...to another programming platform that is. So most of us here likely use or have used Game Maker at some point in our lives. Do you ever plan to move on to something a little more difficult? Is there even really a need to move on?

This doesn't really apply to me being that I don't program anymore, but back in the day I did attempt to move on to DarkBASIC and even C++. Programming just isn't my dream job though and thus I never had the patience to learn any other language, but I know a lot of people who did. Thing is, none of the jobs I've seen on monster.com require proficiency in Game Maker, but the ones that do require some specific proficiency (which are most of them) usually require it in C++.

So what are your thoughts?

I'll probably move on to C++ eventually, I dont plan on having a career in programing though, its more of just a hobby.

Oh yea. I'm definitely moving on. I was thinking Java since the GML syntax is SOOOO similar. Seriously, they look almost identical. Then from there, we'll see what happens.

Probably not. GM8 is supposed to be more efficient, and that has been my one and only gripe with GM. This is just a hobby.

Then again, I'm going to college and plan on minoring in Computer Sciences, so I'll see where that goes. I highly doubt that I will have been taught Game Maker where I'm going.

I hope to move on. The moment I learned GML, the world seemed to expand before my eyes. I hope to become some kind of programmer. I just need to take classes for like C++, or C#, or Java; whatever will get me going.

You can also read books. I learned all of the programming I know through books (in addition to online resources); even though I don't really know that much compared to hackers and other programmers, books are still a great place to start so you can see how much you really like programming before investing time and money in some classes.

I've read some books (by that I mean only one ). I learned a lot from it, but some things I really couldn't grasp. It was an internet programming book. It went over the basics of programming and showed details in Javascript, VBscript, HTML, and XML. For the most part I understood everything, but when it came to arrays and XML, I could not quite grasp it. Now, I understand everything in that book ecept XML. So I think books will do, but I would really rather be taught in person. Besides, I'm looking to majoring in game programming so I'll eventually have to take some classed.

@John - You'd like Java, it is, actually very similar to GML (unless you get into Java interfaces, which may fry your brain XD)

I program in C++, Java, and of course, web languages as well as Game Maker and DarkBASIC Pro... I know many more, but these are what I primarily program in.

Ever heard of COBOL? yep, been there done that XD!!!

I think DarkBASIC is a good bridge from GM. Still pretty high-level, but it lets people learn how to program something entirely in code. When I first tried to learn it I was pretty intimidated, but after a while I got the hang of it. I think what threw me off the most was that it used object number but not instance numbers; so various instances of one object could have completely different object numbers.

After a while though I got used to data structures (DB has a dynamic array, which can be treated as a queue, list, etc.) and it wasn't that difficult because I'd just use a function to find the next available object number and put it into a list containing the object numbers of each particular type of object.