Platform Builder Forums
Main => Announcements => Topic started by: TingThing on January 08, 2019, 02:29:00 AM
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Hello everyone!
As you may know, Platform Builder was built with Game Maker Studio 2, a marvelous piece of software by Yoyo Games which is used to develop games (or, in my case, a game-making game). About 5 and a half years ago, I opened up Game Maker, started a new project, named it "Platform Builder," and began working. My first step was to create the game engine, that is, the actual game stuff. Later, I added the builder engine, that is, all the builder stuff. Both of these engines work together to give us Platform Builder, and they have developed greatly since our first release.
Today, I'm announcing an important new project. I am preparing to release an open-source version of Platform Builder's game engine. I am calling it the Ultimate Platformer Engine (UPE, for short). My aim is to make it the most powerful and sophisticated open-source platformer engine available for Game Maker Studio 2. With the UPE, anyone could make a Platform Builder game without the limitations of Platform Builder. Everything is there in Game Maker and you have access to all of the source code.
One major feature of this engine is that it can run .pbx files. This means that anyone who owns Game Maker can use the Ultimate Platformer Engine to export their games made with Platform Builder. The process could not be any easier. Simply add the .pbx as an included file in your project and export. Done.
I know that some of you (probably most of you), are not very fluent with Game Maker Studio 2. And to be honest, it would probably be a waste to buy Game Maker Studio 2 and the UPE just so you can export Platform Builder games. However, if some of you do happen to own these things, I don't mind if you export Platform Builder games for other people. In fact, I hope you do. I have always wanted to give you guys the opportunity to export your games. Now, finally, this could become a reality with the help of Game Maker.
By releasing this engine to the Game Maker Marketplace, we also reach a whole new audience. My hope is that more people will hear of Platform Builder through the UPE and become involved in this community.
(https://i.ibb.co/qDJhycz/Capture1.png) (https://ibb.co/zm6CnB1) (https://i.ibb.co/k9G2HtD/Capture2.png) (https://ibb.co/3MTmrnF)
You probably have some questions. Here are some answers.
- It's very difficult for me to estimate when the UPE will be ready. It is a long and tedious process going through years of code. The tentative plan is to have is available on the Yoyo Games Marketplace within the next view months.
- I do not have a price determined for the UPE, but I can't give it out for free. There are other platformer engines out there and it would be unfair of me to spoil the market. I also want to be fair to myself and the hard work put into this.
- Platform Builder isn't going anywhere, but its production will be slowed down as I work on the UPE. In the meantime, I will continue to put out patches as they are needed.
This could be big. We'll see.
Moving Forward,
TingThing
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When it comes to marketplace and I see it useful for me. Probably I will buy it!
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I'm not in the idea 100%, only because I never coded. But I know what fellows with such knowlegde can do. this is great, keep it going :)
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I'm not in the idea 100%, only because I never coded. But I know what fellows with such knowlegde can do. this is great, keep it going :)
The point is that you can export PB games, you do the game in PB and then use this to export to exe. It has more functions but that's the main idea. This is what I understood
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WOW! I can't believe it! I just don't know how to code... :( And I have never been the coding type, but this will definitely change PB's direction in the future. I may not get to do this, (though I wish I could!) but maybe I could ask Antikore to code up something cool for ASM! Who knows!
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Woah. I am actually amazed. Especially because I own GameMaker Studio 2. I know that I've said I was learning it in a much older post but I sadly haven't used it in a long while. This, though, is definitely going to bring me back to learning it. This opens up infinite possibilities. You can literally do anything with the PB engine. I'm super excited about this, I'll definitely be getting it. I will still use PB though, just as much as I do now.
Thank you very much, TingThing, for sharing the source code of your amazing engine. And, thank you for adding the feature to export to an executable with this. This really could be big.
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REALLY REALLY BIG! This will be awesome! Hey TheEpicz1, do you think you could help me create some things in ASM? I don't care for code, and I don't really want to buy studio 2. (I would use it if I could get my hands on it somehow.) It would be cool to be able to aim and shoot projeciles like in a yoshi game. Only, you use the mouse to point. Or use some sort of keys like up and down. I don't know, but anyway, I would love just to poke around in the source code and maybe just play around with sprites, or change values in stuff or something.
And Ting Thing, will you have instructions on how to create new commands? That would be EPIC! And I'm a little confused, is this only for PBX's? Or what? I am a little confused from your post that you made in a suggestion topic when I was telling Antikore something.
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REALLY REALLY BIG! This will be awesome! Hey TheEpicz1, do you think you could help me create some things in ASM? I don't care for code, and I don't really want to buy studio 2. (I would use it if I could get my hands on it somehow.) It would be cool to be able to aim and shoot projeciles like in a yoshi game. Only, you use the mouse to point. Or use some sort of keys like up and down. I don't know, but anyway, I would love just to poke around in the source code and maybe just play around with sprites, or change values in stuff or something.
And Ting Thing, will you have instructions on how to create new commands? That would be EPIC! And I'm a little confused, is this only for PBX's? Or what? I am a little confused from your post that you made in a suggestion topic when I was telling Antikore something.
The UPE is the code for the game engine of Platform Builder. You can use is to construct stuff from scratch in Game Maker or you can use it to run and compile .pbx files. If you use it to run and compile .pbx files, nothing is stopping you from tweaking the game engine before it takes on the .pbx file. None of that lets you change Platform Builder, but it will let you change games that you make with Platform Builder.
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In case of me buying UPE, which GMS2 I will need to buy?
Creator, developer, console...?
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In case of me buying UPE, which GMS2 I will need to buy?
Creator, developer, console...?
You would need a version that can export to Windows. That would be the Game Maker Studio 2 Creator Windows or Developer - Desktop. The other stuff is for other exports, like publishing for Iphone, Android, Nintendo Switch, ext. You don't need that. I have not formatted the UPE to work for any of those other exports (although theoretically someone could format it themselves.)
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Again, I would not recommend purchasing the Game Maker and the UPE just so you can export .pbx files. There will likely be others who can do that for you. But if you are inclined to get all that stuff, you should know that Yoyo Games often runs a couple sales throughout the year for their products. You might be able to get Game Maker on sale.
If your sole purpose of getting Game Maker is for the UPE, I would recommend you wait to buy Game Maker until the UPE is released. There's always a 5% chance that the stuff I announce doesn't work out.
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Thank you. Hope you make UPE great and you get a lot of sales!
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The UPE is the code for the game engine of Platform Builder. You can use is to construct stuff from scratch in Game Maker or you can use it to run and compile .pbx files. If you use it to run and compile .pbx files, nothing is stopping you from tweaking the game engine before it takes on the .pbx file. None of that lets you change Platform Builder, but it will let you change games that you make with Platform Builder.
I have more questions now:
Does this mean that I cannot create new character abilities and add new stuff to my game? Or does this mean I can add it to my game, but not to PB to put inside my game, I am still a little confused.
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I have more questions now:
Does this mean that I cannot create new character abilities and add new stuff to my game? Or does this mean I can add it to my game, but not to PB to put inside my game, I am still a little confused.
The UPE contains the code to run your PB games. If you change that code you could change how your PB games are run.
Take your pounce move for example. You could create a game in PB that uses ground pounds. But when you import that game into the UPE, you could change how ground pounds work so that the character moves forward during a ground pound.
Here's another example. In Platform Builder, you could write a command that says "turbo = true." This wouldn't do anything in Platform Builder because there is no "turbo" command. But you could important that game into the UPE and add a turbo command to the code for the command prompt, and make that command do something.
None of that changes Platform Builder. It just changes the code which will run your game. I am the only who has the full code for Platform Builder and the ability to modify Platform Builder and the ability to update Platform Builder on Steam and other websites.
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Oh! Now I get it. Thanks!
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I've got another question. Can we make our things that we add options in PB? Like, say we create a command, how can we use it in PB to place it in our game?
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I've got another question. Can we make our things that we add options in PB? Like, say we create a command, how can we use it in PB to place it in our game?
What do you mean "use it in PB"?? We are talking about the UPE, not PB.
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The UPE contains the code to run your PB games. If you change that code you could change how your PB games are run.
Take your pounce move for example. You could create a game in PB that uses ground pounds. But when you import that game into the UPE, you could change how ground pounds work so that the character moves forward during a ground pound.
Here's another example. In Platform Builder, you could write a command that says "turbo = true." This wouldn't do anything in Platform Builder because there is no "turbo" command. But you could important that game into the UPE and add a turbo command to the code for the command prompt, and make that command do something.
None of that changes Platform Builder. It just changes the code which will run your game. I am the only who has the full code for Platform Builder and the ability to modify Platform Builder and the ability to update Platform Builder on Steam and other websites.
Does that still mean we can interact with UPE's code, and add anything we can make in Game Maker to it? e.g. Creating a boss fight that is made with entirely original code (nothing used from PB/UPE) which can still hurt and interact with the player, or stages that change their direction of gravity mid-way, or adding more background layers than normal PB can have, or making new effects like complex lighting and motion blur.
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Again, I would not recommend purchasing the Game Maker and the UPE just so you can export .pbx files. There will likely be others who can do that for you. But if you are inclined to get all that stuff, you should know that Yoyo Games often runs a couple sales throughout the year for their products. You might be able to get Game Maker on sale.
If your sole purpose of getting Game Maker is for the UPE, I would recommend you wait to buy Game Maker until the UPE is released. There's always a 5% chance that the stuff I announce doesn't work out.
I'm thinking about it and if I buy GMS2, probably will not be only for using UPE. Maybe I can start creating games with GMS2 too!
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You will show us any video or sneak peek about how it works before it's release or something?
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Does that still mean we can interact with UPE's code, and add anything we can make in Game Maker to it? e.g. Creating a boss fight that is made with entirely original code (nothing used from PB/UPE) which can still hurt and interact with the player, or stages that change their direction of gravity mid-way, or adding more background layers than normal PB can have, or making new effects like complex lighting and motion blur.
Yes, theoretically, you could do any of that stuff for your games. But some of the things you mentioned would be difficult to do, especially since you are trying to interact with something you didn't code yourself. At some point it would make more sense to just build your game from the UPE without even using a .pbx file from Platform Builder.
You will show us any video or sneak peek about how it works before it's release or something?
Depends if I can afford the time to do that. But it would be fun. We'll see.
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Just imagine how PB began! Before it was compiled to EXE it was a data file that could be opened from Game Maker Studio. Game Maker Studio like any game making software saves a project before a ready game. UPE basically would mean that TingThing gives us access to his own project source which was not compiled to EXE which so can be edited as TingThing would do.
UPE maybe just is a copy of PB that is edited to be a bit more limited for some copyright reasons but it sure would have everything needed for PB to work properly. There you can imagine what you will be able to with it. ;)
This of course means also that if you try to make something that TingThing have not been made because of its time cost and difficulty then you also would take over his hard job for your own project and you may rather quit it.
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Ting, I was wondering if I could make a command, (or someone else) then call it from the PB engine when I edit the PBX using PB itself. Or an item effect, or some sort of modification. Can I only call those modifications through the UPE?
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Ting, I was wondering if I could make a command, (or someone else) then call it from the PB engine when I edit the PBX using PB itself. Or an item effect, or some sort of modification. Can I only call those modifications through the UPE?
If I understand you right, then YES, you can do that. You could write a command in PB that does literally nothing in PB, export to the PBX, import the PBX into the UPE, and then modify the command code in the UPE to make that command do something.
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I get it! What about a checkbox or option in a game setup room?
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I get it! What about a checkbox or option in a game setup room?
What do you mean?
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I mean, can we create a checkbox (like a character ability) using the UPE in Platform Builder? Instead of commands, I mean stuff like the selecting boxes that change your option every time it's clicked. Can we create those with the UPE?
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I mean, can we create a checkbox (like a character ability) using the UPE in Platform Builder? Instead of commands, I mean stuff like the selecting boxes that change your option every time it's clicked. Can we create those with the UPE?
Why would you make a checkbox to change the character when you can just change the character yourself?
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Hmm... You make a good point.
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I think you still don't imagine UPE very well. It is a source file which means you practically can have TingThing's incomplete and uncompiled version of PB. Just like you would use Game Maker to make your own games but you would send your data file to the others. One reason why the only developer can change the game is that he started the project and only he/she have it but this file can be shared with everyone.
This means if you get a source of PB modified copy you even can restore everything that TingThing will remove/change for us if you only are an expert enough. :)
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I already am aware Alley. It's just that I thought you could export your own "Platform Builder build." I thought we could edit anything in PB, and then we could share our PB builds with others. But, you can only edit individual games.
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If UPE is a source file like I understood then we actually would be able to do that... It may be just that if TingThing modifies it so we wouldn't be able to do everything then it would be just difficult for us to do but not impossible. :)
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I see. I wish I could get the UPE. But I probably won't get to get it.
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The problem is that the UPE is not all of Platform Builder. It's just the game-related stuff, not the builder-related stuff. So you'll be able to edit game stuff, but you can't edit builder stuff. Because the UPE is for Game Maker, all of the "building" is done in Game Maker. So you could import a pbx file, or you could literally just build the game from the ground up using Game Maker.
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Hmm...