Frequently Asked Questions

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Question: What kind of games can I make with ENIGMA?

  • Answer: ENIGMA is a general purpose game engine with a compiler that can be used to create a variety of games including Strategy, Simulation, Shooting, Platforming, and Racing.

Question: Can I use LateralGM without ENIGMA?

  • Answer: Yes you certainly can! However ENIGMA provides the capability to actually compile your games, it serves as a compiler and an engine. So if you use LateralGM by itself you will only be able to edit and save projects, you can obtain LateralGM by itself on the Extra Packages page.

Question: Can I sell my games made with ENIGMA?

  • Short Answer: Yes
  • Long Answer: ENIGMA is licensed under GPL v3 licensing and is free to use, modify, and share. Commercial derivatives of ENIGMA itself are also possible, so yes you may sell your games with ENIGMA without providing the source code. Please read the License Agreement for the exact details and more information.

Question: Why does it take so long to compile/run my game the first time?

  • Short Answer: This is a first-time installation procedure to ensure that the game binaries match up with your system.
  • Long Answer: It takes a long time the first time because, unlike Game Maker, it's not just slapping game data onto the end of runner data to be interpreted later. Your game is actually being compiled into machine readable byte code. Even the "runner" of your code, or the core code behind everything that happens, needs to be compiled the first time. However, after you've compiled the first time, the second and later times will all be relatively quick, since they only need to recompile whatever you've changed.
  • See Also: This is also explained on our Install#Compiling_a_Sample_Game page, which walks you through your first compile with a sample game, to essentially finish installation, and also to ensure that the binaries link up correctly. It's ok to attempt a first-time compile with one of your own games, but if you run into any errors, it will be more difficult to tell if it was some internal problem with ENIGMA trying to link up, or just some erroneous/unsupported aspect of your game, and later runs will still need to finish the installation procedure from where it left off.

Question: How do I add a custom action library to ENIGMA and the GUI (LateralGM)?

  • Answer: Create a folder called "lib" in the same directory as lgm*.jar (should be the root ENIGMA installation directory). Then you can copy any lib file into there. LateralGM also supports its own, smaller format, LGL format. This location may be customized by altering LateralGM's preferences, value "userLibraryPath" from its default value "./lib"

Question: Who develops ENIGMA?

  • Answer: ENIGMA was first created in 2007 as a compiler project and engine to augment GameMaker. It was later merged with LateralGM for editing GameMaker project files. Because both of these projects are free and open source a number of individuals from diverse backgrounds have contributed to the projects over the years.

Question: Can I contribute to ENIGMA?

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