Drag and drop game creator studio GameMaker updates to version 2

YoYo Games’ recently launched cross-platform 2D game engine, GameMaker Studio 2, is now available in a convenient education package specifically for schools and their students. Any approved university or school affiliate will now have access to a free trial version with zero time restrictions/commitments and a simple option to upgrade to the full version. Educational institutions can buy licenses in bulk at a budget-friendly $30 per account for a one-year license, with a minimum order of 10 license, and can be purchased from the YoYo Games website.

Beginners with limited to no coding experience can use YoYo Games’ patented Drag and Drop system (DnD) to quickly translate desired actions into workable code on any of the supported platforms. Students can advance their skills with GameMaker Studio 2’s powerful programming language and comprehensive set of tools, making it an excellent educational platform with a smooth learning curve.

“Being a student of game design and development can be time consuming and expensive, sometimes prohibitively so, but we change all that with GameMaker Studio 2,” said James Cox, general manager, YoYo Games. “We want to give educational institutions an easy and affordable way to engage students with their passion for game development - no complications or fine text.”

Key Features:

- Workflow enhancements: a new innovative workflow and seamless path from DnD to actual code with multiple workspaces, user definable resource views, real-time updates from one editor to another, and cross platform source level debugging;

- Level editing features: new layer-based level editing gives developers the ability to create more complex visuals with backgrounds, tiles, instances, assets and paths. New features also include level inheritance to create multiple levels at once, and an advanced tiling system that automatically selects the right tile for the job;

- Cross-platform development: available for Windows (Vista and above) and soon for Mac OS X for target development across multiple platforms including Windows Desktop, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, iOS, Android (including Android TV, Amazon Fire and Fire TV), Microsoft UWP, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One;

- Native extensions: Game Maker Language (GML) supports all native targets to simplify the cross-platform development.