Searching for software

I've officially finished my first experiment and decided to put the results here on my blog. The experiment was about trying to find the best software that I would be able to make the game with. The first thing I did was to do a small research on existing game development software. After having filtered out some programs -that are just overly complicated- I managed to narrow the amount of programs to three. Next I set up an experiment in the form of an assignment. The experiment was that I had to develop a mini graphic adventure with a certain set of capabilities in a certain amount of time. So with those three programs I did just that. They were: Adobe Flash, GameMaker and Adventure Game Studio..

After having done the experiments, the results were as follows. Starting with Adobe Flash, a great animation program. The visuals and animation take the front stage with a wide array of tools and options which Flash provides. The coding part of my project however is where Adobe Flash fails. You have to be able to use Actionscript. And with my limited knowledge of this, it would be a hard task creating an entire game out of it. Next up was GameMaker. With GameMaker, making games are really easy. It utilizes a drag-and-drop system where you can easily apply game functions to objects and characters that you created. However, if you'd like to have more complicated functions (as is the case with my graphic adventure project), you have to resort to the built-in GameMaker Language code. This is again where things fall apart for me. The code gets more complicated when trying to build functions like an inventory or dialogue boxes where you can choose you own answers. It's by far the easiest program to use of all three, just not the most usable in my case. Lastly there was Adventure Game Studio. A so-called dedicated program for developing graphic adventures. After following tutorials online trying to figure it out, I quickly grew accustomed to the program and started loving it. All the important and complicated functions that I need for my game are built in right from the start. And sure, Adventure Game Studio also requires code, but it really isn't that hard. Simple walk and talk commands consist mostly of one-line codes. So my mind was made up and I went with Adventure Game Studio. That's the definitive software I'll be creating my game in.

It seemed like fun to post the links to the actual playable results. The download links are below. Note that you have to have the right software and hardware to play the games in their current format. The games are also not finished in their entirety. All of them are lacking functions and the Flash game is the only one with an ending.

Adobe Flash experiment:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0uLCMJQOUnLTThlRDRZcmhtRjg

GameMaker experiment: (requires an installation)
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0uLCMJQOUnLWHZ0MU5CN0JqREU

Adventure Game Studio experiment:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B0uLCMJQOUnLTElERUFTdVR2T28