GameMaker Goes Free

Ever wanted to make your own game? There are lots of ways of going about it, and GameMaker is one of the more popular tools to help you realize your creative visions.

This isn't some amateur-hour limited toolset, either; GameMaker has been used to create a wide variety of excellent games over the years, ranging from the original Spelunky to Gunpoint, Hotline Miami, Super Crate Box and, of course, the game for true doom murder-heads, Tales of Game’s Studios Presents Chef Boyardee’s Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, Chapter 1 of the Hoopz Barkley SaGa. It's an enormously flexible piece of software that helps take some of the headaches out of putting together a game. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to get your hands on a copy without having to pay too much money?

Well, lucky you, because for a limited period, you'll be able to get your very own copy of GameMaker's standard edition -- a $50 value -- for free. It's a bit of a pain to do so, but if you've ever been curious about the software it's a good opportunity to give it a shot for yourself, since it has none of the resource restrictions of the previously available free edition GameMaker Studio.

In order to take advantage of the offer, download a copy of the Studio here and ensure the software is updated to version 1.2.1214 or later. You'll be presented with the opportunity to register; hand over your email address to be sent a license key to upgrade the free edition to the standard edition. Due to high demand at present, it may take up to an hour to receive your code, so be patient. Note that this offer does not apply to the version of GameMaker available on Steam.

The main advantage of the standard edition over the original free version is the dropping of resource limits, meaning you can incorporate as much material into your game as you like. All versions of GameMaker allow exporting to Mac, PC and Windows 8 format, and for an extra $50 you can upgrade to the professional edition, which features additional benefits and sold-separately plugins for export to other platforms such as Android, Windows Phone, iOS and numerous others.

Find out more about GameMaker here, and be sure to share your latest masterpieces with us!