Game-Maker

This article is about the software by Recreational Software Designs for MS-DOS. For the software by YoYo Games for Microsoft Windows and macOS, see GameMaker. For other uses, see Gamemaker.

Game-Maker
Original author(s)Gregory Andrew Stone
Oliver Stone
George Oliver Stone
Joan Stone
Developer(s)Recreational Software Designs
Initial release1991; 33 years ago (1991)
PlatformMS-DOS, Windows 3.1x
TypeGame creation system

Game-Maker (aka RSD Game-Maker) is an MS-DOS-based suite of game design tools, accompanied by demonstration games, produced between 1991 and 1995 by the Amherst, New Hampshire based Recreational Software Designs and sold through direct mail in the US by KD Software.[1] Game-Maker also was sold under various names by licensed distributors in the UK, Korea, and other territories including Captain GameMaker (Screen Entertainment, UK) and Create Your Own Games With GameMaker! (Microforum, Canada).[2] Game-Maker is notable as one of the first complete game design packages for DOS-based PCs, for its fully mouse-driven graphical interface, and for its early support for VGA graphics, Sound Blaster sound, and full-screen four-way scrolling.[3]

Primary distribution for Game-Maker was through advertisements in the back of PC and game magazines such as Computer Gaming World[4] and VideoGames & Computer Entertainment. At release Game-Maker was priced at $89, and shipped on 5.25" diskette with seven or eight demonstration or tutorial games. Later releases were less expensive, and shipped on CD-ROM with dozens of sample games and a large selection of extra tools and resources.[5]

After some consultation with the user base, on 12 July 2014 original coder Andy Stone released the Game-Maker 3.0 source code on GitHub, under the MIT license.[6]

  1. ^ "Game-Maker". The Personal Computer Museum. Archived from the original on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2013.
  2. ^ G. Andrew Stone, "RSD GameMaker"
  3. ^ DIYGamer, "The Original Game-Maker" Archived 1 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Computer Gaming World, "Issue #114 (January 1994), page #209"
  5. ^ DIYGamer, "The Game-Maker Archive – Part 14: Laser Light" Archived 20 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ G. Andrew Stone, "Recreational Software Design's GameMaker product, released in 1994"