Game Maker Now Available On STEAM

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young game designer, in possession of a good idea, tends to do nothing with it.  Ever.  Except in the pub, when they moan to friends that they can’t get funding, that games don’t make money these days and that now they’ve mentioned it aloud, it will be stolen, copied (or worse yet, CLONED) and they’ll end their days coughing blood into a silken handkerchief, penniless and unappreciated.

Or they could step up, get Game Maker and build the damn thing, quickly and simply, release it on any platform they care to and allow actual players to actually decide whether the game is any good.

Yes, Game Maker, the cross-platform development software from YoYo Games.  Everyone’s more or less aware that it’s out there, that you can build games, but… it’s for kids or something isn’t it?

In reality Game Maker is one of the world’s most capable game development environments.  For novices and time-poor professionals alike.  OK, you won’t be building the next full 3D GTA clone or Skyrim-esque open world, but it will let you prototype, build and publish your ideas, without having to understand complex programming languages.

Impressively, Game Maker enables developers to create a single code base, then export games out to native apps for HTML5, Facebook, iOS, Android, Windows and OSX.  So designers and developers can build games for practically every games-capable platform in the world today and make their games available to the widest possible audience.

It is, in short, an incredibly capable and important piece of software.  We like it a lot.

Now, Game Maker is available to over 45,000,000 users on the market leading Steam digital distribution platform.  Steam offers PC and Mac users worldwide, a selection of around 1,500 games, from brand new AAA new titles to classic games and up-and-coming indie titles.

After requests from users, Steam has incorporated creative software within its offering.  Game Maker is part of the new collection.

Sandy Duncan, the CEO of YoYo Games, the company behind Game Maker, told us:
“GameMaker: Studio was chosen as a game development application for the Steam Software Store launch because of its unparalleled ease of use, cross-platform exporting and deep functionality. Being chosen as a launch day partner for the Steam Software Store provides us with the opportunity to generate epic awareness for GameMaker: Studio with a large and passionate games community.”

Game Makers can get started with a FREE version of the programme and then upgrade GM to incorporate the elements they require.  There’s a Standard package available for $49 and Professional package for $99 – both include Steam, Windows and OSX export capabilities.  For those who want to create games for other platforms, additional plug-ins are available separately  – HTML5 ($99), Android ($199) and iOS ($199).  Alternatively, for the truly well-heeled, the Master collection gives you the whole damn lot for $499.

The good news however is that there’s a 10% discount on ALL packages for the first week via Steam.

If you’ve ever considered building your own game idea, or if you have friends, family or kids who are interested in game development as a career, then you need to take a good hard look at Game Maker.  Then buy it.