GameMaker News

Apple have just changed the Mac App Store acceptance rules. Any applications need to support a new Sandboxing feature that requires special intervention (if you do not used the latest Xcode). Fortunately GameMaker for Mac apps DO support it J

Making life easier and to be able to get your GameMaker work onto the App store is the App Composer 1.3! App Composer is a little tool that lets you package Mac Applications for the App Store with little hassle. This features Sandboxing, improved signing that targets GameMaker for Mac (signs the yoyosound and SDL frameworks) and other extras. Grab this for free here - http://www.vetragames.com/software/

We have a couple of new games to be released in early November through YoYo Games. The latest titles have been in production for a while and we have been busy preparing these for the ever expanding, different platforms we now publish on. Look out for these exciting announcements very soon!

There will be a small new update to GameMaker Standard this week and not far behind that will be another for GameMaker:HTML5.

GameMaker Studio is in the works, we do not have a release date YET but we will announce this here when we do. For those with GameMaker:HTML5, you will be to upgrade to this easily at a discounted rate. We do not have full information on this yet so hold off on asking, we WILL inform everyone when we know what this will be. 

Community

The fourth GMC weekend Jam is now over! See the entries here - http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=522487 Winners are still to be announced later this week. Well done to all those who entered, we’ll show the work of the winner when judging has finished.

Issue 2 of IndieGo is out now, full with GameMaker news, Reflexion review, interviews and competitions.

Issue #2

Printed - £2.80

Digital – FREE

Want to get involved? If you have a new game coming out and would like to write a piece on it or if you write a review for an indie game, please send an email to apply.indiego@gmail.com with some information about the game and IndieGo will be in touch!

Another worthy mention is Indie(function) are a development media team who provide not only an online magazine but are broadcasting indie(radio) every Saturday providing news, games and interviews! To subscribe and listen, sign up here http://www.indieFunction.com/

We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Halloween and to leave you with a new spooky demo of 'GraveMaker' in GameMaker:HTML5 to enjoy!

The YY Team 

The 4^th GameMaker Community Jam

The GMC are hosting a Halloween event running for 72 hours in another competitive game jam.  The last 3 Jams have been very successful with a lot of high quality games being produced and more importantly, having lots of fun doing so!

The Challenge:

This is a community event organized by to encourage experimenting with GameMaker and create something that will be interesting or entertaining within 72 hours.

When:

00.01  GMT Saturday 29^th October

23.59  GMT Monday 31^st October

Official Prizes:

1^st place – GameMaker coupon for GameMaker:HTML5 (worth $99 RRP), a  YoYo T-shirt and the infamous (and now very scarce) official YoYo! You will also qualify for a special graphic/banner, bragging rights and various community contributed prizes as outlined in the topic for 2nd and 3rd. 

Anyone can enter, as long as you are a GMC member (sign up is very easy) and they will help you pair with others if you are looking for a teammate. Full details of the Jam can be found here - http://gmc.yoyogames.com/index.php?showtopic=522487

Good Luck, we eagerly look forward to seeing the results considering the high bar set in the last Jam!

Good news everyone! They Need To Be Fed is now out on Nokia N8/Symbian 3.

Link to Nokia Store page:http://store.ovi.com/content/211123?clickSource=publisher+channel&channel=&pos=1

This is YoYo Games 2nd title release on the Symbian 3 OS for the Nokia N8!

Ever busy, our latest is the NEW, never released before, game - Reflexions. 

Become the brightest spark in this relaxed yet beautifully presented neon puzzler. 

Simply rotate each mirror to reflect your ball of light around each level, avoiding obstacles whilst collecting diamonds to unlock the exit. 

iTunes -http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/reflexions/id458343795?ls=1&mt=8

 

Android - https://market.android.com/details?id=com.yoyogames.droidreflexion 

 

 

 

YoYo Games were asked to get involved with the University of Abertay students that were involved with the Samsung Bada Competion on the 10^th October- http://www.badastudentdeveloperchallenge.com/the-challenge/

Samsung bada is a smartphone system which has been created for a wide range of devices in 2010. Intended to turn conventional phone users with cost-effective smartphones and extending the market.

With a prize fund of £15,000 and your app promoted through Samsung channels it was a popular event! Our Stuart and Malcolm went along to help judge the games development after their 24 hour codathon. We look forward to following the results in the next few months!

 

On Monday, Apple unleashed Facebook v4.0 on the App Store which supports the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad using iOS 4.0 and later. But the real big news is that Facebook has also launched its HTML5-based Facebook Platform, aka "Project Spartan". The iOS version has received a dramatic overhaul that allows users to launch HTML5-based apps or those already installed locally on the device.

The announcement yesterday revealed key information amongst those who have the ability to link and launch native apps via Facebook bookmarks. Details are in a post of the Facebook Developer blog - http://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/575/

This move allows app developers to use the viral channels of a browser-faced Facebook to spread games, post requests and use the news feed. This is all part of "Project Spartan" which we speculated about in an earlier post. You will be able to link direct to a native version of your game on a mobile device. Great news for those working with GameMaker:HTML5!

Facebook have also implemented a feature in the native iOS Facebook app which allows users to purchase, use and bookmark third party apps from the platform and purchase Facebook Credits. The extension of Facebooks Credit system to mobile could mean that HTML5 developers will have to use it or not at all as native apps will still use Apples own payment system. 

Facebook have some apps to show fb.me/mobileappshowcase on your phone or tablet,  built using HTML5, providing an experience that will work across iOS, Android, and other mobile devices.

The untimely death of Steve Jobs this week has had the internets social networks going crazy. The co-founder of Apple, American inventor and entrepreneur famous for his user-friendly philosophy, has left an extraordinary legacy in shaping the world today. His vision turned the gaming industry on its head with the iPhone, iPad and the App store and created a new wave of social gaming worldwide. Apple continue to set the pace set by Jobs, with this weeks announcement that was all about the software.

The iPhone 4S: still similar to its predecessor, replete with the same 3.5in Retina 640x960 display. Three main improvements are a faster processor, a souped up 8MP camera and a new voice recognition system called “Siri”. This is Apples' new personal assistant software using voice recognition software, you can ask "Siri" to perform various tasks for you just by speaking.

Where the A5 will almost certainly come into its own is for heavy-duty gaming with 7 times faster graphics. The 4S is going to make a big difference as far as we are concerned as it’ll allow GameMaker:HTML5 to run at great speeds.

iOS 5 brings over 200 new features such as "Siri" and the good news that it will run GameMaker:HTML5 games also. The October 12^th launch of long promised "iCloud", lets people store music, pictures, videos and other digital files online and access the content across Apple computers and mobile devices.

Surprisingly absent was the heavily rumoured announcement of “Project Spartan”. Codename "Project Spartan" is the name for a new platform in Facebook. Facebook CTO Bret Taylor has talked for months of the importance he places on HTML5 development as a way to conserve Facebooks engineering resources. 

Facebook will allegedly announce “Project Spartan”, an HTML-based platform that accommodates third-party Web developers to write apps for Facebooks' mobile applications. Built to be a distribution platform for games and other Facebook apps, “Project Spartan” will reportedly feature quicker Notifications, bookmarking forapps, and an App Search. We await with eager anticipation.............

Read the interview with Sandy on Gamasutra where he talks about YoYo plans for HTML5, Facebook and GameMaker Studio here - http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/37731/Interview_GameMakers_Big_HTML5_Expansion_Plans.php

RIP Steve. Staying hungry.