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Author Topic: A few questions before getting PlayMaker  (Read 7380 times)

CrowbarSka

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A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« on: April 10, 2011, 07:27:39 AM »
Hi! I'm considering buying PlayMaker to speed up development of my game Luminesca but I have a few questions.

1. If I build a script using PlayMaker, is that essentially the same as writing it out manually but with a different interface? Will someone who does not own PlayMaker be able to open my project and read all the scripts, just without the PlayMaker GUI?
2. Are subsequent updates to PlayMaker free or will I have to keep paying for new versions?
3. Is PlayMaker primarily centred around C#? Will I encounter problems if I want to use JavaScript? I have no experience using C#.

Thanks.

Pleasuremaker

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2011, 10:39:43 AM »
Hutong's staff will explain better, but lets see:

1) PlayMaker is a C# library, so if someone reverse engineer your game, I believe all scripts will be there, including PlayMaker itself. And no, it is not substitute for scripts.
2) I believe we will have free updates until a major one, 2.0.
3) Yes, PlayMaker is all around C#, but you don't need to script in C# to use it. You can call its functionalities through Unity's JScript too.

I guess Alex will answer soon and he corrects me if I'm wrong. Good look with your project.

jeanfabre

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2011, 07:17:16 AM »
Hi,

 I'd like to comment on question 1:

It's not just a different interface, it's way more than this. It's a different approach and thinking process.

 Basically, every time where a "process" is needed, where you actually built a flowchart of some sort when willing to explain what you want to achieve, that's where I find playmaker making astronomical difference compare to conventional scripting, because you visually build your process. That is if you come back to it in 6 month time, you simply read and follow the links in your playmaker fsm view and it all make sense even before you start playing the game. Then, if it doesn't you can see live how the process is evovling as you pla your game. 100 times better than putting breakpoint in your code.

 Let alone that, it's simply let you concentrate more on what you want to achieve instead of how you will do it. Of course you'll need to learn and find your way around.

What I love to do is building the states, events and links before building any actions within the states. that's a very positive way to start thinking about what you need to implement, and this allow to quickly view and read in plain English what you are building. Then you simply put the actions in the State so that they actually do what it says on the tin. this is very good for iterative work, you start with something simple and make it grow and built up from there.

The last point is also something great for communication and task assignment between developers and clients that are actually having access to your code and code themselves. They can build a process out of States, Events, and then let you do that hardwork of building the actions, make custom actions, write scripts around that process. Very effective!

 Bye,

 Jean

CrowbarSka

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2011, 09:13:35 AM »
Yes, the visual format is certainly appealing. I tend to design my gameplay as a set of linked states anyway (my design charts don't look all that different from PlayMaker's interface!) so this is a really helpful way of actually implementing those behaviours. But I was really just curious as to whether underlying all this interface is just a set of scripts which can be opened by anyone who does not own PlayMaker.

Thanks for the help. Some more clarification would be useful though. :)

jeanfabre

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2011, 09:57:36 AM »
Hi,

 Well, playmaker editor is a dll at its core, tho all the actions are in c#. I don't know, nor have tested how it would perfom without this dll. I guess it would just fail.

 Bye,

 Jean

Alex Chouls

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #5 on: April 12, 2011, 03:40:32 AM »
Another user will need the Playmaker dll to run your project. What is your scenario?

CrowbarSka

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Re: A few questions before getting PlayMaker
« Reply #6 on: April 12, 2011, 04:20:19 AM »
I am intending to build the game largely by myself with some art and audio support. I'm also planning on sharing the game with people who donate to my IndieGoGo campaign. I was hoping that these project sharers would be able to see how the game is made (it's partly a learning tool for them). Is there any way of doing that without them having to purchase PlayMaker? It sort of feels like a kick in the teeth after they have donated to the project!