Game Launcher Creator is a proprietary software developed by ByteBox Media Ltd.
You can learn more about our flagship software product here and our company.
- A Timeline of Development
What is Game Launcher Creator?
Game Launcher Creator is a Windows desktop application suite of tools that allows you to design, develop and configure your own custom game launchers and update systems.
It was originally developed back in 2017 and released in February 2018 for the Indie Development community. Since then, it has quickly grown in popularity, now sporting over 5,000 users from over 60 countries worldwide. In light of this success, the last 5 years have seen over 180 updates pushed out, new features developed and Game Launcher Creator is now officially the world’s greatest game launcher development software.
Game Launcher Creator - Version 1
- FEB 2018
- GLCV1
ByteBox Media has been developing software, apps, games and engines since 1998.
Up until 2017, we had only worked on client projects (we were hired). We decided there was a gap in the market for a unique software, something to develop game launchers. The amount of code you need to develop a custom game launcher, update system and patching system is astronomical, especially the patch system.
So we started developing Game Launcher Creator. We started back in 2017 and the first release was in February 2018.
Game Launcher Creator (Version 1) was released for Windows, with XP, 7, 8 and 10 compatibility. It was marketed towards aspiring Indie developers, mostly users of special game making software, namely GameGuru, FPSCreator and Clickteam Fusion.
The original objects available were Server Image (cloud image), Images, Server Text (PHP Query Strings), Text String, Button and Video.
The interface was basic, but good enough to do the job. In between updates we flicked between docked and undocked windows as you can see from the screenshots.
As you can see, the interface (compared to V3 today) was pretty basic. It was concise, straight to the point and as basic as you could get. Bearing in mind, at the time GLCV1 was developed, it was only put out as a ‘small utility’ to develop game launchers with.
The project development time for the original Game Launcher Creator V1 software was 5 months from start to release.
GLCV1 saw updates from release up until 7th August 2019.
In this time GLC saw the introduction of the welcome screen (latest news), a change to the interface, it was a lot cleaner and all the windows except the object inspector, were now docked.
Game Launcher Creator - Version 2
- FEB 2019
- GLCV2
By the time just 12 months had passed, Game Launcher Creator’s popularity had grown and we could see a big trend not just in our target market, which were Indie Developers, but Gamers too.
Gamers themselves started picking up GLC to create launchers for their own servers for games like Counter-Strike, World of Warcraft, Battlefield and many more.
The users were requesting lots of features, but these were features we could no way implement into GLCV1, the framework just wasn’t coded to handle those kinds of features, like a patching system, Minecraft and many more.
So, back in May of 2019, we started development of Game Launcher Creator V2.
GLCV2 was a completely different approach. We had gone from V1, having a basic and simple interface, providing the basic objects needed to create a simple launcher, to V2 which was to be massive in terms of features and the toolset available.
This version of GLC (v2) was set to be a big project, yet it was completed from start to finish in just 4 months. We had taken what we had already learnt developing V1 and started V2 from the ground up, with a brand new interface featuring a custom menu system and introducing new features such as AOPS (the patching system).
GLCV2 was originally meant to be two editions. Standard and Pro. Both editions featured all the basic and standard objects, including the built-in updater. The Pro edition was to include features like the patching system and other features.
However, we quickly and promptly decided to do a 180 on this early after release and just create one edition… GLCV2.
As you can see from the screenshots above, the interface was a better improvement on V1. But if you look at the screenshots below, we rebranded Game Launcher Creator in Mid-2020 with a brand new overhaul on the brand design, logos, interface and website.
Later down the line of 2020, Minecraft support was added to GLCV2 from a third party developer which enabled users to create custom Minecraft launchers.
Game Launcher Creator - Version 3
- FEB 2023
- GLCV2
Game Launcher Creator V2 lasted almost 4 years in production. The increase in users from V1 to the end of V2 was phenomenal. Game Launcher Creator was now firmly cemented as the world’s number one (and the only) game launcher editing software.
GLCV2 was packed out, seeing over 160 updates performed to it over the 4 year period. Our userbase amplified from the V1 days, now accruing thousands of users over this 4 year period.
As with any project, product, service or software… users request more and more features and abilities for the software. Whilst we did our very best to implement a lot of these into GLCV2, again, we eventually come to a point where it’s not possible for the framework to support particular features we wanted to develop.
During the V2 stage, we had already developed a new software called Config File Creator. This is a different software, it allows you to create your own configuration screens. You can use this in conjunction with GLCV2.
The one thing we did with Config File Creator that was different, was take a different approach to the real-time editor. Coding it from scratch, we learnt more ourselves and we took a lot of the knowledge we had gained over V2, over to the start of V3 development.
We were initially going to develop an ‘add-on’ DLC extra for GLCV2 and we did start it, but when we looked at the framework as we were adding more and more features, some things were just impossible to add.
GLCV2 lasted 4 years with over 160 updates. If we were to develop a GLCV3, it has to be a better product, provide a better experience and offer many more features.
We officially got started on Game Launcher Creator V3 back in February 2022. It has been coded from the ground-up, no code has come from any of the previous versions. It is a complete re-write from scratch. We needed to do this in order to implement the features we wanted and this time we decided to code a framework which would allow plugins. This enables us to forecast that GLCV3 will have an even greater run than GLCV2 in terms of longevity.
By now (2023), we have a solid userbase. We have users that know what we are capable of and that our goals align with theirs and on 31st January 2023, Game Launcher Creator was unveiled and publicly released to the world.
Game Launcher Creator V3 is now even more powerful than before, especially with some of the new features.
The editor framework alone is a major revamp, it’s even easier now to design your dream launchers with our editor.
The launcher runtime is even more powerful now featuring dynamic and custom variables, a new conditional event action system, multiple actions and much more.
The future of Game Launcher Creator V3 is bright and we look forward to sharing the next chapter with you.
Game Launcher Creator
Be the Creator. The Developer.
