Whilst having over 600 hours using GameMaker Studio 1.4, both inside college on my game design course, and outside for personal projects, GameMaker has always been by far the most user friendly game engine I've ever used. Although I have experience in using game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity, GameMaker is always at the top of my list for 2D game development due its user friendliness and being able to produce good results so quickly.


The major thing which is striking about GameMaker Studio 2 is its new interface, the layout of the software itself has been completely re-worked, despite having the familiarity of GameMaker: Studio 1.4. Since I use purely GML in my projects, the new workspaces feature has vastly improved my work efficiency, by being able to keep code windows open without them protruding on my screen. The new workspaces are essentially like Unreal Engine's blueprint system, however they still retain each type of object event (such as create, step and draw) like in GameMaker: Studio 1.4.


One thing which was complained about in GameMaker: Studio 1.4 was its primitive tiling system. If you have ever tried to create wall sprites in GameMaker: Studio 1.4, you will know what it is like to have the issue of manually placing each type of tile. This process is incredibly time consuming. However, with GameMaker Studio 2's auto tiling system, you can now define different types of sprites in a sequence (whether they may be corners or edges etc) and GameMaker Studio 2 will automatically detect different types of intersections between tiles.


In my humble opinion, backgrounds were a relatively useless feature of GameMaker: Studio 1.4 and these have since been removed and replaced with sprites alone. Backgrounds can still be created however in the room editor, by creating a background layer, and then selecting a specific sprite to tile with.


After having used GameMaker Studio 2 for over a day now, I have noticed subtle changes to certain features within the GML language, the first of all is that the editor now features an auto-complete feature, which detects any declared variables you have initialized (which is incredibly useful).

Some functions from GameMaker: Studio 1.4 have since been removed but there are work arounds for (pretty much) everything. The most notable thing I've found is that the instance_create() function no longer exists. This has since been replaced with instance_create_depth() and instance_create_layer(). These functions allow for alterations which have been made to the depth feature within GameMaker.

Another notable thing is that they have implemented a feature which I have been wanting for ages... The ability to define the game's speed using microseconds per frame, over frames per second using the function game_set_speed(). The disadvantage of using frames per second is that if the game speed slows down to below your room speed, the game's time system also slows down. On the other hand, defining your game speed using microseconds per frame (MPF), the game speed can constantly change, to compensate for the loss in frames. As an example, a room speed of 60 will equate to 16666 microseconds per frame. Room speed is now also defined by a setting in the game preferences, rather than being unique to every room.

One thing I am sad about though on the flip side is the removal of d3d functions. These were used to draw 3D primitives. Whilst I am aware that GameMaker is an engine primarily orientated at 2D game development, and it can be fairly limited in regards to other 3D engines, having these features was a massive benefit for the people that wanted to explore 3D within GameMaker. Since the removal of d3d functions, developers have to manually manipulate what are known as 'vertex buffers' that have an incredibly steep learning curve.

For a full list of implemented functions click this link: Here[help.yoyogames.com]


ER MA GERD... The sprite editor has been improved so much, the main notable feature which has appealed to pretty much everyone is the drawing while animating feature. This has really amazed me because I haven't even seen a tool like this in Adobe Photoshop, one of the most premium image manipulation packages out there... Some real innovation by YoYo games here!


Whilst I did want to wait to purchase GameMaker Studio 2 a little longer, this was this feature which adherently tipped me over the iceberg. GameMaker Studio 2 now uses DirectX 11 as it's graphics API, in comparison with it's predecessor which used DirectX 9. Whilst the update removes the ability to compile projects for Windows XP (I know right), this is a feature which will greatly improve the performance of your project, (providing that you write efficient code).


As a whole, purchasing the upgrade for GameMaker Studio 2 has been a very viable decision for myself. It will be for you too! If you're still a bit sceptical, I'd definitely consider purchasing it. I myself am currently working on a game project called Exorscape[exorscape.co.uk], which is a 2D top-down tank game. This project was initially wrote in GameMaker: Studio 1.4, however my intention is to re-write the project using GameMaker 2 as there are features I want to implement such as delta timing.

More information about my game project and other things can be found on my website at:
http://warrenaterz.co.uk


One final recommendation for the engine which I still think it should have, is the ability to compile 64bit executables at run time, although the performance increase is marginal between 32 bit and 64, having the RAM limitation of 4GB there could potentially be a large headache for huge projects.

[h1]GameMaker has never been so easy![/h1] Whilst having over 600 hours using GameMaker Studio 1.4, both inside college on my game design course, and outside for personal projects, GameMaker has always been by far the most user friendly game engine I've ever used. Although I have experience in using game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity, GameMaker is always at the top of my list for 2D game development due its user friendliness and being able to produce good results so quickly. [h1]UI:[/h1] The major thing which is striking about GameMaker Studio 2 is its new interface, the layout of the software itself has been completely re-worked, despite having the familiarity of GameMaker: Studio 1.4. Since I use purely GML in my projects, the new workspaces feature has vastly improved my work efficiency, by being able to keep code windows open without them protruding on my screen. The new workspaces are essentially like Unreal Engine's blueprint system, however they still retain each type of object event (such as create, step and draw) like in GameMaker: Studio 1.4. [h1]Auto tiling system:[/h1] One thing which was complained about in GameMaker: Studio 1.4 was its primitive tiling system. If you have ever tried to create wall sprites in GameMaker: Studio 1.4, you will know what it is like to have the issue of manually placing each type of tile. This process is incredibly time consuming. However, with GameMaker Studio 2's auto tiling system, you can now define different types of sprites in a sequence (whether they may be corners or edges etc) and GameMaker Studio 2 will automatically detect different types of intersections between tiles. [h1]Removal of backgrounds:[/h1] In my humble opinion, backgrounds were a relatively useless feature of GameMaker: Studio 1.4 and these have since been removed and replaced with sprites alone. Backgrounds can still be created however in the room editor, by creating a background layer, and then selecting a specific sprite to tile with. [h1]Alterations to GML:[/h1] After having used GameMaker Studio 2 for over a day now, I have noticed subtle changes to certain features within the GML language, the first of all is that the editor now features an auto-complete feature, which detects any declared variables you have initialized (which is incredibly useful). Some functions from GameMaker: Studio 1.4 have since been removed but there are work arounds for (pretty much) everything. The most notable thing I've found is that the [i]instance_create()[/i] function no longer exists. This has since been replaced with [i]instance_create_depth()[/i] and [i]instance_create_layer()[/i]. These functions allow for alterations which have been made to the depth feature within GameMaker. Another notable thing is that they have implemented a feature which I have been wanting for ages... The ability to define the game's speed using microseconds per frame, over frames per second using the function [i]game_set_speed()[/i]. The disadvantage of using frames per second is that if the game speed slows down to below your room speed, the game's time system also slows down. On the other hand, defining your game speed using microseconds per frame (MPF), the game speed can constantly change, to compensate for the loss in frames. As an example, a room speed of 60 will equate to 16666 microseconds per frame. Room speed is now also defined by a setting in the game preferences, rather than being unique to every room. One thing I am sad about though on the flip side is the removal of d3d functions. These were used to draw 3D primitives. Whilst I am aware that GameMaker is an engine primarily orientated at 2D game development, and it can be fairly limited in regards to other 3D engines, having these features was a massive benefit for the people that wanted to explore 3D within GameMaker. Since the removal of d3d functions, developers have to manually manipulate what are known as [i]'vertex buffers'[/i] that have an incredibly steep learning curve. For a full list of implemented functions click this link: [url=https://help.yoyogames.com/hc/en-us/articles/231539867-GameMaker-Studio-2-New-Functions-List]Here[/url] [h1]Sprite editor:[/h1] ER MA GERD... The sprite editor has been improved so much, the main notable feature which has appealed to pretty much everyone is the drawing while animating feature. This has really amazed me because I haven't even seen a tool like this in Adobe Photoshop, one of the most premium image manipulation packages out there... Some real innovation by YoYo games here! [h1]Graphics API:[/h1] Whilst I did want to wait to purchase GameMaker Studio 2 a little longer, this was this feature which adherently tipped me over the iceberg. GameMaker Studio 2 now uses DirectX 11 as it's graphics API, in comparison with it's predecessor which used DirectX 9. Whilst the update removes the ability to compile projects for Windows XP (I know right), this is a feature which will greatly improve the performance of your project, (providing that you write efficient code). [h1]Summary:[/h1] As a whole, purchasing the upgrade for GameMaker Studio 2 has been a very viable decision for myself. It will be for you too! If you're still a bit sceptical, I'd definitely consider purchasing it. I myself am currently working on a game project called [url=exorscape.co.uk]Exorscape[/url], which is a 2D top-down tank game. This project was initially wrote in GameMaker: Studio 1.4, however my intention is to re-write the project using GameMaker 2 as there are features I want to implement such as delta timing. More information about my game project and other things can be found on my website at: [url=warrenaterz.co.uk]Warrenaterz.co.uk[/url] [h1]Recommendations:[/h1] One final recommendation for the engine which I still think it should have, is the ability to compile 64bit executables at run time, although the performance increase is marginal between 32 bit and 64, having the RAM limitation of 4GB there could potentially be a large headache for huge projects.