ACTION GAME MAKER News

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!
 

Hello again, everyone! Producer Morino here to discuss a little bit more about Godot Engine and ACTION GAME MAKER!

[h2]About Godot Engine[/h2]
I expect that most of the people reading this are likely to be aware of Godot Engine, thanks to all the attention and focus it has received over the last few years. The modern UI, tile mapping functions, 2D and sprite animations, collision handling, shaders, sound engine, lighting & shadow system, and wide platform support: it really isn't lacking in any feature one would want from a modern game engine.

However, we musn't loose sight of the fact that, like Linux and so many other projects, Godot Engine is open source software. Without a major corporation behind it, Godot Engine succeeds thanks to the effort of the many contributors and patrons who form such a passionate community. The amount of communication and discussions leading to the high pace of improvements we see every few months is amazing to see!

For those that aren't too familiar with open-source, Godot Engine is made available on the MIT License. This license is one of the most open and unrestricted of the open-source licenses. As long as proper attributions are handled, ACTION GAME MAKER is allowed to the the Godot Engine source code.
So let's switch over and look a bit more at ACTION GAME MAKER.

[h2]ACTION GAME MAKER & Godot[/h2]
Currently ACTION GAME MAKER is under development using version 4.1 of the Godot Editor. But we are moving to Godot 4.3 before release. Generally speaking, the basic structure of Godot projects, as well as the animation and sound systems, will be the basic Godot experience with the addition of the high-level visual scripting system that we created for Pixel Game Maker MV.

Beyond the visual scripting system, some additional functions specifically for the development of side scrolling games are being implemented. One example is an RPG Maker-inspired auto-tile system for easy configuration of collision areas.
Despite all our changes, we will not be heavily updating the UI. It is our intent to be as close to the default Godot UI on release as we can. There are several reasons for this:

• We want to ensure that as many plugins and add-ons designed for Godot are likely to be compatible with ACTION GAME MAKER. Minimizing UI changes is critical here.
  
• For those already familiar with the Godot node structure/workflow, this should enable easy skill transferrence.
  
• There should also be good skill transferrence for users that learn Go
  

dot with ACTION GAME MAKER first but want to access deeper functions beyond what we provide.
3D functionality will not be available at release as our resources will be focused fully on implementing functionality needed for 2D games.This means that accessing 3D functionality will not be possible, but all of Godot's 2D functions will be available.

For the visual scripting side, we are implementing a new type of node called a "Game Object". Our visual scripting will only be available from these nodes, and the visual scripting will not be attachable to default Godot nodes. However, our Game Object nodes can have default nodes as child nodes, and nodes can be accessed via GDScript.

For those who aren't familiar yet with what Godot Engine is capable of, we suggest you check out the Godot Showcase: https://godotengine.org/showcase/

[h2]Why focus on 2D?[/h2]
We've already received a lot of requests from people hoping to make fully 3D games or mixed 2D/3D games commonly referred to as "2.5D", and we love the passion! However, as explained above, ACTION GAME MAKER will not allow access to 3D functions at release. Let me explain why in a bit more detail:

• Creating high-level visual scripting for 3D is very different from 2D, and it requires a lot of work that doesn't overlap with the 2D scripting. While it can be done, the implementation and QA cost added to make sure both the 2D and the 3D functionality is working as expected is too much for us to bear simultaneously, and it was decided that we'd like to get the 2D functionality in your hands as soon as possible.
  
• Godot has separated the 2D and 3D functionality, which results in hybrid projects requiring that you create and work in a 3D project. This means you lose some of the advantages and convenience of Godot's full 2D pipeline.
  
• It also increases the complexity of settings and import operations, roughly by a factor of two, decreasing ease of use for people making a pure 2D game.
  

There are other reasons for our decision, but this outlines the primary reasons for focusing ACTION GAME MAKER on 2D experiences. We do sincerely apologize to users wanting to work on 3D or hybrid projects!

That said, let us provide some hope to users wanting to make hybrid projects: this decision only applies to the initial release. WWe are intending to review the issue again after the initial launch period has ended. We would like to work with the community on figuring out how to implement the additional complexity of 3D production in a tool designed around high-level visual scripting. Your feedback will be critical in making such an update a reality.

[h2]Supporting the Godot Community[/h2]
We've also received several voices of distrust: "how do we know you're going to give back and not just take?" and similar comments. We agree, and think it correct that we should be a positive impact on the Godot community. But what form should that be?

We see our first step towards fulfilling this desire is making sure that we make Godot accessible to everyone with the creative drive but who struggle with programming.

The big transition in 2023 moving from Godot 3 to Godot 4 represented a lot of change. Many, many new features and improvements were added to Godot 4, but some features were lost in the process. While there are some important reasons for doing so, one of the lost features was Godot's visual scripting system. This means that Godot raised the barrier of entry for many people.

While we understand the arguments in favor of programming, the reality is that simply not everyone is going to be able to clear the hurdle programming represents. We would like for everyone with the desire to make the game they have inside their head, and with the current Pixel Game Maker MV, we've had game designers, illustrators, novelists, composers, editors, content creators, and more show off their creativity to excellent results.

We would like for people like that to be able to get started working with Godot, to see what Godot has to offer and become members of the Godot community in their own right.
This goes back to one of the points above. By having the UI for ACTION GAME MAKER be based on the Godot 4 UI, by having our visual scripting system extended by GDScript, by having wide support for existing plugins, we are able to create opportunities for our users to grow and interact with the Godot community.

And of course, we will consider it a job well done if our users decide to switch to making 3D games with Godot and learn GDScript and form teams of their own.
I'll end this 2nd letter here for now. The next update will be in September, so please wait patiently while we continue to work on ACTION GAME MAKER!

Hello everyone, my name is Morino and I am the producer for ACTION GAME MAKER.

I’m planning to do a series of these letters as we move towards ACTION GAME MAKER’s release, and I’d like to start off by providing some information about our thoughts regarding this process and how it effects our existing tools.

This new title is indeed part of our long-running Maker series, and is designed to be the successor to Pixel Game Maker MV. That predecessor was successful in implementing a visual scripting system inspired by the RPG Maker series and make it work for 2D action games. And people were able to use the tools we provided to also make puzzle, shooting, fighting, and many other types of games! As of the start of July 2024, we’ve managed to release more than 50 user created titles on the Nintendo Switch. We really thank you all for your hard work!

However, we must also admit that it has been more than 6 years since Pixel Game Maker MV released, and we’ve been getting a lot of comments for improvements: users who want to make bigger games, want more improvements in the work flow, and features that Pixel Game Maker MV currently lacks. Taking those requests for improvements to our development team made us realize that issues present in the code base for Pixel Game Maker MV make those improvements particularly difficult. Some are fundamental limitations in how the scripting system was originally architectured, and some are due to the age of the underlying framework. Instead of continuing to delay major updates as we struggle to implement fixes and requests, we have decided that it is in the best long-term interests of our users to build a brand new Maker title, created from the ground up with a new framework.

Now let me take a moment to discuss our thinking for the new title. The great appeal of Pixel Game Maker was how flexible our visual scripting was and how much you could create without any coding. It started with the basic idea of building on RPG Maker’s Event Command concept and layering in Common Events, which does allow you to create a large variety of RPGs, and even some action experiences if you apply some creativity. However, a lot of plug-ins are needed to really create something that is uniquely yours in RPG Maker, and some knowledge of scripting or full programming becomes necessary. We felt that a lot of our users have run into this hurdle (though we know some of you lovely tinkerers out there enjoy making the RPG Maker system work for you).

So Pixel Game Maker MV was created to give those users a step forward: a way to create something more expressive with their creativity while having a lower threshold of entry that doesn’t require coding. Indeed, I’m one of those users myself!

To further achieve that original vision, we’ve selected Godot Engine to be our new engine base. Godot Engine is a fast growing engine with a lot of really attractive features for us(which I’ll go over in my future letters). However, despite all the attention Godot has been receiving, the switch from Godot 3 to Godot 4 called for the removal of Godot’s visual scripting system. This presented us with an amazing opportunity. We knew we needed to provide more to our users, and now Godot was lacking in a function that we know really well! And that’s how the current plan was kicked off.

As an example, one of the big issues with Pixel Game Maker MV was the base engine, cocos2D-x, made it very difficult for us to extend our API and make more functions available for you, our users, to access. By selecting Godot Engine, we are working towards providing basically unrestricted access to all of Godot’s 2D functionality through our scripting system.

Additionally, we are sure that you will think of use cases or functions that we haven’t! After all, it takes a lot of imagination and passion to make a game! And so we’re making sure that ACTION GAME MAKER’s editor functions are more extensible and flexible than before, so we can be more agile in addressing your feedback.

For all of our dear Pixel Game Maker MV users who have given us so much passion, for all the Maker community members who have been waiting for a new challenge, and to all of those who struggle with programming, we’re hard at work to make ACTION GAME MAKER something worth your time. It’ll be a little bit before we’re ready to release, but we hope you will join with us as we move ever closer to release!

[h3]Special Note for Current Users of Pixel Game Maker MV:[/h3]
We are fully aware that it takes years to make games, and especially so for indie developers. Accordingly, we will continue to provide updates, fixes, and support for Pixel Game Maker MV for some time. We will do our best to provide all we can given our company size, but we know there will be limits and some issues will not be addressed in a fully satisfactory manner. As such, it is our hope that PGMMV users will take more advantage of the open source Player component we released last year.

Additionally, due to the change in the base engine, PGMMV projects are not directly compatible with ACTION GAME MAKER. While assets such as graphics and sounds can be reused, game logic will need to be re-implemented from scratch. It is our hope that users to who decide to make the switch will be able to use their existing knowledge to quickly recreate with the similar-yet-improved systems provided in ACTION GAME MAKER.