Convince Me On Fusion 2.5 - I'm Needing Info

Hi,

I am deciding on a Game Engine/Html Animator
I want something that can do games as well as be a good multimedia program for Html & Exe's.

I have 3 that I am looking at (I already eliminated Construct 2 because of their recent subscription model fiasco.

What's left:

1) Fusion 2.5
2) Game Maker 2
3) Godot

I prefer not to program; I have enough languages to remember with php, js, vb, c# etc etc
All 3 choices have point and click options instead of (or including) coding.

What I want to know... and only from people who use these programs.
Why exactly is Fus2.5 better than the other two.

Thanks in Advance!

Quote from Janette5

I switched from Game Maker to Fusion 2.5 and mainly because Game Maker removed most of their built-in features (from the earlier versions) and replaced it with this message: Code your own.

You cannot get very far with Game Maker's "drag and drop" system - it's very basic, beyond a space-invader or wack-a-mole type game you'll need coding and for a lot of very basic things you'll have to code your own or get an extension in their store - and the last I stopped using Game Maker their extension system needed some work. So it will require you to learn Game Maker language but they do have great documentation and tutorials and since you already know several languages you might be able to pick it up easily.

I did find that I was spending most of my time on learning Game Maker language rather than working on my game. They were changing it faster than I could keep up.

Fusion has a lot of built-in functions and is easier for someone with a non-coding background to pick up. Fusion 3 blog posts, however, scare me.

But really it's personal preference - there are positives and negatives to both of them. I'd recommend you download demo versions for both and see what you like.

One of the big differences is their approach to programming - Fusion makes things easy and if it can't do something it will skip it and carry on - for example if you ask it to delete an object that may or may not be there you can just say - destroy object. In Game Maker you have to first do a test to determine if the object is there and then only can you say destroy it, if you don't do that it will crash with the message: Can't find object. (Fusion has NEVER crashed with a can't find variable / can't find object error and unless you've use Game Maker you'll never know just how amazing THAT is!)

I've never heard of Godot.

Edit: All these programs have this "flaw" in common - they're only as good as the person using them.

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Thanks for your input....

I did notice that about GM2's DnD... It took me about 1 hour to figure out how to move a sprite to a certain point and just stop it in it's track without 'destroying' it'.

In Fus2.5 (free), it took me 10 minutes on my 1st try.

So, what does Fus2.5 have that GM2 doesn't have ... feature wise?

Quote from N64Mario

Yea I recommend Clickteam Fusion. You can export in .exe, as Flash SWF, as a Mac run time, as HTML 5, as an iOS ap, as an Android app.

And I have had NO software crashes or errors from CT Fusion itself. Other than the errors happening in my own games, because the way I script from the ground up.

But yea, I hear CT Fusion is good if you have little to no programming knowledge. Though I am too scared about Fusion 3. Sounds like it's going to be another "Game Maker" deal where you basically can export as C+ code. So Fusion 3 is going to be pretty much "code your own" deal, it sounds like from what I can tell.

Thanks for your input...

Running on Windows, When you export to iOS.... Will it run right on a MAC or do I have to compile it directly on a MAC. Meaning, do I need to run Fus2.5 on a MAC, then export it as an iOS app??

Quote from BartekB

I'm pretty certain Fusion 3 won't be much of a difference to Fusion 2.5, I mean by how you make games, it'll be the same no-code interface. The "C++" part will just let advanced users smooth out their projects if they want to, it's optional. It'll also make creating extensions probably easier.

With this sort of community, it's granted a lot of extensions will be written, just look at Fusion 2.5.

Edit: I had to use game maker a bit for my course, my opinion of it is: It's an overcomplicated Fusion that relies on code most of the time as the drag & drop is heavily limited, I however did not use Godot

Thanks for your input...

Godot... is a FREE (open source) game engine that looks pretty good. It does 2D and 3D.... but, their html5 output (export) is pretty sloppy. And you do have to do mostly coding unless you install a separate, buggy visual editor. So, even it looks promising... the html5 export has put me off. They too are developing a version 3, that looks promising.

Quote from Kisguri

Fusion 3 will have a OPTION to output your projects assets and events to C++, think of it as a exporter option. You will still program using eventing.

Thanks for your input...

Why would I want to export to C++ ??

Quote from advaith

You can export it to an Xcode project on Windows or Mac. You will need a Mac to run Xcode and build the project.

Okay... so you are saying that if I want a MAC version I have to export for xCode and export from an actual MAC machine.
So what about the other exporters... what limitations are there for me running on a PC?

Quote from Janette5

I probably only use a very small part of all Fusion's features, and I probably only used an even smaller part of GM's features, so I can't fully answer this.

What I like about Fusion:

• Fusion has a built-in pause system (that was removed from GM, you can activate and deactivate stuff ... I had to rewrite a large part of a game just so I could pause it and so that it would return from pause correctly ...)
• Android features (a lot of the touch features are built-in in Fusion - they're still thinking about them at GM. Getting the Android keyboard to pop-up is built-in in Fusion - it was a feature constantly being requested and declined as a feature in GM1 - I'm not sure about GM2 - but again, they said: you can write your own...or go buy one in the store that someone else has written)
• Edit boxes (where someone can fill in their name etc.)
• In Fusion events will happen in the sequence that they're in. This will not happen in GM. If line 2 must happen before line 1 you have to use an "alarm" (timer event) in order to force that. It also makes GM somewhat random because you can test it for 10 hours and it will read line 1 first and then the next time you test it, it will read line 2 first and the game will crash. Fusion is not random, it's predictable.

What I miss about GM:

• depth (determines the sequence in which things are drawn)
• paths (movement) (Fusion has this, but it's very different.)
• having all your resources in 1 place (you need to change a sprite, or a sound or a font once only - it will run through and change everything else.)
• the use of fonts
• documentation - because they give a screenshot of an actual example with every explanation.

Thanks for your input...
Very helpful.

One thing I also notice...

Is that in GM it seems you are regulated to squares (tiles) when you design the game.
Does GM run into freedom limitations when moving an object.

It seems in Fus2.5, you can design in "free-form" (on a blank canvas)...... which I really like.

Quote from advaith

No, you need a Mac to export to iOS.

For exporting to Mac, you don't actually need a Mac, you can export it from Windows.
You will only need a Mac if you want to upload to the Mac App Store.

For more info about the iOS Exporter, click Please login to see this link..

For more info about the Mac Exporter, click Please login to see this link..

Thanks for your input.

Important Question...

I see that the 2.5 standard version comes with a limited Html5 exporter.

What does the Html5 Exporter that is for sale give me more than the "Limited" version included in 2.5?

I don't find a comparison info between the limited version and the paid version of the Html5 Exporter

Quote from advaith

Please login to see this link.

So, are you saying that if I want unlimited html5 capabilities, I need to also purchase the Html5 exporter?

Do most html5 games need more than those limitations?