2D basic game development: GameMaker or Unity Free?

Hi there!

I'd like to give it a try on developing some basic 2D games (RPG, rogue-like, turn based strategy) for fun/learning during some of my spare time at first, so nothing serious.

I'm curious about Unity 3D over GameMaker since it seems to have pros like a bigger community, more free resources, better performance and utilities and it may be programmed in the universal C# language (and I used to program in C++ during my university days, so that's a plus) instead of some particular language that GameMaker offers.

The main problem about picking Unity over GameMaker is that purchasing a Unity license for $1500 is not an option for me at the moment, so I’d simply go for Personal (Free) Edition, while I see that GameMaker Studio offers its Professional edition for just $90, which would be perfectly affordable to me. Moreover, some people say that, for 2D basic games, GameMaker seems to be better for some reason (kindly correct me if I’m wrong, since I have no knowledge on any).

In case that, after having tried several projects, I would decide to spend more time to finish and polish one of them in order to publish it, I've got some questions:

1.- What would you recommend for developing and publishing not so complex 2D games and why: Unity Personal (Free) Edition or GameMaker Studio Professional Edition?

2.- As far as I've read, with Unity Free Edition, I could publish the game in many platforms (PC/Mac/Linux, Android, iOS, Web) without having to pay anything for it except for the fees that each platform requires, of course, as long as I wouldn’t earn above $100k, which I wouldn't expect in any case. And the only possible "cons" I've seen for the free edition are that I would get an unavoidable “Unity Personal Edition” splash screen in the game and some advanced features that I guess I wouldn't actually need for a regular game done by myself. Am I missing any other con of Unity Free Edition?

3.- As for publishing the game on Steam Greenlight, would it be possible (and not tricky) using Unity Free Edition without paying anything at all in this case as well? As for GameMaker, I read somewhere that it integrates well with Steam.

Thank you very much in advance for your assistance!

 

GameMaker has less capabilities than Unity, but it's simpler.

1. Unity Free
2. You have access to all Pro features now, as far as I can tell.
3. I never looked into it deeply but I my impression is it can be done.

 

Thanks for your reply, Anselmo.

I still wonder about the 3rd question and if publishing the game with the "Unity Free Edition" splash screen would make it more difficult to publish it on Steam Greenlight, for example.

 

It really depends on what you want to do and how much you prefer one over the other. I had a look at GMS and didn't like it at all based on first 5-minute impressions so closed it For me I'd give it about a 5 to 6 out of 10. Unity for me I'd give it about a 7 to 8 out of 10. GLBasic, HaxeFlixel and Monkey X that I am currently testing so far I like better.

GLBasic in fact I just completed a simple game and released the full source to it on my website. The link down there in my sig about fastest dev kit for programmers takes you to my main testing page with my views on many different things I recently tested.

At the bottom of that page is a link to my GLBasic Game Source and Binaries. Not sure if you are looking for something in particular but you are welcome to check out my research and experiments and see if it helps.

 

Not having access to dark skin seems to bother the forum trolls. It's an entirely cosmetic feature.

Most if the people here are going to support Unity over game maker. That's why we are on this forum and not the game maker one.

 

Also some of us spent years with GameMaker and might know what we're talkin bout.

 

I recommend the tool that you can get the job done with. Try them both and see which you prefer. Asking if someone prefers a certain tool when you're on the forum dedicated to that tool is a bit counterproductive. This question is better asked on a forum dedicated to game development in general rather than any specific tool or method.

 

Wait what? You can edit the splash screen out of a game play video? There's a dangerous idea. Where would we be if big game companies caught onto this and started editing things in there promotional material to the point that the promotion had no relation to actual game play or the product being sold?

Oh wait a second...

 

Now you simply need a launcher for your application that starts Unity in the background minimized so the user never sees the splash screen...

 

Thanks for your answers!

Yeah, I share your opinion about the splash screen. Are there examples of games on Steam published with Unity Personal Edition? I've found a list of published Unity games in general, but not a list of the Unity Personal Edition ones in particular.

Thanks in advance!

 

In my humble opinion, the Splash Screen is of no consequence.

As others have said your landing page, trailer, screenshots, color and composition and game play will be what gets downloads. If your game is decent, you will probably get extra credit and accolades for being done on a very realistic super tight startup budget.

If you are really worried about it my unsolicited advice is to make the very next thing your players see as gorgeous as you can. Really juice that composition, buttons, animations sound etc. They won't even care, I'll bet on it.

 

I used GameMaker for 3 android games, published on google play and one big zombie survival game, published on Desura.

One thing I can say is, NEVER AGAIN.

I think I have used it enough to give you advice, stay away from it for your own good. Unity is harder than GM, yes, but down the road you will be thanking and thanking you went with Unity, trust me, just trust me.

I hope I saved one developer life today

 

I did the game maker thing. Unity is just far better in so many regards. And even if it is more difficult to use; the documentation, tutorials, and community make it easier to learn Unity and in turn easier in the grand scheme of things.

Lastly, I can name over 50 successful unity titles (including Grow Home, Crossy Road, Kerbal Space Program, and Hearth Stone), where as I can name exactly two successful Game Maker games (Hotline Miami 1 and Hotline Miami 2). Those are just some raw numbers right there.

 

If you're still hung up on learning code, you should check out playmaker. It will make it a lot easier to finish a proper game in Unity.

 

He said that he did programmed in C++ in collage so it won't be difficult to learn C#

 

Pro vs Personal features are outlined on the product page, its pretty straightforward.

I know devs using both, I like and play a lot of different games that use both of the engines. I hear complaints about both.

Bottom line: choose one and make stuff.

 

It's true it's purely cosmetic but I think it'd be nice to have. Although I can live without it but I would definitely be happy if they made it free. Not sure why such a cosmetic feature is not accessible to free users. :/

 

It's a status symbol to distinguish between poor hobbyist (like me) and actual professionals. I get that, it makes sense. Why should I get the skin if I'm all that I've ever given Unity is some small cuts from assets I buy? Well that, and all my fine contributions to the forum.

 

Don't undervalue your forum contributions. How much would they have to pay to get the hours of tech support we give for free?

 

Oh an remember that internet is not free too

 

A status symbol that no one sees. I would say the splash screen is the more accurate status symbol that you're a poor hobbyist.

 

So how would you evaluate the learning time from switching from GameMaker: Studio Pro to Unity?

In GameMaker I have an issue with the DPI scaling that won't be resolved. Unity in comparison does not seem to have that issue.

Moreover, I know some basic C# and Cinema 4D.

1) So where do I start for 2D-games?
2) So in Unity I code in C#?

 

Here:
https://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials

Well, you also have access to "fake javascript" nobody likes and could buy playmaker (visual scripting) from asset store. C# is probably the best way to go.

 

On the learn page you can scroll down for the 2d specific tutorials as well

 

About the splash screen - instead of focusing on the negatives, I'd rather think about the lost benefits.

Most Unity Free users here have already decided it's an acceptable tradeoff for them so you should expect mostly encouragement to pick Unity over anything else.

If you don't expect branding and perception to be important factors for you in the foreseeable future, Unity Free is one of the top choices.

 

Neither. GDevelop.

 

Better yet you can do it right in your browser.

https://gdevapp.com/

 

How does GDevelop do with procedural content? Like for a roguelike?

 

I'm not sure, never used it for that purpose. You would have to ask on their forum.

Although this version is limited to the desktop one, for example you need a subscription to put your own assets. Desktop version is without any limitations. It works on Windows, Linux and soon Mac. You can also build for Android and iOS via Intel XDK. Also web with HTML5 (uses Pixi.js).

 

I'd like to get the chance to play around with GameMaker sometime. I actually bought the Pro version a month or so back because it was on sale at a ridiculous $10 or something like that.

Been sitting on my hard drive ever since. The main reason I thought it'd be worth checking out again is because I found out that Locomalito makes all of his awesome games in GameMaker. Previously, I checked out the free version a couple years or so ago and closed it after 5 minutes because all I saw was a bunch of GUI nonsense. But I think it deserves another look probably.

And his latest game released just this month:

In fairness, there are many great 2D games made with everything from Monkey X, XNA, GMS, Unity and every other fairly popular 2D game engine/framework out there. It really just comes down to finding the right tool that works best for you personally. None of them are perfect but one of them will suit you better than the others. Just a matter of finding out which one it is.

 

My daughter is learning gamemaker at school, she finds it a bit easier than unity as it is more a combination of visual/preset coding & actual scripting.

 

My daughter is learning gamemaker at school, she finds it a bit easier than unity as it is more a combination of visual/preset coding & actual scripting.

 

I use construct 2 for non-unity projects. It's got some good potential.

 

You are going to have a biased opinion asking here, but many Unity devs are becoming very fed up with Unity.

 

I spent years with both, now. I can tell you that GameMaker is easier and much faster. But, you are limited with how complex your games can be. It's surprising how many limitations you run into. GameMaker's biggest downfall is that it lacks power and speed and the ability to make rich multimedia happen. If you get too many "objects" in the "room", you start lagging real bad. You can get graphical issues and audio issues of all kinds and when something happens to you, you're on your own. The support isn't as amazing as Unity.

Unity can make simple 2D games but GameMaker was built for the purpose of being the easiest/fastest 2D game maker. And now it ports to a bunch of platforms. And it is cheap.

Do the math.

 

Have you tried the latest version? I'm curious what your view is on it now. From what I've read performance has improved considerably over the past few years. And the games released this year seem to support that: