A laughable attempt at stealing people's money.
This is NOT an opinion, this is a fact. I'm a coder for more than 15 years now, but I was thinking this could be useful as it got pre-made graphics and engine, so would save time and efforts in making an amateur-type game.
In the website they claims all kind of good features for this product, but in the reality it only can make rubbish.
To see with your eyes how games made with this "wonderful" tool looks like, simply download a few from the web, you'll be badly surprised.
The first thing I tried was a game made with this FPSC stuff. So i unpack it and launch the executable. What you can do with your game is only a SIMPLE main screen with the option to start the game or quit. Ok, so I pressed START and guess what, the loading screen appears and stays there for 20 MINUTES! I mean, 20 minutes for loading A SINGLE LEVEL?
But the worst is yet to come, and don't think that's a bug of that game, it's a COMMON AND KNOWN bug of the FPSC. The engine looks dated but runs SLOOOOW even on good hardware. I can run CoD4 at more than 20 FPS at MAX detail, but looks like I can't run a dated engine with no enemies on screen at more than like 15 fps.
Ok, I thought, at least let's see how this game plays....wait...how can I reverse the mouse's Y axis? You know what? YOU CAN'T! You can't basically configure ANYTHING from the main screen, as you can't really have a configuration screen. You have to go tweak the game's .ini files but you can't always get what you want, and anyway you can't invert Y axis that way.
So I thought, ok let's close this stupid thing and go try the FPSC.
Well, the Editor is relatively easy to use and you got a lot of stuff to work on at the beginning (models, textures, maps...), but that's not really the problem. The real problem are the games which you can make with this thing, they will ALWAYS suck, no matter how hard you try.
A good example is Jowood's "Robert D. Anderson & The Legacy of Cthulhu". That's a game made with FPSC and a lot of hard work, but still it's unplayable.
So, to make it short:
PRO:
- Easy to use editor
- Good amount of stuff ready-to-use (models, textures, maps...)
CONS:
- It's not easy to make your own models/maps/textures as the editor don't let you make them, and if you're expert enough to use the most popular programs for them then you'll probably won't use this
- Compiled games ALL looks and feels the same, as there's not much you can configure
- No options for either graphics, sound or controls are given in the final product
- You can't invert the mouse Y axis in ANY way
- You can't make commercial-looking games
- Loading times are far too long (10/20 minutes for each map)
- Multiplayer games are possible, but they will ALL look and play the same
- The graphics engine is dated and VERY slow, even when there's no enemy on screen (so imagine when there is one or more...)
- The possible events are very poor, it's just the usual find the key and use it at a door
- The A.I. is really stupid
- Playing games made with FPSC is boring and irritating, as the gameplay is really bad
So....save your money and buy a REAL language, don't let them steal your money too.
Ah, btw, if you read their forums you can find A LOT of people who says good things about this program. Those are either the developers themselves or blind people. No person with half a brain can consider this product as good, and if you want proofs go download a game made with it and look for yourself!