Klik

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This article is about the development method. For the Linux packaging software, see klik (packaging).

Klik or Click is a term used to describe a graphical method or point and click method to develop software. Klik provides a more intuitive and high level method over traditional line-upon-line programming languages. With point-and-click there is a more interactive interface, where you achieve your goal by clicking buttons, navigating menus, etc.

1 Overview
2 History of Click
3 The Click Community
4 External links

[edit] Overview

The Games Factory, created by Clickteam, is one example of this type of point-and-click authoring tool. Clickteam is associated with many such authoring, or programming tools . Despite the fact that each new product is based on its predecessor, most of the products have been assigned new names. This is primarily due to the distributors deciding on new names to increase sales and better target different markets. The computer program The Games Factory, and all the other products in the Click range were produced by Clickteam S.A.R.L..

In 2000, Clickteam had enough loyal “Clickers” to create an internet-based shop and become their own distributor. They previously required other companies’ relationships with the High Street stores to sell their creations. Clickteam bought the rights for the name of their latest creation from IMSI, which enabled them to continue selling new products in the Click range using the Multimedia Fusion name. In fact, they have already sold two new editions of the Multimedia Fusion product themselves. According to their web-forum, Clickteam are planning to stay with the Multimedia Fusion title for many years to come.

All of the Click products enable people with no coding experience to make their own computer games. The latest products in the Click range are also designed to be able to create utilities and applications. An example of an application would be a calculator designed to project the amount of interest your bank account will receive. This application would only require the end-user to input relevant information, such as their bank balance and interest rate.

In recent years, the Click Range has increasingly tried to appeal to the embedded internet applications sector. To add functionality to standard internet web-pages, you can place a file inside a page which can be opened by an “interpreter”. Clickteam has used this system to allow The Games Factory, Click & Create and Multimedia Fusion to have games and applications run inside a web-page, so you could, for example, have a fully animated menu created using one of the Click Range. The name for the online side of the Click Range is “Vitalize”, but unfortunately to run any of the “Vitalized” games/applications you are required to do a one-off installation of the Vitalize file interpreter.

[edit] History of Click

The products in the Click range are listed below; inside the brackets are the approximate years of release, publishers, and other relevant information. The list is as follows:

Klik & Play Logo

Klik & Play (1994: Maxis in the US, Europress in Europe, and Ubisoft in France – 1996: Portuguese edition distributed by MSD Multimídia in Brazil, this edition was released with a VHS tape of a soccer class. More recently, a version of the product was released called "K&P For Schools", which comes with a license restricting it to educational use);
Click & Create (1996-1998: Corel);
The Games Factory (1996: Europress in Europe, Australia, and China – 1998: Europress Brasil in Brazil - 2002: Xplosiv unboxed. TGF is a cut-down version of Click & Create);
Multimedia Fusion 1.0 (1998: IMSI in various countries. Although not generally sold in Brazil, a free copy of this product was made available on a cover-CD which was attached to the 21st issue of a Brazilian magazine called PC Master in 2001);
Multimedia Fusion Express (1999: IMSI, re-release of Click & Create);
Multimedia Fusion 1.2 (2000: IMSI/Clickteam, only available from internet shop);
The Games Factory Pro (2000: re-release of The Games Factory with a different distribution agreement. This program came free with issues 161 and 162 of PC Format Magazine, along with a tutorial on how to use it. This was as part of the GameMaker supplement, which when a magazine in its own right during late 2003 also contained a copy of TGF Pro);
Multimedia Fusion 1.5 (2001: IMSI/Clickteam, only available from internet shop - 2004: Also available through SoftwareToGo in America and from Tiger Direct);
Multimedia Fusion Pro (2002: IMSI/Clickteam, only available from internet shop - 2004: Also available through SoftwareToGo in America and from Tiger Direct);
The Games Factory 2 (June 30, 2006: Initially to be sold only at their online shop);
Multimedia Fusion 2 (June 30, 2006: Initially to be sold only at their online shop);
Multimedia Fusion 2 Developer Edition (June 30, 2006: Initially to be sold only at their online shop);

Interestingly, the first few hundred copies of Click & Create were sold as “Klik and Create” by Europress. Furthermore, the unreleased versions of MultiMedia Fusion were titled “Click and Create 2”, which may have been the name given to the product as part of a mass-transfer of distribution rights, this transfer resulted in IMSI gaining rights to many Corel products. Similarly, The Games Factory was originally going to be released as “Klik & Play 2”. The distributors of these products had the final say in the naming processes, and decided on the new titles for various reasons.

[edit] The Click Community

Offering probably the easiest form of game programming without being too restrictive, the Click range of products has created a large community of users that like to play the games made by others and keep updated on what various members are developing. Since the beginning of the Click range many of the games produced have achieved high levels of presentation, gameplay and design, and have thus received wide acclaim across the community. In rough order of release-date, here are some well-known games that are famous within the community (all of them freeware):

The Community is currently held together through the game developers' own websites and a very small amount of "Community Sites" that keep viewers updated on newly released games and development logs, maintain forums and occasionally provide time-limited game making competitions. The 2 best known Community Sites are notably opposite: The Daily Click[1] which maintains constant activity by featuring every game submitted regardless of quality, and Klik Me which is far more selective about its content and is thus much less active. Also, a newish site especially made for those who aren't too experienced, complete with courses, teachers and tests is Klik Academy . Notable developers that are still producing include Fallen Angel Industries, Natomic Studios and Apocalyptic Coders.

As with many creative internet communities, various trends have occurred in Click, most obviously the more recent preoccupation with making games that feel extremely retro, as though they have been ported from the NES or an arcade game. Members of the Click Community are also prone to begin making games that are far too epic and ambitious in scope (usually action-adventures or RPGs) and thus spend several years developing games that are often never released. The game that has spent the longest recorded time in uninterrupted development is the obscure action-adventure/platformer Tobias And The Dark Sceptres that according to its creator was started in December 2001 and is still being developed.

Some of the more popular games go on to appear in magazines, usually from European, Australian, or US publishers. Most notable developers to achieve this status are Fallen Angel Industries, Natomic Studios, Crobasoft and the now deceased team Newklear .