It helped me save money because the license is so much cheaper than paying a % of the total revenue as other engines require.

One of the most beautiful engines for small studios. A lot of the things are very intuitive. You have the option of use nodes for the code or coding it by hand. If you go for the 2nd option, you don't need an external application to edit your code: all happens in the same engine interface! The basic tutorials are all you need to understand most of the general things you'll be using, and it's been used for so many small indie devs that most of the questions you have are already answered out there. The engine will run in Nintendo Switch very soon!!

It's expensive. The FREE trial version allows you only to create 10 objects which is a painful joke. If you want to give your prototype a decent try you'll have to pay for a permanent licence (only for desktop, web and mobile). The ULTIMATE package provides a 12 months licence for all console platforms including ps4 and xbox. Another decisive element is that documentation was not up to date. I found a lot of deprectaed methods in the official documentation. Some more advanced stuff have to be learned by try and error or watching lots of videos until you find one that's actually using the same version you're using. So this engine is great for small teams but you absolutely require to have some experienced members on the team that helps you to get the best out of it. For me, paying to try it is not worth it.

Overall GameMaker: Studio is a fine tool for new developers, but it will eventually leave you wanting more, since it is quite a simple engine compared to its competitors.

GameMaker: Studio was my first entry into the world of game making. It's drag and drop programming interface makes it easy to make simple games, while also having the skill-ceiling to create magnificent 2d-games. It's simple interface makes it easy for new developers to dapple in game making. It utilizes it's own programming language that is a form of simplified javascript, that features simple syntax.

The ability to create 3D projects is lacking, and it's hard to recommend it over Unity, unless you are a complete novice to programming and game design. It does not provide the same capabilities as its competition, but maybe GameMaker: Studio 2 can make up for that.

Simple to learn

Programs from older versions do not migrate to new software

I messed around with this software when I was thinking of getting into game development. The interface was pretty easy to navigate. Lots of tutorials on the web and Youtube to help learn. You can definitely learn how to make games using Game Maker.

Licenses are expensive and if you want to make mobile games, which my aim was, then you gotta shell out a little more. Just kinda lost interest in mobile game development and stopped using.

I like the choice between traditional coding and drag-and-drop options for creating your work. There's a great resource in the program itself for looking up functions.

It can be a bit overwhelming for a novice user, especially someone who has never coded before.

GameMaker is the reason I've even been able to work as a game designer in the first place. Having started with pre-studio versions as far back as 2004, GameMaker provided me a tool set to not only learn and iterate on basic design principles, but learn rudimentary programming and come to grips with the fundamentals of developing video game software.

With GameMaker: Studio, it's relatively painless to get a simple idea to the basic prototype phase. It allows you to be as hands on or hands off as you'd like with some of the lower-level operations of the game, and while you'll never have as much control as an original engine built from scratch, being able to manage things like instance ordering is much-appreciated and well ahead of some other game development alternatives. I've also always been a big fan of GameMaker's general layout and interface, and think its structured in such a way that lends itself very well to being a teaching tool.

GameMaker: Studio isn't really equipped for 3D software development, unlike some of its contemporaries, even with the latest releases of Studio 2. GML's syntax is also often too loose, which can be helpful for beginners, but often encourages bad code-writing practices for those who have yet to use any other languages.

I use it for all my 2d games, its great and very easy to use.

Lots of features, they update and add more all the time. They have a nice rendering system and effects that was added recently. It gets better and better with each update, its very simple to use, the language is easy to use, and its super simple to add in your own graphics and scripts.

Now they offer a program for each platform, and they each cost a ton of money. That's the only con I have with it at this time.

I've trialed using GameMaker: Studio in house when we were considering developing a 2D title. The toolset was quite impressive, and it was easy to get started with a simple game concept. We keep track of the software as it's developed, in case we look to use it for an upcoming project.

GameMaker Studio is a surprisingly fully featured game engine for creating feature and art-rich 2D games. The more recent integrations of new animation and image editing tools are very welcome, especially for the GameMaker price tag.

I haven't encountered any major cons with the software yet. For the time I've spent with it, it's met my expectations, though I haven't shipped a product with it.

GameMaker is one of the best entry engines to work with. It's easy to use and can help you learn and understand better some basic gamedev practices

Being simple is also it's problem, for you can't count on it too much for some more powerful/advanced stuff

Streaming, Game Design, Or just needing a way to clip your games. Does it all

Easy to use, Developer quality, but with everyday controls.

Missing some minor details, mostly just better reference guide whenever you do have questions

I like the ability to work inside a sandbox environment with the coding I understand, and I am able to work with it

I honestly do not have any problems with the software as of yet, but will update when i use it more in the future

It is a fun beginner program for making simple games

if you want to make a simple game without having background in coding, or if you are at beginners level. Its fun to play around and make small projects.

If you want to make something bigger I recommend other apps- Unity Is one of the most popular one as well as Unreal engine

great created some games with it

Great engine to create 2D games ,easy and powerfull.

great software i dont have bad words for that

Hands down, Game Maker Studio is one of the top development packages for making 2D games, and pretty good one for 3D games as well. In addition, as a beginner developer, you really cant beat the tools set offered in Game Maker Studio. Their visual scripting system couldn't be any easier and will allow you to piece together a game with little (or no) programming at all - a really awesome feature for those who are intimidated with learning a programming language. Fortunately, as expected, you can program within GMS as well, so the option is there if you need to go beyond what is offered with their visual node system.

Sure, some of the 3D gaming features aren't as robust as other engines, but everything you need is here. Also, as strong as the visual node-based script system is, there are times where it cant do everything - no necessarily a con given how powerful and amazing this system is, but it is worth mentioning. Overall this is a great engine and should be considered by any beginner or indie developer.

Overall experience is good. It has a lot of room to grow.

Game maker is very easy to learn and use. You can create quick games without any programming knowledge.

Game maker can't be used to create AAA games. It misses a lot of functionalities found in other engines.

Needed a good entryway into developing. This does it well and it's professional still.

It's fun to use and helps you understand the principles of gamification while developing games as well. It's straightforward and has a strong online community that shares tips and ideas and workarounds.

It's not as fully featured as any kind of full-on coding would be, but the ease of use more than makes up for it and the online communities help.

I used GameMaker tool for the development of 2D games of andriod. If some one has to start coding they must start from gamemaker then upgrade to unity etc

GameMaker is very good for thoes who just started to do game development. One of the best tool for coding. This tool has its own language, GML. We use GameMaker for the development of andriod games. The interface of this tool is very user friendly.we can download the extensions very easily. The randering speed of this tool is quite impressive as compared to other tools.

The main con of this tools is that we can only develop 2D games.Gamemaker is a limited tool. In the lattest version I have some problems while coding it gets crashed but satisfied with the auto save function so that I can't lose my progress

So far I like it just cause the tutorials are simple to follow and you dont have to code to make simple games, it also has its own coding language thats not hard to learn. Im stuck on the old version tho since i cant afford the heavy price tag on the latest one.

This game engine is probs the most used 2d one, so there is a bunch of content located everywhere that helps you keep up to date and know what to do.

when ever it updates to a new version like game maker 1.x to 2.x you will have to rebuy the license once again. each module cost more like if you want to export to another platform good luck

The main aspect that drew me to this software is how easy it is to make things with everything that you would need to do that.

I honestly don’t have any issues with this software as I’m fully satisfied.

Thanks to this software I was able to design a small video game for android and it helped me to see how beautiful this video game design environment was

I like that it is a software with many functionalities for the creation of video games, the way to create it is simple, it is few words, it is a very friendly and easy to use software

I do not like much that even though its interface is friendly, it shows many metaphors a little unrecognizable

A full time job! And some scripting/game design skills!

Ease of use and how quick you can actually have a prototype going. I have been using it for years now, and I get paid to develop games with it!

Console support, 3D support (this is a 2D game engine), small little quirks like built-in variables being non-optional, etc.

It is a fun game engine for throwing together 2D ideas

Great for smaller simple games with its drag and drop interface and the such. Does 2D games really well.

I wish I could have this ease of use while making more complex and multidimensional games or shooters

Previously out game design team had developed the majority of our project in the old GameMaker, and we were very hesitant to port it into a new engine in this phase of our development cycle. However, the ability to build to mobile among many other much needed features erased our worries and makes me recommend this product to anyone looking to get into 2D game development.

Some strange GML (game maker language, what the engine uses to program) bugs have been encountered, and customer support is sometimes a nightmare when it comes to educational licensing depending on who you talk to.

I got this game development software for free in a bundle on humble bundle. It Is great for side scroller and pixel style game development.

This software can't create open world or FPS style games. It create a real hindered as to what a use can accomplish.

Overall, I think GameMaker is a great option to get started making games. I would go back and use it whenever I want to make a simple game because it makes it so easy to do so.

What I love most about GameMaker Studio is that it is extremely simple to learn how to make games. It isn't overwhelming like other programs. It is a great tool for beginners to get started and there are so many tutorials to go with it. It was the first program that I ever used to make games and I don't know how I could've learned so much without it.

What I least liked about the software is that you are limited by what you can do with it compared to other software to make games. There are ways to expand it if you have experience but there is still a whole lot that it is missing.

This software makes game creation accessible for a more casual user or someone who wants to learn some of the fundamentals of game design in a hands-on way. It's more complex than other designers without being overwhelming, which makes it a good fit for a beginner who doesn't want to be boxed in by something too simple or too complex. As a result you get more flexibility with what you do and depth to what you learn, provided you are motivated to do so and can teach yourself things to use in the program. There are a number of games online that were created with GameMaker so you can see what people have made. I don't use the program as often as I used to, but I still really value the things I learned while using it. I have a greater appreciation and understanding of game design as a whole thanks to GameMaker.

Easy to use and fast development for 2D videogames, allows to quickly build playable prototypes.

Like any tool, it is limited by the expertise of those who use it, but it has a great learning community.

I was impressed with this software. I think people that are new at game making will really enjoy it. It's not to far from Microsoft paint, so if you can use that, this will be pretty easy for you

This software has some tutorials at the beginning that are very helpful. I highly suggest watching before you begin. The tools for creating are wonderful. You can create and shape and in any colors. From the beginning, I tried to make a character and it was fairly easy. Everything is right there at your fingertips. I like that it has a variety of ways to get help if you need it.

It was a little difficult to get it to download and install, but it did finally work

It was very easy to use with little programming knowledge.

Because it is so simple, there is a lot you cannot do in GameMaker. It is definitely for simpler games.

Game Maker is very user friendly for user who have no experience at all in programming, while still offers it's own programming language for users who are getting used to writing code. The object oriented nature of the program makes it much easier for new users to understand the concept.

It is a bit limited in terms of using external resources, such as external additions and libraries for your project.

The most thing that i like in this app is the tools that they are giving its just so ez to start making a game.

At the moment the app is working and giving the best quality all the best i wish for the developors :)

It is good for making 2D games and it is easy to use!!!

It is absolutely not made for 3D game development.

As a total beginner I wanted to pick up game maker to see what the buzz was about. What I found was the simplest program, of any type, there is. The basics are beyond intuitive, and the more complex stuff becomes intuitive. Great place to start learning the basics of game development.

The only negative I could possibly come up with is that you're largely limited to a 2D perspective. You can make things in a 3D form but this isn't really the program for that, as they won't look or act quite right. Or maybe I'm just not doing it quite right!

Allowed us to develop simple 2d games fairly easily

- Good for developing 2D games - Can be simple to use

- Uses own created programming language (GML)

I worked on a game developed with gamemaker and it was pretty nice, the team could focus more on the visuals and mechanics than being worried about the algorithms and code.

Is simple, and you can modify/customize the behaviors as much as you want/can.

The first time can be very expensive as they sell every build module separated.

As a game developer I created my first actual game using GameMaker: Studio.

One of the greatest advantages of GameMaker: Studio is how easy it is to convert a simple idea into an actual prototype of a game, which makes the application a perfect platform for beginners. Another aspect of the software that is really beneficial for new creators is that you need little to no knowledge of programming language in order to start your first project. It is also very easy and requires minimal changes in the actual code to publish a game to different platforms. The Game Maker community is full of tutorials and test codes which can help you to develop your own game.

The product is quite expensive and the free trial of the software does not provides you with all of its tools.

Tried out the software as an alternative to prototyping games

The ease of use is outstanding, this engine allows for very quick prototyping, and you can have a game ready in no time

The lack of features, and performance problems, are a bit problematic if you want to create a more complex game

Tried as an alternative for our web and mobile games

GameMaker has a long history in the game engines market. It helps to create a game with little technical setup, and the result is good.

It's not as powerful as other solutions. If you require more customization or even better performance, go with the other engines.

The ease of use is where GameMaker: Studio shines. It's the perfect software for entry level and novice users can really start to get the hang of making games. You do not need to having coding skills in order to use this software.

GameMaker: Studio does not feature 3D game development. This software only supports 2D game design. The price points of the subscription and licensing models may be a turn off for some users as they can be a bit expensive and confusing as they are broken down into different categories.

Overall, GameMaker is the easiest for simple games and it lets anyone who has a computer able to make a game!

If you are trying to make a simple game like an 8-bit or platformer, this is the video game engine for you. It is simple and to the point making it easy to use this software for absolute beginners in the industry. You don't need a lot of schooling or experience to make a game. I really like how much of this can be sprite based as well. Anyone can edit images and make characters, items, etc based on sprites.

With any niche software, there are some downsides. GameMaker is very limited on what you can do. It is a place to start making games, but once you want to move onto other ideas, it makes the transition to other engines hard. I also wish GameMaker had a common coding language instead of using its own. This helps prepare for the transition to other engines.

Absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to use it in another project.

Super easy workflow. Very light (you could run this on a toaster) on system requirements. Great community support/resources. Probably the best 2D framework on the market.

Licensing for the different platforms is annoying but can understand the perks of a la carte licensing. Definitely only limited to 2D which can be a little frustrating if you want to incorporate some 3D elements in your game. Community is stratified between the two versions leading to some confusion when using older resources.

Firstly, this was my first ever exposure to any form of game development software and I am pleased it was my first. This is because it offers an intuitive drag and drop scripting interface as well as a more advanced but still simple custom language called GML (GameMaker Language). This makes it great for younger children to help teach them logical thinking in a format that they can enjoy. Then as they get more advanced they can start to write their own scripts and create even more functionality, setting them up well for the future if they decide to pursue this as a career.

In my opinion, a con to GameMaker is that it has a specific GameMaker style that can be hard to escape when you have less experience. Similar to how Unity or Unreal Engine can both have a specific style, making them feel more generic and less polished.

While it's true that GML is Turing Complete, and therefore it's technically possible to write any algorithm in it, the language gets rid of more "complicated" stuff from more low level-languages like C (e.g. pointers and structures) without proper replacements. It's factually easier to write many algorithms in C than in GML.

GameMaker: Studio (GMS) is a very feature-complete suite and the included toolset (including the programming language, GML) pushes towards greater productivity.

Although GMS indeed pushes towards being more productive, it also promotes recklessness. In other words, the final product can have low maintainability.

I got into GameMaker as a hobby, and find it very enjoyable, perhaps one day I'll upgrade to Unity or Unreal Engine, but for just learning and building for your own enjoyment, it's a great little software. There have been some super successful GM games released, so don't let it's limitations deter you.

For an absolute beginner, this is a great tool to learn game design and coding language. Although it's GameMaker own language, GML, it shares a lot of similarities with other more universal coding languages, and is a good introduction to programming. Even if you have no desire to program, you can use GameMaker's built in drag-drop code features, that let you make simple interactions between objects. Using GM1.4, I successfully created a simple "balloon pop" app for android, so my daughter could play. IT had a lot of polish and GM made it relatively easy to build, and launch on the Android Play Store. I've since upgraded to GM2, and am working on a more robust game, and find the whole process very enjoyable.

It is a very limited software, as it only handles 2D game applications, and the modules for launching on other platforms (iOS, android, etc...) are not cheap. There's also been some nvidia bugs, that cause it to crash occasionally, but GM2 has a decent auto-save system, and I've never lost any progress. Using repository services helps as well.

GameMaker: Studio has a variety of platforms available to make games very easily, the features available can help me make games even though I lack the knowledge about making games and scripting language.

A computer with high specifications is needed to use this application.

I like that it has a single development workflow so I can build all kinds of games in it

The prices are steep, so I don't know how soon I can upgrade from the trial

I've used GM:S to create game prototypes for a few clients, who used those prototypes to hire a programmer for a different engine. I've also worked on two simple mobile games with GM:S.

This is a review for the original Game Maker Studio, not GM:S2.

Everything about the native editor is just lacking. Back in the day, when Game Maker was brand new, it was actually pretty good and comparable to other software of the era. Now it's just clunky and hard to use. That's probably one of the reasons GM:S2 exists!

Simply put, if you’ve never coded before or never created any game, this is a nice tool to begin with. You don’t need any programming/scripting skills since GM uses its own built in language (GML). In that way, you can pretty easily develop a game based on an idea you had or create something as a part of a homework/project for your school/college.

But, for experienced users and coders, GML is a limiting factor and you should go with something else, like Unity for example.

Developing a game is much quicker and easier with this than many other software solutions and definitely quicker than programming from scratch

The image editor has lost some of its functions

It's the tool that got me in programming - GML was the first programming language I learned. I published about 10 games on Google Play developed with Game Maker Studio.

I've been using Game Maker for years and the build-in scripting language (GML) is really easy to master. As a product with so much history there is a lot of help content and guides on the web. It also allows exports for various platforms.

Unlike Unity, the free version is really stripped from functionality and every platform you wish to export to has to be purchased as a "module".

The worst Game Maker software built so far. GM1.4 Was the best. They ruined that with Studio. This is a horrible piece of software. If you want projects to fail from opening, game compiling to stale when loading, random errors appearing around the IDE, then this is for you.

Functionality. The concept is nice. Design has potential.

The constant breaking. The failure to open project files.

This product is an amazing beginner's tool and for experienced users can be implemented to create amazing games.

Graphics and user interfaces are very limited. Cannot do 3D games.

Fast and easy way to create 2D games and apps.

One the surface, Game Maker is a very easy to understand and use without knowing much about programming, and entire games could be made on this level. But there is also a deeper level where programmers can add any type of custom code to do make the game or app do whatever they want.

The only cons I have come across so far with Game Maker is that it uses .pngs for the final art files, which can be quite large. This means you need to be really smart with what images you use and how you use them, or your apps can start getting quite large.

If you don't know how to code, but want to make a game, this will work.

O.k., so I used the free version of this software to start out with. I wanted to get a feel for it and see if it was right for a person like me who knows very little coding. It was an easy drag-and-drop style system which allowed me to use it with ease and yet learn a little coding along the way. I was able to make a complete mobile game using this software.

A little expensive to use if you want to make mobile games.

It's easy to pick up and learn in an afternoon with very intuitive drag and drop tools. And your games can be exported to mobile apps!

Exporting packages must be purchased separately. Also you are limited to 2D side-scrolled or top down games, but if that's what you want, this is a great beginner tool.

It provides a lot of tutorials to progressively start coding your games. It also doesn't require an expert graphic or developer to start making your own games (they will be required for bigger games though)

This might be a pro of a con, depending about how you see it, but GameMaker comes with "packages" that will allow you to export games for Android, HTML etc, and they must be purchased separately.

easy to use and create 2d games that i have always wanted to make.

Easy learning curve, Has lots of tutorials that are easy to follow with code and demos you can download. Lots of resources to create the games you want. There is a large active community to help you when you need it. There a large marketplace to buy assets for your game. The software has all the latest technology to make your game design easier to do with some automation. You can export your game to play on all platforms, Windows, android, ios, linux and more.

Tech support can be a little slow to answer ticket questions. The add on to export to mobile are not included in the main software and have to be purchases as separate addons.

You just need a bit graphic design or programming knowledge to create your own projects. It's easy to use and there is a variety of tutorials to learn how to properly use it.

You need to buy some formats to export your game to other platforms like HTML5, iOS and Android. For the ones that have more experience on programming languages, they will find some limits on the scripting language that the app uses.

Game engine for learning basics of game development to build a working knowledge of game mechanics.

Gamemaker is very stable and has a long history been around for 18ish years. I would consider it a beginners platform into game development with its easy to learn scripting language you wont find anywhere else called Game Maker Language (GML). Also, the community support is great there is a ton of information to absorb and tools to get you up and running.

Game Maker Language (GML) is pretty basic compared to more robust languages so I don't recommend this for users who are used to Unreal engine or Unity. Its more for people trying out game development and taking the first couple of steps.

The paid version gives you access to a lot of libraries you can implement to your game, it's the best system if you are looking to work on a 2D game.

If you are looking to make a 3D game, game maker won't work for you, the free version doesn't liet you do much. In order to be able to work decently you'll need the paid version.

GameMaker has a lot of great libraries and can be used for projects of any size - We've used it for everything from minigames up to full-scale commercial projects.

The export options are a bit deceiving - They claim to be one-click exports and should theoretically work out-of-the-box, but in the majority of cases you'll need to tinker significantly with the options and with optimizations to make it work.

The best feature of this software is that you are able to create games easily and publish them to various platforms.

Some of the licences are a bit expensive, but I assume that's acceptable since it offers the more complex features you only need if you are already selling the game or publishing to multiple plaforms.

I've used plenty of other game dev programs before, but nothing was too great for 2D development. I decided to try Game Maker at a recommendation from a friend, and I loved it immediately. With my prior knowledge I found this program so simple to use, but I'm sure that beginners would love it as well. It can do just about ANYTHING you want it to, you just have to find the particular way GM wants you to accomplish that.

Of course, this is primarily a 2D software, so if someone is looking for 3D programming it's best to look elsewhere. I also think I confused the particular customer service rep I was dealing with when I was asking a particularly technical question about sprite animation. I eventually independently found the answer, and it may just have been the one reps knowledge or my wording that was the problem is I won't knock them too much for that.

Easy to make simple 2D games!

The interface is extremely straightforward and simple to use.

While there is a lot you can do, there is still a lot you cannot with this software when it comes to 3D development.

A great entry way into making games, with or without coding experience. If you devote enough time you can get some fantastic results.

I've had trouble hearing back from customer support at all in reference to emails I sent to them. Other than that, the overall software is great and even has a scaled down free option if you want to try before you buy.

I love how it is drag and drop. Makes it easier for novice users. Finding some of the features are kind of difficult as the menus are not as straight forward as I would have liked. Overall good software to start with and use to make games.

The only real con I can think is that it is a little confusing to figure out at first. It is not as straight forward as some of the other software. However, once you learn where everything is, you can do a lot.

I have over 5000 hours with GameMaker and still going. I've learned how to make games with it. If you're looking into getting into the industry then this is a great learning tool. The community is also one of the best and can help you figure out almost anything to help your game get finished.

It's easy to use and has a fantastic community that can help you with whatever you need. It also has a free version for you to try out if GameMaker is right for you.

Although the community is very responsive, yoyo games, in my experience, is not. There are still some emails that I've sent to them that have yet to be addressed. Also, GameMaker isn't as strong as other engines. Other engines can give you more freedom of control.

Anyone can pick this software up and learn to make their own games on multiple platforms, and includes tools for sprite creation as well.

The menus weren't the clearest and it did take some getting used to in terms of finding everything desired.

Well made a lot of games in the software for personal use, it is easy to use and a great little engine to start with as some of the bigger engines can seem very hard to understand.

I like the fact you can add your own assets and objects with the level design editor in gamemaker. The programming is easy and can be picked up by anybody really and the power you can put into some of your games are great some amazing titles on the gamemaker showcase at the moment.

Nothing bad to say really the ui could do with a bit of work and maybe the add ons could be cheaper but all round a great product.