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GameMaker

GameMaker Game Cover
90%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:gameplay, humor
Most mentioned negative aspects:optimization, graphics
90% User Score Based on 1,394 reviews

Platforms

PCMac OSWindows
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GameMaker Game Cover

About GameMaker

GameMaker is a single player action game with a horror theme. It was developed by YoYo Games Ltd. and was released on May 3, 2022. It received positive reviews from players.

GameMaker has everything you need to take your idea from concept to finished game. With a fresh user interface and many new exciting features including; Real-Time Animation Editing, a new innovative workflow and seamless path from Drag and Drop to actual code, developing top quality games has never been easier! Featuring a powerful programming language for professionals, and a drag-and-drop no-co…

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GameMaker screenshot
GameMaker screenshot
GameMaker screenshot
GameMaker screenshot
GameMaker screenshot
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Reviews

90%Audience ScoreBased on 1,394 reviews
gameplay4 positive mentions
monetization3 negative mentions
  • GameMaker is an excellent engine for making 2D games, especially for beginners, offering an easy-to-learn programming language (GML) and a user-friendly interface with drag-and-drop features.
  • It has a strong community support with abundant tutorials, documentation, and active forums making learning and troubleshooting easier.
  • The engine supports quick prototyping and has built-in tools like a sprite editor, room editor, and flexible event system, enabling developers to create polished games efficiently.
  • The business model and licensing have been problematic, including forced Opera account sign-ins, subscription plans (though recently reverted), and paywalls for exporting games commercially.
  • The software can be unstable with bugs, crashes, and some features being broken or poorly supported, especially on Linux and non-Windows platforms.
  • The user interface is sometimes cluttered or unintuitive, and the learning curve can be steep for complete beginners, with some outdated or incomplete tutorials causing frustration.

  • gameplay

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    40% positive mentions, 30% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    The gameplay aspect is praised for its beginner-friendly coding tools, including drag-and-drop mechanics and a supportive global community with extensive tutorials, making 2D game development smooth and accessible. However, some unintuitive mechanics, interface complexity, and potential project stability issues with larger games may pose challenges. Overall, it's well-suited for those interested in creating custom gameplay, especially in 2D, but less ideal if you prefer pre-made mechanics.

    • “Combined with a massive, incredibly passionate global community that has flooded YouTube and Reddit with thousands of high-quality tutorials, learning how to code your own mechanics is an incredibly smooth, supportive experience.”
    • “One-time $100 publishing license, great for most 2D games, less than ideal for 3D but still doable (though I recommend Godot). Coding language (GML) is mostly similar to JavaScript. It has its own pixel art tools for making sprites while also having tools for setting up dedicated/peer-to-peer servers. The engine contains drag-and-drop coding mechanics and allows for the creation of complex objects with multiple hitboxes by dragging and dropping objects into sequences. There's also a lot of documentation and tutorials for learning the engine—very beginner friendly if you are looking to get into game development. Overall, probably one of the best engines for 2D game development I have found by far.”
    • “Easy to get used to mechanics and good for newbies. A feature I love is that you can do type or physical coding.”
    • “This engine on every step will make an illusion that it's a real and fully functional product, but at the same step will throw absolutely unintuitive mechanics at you.”
    • “Documentation tells you that some obvious modern language mechanic is working in a totally different way than you expected.”
    • “Upon further inspection it seems to have some issues relating to saved projects on accounts being deleted and entire projects being corrupted if there are too many rooms or if the projects grow too large.”

  • optimization

    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    30% positive mentions, 40% neutral mentions, 30% negative mentions

    The optimization of the game engine shows solid performance overall, especially in compiled games, though the IDE itself can suffer from weak performance and stuttering, particularly with complex or cluttered layouts. While there are improvements over previous versions, the engine's calculation speed remains significantly slower compared to C++ and other engines like RPG Maker Ace. Users note that optimization can vary, with some experiencing degradation depending on usage and hardware.

    • “Very solid game engine and strong performance.”
    • “There is quite significant performance increase over v6 & 7, putting GM8 on par with RMXP.”
    • “YYC increases performance about 5 times over VM, so YYC compiled exe would be about 22 times slower than C++.”
    • “Performance really suffers when you have a lot of things open, so you should reset your layout fairly often.”
    • “I admit I may not have the most powerful hardware, but I do think that if I can run way more demanding software or games, then Game Maker stuttering isn't because of my hardware.”
    • “Performance-wise, GMS does calculations about 115 times slower than C++, which is still worse than RPG Maker ACE.”

  • graphics

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 14% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    Users appreciate the graphics system for its simplicity, ease of prototyping, and intuitive coding-based drawing tools, especially for 2D work with support for SVG and PNG files. However, its limited 3D capabilities and less advanced visual power compared to engines like Unreal make it less competitive for high-end graphics.

    • “I love a lot about it, especially the coding and object system that allows me to draw using code instead of just placing GUI elements using objects.”
    • “The sprite sheet handling is very easy and works with SVG vector graphic files as well as PNG files.”
    • “A masterpiece of simplicity, though it lacks the advanced graphic capabilities of Unreal Engine.”
    • “A masterpiece of simplicity, yet lacking the competitive edge of Unreal Engine's graphic prowess.”
    • “Little support for 3D graphics.”
    • “If you ever do get to the point of making games, it's actually quite intuitive, but the connected aspects required to facilitate that wear you down to the point that you don't want to anymore, and you'll just end up switching to something that's more likely to immediately start working.”

  • monetization

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 20% neutral mentions, 60% negative mentions

    The monetization strategy has recently shifted, leading to mixed reactions: many users praise the positive changes, while others view it as a cash grab targeting new users. Some negative reviews focus more on these changes than the game's actual quality.

    • “What has caused a massive surge of overwhelmingly positive community sentiment on Steam is its fantastic shift in monetization strategy.”
    • “This is an obvious cash grab on the new users.”
    • “When people inquire, it is explained that acceptance of donations or YouTube ads would qualify as commercial use.”
    • “New updated monetization since 11-21-2023.”

  • stability

    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    20% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 80% negative mentions

    The game shows stability issues primarily on certain setups, such as when the C drive is full or with the Steam version, leading to crashes and unsaved changes. It runs flawlessly on Windows 10/11, while Linux users may experience additional bugs. Overall, stability is inconsistent depending on the platform and installation conditions.

    • “It's flawless under Windows 10/11, and this software also runs great on Linux.”
    • “Was a bit buggy, so if your C drive is full, ensure the game files (both Steam install and game assets) are saved on a separate drive to avoid crashes.”
    • “If you're using Linux, be aware that the version can be quite buggy and unstable.”
    • “I have had issues with the program not saving changes to the code I spent 30 minutes writing and troubleshooting, only to find the changes were not saved when running the game or debugger.”

  • story

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    25% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 75% negative mentions

    The story aspect is generally viewed as non-existent or minimal, with users referencing "Undertale" for comparison but expressing dissatisfaction with the software's limitations rather than narrative content. Overall, the story is not a significant focus or highlight for this game or tool.

    • “Woaaaoaaaaaaoaoooooooh oh oh oh, story of Undertale”
    • “No story.”
    • “Gamemaker is not bad, it's not brilliant either, but my main gripe is upon loading the software I found you can't download the templates anymore and you have to use their site to get them (meaning you need to sign in there to get the downloads), and for me that is not going to happen. I'm not signing into a site just to get templates the software should supply. I will simply use other software and build this a plot in the garden.”
    • “Woaaaoaaaaaaoaoooooooh ohohoh story of Undertale.”

  • humor

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The humor in the game is appreciated for its playful and quirky style, with users finding it amusing and endearing. It also adds a lighthearted charm, receiving positive recognition from players familiar with similar comedic games.

    • “Not a good engine but it's funny to show my game programming teacher what I can do with this 2D engine.”
    • “You want to use a super funny objective approach while building the game?”
    • “Gets a seal of approval from Shiyoon (cute girl from the funny game Algebra Ridge).”

  • music

    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    Users highlight that the music in the game can span any genre and dimension with effort, especially when created solo or with a team. The GameMaker language (GML) is praised for being easy to learn and enabling seamless integration of music, sound, animation, and interactivity for an immersive experience.

  • grinding

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game features intensive grinding that may require significant time and effort, often making players feel like they need an extra life to progress.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
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Play Times

3200h Median play time
2400h Average play time
800-4000h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

GameMaker is a action game with horror theme. Common tags for GameMaker include free to play, educational, psychological and psychological horror.

GameMaker is available on PC, Mac OS and Windows.

On average players spend around 2400 hours playing GameMaker.

GameMaker was released on May 3, 2022.

GameMaker was developed by YoYo Games Ltd..

GameMaker has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked GameMaker for its gameplay but disliked it for its optimization.

GameMaker is a single player game.

Similar games include [Unsupported] GameMaker Studio 2 Desktop, Clickteam Fusion 2.5, Godot Engine, TyranoBuilder Visual Novel Studio, Pixel Game Maker MV and others.