so after reading a blog reply the other day I thought I would give project spark a run through.
its quite a good and easy game maker to use for win 8 or xbox 1.. here is what I managed in just 1 night after 1 tutorial game was made..
http://www.projectspark.com/#world?id=5624448 (you will need to install the app to play the game though if you have win8)
its a simple quick explore of the game maker abilities and it has impressed me quite abit for a beta software, its just a pity its for win 8 or xbox1 right now, though I have no idea if it will be for other pc os ?.
the aim I think is more for kids and kids games rather than adults but it is well worth a look as it can do tunnels caves overhangs erosion roughening and smoothing ect in its terrain mode editing. and soon its doubling up the size of the map area and giving 20% more asset use in games also, so will be quite a game maker imo soon as its finished.

http://www.projectspark.com/#home for any1 interested in looking at it.

Looks interesting, alimightyhood!

that it is m8, and very fun to use small game world right now but there are some work arounds to make it bigger depending on what your working on. the thing I like about it is the terrain tools and the koding as they call it, which is fun and kind of easier than writing a load of words lol... I would post a vid of it in action but I cant record screen as im working with it sadly. but there are plenty on youtube if you didn't look already at some. all in all I think its got a lot of potential for kids and new hobbyists or those that want to make smaller games that only take a few days, not sure if you can sell your games with it though as its beta still but that's not really a big deal for me, even though im gold pledger here its not something that bothers me, im more in it for the fun of making something..

So I installed it and opened it and put a player in and moved him about. That's all I had time for this morning before I had to leave for work. But when I got home, I was curious. Can custom media be imported? I tried to find the directory and have no idea where it is (looked in Program Files where I assumed it would be, then Program Files (x86) where I figured it wouldn't be, if it only works with win 8) . I looked in their forums and in all the tutorials referenced, there was nothing about custom media. Like you said, it seems tailored toward kids, but it still looks pretty cool, and I like what little I saw of the interface. I too am here simply for my own amusement as a gold pledger, from DBPro all the way up. I have dabbled in this stuff for around 15 years and I have long been convinced I will never create a marketable game. It's still a lot of fun anyway. Keeps me out of trouble!

im not to sure if importing media assets is an option? not looked into that area as yet.

but it does have purchasable media which actually does not really need to be paid for as you can from my understanding of it so far be earned in game just doing things as rewards. it seems to be being released on the 7th of October maybe on release out of beta it will come with more options for media importing but I haven't looked at this yet sorry m8 I cant help more but I only toyed with it quickly myself. but in 1 night of toying with it I earned over 5k worth of credits just doing simple things like making the terrain painting it and sculpting it ect the more you do the more you earn it seems, either making games or playing them gives rewards so plenty of things to do and such . glad you find it fun I do aswell, and its my aim to on full release to do more with it while waiting on reloadeds next beta.



edit:

so after posting in their forums on the question of importing media for game making it seems that that is impossible and wont be introduced for safe guarding minors from undesirable content from people who might abuse that ability.

understandable as it is more aimed at younger gamers/creators.

but it also seems they are planning to bring out new content packs quite regularly (2 weeks to a month) and as the content packs can be earned for free or gotten very cheaply I don't really see much problem with this the 2 content packs I got today cost me only £7 for the pair and covers models to sounds and more

I also asked about standalone games, seems that it only runs the game if you have the software installed 1st and standalone is not an option also even though its for xbox1 aswell as pc sales of games wont be seemingly possible either, which is not problem for me either.

Thanks for looking into that! I wondered what the points were all about, I think it gave me some just for installing it. It's kind of a bummer about not being able to add custom media, but I'll bet over time some clever person will figure a way to do it! Not a total loss, though, still looks fun. I'm working the whole weekend so won't have time 'til Monday to sit down with it.

well when you do get time enjoy it m8 I know I am
yeah np about the looking into the media thing your very welcome
if you like add me on there if you know how or can? just pm me here with your user tag so I know who to accept if you do want to ok m8.
another feature of it is co op development, so people can team up to create games if they liked, no idea yet how to of course but I know there is away, but maybe its a premium feature like I say not sure..
the forum users seem friendly I have asked and gotten some good help with things so far.

I may take a look at this engine. I only recently took a stab at "GameMaker" though have come to realize its primarily 2D based.



This one looks quite interesting! Would be good for prototyping with for sure.

well, this does 2d and 3d games, from sidescroller to top down view and 1st person & 3rd person, its also being released in a handful of days though im not sure if it remains free after that?!..
it only takes a matter of mins for a game you have made to go live for every1 with a pc or xbox 1 to play also, but its limited to being only played by those who have the software it don't do standalone games like i have said unfortunately . but still if you just like to do creative things for fun i see it as a great little app. and a user called mescad has over 100 tutorials to use if youi needed help ( on youtube) just 1 thing botheres me though when using the tuts from youtube the app relaunches itself kinda randomly at times making following tuts from youtube harder than i would like.
i have almost completed a game level in 3days so far and that's a noob like me doing a simple ish game. i h ave a level up system and abilities now in the game aswell in quick time which just makes this software all the more fun and i cant script for the life of me but managed to get it working with a little help and advice from users and youtube.. so the possibilities for some1 more skilled than me will be able to do a lot better .
anyways if you do go for it have fun