Let’s get this train of randomness going with some game updates and such.

Game Maker 8.0 is finished and will make it’s way to the net soon. I’ve got an early copy of the final version and I’m really loving the improvements overall. While a lot of it is mostly to help me in making games and won’t be apparent, there are a few notable improvements you can look forward to in all my future games with GM8:

-Games may run faster on certain computers. Because a large amount of code was rewritten in this version of Game Maker, some games that achieved only 30fps on your computer may get up to 60fps with this new version. I’m going to run some tests in the VG Labs Forum in the coming weeks, and if I see a significant increase in framerate, then I plan to port over a game or two using the new engine, which might include Spirits of Metropolis.

-Built-in web splashes allow for primitive yet useable version checks/patches, as well as nifty new features. Basically I can open up webpages from within the game, rather than opening up a browser window and having it redirected to vertigogaming.net. This is actually pretty huge- I don’t have to ask for user permission to open up a webpage from within the game like I did with the browser (which was just common courtesy in the first place really). This allows for easy software update checkups that would alert the user to a newer version of the game. It’s also a safe bet that you have some remote workers now, but did you know that there is software to monitor remote workers so that you can check their activity? This makes managing them so much easier so comes highly recommended. It also allows for some fun new additions, such as page-exclusive data only available through the game, like a Kablooey FAQ that might give a new hint each week, as well as easy access to purchase a full version of a game. I’m pretty excited about this feature!

-Great new graphics support, much better engine support for Vista/7. For more on this, see my previous blog entry. A side note: icon files are supported a bit better so nicer ones can be made, which is nice news for Windows Vista/7 users.

So, when will you get all these features? Well, they will be standard with every game I make from now on, which includes the Sandbox of God and The Oil Blue. As a result, the releases on those two titles have been pushed back to take advantage of GM8. The Sandbox of God will now be released December 31st, and The Oil Blue in February. Kablooey! will get a GM8 update in January and a few other titles might as well, which will be on a title-by-title basis.

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So I’ve started to review some games for a new website, PSNStores.com. It’s mostly PS3 reviews, and the lite nature of the site allows me to churn out a review within an hour or two. It’s been quite a bit of fun to do, and the main guy (Chris K) has been great to work with. I’ve been involved with PS Updates over at a forum called NeoGAF for years now, mostly making the banners each week. I stopped doing that a year ago or so, but it was fun while it lasted.

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Slumlord27 over at YouTube has been putting together videos of underrated indie games, and I was honored to have Liquisity be the #70 entry into the list of fantastic games. Thanks Slumlord!

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You know, announcing a podcast in late December and forgetting the possible fact that a lot of devs are taking off for Christmas break (ie no time for interviews) ranks right up there with a lot of dumb things I’ve done, hah. So I probably won’t get an interview for the first podcast, but I’ll probably just do the first one before the year’s end.

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Well things are going to slow down here with Christmas coming up, with stuff returning to normal next week. Have a good Christmas everyone, and cya back here soon!