The Game Maker Company

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The Game Maker Company is located in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Its goal is to assist individuals and companies in creating exciting games on various platforms. It does so by participating in game development companies and by providing advise, writing papers and books, and even creating games itself. The company is run by Mark Overmars who has had a long history in the design and development of games, as a university professor, a hobbyist, and an enterpreneur.

From 1998 till 2008 the Game Maker Company developed the GameMaker software. Originally meant as a tool for amateurs and education, the program has now grown into a professional tool for developing casual games. Since a couple of years the development of the tool has been taken over by the company YoYo Games. In october 2011 they launched GameMaker HTML5 with which everybody can easily create HTML5 games that can be run directly in the Internet browser. Early 2012 they will launch GameMaker Studio with which also games for iPhone, iPad, Android, Symbian, and other platforms can be developed.

The Game Maker Company is a co-owner of YoYo Games. This company now develops and distributes the GameMaker software. Since November 2010 the company also publishes games on iPhone/iPad, Android, and PSP. Up to now over 15 games have been published. They have all been created with GameMaker. Mark Overmars advises teams of independent developers to produce commercial games with GameMaker and to get them published. For more information on publishing games with YoYo Games, see my document on Designing successful iPhone games.

The Game Maker Company also participates in the Dutch company Qlvr. This company produced educational software. The new company strategy focusses on the development of education apps for tablets and phones. Such apps will have a strong multi-media content, together with game elements. The first app Explore Vincent about the life of Vincent van Gogh appeared in October 2011.

Last year the company produced its first full-blown commercial iPhone/iPad/Android game Super Snake HD. Here I worked together with artist Jochem Schut. Why not buy the game and have fun guiding your snake through 100 levels. I am now working on a new underwater game.

If you are interested in creating games for mobile devices you might want to read my Mobile Game Design Tips that I also post on Twitter on a regular basis.

Our book on GameMaker provides all you need to create your own games. It introduces beginners of all ages to the art of creating computer games. All the graphics, sound effects, and music you'll need are included to put together no less than nine professional-looking games! The authors' passion and enthusiasm for game development shine through in The Game Maker's Apprentice, and you'll soon discover that creating games can be just as fun as actually playing them!

You can directly order the book from amazon.com, or go to the book website for further information.

To contact us, send email to the following address: