An Open Letter To YoYo Games
An Open Letter to YoYo Games
Sandy Duncan, Mark Overmars, et al.
Hello,
If you are reading this, you are probably on my blog. So first of welcome. But that is about as happy of a sentence you are going to get in this letter. Recently, a major number of YoYo Games members, including Game Maker developers, have become increasingly angered at the lack of updates on the YoYo Games Glog regarding various projects being worked on by your team. I myself am disappointed. But as I said, I am not alone.
First off, I want to discuss a few major reasons why people are annoyed. The first issue is the Firefox 3 Instant Play plugin (or lack thereof). Firefox 3 has been out for almost four weeks now, and yet we still don’t have an updated version of the plugin! Not only does this discriminate against all of the Firefox 3 browser users who visit the site looking to play games, but it also annoys developers who are uploading games and trying them out with Instant Play to make sure they work as they where designed. So, if you aren’t even done updating it, can you please let us know what is going on?
The second issue that is bothering people is the lack of updates on the conversion of the Game Maker runner to C++. Now, you have constantly said that progress was being made (in almost every Glog post for the past half year), yet you haven’t revealed how much, and what still needs to be done. Some may see this as a ‘Meh, doesn’t really matter’ kind of issue, but others are extremely interested in learning what is going on, and would like some more in depth information beyond ‘We are making progress.’.
Finally, and this is also part of the second issue, is the new version of Game Maker for Mac OS X. I myself have been extremely interested in this for a very long time now (since you announced that you where committing to the project on September 6th, 2007) and have been hoping for some more information on the project beyond the normal ‘progress’ and some screenshots (which only show an interface, which as I know, as a Mac software developer myself, can be easily constructed in Interface Builder). Now, you have said that you hoped to release a beta in the coming months on numerous occasions, including:
- The end of 2007
- In January 2008 you said that you hoped for a Beta release in March
- Then in March, you said that it “… is looking pretty good and we look to be on target to be able to start a limited beta release of this at the end of April.”
- Finally, in the beginning of June, you said that you where having issues, and that you where looking at the beginning of July for a release
And here we are today, almost halfway through July, with no news on any project for over a month. And to make it worse, your last post simply said that you where working on an update to the Firefox 3 Instant Play plugin. So, it seems as if we have gone full circle. All we ask of you, YoYo, is to give us some updates when you have updates, not when you are just going to say “We are making progress.”. We would like to know what is going on backstage, and we believe that you owe us at least that.
Thank You,
The Supporters of This Letter
PS: I have opened up this post to comments without registering.
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19 Responses to “An Open Letter To YoYo Games”
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Thank you.
http://gamemakerblog.com/2008/07/13/lack-of-yyg-updates-brings-open-letter/
Yoyogames sucks. The website will always suck. Everything about it is a piece of crap. Things will never change. Don’t expect anything from them ever again. Just remember that you are making money for them when you submit your games to them while you are getting your shitty service. Fuck yoyogames, we need a new GM site…
I agree with this letter and feel it is about time we receive some updates. Don’t let us down guys!
[...] Open Letter GMC Post GameMakerBlog reaction [...]
According to recent surveys, 66% of people think NakedPaulToast is a fucking retard, and the other 34% think he is a down syndrome pedophile.
[...] In the letter found on his blog, Connor points out three main problems with the way YoYo Games is conducting business. Firstly, he states, is the lack of a FireFox 3 Instant Play add-on, and with that the inability for users with the browser to play any games from the YoYo Games website. Considering Firefox now has a 20% market share, it is the feeling of many users that ignoring the 1 in 5 people who can’t access the games on the site is unacceptable. [...]
I wholeheartedly agree with this letter. After all of the hell YYG put us through with the registration/activation, the company transition, and the lack of support, we deserve to at least know what things we are to see and when we are to see them. Hopefully this letter will get out to YYG and give them some insight as to how exactly we feel about them.
I would like to say I disagree with the majority of this letter. If yoyogames had not taken over development, there quite possibly could have been no future GM version. There almost definatly would not have been a Mac version, and likewise the runner being rewritten in C .
You have to realise that Yoyogames is not Microsoft. They can’t afford to have programmers working on getting the Mac OS version released soon as a beta (andImean real beta, not a GMC beta which are more like WIP’s), as well as fixing the Firefox extention. There are fixes available for those firefox users that insist on using FF3, and they should use them.
Also, in regards to rewriting therunner in C , you must realise that this year long endeavor is trying to convert 10 years worth of work, as well as keep up with other demands.
Also, in regards to The MacOS version, I believe it was “july at the earliest” not “we promise to have a fully working MacOS GameMaker at the start of july”. Because it is out of their control, they can’t help when its ready.
In regard to this part of the letter “which as I know, as a Mac software developer myself, can be easily constructed in Interface Builder”, I really don’t think building the interface has EVER been an issue, since it has always been built in a RAD program.
Yoyogames has given us more than we could have ever hoped for with a one man band, and continue to do their best to give us what we ask, while staying afloat as a new company. We get updates because if they only told us when stuff was finished, we would only get updates once a year, and then people would complain that they never give updates.
Please give Yoyo games the respect they deserve. Give them some time to sort out problems, and then maybe, just maybe, we will still have them around in the future, which I’m sure most of you would rather have GM than not.
I agree that it would be nicer for them to give more updates, but I disagree that they have any obligation. You are just being impatient - I truly doubt that all the employees are turning up to work 6 days a week to do absolutely nothing.
YoYo Games has done more good than bad, in my opinion. The main issue is the mass of idiots that use their services.
-Rhys
I have waited a while to respond to the comments people have made so I can get a few in at once. First off, I would like to thank everyone who gave input on the subject (even though some of it was offensive). I believe in openness, so I won’t delete any comments unless if they are spam/racist/anything vulgar and harmful.
First off, this is to ClothedSteveBreed. I understand what you are saying. There is no doubt in my mind that things are a great deal better than they where a year and a half ago when Game Maker was still being developed by Prof. Overmars himself. But, the issue is what they have said. Let’s ignore the “We are working on it”’s for a second, and lets look at the facts. YoYo has, in my opinion, placed too many projects on themselves: Porting the Game Maker runner to C , creating a version of Game Maker for Mac OS X, actively maintaining a massive website, and the Instant Play plugins for Internet Explorer and Firefox. For a new, small business, this is an awful lot (seeing as though I haven’t heard of them having more than a few programmers/developers working for them). What I would have done is launched the website and Instant Play at the same time for all browsers (IE, Firefox, and Opera), that way it is fairly completed, except for updates when updates are needed (in the case of Firefox 3). I would have then proceeded to convert the runner to C , and instead of using DirectX, I would have made it OpenGL compatible (which is the graphics rendering engine on OS X). Finally, using the new runner, create a version of Game Maker for Mac (version 8), and release it along with GM 8 for Windows, with both versions running the new runner. Now, I am not YoYo, but to place all these projects on themselves is a bit crazy. But to your point about the Firefox 3 Instant Play plugin, yes, people have found ways around it. But what about the non-technical, non-GM developer who comes to the site using Firefox 3 and can’t play games? This is quite a mistake, as you are alienating a group of people from using Instant Play. Granted, they can download the game, but some may not want to download a game (well, knowing that they are anyway, seeing as though Instant Play just downloads the game anyways).
Rhys Andrews, I see what you mean. As I said earlier, YoYo has definitely done a good deed with their services, but this is my point. As Game Maker developers/users, Sandy asked us to spread the word of YoYo Games to our friends and family, as well as test out their new website, report bugs, and everything else. I am not asking for Sandy to set up a web cam so I can see what is going on at YoYo 24/7, but I think some more substantial updates regarding their product line isn’t too far out of line, seeing as though they haven’t really explained in great detail either of the projects (or if they have, it has been a while).
I hope to hear your replies.
Connor
So would I - but does it require an open letter about it? I don’t see it as such a ginormous issue. Perhaps they do not have anything worth speaking about, other than “We’ve worked more on the Mac version of GM” or “The firefox plugin is almost complete.”. If they just update with more estimates of when something will be released, they are just taking another risk of making fools of themselves, which you have pointed out has happened before.
Regards
Rhys
If only Game Maker was still programmed by just Mark… everyone says this would be a bad thing, but fuck those people. If it was just Mark, than stuff would get done. Mark ALWAYS got stuff done. But now look…
—Ampersand
I agree. Let us know. I have sent emails to YYG asking about the progress of the FF3 Instant Play problem and they haven’t let me in on the know. Why, Mark? YoYo Games sucks. SoftWrap Sucks. They give us no help, they are lazy, and make more problems. GM is in Chaos!
Well I would rather the YoYoGames team actually got on with the updates rather than posting notices about their every moving moment as you suggest. I’d leave them to get on with it; a letter is not really necessary on this issue.
[...] I know, I should have dropped the Open Letter thing. And Yes, I probably shouldn’t have created my Open Letter. I definitely [...]
“If only Game Maker was still programmed by just Mark… everyone says this would be a bad thing, but fuck those people. If it was just Mark, than stuff would get done. Mark ALWAYS got stuff done. But now look…
—Ampersand”
What would have got done? The firefox instantplay update? It would never be updated because there wouldn’t have been any to start with.
There would be no C runner, as it is outside Marks knowledge to create something like GameMaker in C .
And the Mac OS port would be likewise.
Basically Ampersand, you speak a load of crap.
I am glad someone is finally speaking about this. I have been waiting for GM Mac for ages. But also, I wouldn’t blame Mr. Overmars. I not sure how much control he has over these things.
btw, Connor, can you be my professional speech writer?
~gamer404
I agree with ClothedSteveBeard in the fact that without YoYo, a lot of the advancements in the GM community wouldn’t have come about. That being said, I am not blaming Mark for anything. I simply addressed the letter to him as well seeing as though he is one of the directors of YoYo.
“If only Game Maker was still programmed by just Mark… everyone says this would be a bad thing, but fuck those people. If it was just Mark, than stuff would get done. Mark ALWAYS got stuff done. But now look…”
No, he didn’t. He didn’t take any quicker to get things done than YoYo Games. In fact, the time it took for 7.0 to come out after 6.0 was longer than how long YoYo has been around now… so we’re not ‘due’ for any version as such anyway.
And, if you read what Mark has to say, part of the reason he took on YoYo Games was because he no longer had time to support Game Maker anymore but wanted to keep the project alive. YoYo Games aren’t lazy, they do all this for a living. Establish a business, have a 60,000-person community dumped on you within a few months, and then try to keep up the standards that YoYo has been keeping.
-Rhys