Should You Buy GameMaker? An Indie Dev's Honest Take

What Is GameMaker?

GameMaker Studio 2 (now just "GameMaker") is a 2D-focused game engine from YoYo Games. It uses its own scripting language — GML (GameMaker Language) — which is friendly to learn but powerful enough to build commercial games. It's been around since 1999 under various names, and the current version has been actively developed with regular updates.

How Much Does GameMaker Cost?

This changed significantly in 2023. GameMaker is now free for personal use. You can download it, build games, and export to Windows — all without paying anything. Paid licences exist for commercial exports (consoles, mobile distribution at scale, etc.):

• Free: Windows export, personal/educational use
• Indie licence: ~$99/year — removes the free tier commercial limits
• Business licence: ~$799/year — for studios earning above a threshold

For most indie devs, the free tier is enough to get started and ship a Steam game.

What GameMaker Is Great At

2D games. Full stop. The engine was built for 2D from the ground up, and it shows — sprites, tilesets, room editing, and animation are all first-class features. The workflow for a 2D platformer, top-down shooter, or puzzle game is genuinely fast. iZBOT went from prototype to shipped game without ever feeling like I was fighting the engine.

The built-in physics, collision detection, and room system are all solid. GML is also fast to iterate in — you can write a behaviour, test it, and tweak it in seconds. When you know what you want to build, GameMaker mostly gets out of your way and lets you build it.

What GameMaker Is Not Great At

3D. GameMaker has 3D capabilities, but they're not its strength. If you want a first-person game or a complex 3D world, use Unity or Godot. GameMaker also isn't ideal for large teams — the project structure isn't designed for heavy version-control workflows the way Unity or Unreal is. And if you want to ship to consoles, you'll need the Business licence and, in some cases, a publishing deal to access those export options.

None of these are dealbreakers if you're making a 2D game solo or with a small team. They're just the honest limits of the tool.

GameMaker vs Unity vs Godot (The Short Version)

• Unity: More powerful, better 3D, much steeper learning curve, recent licensing controversies hurt its reputation. Good for 3D and large projects.
• Godot: Free, open source, good 2D and improving 3D. GDScript is clean. Smaller community than Unity but growing fast. Worth serious consideration.
• GameMaker: Best 2D workflow, fastest time-to-prototype for 2D games, strong commercial track record. Less flexible than the others but more focused.

If you're making a 2D game and you want to ship it, GameMaker is one of the best tools available. That's not marketing — iZBOT exists because GameMaker made it practical for one person to build and ship a complete game.

Real-World Example — iZBOT

iZBOT is a precision platformer built entirely in GameMaker. The entire game — movement, collision, level loading, animation, menus, save data — was built by one developer. GameMaker made that feasible. The Sequences feature (added in GMS 2.3) was particularly useful for cutscene-style animations without writing GML from scratch. If you want a deeper look at that workflow, see the GameMaker Sequences tutorial.

There's a reason so many landmark indie games were built in GameMaker. Undertale, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Spelunky, Nuclear Throne — these aren't small experiments. They're commercial successes built by small teams using the same engine. The track record is genuinely impressive for a tool this focused.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is GameMaker free?

Yes. As of 2023, GameMaker is free for personal and educational use. You only need a paid licence ($99/year for Indie, $799/year for Business) if you want to export to platforms like console or if you're earning above GameMaker's free tier threshold.

What games were made with GameMaker?

Some of the biggest indie games ever were built in GameMaker: Undertale, Hotline Miami, Hyper Light Drifter, Spelunky, Nuclear Throne, and iZBOT by Ruxar. The engine has a long track record of shipping real commercial games.

Is GameMaker good for beginners?

GameMaker is excellent for beginners making 2D games. GML (Game Maker Language) is simpler than C# or C++, the documentation is thorough, and the community is large. It's less suited to 3D or large team workflows.

Verdict

If you're making a 2D game: yes, try GameMaker. The free tier means there's no reason not to. Download it, follow a tutorial, and build something small. If you hit its limits, you can move to a paid licence. If you're making a 3D game or need a large-team workflow, look at Godot or Unity first.

The honest answer is that GameMaker is one of the most practical 2D game engines available, and the fact that it's now free to start makes it even easier to recommend. The question isn't really whether to try it — it's whether 2D is the right fit for what you want to build.