It would have been difficult to make a large game like Aquaria in Game Maker 8.1, since it lacked the power and functionality of Alec’s custom-made engine.2 There was no way, for example, that Game Maker could handle the sheer number of objects that existed in a single area of Aquaria, especially at the game’s default resolution. On the other hand, Game Maker’s simplicity made it very popular amongst hobbyist developers who wanted to create something smaller, with graphics and music similar to video games of the 80s and 90s. I loved the feel of these hobbyist titles, bold and bite-sized, each
It would have been difficult to make a large game like Aquaria in Game Maker 8.1, since it lacked the power and functionality of Alec’s custom-made engine.2 There was no way, for example, that Game Maker could handle the sheer number of objects that existed in a single area of Aquaria, especially at the game’s default resolution. On the other hand, Game Maker’s simplicity made it very popular amongst hobbyist developers who wanted to create something smaller, with graphics and music similar to video games of the 80s and 90s. I loved the feel of these hobbyist titles, bold and bite-sized, each one offering a few hours of pure entertainment. The personality of each game’s creator shone brilliantly through unique and decidedly uncommercial art and music choices. Even the names of the games—Clean Asia!, Punishment: the Punishing, The Jeluvian Project—and the handles of their creators—cactus, messhof, Pondwater, respectively—were refreshingly strange. The games reminded me of something the author Haruki Murakami says in the intro to the English edition of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman: “I find writing novels a challenge, writing short stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden. The two processes complement each other, creating a complete landscape that I treasure.” In video games, we don’t have corresponding terms for novels and short stories—we simply have large games and small games. These Game Maker ga...
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games were Murakami’s gardens: vibrant, intimate, and full of charm. Having just planted a large forest with Alec, I was eager to find my own little patch of fertile soil.
