GameMaker News

IDE v2024.2.0.132 Runtime v2024.2.0.163

You can see all the changes and fixes by checking the milestone page for this release, but in summary 2024.2 brings a lot of bug fixes and performance improvements already (especially in-game, but also a number of stability and project-loading fixes in the IDE).

In terms of new features and notable changes, you will find:

• Projects are now saved/loaded in a new format and there have been multiple changes to sort entries in a predictable manner and avoid source control conflicts
  
• Sequences now have audio effect tracks, so you can manipulate the audio in your Sequences over time
  
• The code editor and compiler will now better catch functions which have not had all required arguments provided
  
• #macro definitions now support inheritance (as was always implied by the IDE using a tree for the configs editor)
  
• Tilemaps are now compressed in your rooms
  
• Static functions now have non-anonymous names to help with debugging issues
  
• The in-game debug UI dialogs have had a number of fixes/additions and there have been various fixes to the Debugger inside the IDE
  
• There is a new gml_pragma() option "optimise" for HTML5 games to turn on/off further JS optimisations
  
• A new Gaussian Blur filter has been added for you to use in your games
  

And also:

• Fixed that borderless games would still resize themselves when using async dialogs, despite not being exclusive fullscreen
  
• Fixed issues with building Extensions on case-sensitive operating systems
  
• And there have been a number of tweaks and improvements for the in-IDE bug reporting tool so it's even smoother and easier to send us a report when issues do occur
  

Be aware that due to the changes in project format, 2024 IDEs will no longer allow you to set 2023-and-older runtimes as active and they will not appear in the table in Preferences > Runtime Feeds. Projects created/edited in 2024 IDEs can generally be used in older IDEs, so that's not a problem, but if you need to use older runtimes to create or build your projects, then you need to use the matching older IDE also.

For more on what's new in this February 2024 release, see the release blog post.

A small-but-important release to fix many of the hotkeys issues found in the 11.0 release, plus an issue with in-game where you could not hold down both the left and right mouse buttons without "one resetting the other" in some circumstances.

For the full list of the fixes in this release (there are no new features), please see the 2023.11.1 milestone page.

2023.11 brings lots of behind-the-scenes performance improvements to both the IDE and Runtime; various new functions have been added to expand what you can do with buffers and rooms; following on from the SDF Effects added last release, you can now apply these effects to text tracks within your Sequences; you can now create your own Game Strip projects (and there is a new template you can use to learn about Game Strips); and there is a very large number of bug fixes and also some of the popular community requests since our public request system was revealed a few months ago.

• For all the public general changes and bug fixes click here to open the Bugs Milestone page
• For all of the public new features click here to open the Feature Requests Milestone page

[h2]Before You Update[/h2]

Always ensure your SDKs and other external tools are the correct versions for this release before doing any builds - Required SDKs FAQ

Also, if you use antivirus/antimalware or any restricted user permissions on your machine, always check your external settings allow for this new release to work properly - User Permissions and Internet Access Required by GameMaker


[h2]Changes To The Release Notes[/h2]

• The milestone pages linked already higher up this page show what is fixed or changed in this release (the "Closed" list on each page)
  
• You can expand the "Show More" near the top of the page to read the overview/summarised information about what is in the release
  
• To see what is already planned for upcoming releases or (in future!) went into old releases, you can do this on the Milestones list pages also: Bugs / Feature Requests

Hi everyone,

We have a special gift for our community this Thanksgiving. From now on, GameMaker will be free for non-commercial purposes on all non-console platforms. At the same time, to meet the needs of hobbyist and indie developers, we are introducing a new one-time fee - a commercial licence that is replacing the current Creator/Indie subscriptions. Nothing changes for developers targeting the consoles, our Enterprise subscription remains the same.

WHY THIS CHANGE?
To say 'Thank You'! Since we joined the Opera family, GameMaker has seen a three-fold increase in its active users! Lots of young people came to try GameMaker, over 6,000 games were published on gx.games, and as a result of the product evolution, GameMaker is now better than ever. And a bonus! It can now also be used to create animated live wallpapers that can live in the Opera GX browser or directly in Windows. That’s just a start, though - all our asset bundles will now be free for everyone.

We have seen other platforms making awkward moves with their pricing and terms, so we thought, what if we did the opposite, something that could actually be good for developers? Our success is measured by the number of people making games!

So…

Here we are - Happy Thanksgiving! The new pricing structure reflects GameMaker's commitment to making game development more accessible and flexible. The free version serves as an entry point for beginners, a one-time commercial fee is for the curious ones, while the subscription-based enterprise tier provides a scalable option for more experienced developers and professionals.

Oh, If you’re already an existing subscriber, you may be entitled to a free commercial licence (or a discount)! Check out our FAQ for all the details.

Happy GameMaking!

A small-but-essential update to the IDE for stopping a start-up crash you may have seen in the release from last week whenever licensing had failed.

Now, if there is an issue with incomplete/stale licensing information in your user manager file, GameMaker will detect this and clear the file out, allowing you to start the program safely and log in again with no problems.

There are no runtime changes/no new runtime to download, so it's still version 152.

For the full info on this IDE update, see:
IDE Notes