have no interest in making anything for a 2D scroller either. I'd probably just muck around in Terraria if I wanted to do something creative there.

Yeah I'm no fan of the art style. If its a platform game that YOU make I think there need to be more stock characters like RPG Maker has quite a few stock art characters.

... as for Teraria I wish it would auto generate Castlevania levels :-)