ACTION GAME MAKER News

Hello again, everyone! ACTION GAME MAKER producer Morino here!

We’re well into the new year now, and it’s now the year in which ACTION GAME MAKER will be released!
For this seventh producer letter – and first of the year – I’d like to discuss the big changes to we’ve made to lighting and shadows over Pixel Game Maker MV.

Last year, we post this short video to our social media, and it was made fully in ACTION GAME MAKER and is all gameplay!

So let’s take a look into how it was made.
ACTION GAME MAKER supports PointLight2D and DirectionalLight2D system from Godot for use with 2D scenes.

I’ll explain both in a bit more detail as follows!

[h3]PointLight2D[/h3]
PointLight2Ds are a small light designed to be used for things like torches, room lights, and other such limited forms of area lighting. The Holiday project used them for things like the light from inside the igloo and the S in Holidays.
Attributes light strength, size, and color are configurable, and they can also be controlled via our visual scripting system or in animations. So it should be possible to create a lot of dynamic lighting effects!

Additionally, you can texture them and thus create all kinds of appearances: from basic round lights to flashlights, or even laser like effects as possible.

Using a combination of different settings, we created this particular laser-like effect you see below. However, lighting does have an impact on performance that is quite heavy, so keep that in mind when designing the look of your game! If performance is still a concern for your game, remember that classic tricks like using masks, specially prepared tiles. or having shaded and lit versions of sprites can be used without the impact of using dynamic lighting and are still perfectly valid options.

[h3]Light & Shadow[/h3]
As most of you probably noticed, in addition to generating light, objects that enter the light will also cast dynamically generated shadows. With ACTION GAME MAKER, now all objects and tiles placed via the auto-tile function can also have an Occluder volume assigned. This volume is the same size of the collision box by default. This is what is used to calculate the shadow when the object is under a light, and no additional settings are required to see those shadows. However, this is a performance cost, so keep that in mind when performing optimization of your game – or if you simply need to stop an object from casting a shadow for other reasons!

[h3]DirectionalLight2D[/h3]
DirectionalLight2D-type lights are used for things like sunlight that affect a whole scene. They’re very powerful, and can distort the whole scene if made too bright. This means these lights will affect color perception of the scene.
For example, using a red light can help create a twilight feel, while a blue-white light evokes a sense of a moonlit night.


And again, these lights can be controlled via visual script or animations, with all the expressiveness that this enables. This makes dynamic time of day changes with a single tileset a reality.

Lighting is just one of many advanced functions that ACTION GAME MAKER incorporates from Godot. Between lighting, shaders, and particles, it is possible to make more expressive game worlds that reflect the beauty and aesthetics of the world you want to build! Here’s our forest sample with red fog and some ember-like particles.

Now our forest has a much more hellish feel to it! This might be a bit overkill (we’ll need to check performance), but it really shows what is possible!

We hope you can understand now how much more expressive ACTION GAME MAKER will allow you to be over our previous tool! With that said, even if you struggle with understanding the visual differences, we hope your takeaway from this letter is that it’s possible to make visually powerful and interesting games.

And that’s all for this producer letter! As usual, our next letter will be in February. With RPG Maker Festival 2025 also being in February, perhaps we should release some additional information for ACTION GAME MAKER too...

See you all next month!

Hello again, everyone! ACTION GAME MAKER producer Morino here!

We’ve received a lot of comments leading up to this 6th letter, and I’d like to thank you all! Some of the comments have been asking about how to get ready for the launch and what kind of assets ACTION GAME MAKER will support. So today we’ll go over what kind of assets and resources are supported!

Visual, audio, and video assets all have different formats, and so we’ll cover the default formats available out of the box as well as details about the assets included with purchase. So let’s get started!

[h2]General Information[/h2]
[h3]Supported Resolutions[/h3]
As in PGMMV, ACTION GAME MAKER supports custom resolution input, so you can make small resolution or full 4K projects if desired! But the default included assets are designed for a 960x540 image scaled to a 1920x1080 output resolution.

[h3]Supported Image Formats[/h3]
BMP/PNG/JPEG/SVG/WebP are all supported by default, so you shouldn’t have any issues getting your image into ACTION GAME MAKER.
The default assets are primarily provided in PNG for ease of use and easy editing.
When creating your own original assets for an ACTION GAME MAKER project, we suggest using SVG or WebP formats due to their compression ratio and support of transparency data.

[h3]Objects[/h3]
Godot treats Objects using the scene format. Each scene is saved as a .tscn file. This makes it very easy to export or import Objects. This is because animation, scripting, and other node settings are all saved within the scene file. However, this could be subject to change in future versions, as image and sound resources are not included and have a fixed path. You would need to manually add this missing information to the exported or imported data.

[h3]Scripting[/h3]
ACTION GAME MAKER does allow the use of GDScript in addition to our custom visual scripting system, and you can use both freely within a single project. C# support is not available at this time.

[h3]Regarding Plugins[/h3]
Any plugin that is designed to work with default Godot is expected to work with ACTION GAME MAKER.
As ACTION GAME MAKER’s additional functions are closed source, any plug-in or function changes that require a recompile of Godot are not supported for use with ACTION GAME MAKER.
However, any plugin that can be used with the official build of Godot should work with ACTION GAME MAKER.
Indeed, while there may be some compatibility testing to ensure that there are conflicts with ACTION GAME MAKER’s changes, all Godot 4.3 plugins for the 2D pipeline are expected to work. More information about Godot’s plugin system can be found here:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/plugins/editor/installing_plugins.html

[h2]Graphics[/h2]
[h3]Tiles[/h3]
The included tileset are 24x24 tiles designed to be used with Godot’s TileMapLayer Node:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/2d/using_tilemaps.html
TileMapLayer has no size limits, so sizes like 8x8 or 48x48 are supported, but you’re free to use unusual sizes like rectangular 16x64 tiles or whatever your project needs.
Additionally, if you separate them into layers it is possible to mix tile sizes (resolutions) in a single scene. So it’s more than possible to use both 24x24 tiles and 48x48 tiles simultaneously! In addition, thanks to the power of Godot, ACTION GAME MAKER supports the following tile layouts:
Isometric

Half-Offset Square

Hexagon


[h3]Autotile[/h3]
ACTION GAME MAKER uses Godot’s Terrain and terrain tileset functionality. Typically, using terrain tiles requires manual configuration of tile connections (Peering Bits) and collision shapes for each tile. However, ACTION GAME MAKER can auto-configure Peering and collisions as long as the tile image matches our template structure.

The portions of the tile connected by the red lines represent the connections checked when determining tile placement. Users are able to paint these lines to configure the tile Peering, and this is how the autotile function determines if a tile should be changed when placing tiles into your game world. Note that if a peering extends to the edge of the tile it can connect to any other tile with a matching peering, so please be careful when configuring your tileset and tile peering.

Note that the above image is only an illustration with Peering Bit display enabled. The actual tiles look like the image below. For this sample, we used 24x24 pixel tiles, but other tile sizes will be supported.


[h3]Characters[/h3]
The included character and enemy assets are designed for use with 2D bone animations. You can learn about Godot’s 2D bone animation system here:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/animation/2d_skeletons.html
More than 30 animations, including the skeleton data, is included, so the animations can be quickly customized by changing the texture (sprite) data.


[h3]Texture Formatting[/h3]
The default character uses a 240x144 PNG formatted image. The character ends up being sized 24x32 after compositing.
Below is a sample of the included characters. Simply replacing the sprite inside the texture file with your own customized version is enough to get started with making an original character!

[h3]Animation Data[/h3]
All included animation data can be customized or appended to with your own creations. The male character includes a lot of weapon-based melee attacks, while the female character has more of a focus on movement and special abilities. Both are designed for use in Metroivania-style games.

The animation data is stored in the Godot tres format. This means that they can be exported or imported into other projects as desired. Just make sure you use the same bone structure to ensure compatibility. Note that the male and female characters do have differences in their bone structures, so the animations are not directly compatible.

In addition to bone animations, sprite-based animations are also supported. In ACTION GAME MAKER, you will need to create the sprite animations using Godot’s Animation Player, as the “AnimatedSprite2D” node is not supported. Please see this Godot documentation for information about the Animation Player:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/2d/2d_sprite_animation.html#sprite-sheet-with-animationplayer

[h3]Character Images[/h3]
Character busts included with ACTION GAME MAKER are sized at 1080x1080, and full body images are sized at 1272x2000.
Base, happy, anger, sadness, surprise, and fear expressions are included!
Note that due to the large size these images are in the WebP format.

[h3]Backgrounds/Environment[/h3]
In order to enable large amounts of scrolling, images designed to be used with Godot’s Parallax2D function are included. You can learn about 2D parallax here:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/2d/2d_parallax.html
Included are 2 backgrounds: a sky-heavy outdoor environment and a skyless cave environment, with multiple layers.
For very distant use in the most background layer, the outdoor image is 720x1152, and the interior image ix 720x576.
For middle distance backgrounds, such as mountains, both the interior and outdoor images are 720x576.
For backgrounds nearest to the player, such as ones that include the ground, the outdoor version is 720x1152, and the interior version is 720x1728.


[h2]Audio[/h2]
[h3]BGM/SE[/h3]
The included assets are all in the Ogg format. While WAV, Ogg, and MP3 are all supported formats, Ogg was chosen due to the reasonable file size and ease of looping provided by the format. While the default Ogg metadata (LOOPSTART, etc.) are not supported, it is still possible to create specific loops manually using offsets.
Please check the Godot documentation for more information about supported audio formats:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/assets_pipeline/importing_audio_samples.html#supported-audio-formats

[h3]Video[/h3]
The only video format supported by ACTION GAME MAKER is Ogv (Ogg Theora). H.264 and H.265 codec videos, while a popular format, are not currently supported by Godot due to Godot’s structure as an open source engine. Some additional information can be found in the Godot documentation:
https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/animation/playing_videos.html

And that’s all there is to know about the default assets included with ACTION GAME MAKER! While we tried to keep it simple today, I think this gives you an idea of how versatile we’ll be thanks to the power of Godot! While the included assets focus on a pixel-style side view action game, it should be possible to create a variety of games using these assets, especially if you start creating your own assets. And that was our goal for today: to give future ACTION GAME MAKER developers information needed to get started on getting assets prepared!

That’s all for today! Unfortunately we’re not quite ready to share the release date, but I can tell you that we’re still working hard during this holiday season. Our next letter will be in January, so I hope everyone is able to enjoy the holidays while they wait!
Have a Happy New Year!

Hello everyone, ACTION GAME MAKER Producer Morino here!
In this fifth Producer’s Letter, I think it’s time to cover animation!

ACTION GAME MAKER uses similar logic to how Pixel Game Maker MV used animation, in that each action can be assigned an animation.

However, in the older tool you either used our custom animation function or imported a sspj file created with OPTPiX SpriteStudio. But with the new engine, all animations go through Godot’s Animation Player functionality.

[h2]Overview of Godot’s Animation Player[/h2]
Godot’s Animation Player is based on a modern Timeline format using Tracks.


Anyone who has used a video editing program should be familiar with this system. Bezier curves and easing as supported, and creating rich animations without the use of another tool should be possible.


This applies both to sprite-based animations and bone-based animations. All animations we have shown so far are all made using the Animation Player’s bone system without use of an external tool.

Additionally, Godot Nodes can be placed into the Animation Player as an additional track to make changes to Node properties during the animation.

This means that position and rotation information, scale, color information, and many other elements can be updated directly within the animation structure.

So, what does this enable for users of ACTION GAME MAKER?

[h2]Improvements over Pixel Game Maker MV: What was difficult is now possible![/h2]
[h3]Animated Cutscenes[/h3]
In PGMMV you needed to script up a complex sequence of events in order to create an in-game cutscene. With the power of Godot’s Animation Player, creating in-game cutscenes with lots of animation should be a much less complex task.

[h3]Mid-animation Particle Effects[/h3]
Particles are represented by a single Node in Godot, so simply adding the particle effect Node to the Timeline as a Track and then assigning the start time is super simple, and makes it much easier to accurately time the effect start and stop time compared to PGMMV.


[h3]Parameter Inheritance from Animations[/h3]
Not only can you update Node parameters directly within an Animation, those parameter changes are retained at the end of the animation, and thus carry over into subsequent animations. So it’s now possible to easily make an animation where a weapon is dropped, a facial expression changes, or even hair color is changed based on game events without complex scripting. When you combine this functionality with graphics Filters, there is a lot of variety and versatility available easily to any user of ACTION GAME MAKER.


[h3]Shaders in Animations[/h3]
This is for the advanced users, but of course Godot has full shader support via scripting. A shader can be added as a Track to the Animation Player, so there’s really no limits on what kind of effects you can use in ACTION GAME MAKER.


[h3]2D Bone Animations: Collision Movement[/h3]
As each Bone in an animation is a child node, each Bone can also have its own independent collision detection. So this makes it easy to have tracked and controlled collision dynamically updated through the animation. And of course Connection Points are available to easily control projectile generation.


These are only examples, of course! Godot’s Animation Player is richly featured, and when combined with ACTION GAME MAKER’s additional functionalty should allow for a lot of creative uses!

However, there is one unfortunate limitation that has resulted from this change. While this is generally a much more versatile and capable toolset compared with Pixel Game Maker MV, ACTION GAME MAKER will not support the importing of OPTPiX SpriteStudio sspj format animations. Despite the release of SpriteStudio Player for Godot, SpriteStudio animations are not supported due to a variety of technical issues. We understand that some of our existing users have gotten very skilled at using it, but we ask for your understanding on this matter, as the Godot Animation Player does provide mostly equivalent functionality.

Also, while configured sprite animations cannot be imported from Pixel Game Maker MV, the sprite sheets are compatible and setting up sprite animations in ACTION GAME MAKER MV is expected to be a quick process.

And that’s all for this letter! I’ll be back in December for the final letter of 2024. Thank you for your continued interest in ACTION GAME MAKER, and we look forward to sharing more information soon!

Hello again, everyone! Producer Morino here.
For this fourth Producer Letter, I’d like to go into some more details about the Visual Scripting system used by ACTION GAME MAKER.

As you may be aware, there’s a lot of competition in the “non-coding” category of game development tools. Even just within the Godot community there’s several no code assets available.
Given this situation, I’d like to take a little time to clarify how ACTION GAME MAKER does things differently!

Our strongest goal for development is to ensure that we have a system that is easy and approachable even for people with zero skill at programming.

[h2]Our Thoughts on Visual Scripting[/h2]
[h3]Visual Scripting Generalities[/h3]
It can be reasonably said that most game engine-based visual scripting systems are developed as just converting code from text to a visual structure. Indeed, this is how it was in Godot 3.

Under such a structure, the knowledge needed to take advantage of the scripting system is quite similar to that needed by a programmer. While this does ensure that there’s few limitations and that is easy for someone using the system to easily switch to programming, it doesn’t make it easier for someone without programming knowledge to access the system. Thus the barrier to entry remains high.

For example, a person may want to implement a “walk left or right” function. Under low-level visual scripting systems this means the user needs to implement things like “when the left key is pressed, change the X variable to 1”, “when right key is pressed, change the X variable to -1”, “while X is less than 0, flip the walk animation and play”, and other such sub functions. Knowing which sub functions are needed – and how to implement them – is a difficult task that requires a lot of knowledge and practical experience.

[h3]ACTION GAME MAKER’s Visual Scripting[/h3]
With ACTION GAME MAKER, our intent is to improve our scripting system from Pixel Game Maker MV and make it even easier for those without programming knowledge to use. This is similar to our intent with the RPG Maker franchise as well! By careful writing of our UI text and explanations, it should be possible for new users to get started. We are targeting high level conditions and actions that are human-centric, such as “When the A button is pressed”, “Move in the direction currently faced”, “When touched by another Object”, or “Lock on to the Attacker when an Attack is detected”, as we are trying to link intent to language to configuration in an easy to follow chain.

Let me explain more using our current work-in-progress UI (apologies for the Japanese screenshots, but no UI translation has been done at this time).

Our system uses boxes, sometimes called nodes, that contain an Action (or Actions) that need to be performed. These Action boxes are connected via Link Conditions, which are represented by the arrow lines. When a Condition or Action box is selected, the right panel will update with the configuration information for the selected item.

For this sample, we’ve configured it to use the Condition of “A button” and “When pressed”. This means that as soon as the button input is detected, the Condition is valid. This specific Condition connects the Movement and Jump Action boxes.


Now let’s look at the Action configuration panel. This specific Action box is configured to enable a wall grab. So this Action will play the Wall animation in the “Right” orientation. It’s also been configured to ignore movement input, not change orientation/facing, and ignore gravity. This means that until a new Link Condition is activated the Object will not update.

It is through this combination of Actions and Conditions that will allow full games to come together. I showed off some of the easiest to understand items today, but “Fire Projectile”, “Move in Direction of Orientation”, “Change Variable” and more than 50 additional Actions will be available.

Some people feel that this could be limiting what can be created with such a scripting system. But based on our experience with this system in Pixel Game Maker MV, people were able to create platformers, puzzles, simulations, shooters, fighting games, and other genres besides.

For examples, you can take a look at the titles that we released on the Nintendo Switch:
https://rpgmakerofficial.com/act_game/?lang=en

Since we are implementing basically all functionality from Pixel Game Maker MV, ACTION GAME MAKER will have at least the same level of variety. We hope that our users will have fun figuring out how to implement all sorts of different mechanics in our system!

[h2]Scripting Improvements Over PGMMV[/h2]
Now a little bit of information for those who are already familiar with our scripting system from Pixel Game Maker MV. I’m sure you’re all wondering what might have changed now that we’re based on Godot!

Firstly, a number of the actions are based on Godot functions. Our “Display Text” action is based on Label Node, and “Display Gauge” is based on Godot’s Progress Bar. We’re not intending to reinvent functions in ACTION GAME MAKER that Godot already provides! We’re also leaving in Godot properties. This means you’ll be able to use the “Adjust Node Properties” Action to adjust things like coordinates, visibility, and more – just like you would any other variable. This ensures that Node properties can be adjusted dynamically. For our more advanced users, we are including an Action called “Send Signal”. Signals are a Godot system that allows a Node to notify other Nodes when something happens. With a “Send Signal” action, you’ll be able to send a database record or Object variable as a Signal to another Node. It is expected that this also will make it easy for those who can also write GDScript to switch between our visual scripting and GDScript.

With our previous effort, there was a lot of limitations in accessing base engine functionality due to how the abstraction was performed and that caused a lot of issues for our users. We’re paying a lot more careful attention this time to make sure that our abstractions are providing accessibility without creating a divide between Godot and ACTION GAME MAKER.

And we apologize for the short notice, but we will be attending the Digital Games Expo 2024, being held in Akihabara on November 3rd! ACTION GAME MAKER will be available for anyone to get their hands on. An acrylic stand will be given out as a present to everyone who gives it a try! It is my hope that many people will stop by!

That’s all for this month! Please look forward to my 5th Letter, coming this November! And thank you for your continued interest in ACTION GAME MAKER!

Hello again, everyone! Producer Morino here with letter #3!
As you may have heard, we just announced that we’re working with W4 Games to try and bring console porting support to ACTION GAME MAKER, so today I’d like go over that in more detail.

Due to Godot Engine, which is what is powering ACTION GAME MAKER, being open source, it does not include consoles as build targets. As the Godot Foundation has publicly announced (リンク), console porting is not currently compatible with Godot’s FOSS principles. Therefore W4 Games was created in part to create the W4 Console middleware so that Godot could gain access to consoles as a build target.

[h2]About the Agreement Status[/h2]
The recent announcement was to clarify that W4 Games and Gotcha Gotcha Games are currently engaged in negotiations towards an agreement that would represent collaboration between the two companies. As such it does not represent a final decision, but more of an intent to work towards an agreement, and therefore is still subject to change or, in a situation we hope to avoid, cancellation. So please temper any hype you are currently feeling!
Generally there are 2 points to the current structure.
Firstly, Gotcha Gotcha Games will be working with W4 Games to help improve the environment for Godot and expand W4 Games’ services in the Japanese market via participation in Tokyo Game Show 2024.
Secondly, ACTION GAME MAKER will be incorporating the W4 Consoles middleware in order to allow games to be ported to consoles.

[h2]ACTION GAME MAKER: Console Porting[/h2]
W4 Games middleware, W4 Consoles, gives developers the power to port games made with Godot to consoles such as the Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and Playstation 5. Once the W4 Consoles middleware is enabled – assuming a final agreement is enacted - for ACTION GAME MAKER, these same consoles will be enabled as a build target, allowing developers to port their games. I’m sure everyone would like to know more, so let me answer a few predictable questions:

[h3]When will it become available?[/h3]
ACTION GAME MAKER is currently still under development, and we have not yet started implementation of the W4 Consoles middleware. Currently, we are expecting the implementation to not be ready in time for the 2025 release of ACTION GAME MAKER. Our current development plan is to have it ready in 2026.

[h3]Will it support all 3 major platforms?[/h3]
It would be best to say that is not finalized at this time. As the middleware has not been implemented yet (and is not fully available from W4 Games at the time of writing) it is not possible to do qualification testing quite yet. We will make a formal announcement after we have confirmed that a platform is working as intended and is therefore officially supported. We ask for your patience while we go through this process!

[h3]Will a publishing contract with Gotcha Gotcha Games be required, like it is for Pixel Game Maker MV?[/h3]
Nope! For ACTION GAME MAKER, no publishing contract is required, so you are free to self-publish or find another publisher if that is what you wish to do. However, part of why Pixel Game Maker MV required a publishing contract was to provide the necessary testing equipment for console porting. With ACTION GAME MAKER and the W4 Consoles middleware, developers will need to contact the platform holder directly and sign up as a platform developer. Once authorized, developers will need to procure their own testing equipment and then apply to access the console porting function of ACTION GAME MAKER for their desired (authorized) platform(s). While this is more difficult for some developers, this makes ACTION GAME MAKER have the same flow as used by other game engines when it comes to development for consoles.

[h3]What will it cost?[/h3]
The price is still TBD. While W4 Games has announced a price table for the W4 Consoles middleware , it is still an active topic of discussion for ACTION GAME MAKER. But yes, it is likely that there will be additional fees to access the console porting functions of ACTION GAME MAKER.

Console porting functionality will greatly expand the number of platforms and thus players available to game developers who decide to select ACTION GAME MAKER as their engine. And I think it’s real dream for many developers to have their game playable on a console, with that experience that only a console can provide. Thus, while we are limited in how much we can say at this time due to the development stage we are at and without a final contract, it is something we take very seriously! We want to make sure that ACTION GAME MAKER comes to market in a shape that everyone is happy to see, and are working hard to make that happen!
*Xbox is a trademark of Microsoft.
*Nintendo Switch is a trademark of Nintendo.
*PlayStation is a registered trademark or trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

[h2]Who is W4 Games?[/h2]
W4 Games was created in 2021 by the leaders of the Godot project: Juan Linietsky, Remi Verschelde, Fabio Alessandrelli. With the help of Nicola Farronato, the company was founded in Ireland.
The purpose of the company is to extend the Godot ecosystem with additional products and services that the Godot Foundation is unable to provide, especially targeting professional game developers.
In addition to the W4 Consoles middleware, W4 Games is at work on other projects as well. Of particular note is W4 Cloud, which includes player management, matchmaking, server hosting, and all the elements of multiplayer development and infrastructure a developer would need. And all designed with the needs of a Godot developer in mind.


[h2]Appearance at Tokyo Game Show 2024[/h2]
From September 26th until the 29th (4 days), Gotcha Gotcha Games will have a booth at the Tokyo Game Show 2024 (Hall 9 Indie Game Area 09-W50). A section of the booth will be devoted to “Godot Engine Supported by W4 Games”. This display will include a playable demo of Godot projects, and additional information about W4 Consoles and W4 Cloud will be provided.
And, of course, ACTION GAME MAKER will be presented for the first playable game demo! As a special for those who visit the booth, a brief look at the current in-development version of the editor will also be available. If is still incomplete with missing functionality and is unoptimized, but it will give you a look at what is coming! We hope you will decide to come take a look!
[h3]Demo Images[/h3]


So that’s all for this month’s producer’s letter! Please look forward to the next one, which I plan to release in October! Thank you for your time, and I hope you will continue to support ACTION GAME MAKER!