Construct2 AND Gamemaker - do you need both?

I own Construct2 and love what it does, and have now seen Gamemaker's humble bundle so am considering buying it too.

While I think for $12 you can't really lose (aside from having to buy additional export modules and this isn't really about price) it is another piece of software to learn, quirks to overcome, processes to develop etc and for what? If Construct2 (and 3 when it sees the light of day) does everything Gamemaker does there isn't really much point in having both, particularly given the time you would spend getting to grips with the new software.

So my question is, for those people who have both or have tried both to the point of completing games, is there any benefit in having both of them in your arsenal; do you look at the game you are considering building and make an educated decision on which to use to develop it?

I have both. I have a background in scripting and that's what you have offered to do inside of GameMaker itself. You can script for C2 but not inside the editor itself. C2 to me gets stuff up and running very quickly. Alot of people complain for native export option because they say using these html5 wrappers at time causes slowdown. I haven't experience that but I haven't made super huge games with C2 either. So some people want it for the size of the project and want to have the option of native export. 12$ is way better for me for the Android export module verus I think about 200$. I have notice this sale and just can't let it slip by. But some have it for when they want to use something else to develop their project from what they say big projects.

Well the Gamemaker humble bundle offers native applications - windows,mac,linux. You also get NATIVE Android export - something that Construct 2 does not have, construct 3 will not have. People on this forum complaining about having to deal with html5 should really take advantage of this offer while it lasts for another 5 days.

The downside is that you gotta learn the scripting language of game maker.

But hey, you also get the SOURCE CODE of actual succcessful popular games that sell a lot of copies on steam. 12$ is a ridiculous fee for that if you ask me.

I'd say that a game developer should focus on more tools then just one. I use and will be using C2 as my main developer software, but I bought GM:S as well. I suggest you do the same if 12$ is not a problem for you.

I'd probably only learn 1 "simple" game maker and after that would try to get comfortable with a bigger/more common engine like Unity and a common programming language that works in that engine, from which I'd get out more in the long run. Its sad that you can't really get a small apk for mobile with Construct 2, though and if you don't own the personal version of Construct 2 yet, GM might be well worth it.

IMO if you are focused on HTML5 games and you are already familiar with Construct 2 then you may stick to C2. C2 has very nice performance for HTML5 games, it's very user friendly and you can do whatever you want in a fast and simple way.

However if you are focused on Android games, then for now C2 is not that good as Game Maker especially regarding performance. C2 is meant to be used with Intel XDK with Crosswalk. Crosswalk works great with devices like SGS6 (devices which are at the moment the strongest ones available), but older devices have problems running dynamic Crosswalk apps smoothly.

Another thing worth to mention is that while in C2 you do not really need (or even can in comfortable way) to code anything, Game Maker is close with coding. You can code your actions inside the studio. If you are a programmer and you are familiar with some common programming/scripting language like PHP, JavaScript, C etc. then you will find it extremely useful - if not you will have to learn it anyway to be a happy GM user.

So to wrap up IMO:

Construct 2 - a must have for making HTML5 games and very simple mobile games (I believe this limitation should be gone within not more than a year)

GameMaker - a must have if you are focused on mobile games and/or if you are a programmer. But to be honest, it's a sin to not buy it while you have a chance to order it for $12 instead of $450 anyway.

Lol, I couldn't pass up on the $12 GameMaker offer.... I guess I'm gonna start learning how to use it as I want to test the speed between their native export and Intel XDK, and I think I already may have a quick answer for that...

If you have the extra money, to be honest for 12$ and you get pro with android exporters. Why not ? You can still go for IOS and other exporters when they are on sale later.

— mind share with us your answer ? Intel XDK vs Native.

I think people will find well-written code makes good android apps and games in C2. If your code is royally messed up and all on one sheet, there's going to be issues. Learn how to share events between layouts, etc, and you shorten the "slow down" problems. GM isn't as intuitive as C2, and you need to learn GML to use Game Maker.

The price is very good in this humble bundle. The issue is the time to learn a new engine. If was about to learn a new tool, i would go for Unity.

If your code is royally messed up and all on one sheet, there's going to be issues. Learn how to share events between layouts, etc, and you shorten the "slow down" problems.

This doesn't have almost notting to do with performance, this is just organization.

I'm getting really frustrated by YoYoGames' servers. Anyone who purchase the GM bundle, brace yourselves. I'm trying to activate my license for 3 days now. Their servers are overwhelmed (although I don't think that thousands of users are trying to activate licenses every second, maybe their servers are just weak).

I couldn't register for several hours on YoYoGames, so I tried to buy GM Studio Pro on their site and use redeems there, but I ended up with Server Error 500. Now after I managed to register, I can't use my redeems cause they already have been used haha. I wrote to the support hopefully they will fix it for me.

It's around 60 000 bundles sold in such a short time, no wonder servers are overloaded.

It's around 60 000 bundles sold in such a short time, no wonder servers are overloaded.

In my opinion a server should be able to handle 60.000 users in 3 days. But maybe my expectations are just too high.

Just got reply from YoYoGames.

[quote:779ned81]

Peter (YoYo Games Ltd.)

Sep 21, 10:44

Hi there,

We are so sorry for any inconvenience caused.

Our website is experiencing a massive amount of traffic due to the Humble Bundle sale.

This is causing issues with the YoYo Accounts and GameMaker Studio updates.

We are working to resolve this issue as soon as possible.

Once everything is running correctly there will be a news post on our website to let everyone know.

An update will also be posted on our Knowledge base as well: https://yoyogames.zendesk.com/

We are sorry for any inconvenience caused and we hope to have this issue solved as quickly as possible.

If you are still having problem/issues after the fix has been released, please create a new ticket and let us know and we'll assist you.

Thanks for your patience.

Peter

YoYo Games Customer Support

— Thanks for sharing their reply. Guess I'll have to wait for a while.