The complete development tool for making 2D games

GameMaker is a popular program that allows you to create cross-platform and multi-genre video games. It uses drag-and-drop visual programming to create simple games, while the Game Maker Language scripting language can be used for more complex projects.

GameMaker was initially designed to allow novice developers to create computer games without much knowledge in the field of programming. Still, today it contains tools that will enable professional developers to work with it.

The program has an intuitive interface from which you can manage all stages of game development. To use this program, however, you will need first to study the manual, but once you master all the settings, developing games will be easier and faster.

GameMaker is primarily intended for making games with 2D graphics, allowing out-of-box use of raster graphics, vector graphics, and 2D skeletal animations, along with a sizeable standard library for drawing graphics and 2D primitives. While the software allows for limited use of 3D graphics, this is in the form of vertex buffer and matrix functions and, as such, is not intended for novice users.

The free version of GameMaker allows you to port the created games only to the Opera GX.games gaming platform. A subscription also provides to port built projects to Windows PCs, macOS, Ubuntu, Android and iOS mobile devices, consoles and other devices. Also, in the paid version, you can buy separate modules that expand the program’s functionality.

Pros and Cons
Easy entry into game development
2D and 3D game development
Visual and text-based programming languages
Export to many popular platforms
Lots of tutorials, guides and videos
Permanent licenses only for educators
The embedded programming language is somewhat specific

Game Maker is an excellent engine for creating a 2D game without programming experience. If you have such knowledge, the program offers many functions that you will find analogues in other engines. The free features of the software allow you to use all its power, but you will have to pay for the ability to port the result of your work to popular platforms.

Author:YoYo Games
Homepage:gamemaker.io
License:Freemium
Updated:July 19, 2023
Latest Version: 2023.6.0.92
Available languages:English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish…

Download

Below are the links to download GameMaker for Windows and macOS for free. In addition to the latest version, there may be links to download previous versions. Choose the distribution you need and download it. All links are direct and checked for malicious inclusions.

What’s new
  • June’s 2023.6 release brings to the IDE: important SSO login fixes; a new project loading/conversion tool which GameMaker will use to convert older/newer projects into a format suitable for opening in this IDE version; a new Sprite Editor option for Spine collisions; Font Editor and Inspector options for controlling SDF font support in your games; a fix for copy/pasting in images from other art packages and also for pasting large amounts of clipboard text into Code Editors; a number of other stability fixes for various bits of functionality throughout GameMaker; and it also makes Feather default to being enabled for new users and users who have never tried enabling Feather in the past (if you have enabled it and then disabled it again, this setting will not be overwritten).
Previous versions

Installation

Download the installer for the operating system you want, run it, and follow the installer’s instructions. To use the program, you must register and enter your data for authorization.

GameMaker