I started my classes of computer science after the summer of 2002. In there we used Game Maker. That was version 4.3b at the time. I decided to download it at home and give it a try and have been hooked ever since.

I programmed my first game on the TI-83. It's an advanced calculator we use for school. It was a real basic Snake game which ran far to slow to play but still kept me busy during my economy classes. I also made a few very basic games with Pascal and Delphi before I found out about Game Maker. I can recall a quite nice Mastermind variant as well as a hangman game for instance.

Bacteria, a hard logic puzzle game, which got very positive replies. Bacteria 2 is expected within a few weeks after I am writing this so is probably already done by the time you read this. It is everything Bacteria 1 had and much, much more.

Blocks, a very basic logic puzzle game. Open source.

The incredible machine, a basic puzzle game made for the 1st Game Maker competition by Muzzle in which it won the 6th place. Open source.

Poetry, a program I made which finds rhyme words in a dictionary. Open source.

These games can all be found at www.simondonkers.tk

Furthermore I have made:

Monkey Project 1 and 2. My first game and it successor. You are a monkey and need to collect bananas. Very crappy games.

Pacman+level editor, I made this for my computer science class. Even more crappy.

For those who still want these games then go to http://www.freewebs.com/simon_donkers/games.html

As for things I have created for Game Maker I would like to note my website. It contains several tutorials, and many scripts and examples to show how to do various things within Game Maker. Find it at www.simondonkers.tk

[/shameless plug]

Too many to name but here are a few:

Seiklus by Tapeworm
Jumper 2 by YoMamasMama
Dim by YoMamasMama and Dex
Ore No Ryomi by Mr.Chubigans
LockOn by jph wacheski

Sim City 4 (simcity.ea.com/)
GTA (www.grandtheftauto.com)
Settlers (www.settlers4.com/)
Uplink (www.uplink.co.uk/)
Adom (www.adom.de)

Never give up. If you are stuck then just pauze that part for a while but never give up on a project. There are many locations you can get help such as the GMC, and many helpful websites with tutorials, examples and scripts. Also the manual is a great place to look for help. Game Maker is practically unlimited. The only thing that limits you is your imagination. (and 18$ for some very nice extra effects which are well worth it ;-) )

Game Maker can do practically everything and for those things it can't do you will have DLL's available. So if you are stuck just keep trying and you will find out eventually.

Game play. A game may have wonderful graphics and sounds but without game play it will become boring. The game I have played the most probably is Adom (www.adom.de) which is a wonderful example that shows that a game is not about graphics or sounds but that game play will do the trick. Although nice looking graphics and good sounds are still useful in getting people to play your game in the first place it isn't what keeps people playing.

I find it a challenge to try and complete something new every time. I always try to choose a project that is challenging to make, not just the next Mario clone but something special. For instance Bacteria was a challenge of mine to see how well I was capable of making some high level AI.

An other great motivation is to see many happy responses of my games. It is really nice to see people that actually like my games and actually spend some time playing them.

I have played the accordion in a far away past. I have also been member of the school theatre group of my previous school. I even played one of the leading roles in The Chamber by Harold Pinter and had a small role in a music clip. That is about it.

First of all Tapeworm, thank you for having this wonderful site and inviting me for this profile section. Second of all, everyone, go register your copy of Game Maker for just 18$. Third of all, go vote for my site in the GM top 69 ;-) j/k