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GameMaker Studio 2 Is Here!

A lot has been made of the recent announcement that GameMaker Studio 2 has entered into open Beta. Many of the regular users have taken to Twitter to post their opinions are screenshots of the new software. We first reported on the new software back in 2014 following former YoYo Games CEO, Sandy Duncan’s announcement on Twitter.

It’s fair to say that most users taking part in the Beta are feeling good about the way the software is heading and there’s a lot of positive talk about the new user-friendly UI.

game maker studio 2 in open beta

There are concerns from existing paid users of the current GMS that there will be a cost associated to upgrade to the new version and that was to be expected. It’s important that whilst this isn’t ideal if you have spent money on the current version, the move to a revamped, pumped up, version of GMS can only be a good thing for the future of game development and the company were always going to look to recoup costs from all users. It’s worth noting that there will be discounts for upgrading if you’ve already paid for GMS, you can find the prospective upgrade costs here – these discounts will only be available for a limited time however.

If you currently use the free version of GMS only then the pricing as currently stated on the YoYo Games website is as follows:

gamemaker studio 2 pricing

Please Note: The prices are prospective and thus could change before launch.

The site also states “All paid products will also receive access to GameMaker: Studio 1.4 Professional for a limited time only”.

What will change?

Aside from the obvious UI enhancements there are a whole host of new functions coming to GameMaker Studio 2, some of them are replacing old functions that currently exist in GMS 1.4 and others are there to deal with the new functionality available in the software.

On the subject of the GML and it’s functions, there are a list of functions that will become obsolete with the new release. Whilst Yoyo Games have expressed there will be compatibility when importing games into the new release, there will be concerns about how trouble-free that will be in reality.

You can read all about the changes in the faqs here.

What will become of GMS 1.4?

This will be the key question to be answered in the coming months. At present, YoYo Games’ position is:

“Support for GameMaker: Studio 1.4 will continue for the moment, and it will receive maintenance to ensure you can still make and submit games for the various export platforms. However it will not be receiving new functionality or minor bug fixes and we have stopped taking user feedback suggestions.”

It remains to be seen how long this will last of course, and this will unfold post-launch. It’s in the company’s interest to keep their users happy but there will be a point in time when support will be withdrawn altogether and a move to the new software will be the only option for users.

What do you think?

5 Comments

Leave a Reply
    • Hi Mark,

      It’s looking like there will be some cost to upgrade yes. Whether the prices will change before launch were yet to see but the chances of getting it free look close to none.

    • You have to remember that GMS2 is a completely different software. They’ve rewritten the software from scratch. I’ve also seen they look to be releasing it on macOS as well later next year!

      I’m just hoping that there isn’t additional cost to that if you’ve already bought the GMS2 Windows license when they fully release it next year.

    • Hi MrEvilRobot, thanks for stopping by.

      I’m not sure it will even get that far. Usually (and I use this loosely) the jump by .1 in a version number would require a sizeable update or bug fix. According to their site, and as mentioned in the post, version 1.4 will receive maintenance only and so I’d argue that it wouldn’t be significant enough to shift the version number that far. I appreciate they could skip through them to get their faster but this would be a different approach by the company.

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