Hey all, excited to be joining these parts! I’m a full-time freelancer/writer/author who makes games on the side (solo and with a small indie studio).
Curious to see if anyone here is familiar with GameMaker: Studio and has done any IF-style work using the software? Would love to a) learn about any cool IF projects you’ve made using GM:S and 2) connect with other GM:S users share thoughts, tips, and insights into creating IF with GM:S (a decidedly non-text friendly engine).
I’m also very interested in other IF engines, though most of what I’ve seen out there so far doesn’t have the easy export functionality I really need. (Though the new in-development YarnStudio sounds VERY promising!)
Anyhow, I created and launched my first IF project last year on Steam, a horror/dungeon crawler style game made with Twine, and I’m in the process of re-coding the game from scratch in GameMaker: Studio while adding more gameplay, better audio/save/systems, and more involved visual presentation. Coming up with an engine that accomplishes easy navigation like what you see in Twine has been tough, but I’ve adapted a cool plugin and reworked it to suit my needs while adding my own code into the mix.
The result is a pretty functional (though admittedly tedious to craft) engine that I’m excited to retool for a wide assortment of future IF projects.
If anyone wants to nerd out or talk shop RE: engines, projects, or tools for IF, I’m super into it!
Side note: my indie studio is doing some development for PS4 and Vita, and one of the things I’m most excited about with using GM:S now for IF, is the potential to get some IF projects on Sony platforms. Curious to see if anyone would be interested in console-based IF? Haven’t seen that much of it yet, though Alone With You and some other projects are coming out soon. #excited
Cheers!