Quote from: CoinBR on May 17, 2014, 09:48:10 PM
Thank you very much for the reply =)
There's just one question there's still not totally clear to me tough.
http://enigma-dev.org/forums/index.php?topic=1952.0
Topics like that make me wonder how stable is the Enigma Engine right now.
I'm new, and topics like that confuses me. I don't know any Game Maker version.
Don't worry, we've all been there and wondered too. I recall when joining reading similar ongoing conversations and the devs mentioning that enigma is not meant to compete with a finished software. The thing is, ENIGMA starts many years ago and if you look at now in 2014 compared to years ago you can do lots more and run lots more. However, ENIGMA was not created initially with GM Studio in mind and was never initially meant to be 100% studio compatible, at least that's from what I recall was said.
It's an open source, contributor driven project so it's always a work in progress, there are issues, bugs, etc, but many get fixed ....Is ENIGMA meant to replace GMS ? In my opinion no, at least not yet, and I don't think the devs intend for it that way. If you are satisfied with the GM version you are using and have all the features you need, your game is performing to your liking, performance wise, size wise, etc, then there is no reason to stop using GM.
If your game is CPU intensive and you do not own the GMS Master Collection and don't want to pay $299 for the YYC Compiler addon to GMS Pro, then ENIGMA is a great FREE alternative and you will see a big difference in performance depending of course on how complex is your game, CPU wise. Based on some of my own tests with someone's YYC compiled game and source, I observed that ENIGMA compiles smaller files (better optimized since you can manually remove unused extensions / components), so file sizes can be significantly smaller in some cases, and performance faster in some cases too. Certain bugs and issues can be worked around, otherwise you can report them here and the devs will fix them on their own free time.
Otherwise, if you have GameMaker Studio, no YYC, and your game runs fast enough to your needs / requirements, then again, no reason to stop using GMS.
For windows devs, there are some advantages to ENIGMA for particular projects requiring deprecated functions in GMS, such as if you are making games that use them including but not limited to video playback functions, external file access, registry, load/saving outside sandbox'ed game area, etc. So this would allow for some more complex apps creation. Some of these functions were removed by YYG due to them wanting to keep cross platform compatibility and did not see the need to adapt these features, and others for app store compliance.
There are pros and cons to both....... both complement each other well. I guess it's up to you to experiment.
Here is why I personally use ENIGMA despite certain issues it may have. Just because it has issues/bugs does not mean your specific project won't work. It all depends. You CAN make full games in ENIGMA, no doubt. If you are looking for 100% core and IDE compatibility, then this is not the product.
Here are my main reasons for using ENIGMA:
* An ENGINE entirely based on C++ (ENIGMA)
(LateralGM (is a java app) which is the IDE, included in ENIGMA,
which also has the enigma plugin) is not 100% compatible with GMS, and I've noticed it is quite unstable particularly when working for a while on a project and frequently running / testing.
* Ability to incorporate C++ in your projects
* A great way to start learning C++
* No runners ! Games are compiled. Smaller file sizes and faster games!
* Devs that listen and respect others even when facing harsh criticism.
* Functions unique to ENIGMA (EDL)
* Functions not present in GM (Deprecated)
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is that Enigma in an alpha version, in a way that makes difficult to create a game? Or it is just lack some functions present in Game Maker?
It has most of the functions of GM and many more too, including those obsoleted ones in GMS. Most functions to make games are there, however, there have been fixes/changes over a period of time that might have broken some features, or some pending issues. You will probably experience those more if you port your games. My main use of ENIGMA is building from scratch and working around issues myself. Many things that did not work were fixed since I joined here (lights, particles, physics, etc.etc.etc.) I would not go as far as saying it's alpha......perhaps not even a beta...... Remember that GameMaker has always been work in progress and ridden in bugs and issues that kept piling up over the years, till this day even with Studio. They really gotta fix their IDE.
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In short, supposing that I would be creating a game for Windows, with no network, right now, would I be able to create a game without a problem? Or there are still bugs that prevent regular developers (a.k.a. someone who could learn and create games in Game Studio) to create games?
I have lots of plans with ENIGMA and for the past weeks been experimenting heavily with ENIGMA, and so far I am quite happy. I have reported many bugs / issues, most of which have gotten fixed. Some of the more complex ones require more time and the devs are currently lacking time, but they are always willing to improve this, and work on it when they get a chance. You can only know if you experiment. Perhaps you won't run into any problems, perhaps you will run into many, it depends what you want to do. Most of the issues I encounter is with LGM's stability, certain functions not working, bugs, etc.
There are certain things diffrent. in most cases there are workarounds. Again, to me 100% GMS compatibility is not important. If I were to run some of my latest experiments from ENIGMA to GMS they would not work at all. When porting from a GMS project to ENIGMA in some cases you might have to manually tweak some stuff to get it to work, most of the time that is all needed, and you have a forum to ask if you need help.
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I'm just starting with C++, and I have never used JAVA.
If at this point, Enigma is ready just for people who could improve the plataform while they develop their games, I'm really not ready to go for it. This can't be a first step.
Same here.
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EDIT 2
The problems are for porting games or for creating games?
Both. In some cases, some changes need to be made in order to have the game working. Some games require no modification and will work out of the box.
It's hard to enumerate all the possibilities, but here are some examples:
* If you have used GMS' rotation and scaling feature in room editor. This feature is not implemented yet in LGM (IDE).
* If your GMS project uses physics (GMS' IDE allows WYSIWYG style collision shape editor and physics settings) - when porting you will see those settings in LGM IDE however they are not implemented yet and will have no effect in your ported game. However ENIGMA does support B2D physics and so you will have to write your own code (not too hard if you read the docs and get familiar with it, practice makes perfect).
* If your GMS project uses motion path avoiding object functions D&D. Those are not correctly implemented in ENIGMA. The workaround is to use code.
* Some issues with views, if your monitor resolution is smaller than the view area of your game, you will notice things are not displayed/scaled right. Again, this can be worked around with code and the use of display set size.
There are probably some others I did not list that I am not aware of, but so far in all cases there are workarounds, some might require coding knowledge (C++, GML, etc.).
Best thing to do is experiment. Trial / error. That's what I've been doing with ENIGMA/LGM from day 1.
Why I think it is a something that can be easily forgiven is simple.....assign the bloody fonts ! 
The spacing issues is pretty tame compared to some of the more serious issues that could impact some game elements ! 
The multi version is for your own benefit if you screw up and wish to back track. That has nothing to do with LGM stability though. The save project often is. I have had LGM suddenly close, without warning or errors 