GameMaker
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 9 of 20 game engines by recommenders
Beginner-friendly 2D game engine with easy GML scripting and one-time pricing. Critics say its bespoke language and drag-and-drop style limit normal coding.
Beginner-friendly 2D game engine with easy GML scripting and one-time pricing. Critics say its bespoke language and drag-and-drop style limit normal coding.
15 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 2
- approval share
- 87%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 6.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Beginner-friendly for learning programming
“GML (GameMaker Language) is also quite easy to write, so I think it's great for learning algorithms.”
Comment from 2 May 2026 in “Ask HN: Best way to develop games for beginners” “GameMaker visual programming was the first exposure to programming I could understand.”
Comment from 1 Sep 2026 in “Has early Scratch experience led to fulfilling careers?” “the most beginner-friendly environment I've used”
Comment from 31 Mar 2026 in “Ask HN: Best stack for building a tiny game with an 11-year-old?” Used to make well-known games
“you can freely share games made with PICO-8, Löve, Godot, Rpgmaker, Game maker and the like”
Comment from 14 Jul 2026 in “European "age verification" "app" forcing everyone to use Android or iOS” “Great games have been made with Godot (Cruelty Squad) and GameMaker (Sexy Hiking)”
Comment from 17 Mar 2026 in “Show HN: Claude Code skills that build complete Godot games”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Bespoke GML language is hard to learn
“it would be so much easier if I didn't have to do internet archaeology just to figure out how GML worked 20 years ago”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Using any C++ library in Godot” “all the others are just Unity/Gamemaker/Unreal not allowing the developers to write normal code”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game” “I don't like the bespoke languages used by frameworks like Godot or GameMaker either.”
Comment from 19 Dec 2025 in “Jonathan Blow has spent the past decade designing 1,400 puzzles” Low-code drag-and-drop, not real coding
“The entire "low code drag n drop" market like YoYoGames Game Maker and RPG Maker should be ready to pack it in soon”
Comment from 5 Mar 2026 in “GPT-5.4 Thinking and GPT-5.4 Pro” “all the others are just Unity/Gamemaker/Unreal not allowing the developers to write normal code”
Comment from 19 Apr 2026 in “Game Devs Explain the Tricks Involved with Letting You Pause a Game”
Other game engines people recommend
The four most recommended other game engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godot | 213 | 57 | 79% | 12 | 2 yrs5 owners | Approved |
| Unity | 110 | 165 | 40% | 12 | 16 yrs8 owners | — |
| Unreal Engine | 104 | 89 | 54% | 12 | — | — |
| Bevy game engine | 50 | 18 | 74% | 11 | — | Approved |
| GameMakerThis page | 13 | 2 | 87% | 7 | — | Approved |
What people said
17 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“all have simple web exporter”
“it would be so much easier if I didn't have to do internet archaeology just to figure out how GML worked 20 years ago”
“making sprites with Gary Kitchen's GameMaker”
“GameMaker visual programming was the first exposure to programming I could understand.”
“what GameMaker 8.1 used to (near instant runs, extremely fast iteration time for 2D games)”
“you can freely share games made with PICO-8, Löve, Godot, Rpgmaker, Game maker and the like”
“GameMaker looks awesome and it wasn't even on my radar.”
“if not Unity, GameMaker is also a good option.”
“GML (GameMaker Language) is also quite easy to write, so I think it's great for learning algorithms.”
“all the others are just Unity/Gamemaker/Unreal not allowing the developers to write normal code”
“the most beginner-friendly environment I've used”
“Great games have been made with Godot (Cruelty Squad) and GameMaker (Sexy Hiking)”
“The entire "low code drag n drop" market like YoYoGames Game Maker and RPG Maker should be ready to pack it in soon”
“There are a few, like GameMaker, that do one-time pricing”
“pretty cool and fun, but they still don't really hit the same”
“GameMaker gives something of a facsimile.”
“I don't like the bespoke languages used by frameworks like Godot or GameMaker either.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.