Reviews

Jonathan Cauldwell's excellent Arcade Game Designer is now up to version 4. With each release it keeps getting better and better. There's been some excellent games authored with this utility and it really is easy to get started even for people with no programming experience.

BEST THING EVER

Perhaps the single most empowering piece of software for a home computer ever devised, at the very least in the "game maker" category. Jonathan has created what I am convinced is the best possible construction kit for the ZX Spectrum.

The scripting language is perfectly balanced between power and ease of use, such that many, MANY gameplay possibilities are open to the user and you're rewarded for tinkering and being imaginative. How many construction kits have promised "all you need is imagination!" only to offer crude skinning of one or two base gameplay mechanics, blocky movement and unusable project files. HURG, I'm looking at YOU!

Preset script options for basic platform movement, enemy movement and other objects is also provided, and is laid out in a way such that even a non-programmer like me could understand and tweak it to my needs with ease.

It just boggles my mind, the number of games you can make with this! Platform, puzzle, shooter, exploration, reflex games, or any combination.

Beyond scripting, there is an easy room/board designer, a block designer for creating the 8x8 graphics and giving each one a gameplay role (which can be further hacked with scripting), a map editor, enemy and sprite placement screen, sound FX, text messages (not the kind on your phone).

It has everything you need. Everything. I honestly can't rave on about this enough. If you want to make a Spectrum game that isn't one of those text adventure thingies (aka guess the vocab games), this is the ticket!