I believe you can make money with the free version of gamemaker.
Here[docs.yoyogames.com] are a list of the limitations with the free version of gamemaker from the gamemaker documentation.

Originally posted by Daynar:

I believe you can make money with the free version of gamemaker.
Here[docs.yoyogames.com] are a list of the limitations with the free version of gamemaker from the gamemaker documentation.

I do know with the free version you can publish to steam workshop but games must be free

IMO better start with Unity3D for MANY reasons. One is that (up to $10K) you can use it for free with some very small limitations, after that you have to buy it for a mere $1500 (for Win/Mac/Linux). Secondly, Unity3D uses C# and Jscript as language, while GM uses it's own script, making a follow up into 'professional development' a bit harder (ie when using Unity to script you can hop more easely to Unreal because it uses C++). Lastly Unity allows you to compile for Windows, Max & Linux along with Android & iOS in the free version with only a startup logo, while GM only allows regular Windows to be compiled to with a HUGE watermark in it...

Originally posted by DemiGoth:

IMO better start with Unity3D for MANY reasons. One is that (up to $10K) you can use it for free with some very small limitations, after that you have to buy it for a mere $1500 (for Win/Mac/Linux). Secondly, Unity3D uses C# and Jscript as language, while GM uses it's own script, making a follow up into 'professional development' a bit harder (ie when using Unity to script you can hop more easely to Unreal because it uses C++). Lastly Unity allows you to compile for Windows, Max & Linux along with Android & iOS in the free version with only a startup logo, while GM only allows regular Windows to be compiled to with a HUGE watermark in it...

Just so you know I have no experience in writing actual code whatsoever so I am basing my decision off my current skill level

I taught myself programming when I was 9, only using Game Maker. The first 2 years I used drag and drop, then I slowly moved over to GML. I have now used Game Maker for over 10 years. In my opinion, Game Maker is the superior 2D engine to make games on. If you want to make 2D games, Game Maker is definitely the way to go.

Originally posted by BUTTERCUP:

I taught myself programming when I was 9, only using Game Maker. The first 2 years I used drag and drop, then I slowly moved over to GML. I have now used Game Maker for over 10 years. In my opinion, Game Maker is the superior 2D engine to make games on. If you want to make 2D games, Game Maker is definitely the way to go.

Thanks for the advice. I do know the free version lets you publish to steam workshop but games have to be free

Game Maker was originally made as a teaching tool for programming teachers, to use in their class. It's was made for beginners, and intermediates. Recently, they have started to target professional game artists aswell, with Game Maker: Studio, hence the high price. You can probably still purchase Game Maker 8.1 for 15 USD, which will give you all the same capability as Game Maker Studio, but you will only be able to export to .EXE files. Most sites and distribution platforms won't accept .exe files, so it's not viable for commercial use, but there's still plenty of support from http://gmc.yoyogames.com/ and http://sandbox.yoyogames.com/ . If you don't have 80 USD to burn, but want to learn programming from Game Maker, Game Maker 8.1 is a definite recomendation, as a place to start.

Originally posted by Wolfgabe:

Just so you know I have no experience in writing actual code whatsoever so I am basing my decision off my current skill level

I still would recommend Unity3D then... You can make games with drag & drop and a lot of (free) items in their asset store that'll make your life a lot easier. One of the assets I really could recommend is PlayMaker[www.assetstore.unity3d.com]. Though not free, it kinda allows you to drag & drop anything you want and allows you to UI as tool for what happens to stuff.

Also it's worth to to take a look at Unity3D becasue it's totally free and the online tutorials are very well made...

I like Game Maker it's easier to make than MMF2 also why am i here?

I know this is a bit of an older conversation, but just because I was seeing some info that was a little bit off....

... you can defintely make money with the free version of GameMaker: Studio. You only have to have the "Made with GameMaker: Studio" splashscreen if you are using the free version to create your projects. SteamWorkshop games have to be free, but you can make a game and get published on Steam proper via the Greenlight program and sell it, or just get a published by them otherwise.

You cannot make anything worth buying with the free version of game maker. You're better off learning another program then.