If you’re already familiar with a programming language, such as JavaScript, GML should be pretty easy to grasp. GameMaker Language, or GML for short, is a robust scripting language that gives you far more flexibility and functionality than Drag And Drop can offer. Despite this, it is a popular choice for beginners when starting out with GameMaker. While you won’t have to learn any coding, you’ll still have to learn the basic fundamentals of game coding, such as conditional statements, variables, the purpose of each available action, and more.
It can be easier to spend your energy learning the fundamentals of game design rather than learning an entirely new programming language. Instead of code, it uses a visual editor that allows users to drag and drop (See why it’s called that?) blocks of actions into different events that trigger during gameplay. If you are absolutely overwhelmed with the idea of learning any programming, this may be a valuable option for you. What is Drag And Drop?ĭrag And Drop, also known as DnD is a way to develop games in GameMaker Studio 2 that doesn’t require you to use any code. To get the most out of development, you’ll want to learn the GameMaker Language. While Drag And Drop is boasted by YoYo Games as being the best way for beginners to complete a game without using any code, you’ll quickly find that Drag And Drop is limiting in functionality, and looks clunky in the editor.
There are pros and cons to each, but you’ll find users will typically lean more to one than the other, at least in the beginning.Īdvanced users usually give beginners the same advice: Skip Drag And Drop and go right into GameMaker Language. When starting your first GameMaker Studio 2 project, you’ll be presented with one of two choices: To make a Drag And Drop project or to make a GameMaker Language project.