I got into game design back in 2011. I published an indie game under the name “Zanga Man” to moderate success. I even revived the project this year and intend on launching a new version in a few days. But I didn’t use the new “Game Maker studio 2.1.2.3.3.574” and I don’t think I will any time soon.
Category: Game develop (Page 2 of 3)
دونت منذ أسبوع عن إحياء المشاريع الميتة وإيجاد الشغف للعمل عليها. الآن وبعد عدة ليال من غير نوم (غالبا بسبب انقطاع الكهرباء). يسرني الإعلان عن المشروع الأول: نسخة مطورة من زنقا مان!
ما هو زنقا مان؟
ولمن لا يعرف زنقا مان هي لعبة صممتها في سنة 2011 باستخدام برنامج Game Maker 5.3a ونشرتها على الإنترنت وأيضا تم بيع نسخ منها على أقراص في بازار جمعية فداء الوطن لصالح جرحى ثورة فبراير.
هذه النسخة مبنية على اللعبة الأصلية التي صدرت في 2011 مع عدد من التحسينات والتحديثات. وتفاصيل عديدة سيقدرها لاعبو زنقا مان المخضرمون والجدد على حد سواء. سأنشر كشفًا مفصلًا للتحديثات في حينه.
قيود وحدود
الكثير من المزايا والخصائص لم تضمن في النسخة الأصلية لعدة أسباب. إما أن البرنامج لم يدعم طريقة سهلة لإضافتها. أو أنني ببساطة لم أعرف كيف أبحث عنها. في ذلك الوقت لم يكن هناك اتصال بالإنترنت فلم يكن بوسعي البحث عن ما أود فعله وتطبيقه في اللعبة. هذه نقطة ناقشتها في تدوينة إحياء المشاريع. أن المشاريع تتوقف لنقص الكفاءة، أو الخبرة.
تاريخ الإطلاق
أستهدف إطلاق اللعبة لتتزامن مع الذكرى العاشرة لتحرير طرابلس. العشرون من شهر أغسطس.
كيفية الإطلاق
سيكون هناك صفحة على مدونتي مخصصة للعبة. يمكن من خلالها تحميل اللعبة وأيضا اكتشاف بعض الأسرار التي تتضمنها هذه النسخة. سأربط هذه التدوينة بتلك الصفحة فور إطلاقها. واللعبة مثل سابقتها ستكون مجانية التحميل.
أهمية هذا المشروع
أهمية المشروع تكمن في محرك اللعبة نفسه. هذا المحرك بمجرد اكتماله يمكن تعديله وتطويعه ليستوعب أي لعبة أشاء.
في الختام
هذا مشروع الأول من أصل مشروعين أعمل عليهما بشكل جانبي. قد أعلنت عن الأول. وهو المشروع الذي قلت أني دونت حوله سابقًا في هذه المدونة. المشروع الثاني لم يصل بعد لمرحلة الإعلان عنه.
هل لعبت زنقا مان من قبل؟ هل لديك فضول لتحميل نسخة جديدة منها؟ شاركني بذلك في قسم التعليقات. ويومًا سعيدًا.
Jumpcraft (formerly known as Platform Studio) is a game creation program that makes it very easy for you to develop a game. Very similar to Game maker and Gdevelop. In this post I’ll talk about what makes it stand out, how I got it and the demise of Jumpcraft .
What makes Jumpcraft stand out from the game development bunch?
Jumpcraft is much easier to use than the rest of the aforementioned softwares. In fact it takes very little knowledge to develop a playable game, in fact you can drag random items from the tool box and debug it to have the game running with menus and title screen.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise. It’s originally targeted for schools to teach students how to make simple games. Ease of use was a key factor in design (and in me choosing this software over competitors).
Al thought it’s guided mainly for kids. You can use VB.Net for some “Power coding”. So it has some power under the hood.
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The main interface
How did I get a hold of it?
At that time I was preparing for my graduation project. I chose to make an educational video game and initially tried buying a licensed copy of Game maker. I didn’t have a visa at the time so I had a friend purchase a license for me. But things didn’t go that smooth.
His visa was hacked somehow and the hacker sent us a pirated copy of Game maker. After a lengthily exchange with the bank and YoYo games. Everything was settled.
His visa was hacked somehow and the hacker sent us a pirated copy of Game maker. After a lengthily exchange with the bank and YoYo games. Everything was settled.
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| The receipt I got from the post office. |
I came across Jumpcraft and wrote to them about their “flexible” payment options. I suggested to send them the price of the license in a registered letter and they would e-mail me the license when it arrives. So I went to the post office and sent them the sum of 50$ by mail. I got my license after a month and a half of waiting.
Jumpcraft down falls
No updates
The software had no updates for the longest of time. I bought the 3.7 version of Jumpcraft which was released in 2010 according to the license. I emailed them countless times asking for an update and they never responded to my many requests. I even asked for them to open source it or release it as abandon-ware. There was no response from the company.
Update : On the 4th of May 2021 Andrew open sourced Jump Craft! Details can be found here.
No support
The forums were taken down due to “spam” related issues. There was no place to ask for solutions or get help what so ever. The only shred of help was the help file bundled with the software.
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| The actual e-mail I was sent telling me about the spam |
False advertising
The “Professional” version came with a photo-shop like program to edit pictures. Which turned out to be an old version of Gimp! Not even supporting single window mode..
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| Pricing plans compared |
Confusing pricing plans
I was given the “standard edition” for free. But that didn’t compile or produce an exe file of the game. It was utterly useless. Then when it came time to pay I upgraded from Standard to Professional paying the full price of Professional.
Constant crashes
It crashed very often. Trying to create the game became near impossible to achieve. Clicking randomly on the screen caused the ill-fated program to crash like a maniac.
No Linux version, of course
After converting to Linux the software was useless. The development stopped in 2010. I don’t think the developer even heard of Linux, let alone being willing to develop a version for it.
I managed to run it on wine by installing all the prerequisites needed for it work.
The website no longer exists
If you go to the website you will find that it’s for sale. All traces of it were expunged from the web. The only way to actually view the site is to use the wayback machine. You can’t download the standard version (rated at 15$) or anything.
Here is a snapshot if you are interested from wayback machine.
I’ve blogged about something similar in Arabic. When a commercial software is no longer supported.
Final thoughts
I don’t regret buying a software to do my graduation project. It will always be a memorable experience.
Update: On the 12th of May 2020 Andrew wrote back to me saying he moved on to other projects and that he doesn’t have time to maintain it anymore. Confirming the dead status of Jumpcraft.
Download
You can download Jump Craft 3.7 PRO from here.
Or from here.
To access the RPG tutorial made by Andrew (Pro Perk), download from here.
If you are interested in making games, to learn how to program or simply for having fun. Then this is for you!
Gdevelop is cross platform, free and open source. And best of all: You don’t need to learn how to code!
Just go to the website. Download the version for you and get to go, you can make native games or HTML5 games.
The main interface has the scenes, events, sprites. In short everything you would expect of a game design software.
There are many example games to play with and learn from. You can download games from the community as well!
The only draw back is it’s resource extensive especially when compiling games. But the rest should be really smooth!
I worked with game maker and jump craft and this is my absolute favorite, due to the active and friendly community and continued support.
There is also a rich wiki with tutorials and videos for you to learn!
It’s less than 70 MB so go download it now! Make your own fun!
Did you ever make a game? What did you use? Tell us your experience!
Share this with your friends, sharing is caring 🙂
أنا الفائز بجائزة المدون المنتظم لعام 2025 من موقع مرجع التدوين
