Good programs are easy to use. The best stuff is so good you barely notice it exists. GM Scoreboard is one of these: simple and effective.
What is GM Scoreboard? It’s a way of integrating online highscores into your GameMaker game. While this may not be the fanciest highscore extension out there, it’s the simplest I’ve come across. It boils down to a signup form, a simple copy-paste piece of code, and you’re done. User’s highscores – the top 50 – will be saved online.
While I’m not a fan of the site’s graphics, it’s perfect for beginners looking to provide an online scoreboard system. If you’re building an arcade game, this is definitely worth checking into. Five minutes is pretty much all it takes. Available for both GameMaker 8.1 (and below) as well as GameMaker Studio (yes, it works on Android apps made with GM Studio, so I assume it works fine with anything GM Studio can output).
Usually I’d write more about the system and how it works: in this case, it’s so simple this is all there is to say: it’s easy and it works. While there are many flashier alternatives out there, this is easier than most of them. Literally plug, play and see your highscores (now that’s a mouthful, innit)?
Try it out at gmscoreboard.com
About the Author: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (@yudhanjaya), Master Chief and legendary warrior. Actually, he’s the founder of IndependentGaming.net. In real life he’s a journalist for Readme. When he’s not writing, he’s over at 4250games, building games and tinkering about. He has a love of all things indie and a PC that has seen better days. His favorite games are Pharaoh, Deus Ex, Halo and Iji.
