This reminds me the Multimedia Fusion age...

Saw this on PB Board

It's named Scirra Construct
http://www.scirra.com/







Free Open Source software, DX9 baed, look and fell like Multimedia Fusion + Game Maker.

Notice, although it GPL based, the generated executables are free to use and sell.

Does it support any actual coding?

Looks interesting, the usual let down with these type of game creators is the poor quality of the scrolling backgrounds (flickering and jerkiness)...will download this when I get home and check it out.

That's not the case... in fact, it's really, really smooth: the entire application looks wisely thought and well coded.

It's clear that the inspiration comes from Klik 'n' Play/Games Factory/Multimedia Fusion, however from a quick look at the interface it has really been revamped to today's standards (along with graphical capabilities), something which Click 'n' Create wasn't able to do during all these years.

The original however was exceptionally novel at his time and it always has been an excellent tool for learning game programming logic to kids and novices, even though it's shortcomings never made it useable for commercial use (aside maybe for multimedia dashboards and apps).

All in all it's really nice to see that someone is updating this concept to the current generation, and it's already in an advanced stage too (I expecially liked the RTS movement type, which integrates vector based pathfinding... that should give anyone without coding skills interesting possibilities; I didn't have the time to look at the physics instead, but that should be interesting too).

In a certain way, if it will integrate a script engine, interface wise and performance wise will look like what GarageGames was trying to obtain with Torque GameBuilder.

I'd much rather see a generic C API with the kind of features this engine has, and then perhaps a tile editor as an option. But hey, it's GPL, so I guess some bright spark could always have a bash.

Not too sure about the logic of 2D games for people with PS 2.0 or better videocards. I'm thinking that people who hunger mainly for 2D games won't be overly bothered about upgrading their hardware.

Well, apart from the rad tool/game creator interface it hasn't much else which you don't have out of the box (except for pathfinding and 2D physics, which you can integrate using external libraries).

Shader Model 2 is not required: it's only necessary for certain effects.

I wouldn't call pathfinding, 2d physics and shader-based special effects all there before you start nothing. Doesn't particularly appeal to me because I don't make 2D games, but I would think that it would be quite appealing to many, particularly judging by the popularity of the BlitzMax 2D Physics modules. To be able to throw shader-based effects into the mix as well would only sweeten the deal, I'd have thought.

Sure SM2 isn't required, but without fallbacks, you either have to require it or ignore those features altogether, and if you ignore those features altogether, it becomes considerably less appealing. I can see why people would take that sort of stance with 3D games now ( although most indies don't ) but the logic with 2D games is a bit sketchy for me.

In fact for pathfinding and physics I written "except". Shaders instead are there from the beginning.

I only said that it doesn't offer much else graphically wise, considered that scripts for any kind of shader are already available, and there already are excellent libraries for 2D physics. For pathfinding, I know there are many engines expecially designed for AI, even though I never tried anything of the sort myself, and anyway a* star routines are widely documented.

I only pointed out that the core of the product is based on the rad interface, since there already are rendering and gaming engines doing the same available for C (many of which are free).

Been using it for a couple of hours. It's a bit unstable and crashes from time to time.
But it's a nice piece of software and it was quick and easy to get a simple top down zelda-like game going.
It will hopefully be more stable in future versions.

if this reminds you of MMF, then what about the mentioned "editors" for max 3d that actually generate the level design code for you etc?
that wouldn't be any better. But as a mather of fact, the future are authoring system. pure coders are only needed to generate those if it comes to the lower end market.

Looks like fun. I'll have to play with it after I get my current gig over with.

It is kinda fun to play with.

Don't get scared away by the bugs and crashes! :)
It's still in beta so expect it to explode in your face a couple of times.
But I'm liking it more and more for every day I'm using it.

But it's limited. You can do a lot with it and get things up and running fast, but it's not a replacement for BMax. At least not to me.