Game Maker is celebrating Thanksgiving this year by, well, giving thanks to its development community.
In a blog post on its website, Game Maker has decided to update its licensing fees for commercial and non-commercial users.
For non-commercial users, Game Maker is now free to use, with unlimited access to all the asset packs and goodies that you need. This means that students studying game development, hobbyists looking to turn their ideas into tangible games for friends or even developers looking to make rough drafts for their CVs or keep their development knowledge up will be able to access the 2D game-making non-console platform without any red tape.
For developers looking to make money off of their games, Game Maker will now charge a once-off fee of $99.99 for the professional edition, which will allow you to release your game on PC, Mobile and Browser. For Console releases, developers will still have to pay the $80 monthly fee.
The blog post even takes a light stab at some other game development platforms that may have recently made adjustments to their licensing fees:
“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!”
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If you’ve been thinking about tinkering with a bit of game development yourself, perhaps now is the time. Who knows, you may have the next Chicory, Undertale or even Spelunky hiding in that imagination of yours.