Get ready for monthly releases!
Good news, GameMaker is changing to monthly releases. Moving from four quarterly to ten monthly releases a year allows us to provide you with more regular updates. Though these will be smaller, we are looking to maintain or even increase the amount of features and big fixes released. On top of this, Beta updates will also be more frequent, with 2 releases a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays). This change will provide us more feedback than ever before, allowing us to better optimise your GameMaker Studio 2 experience.
Filters and Effects are coming
The main feature arriving with update 2.3.6 is Filters and Effects! This feature gives you the ability to apply a pre-programmed Filter (basically a shader) or Effect (a shader with control code) to quickly and easily enhance the graphical output of your games. Initially there will be a selection of preset Filters that the users can choose from but we will be adding Effects and more to this over time. You can use Effects by adding “Filter/Effect” Layers in your game’s Rooms, which apply the filters to all layers that are below them. This feature will continue to grow with the ability to specify your own Filters and Effects, applying Filters and Effects to a specific layer (rather than all layers below the Effect Layer), adding a Filter/Effect Layer to a Sequence and also applying Filters and Effects to a specific area of a Sequence.
At launch Filters and Effects will be a feature available to paid users. After release this feature will be updated with the ability to create your own Filter and Effects. Following this update, a selection of preset Filters and Effects will become available for everyone to use for free! The ability to create your own and a choice from a wider selection of presets will only be available to paid users.
Access to GameMaker Studio 2 is free for all, but in order for this to work, some major features will only be available to subscribers. Other features will be available for all, but will be released to subscribers first for early access. Upgrades are still available, so please consider this if you are interested in new features. We will continue to provide access, support, and updates for free to all users.
New Start Page & Project Templates
When you open Version 2.3.6 the first thing you’ll notice is the new start page. This new streamlined experience was created to help you find exactly what you need with ease. Quicker access to new projects or opening existing ones. A quick look at your user details and some handy resources listed down the side!
We have also introduced Project Templates. Think of them as wireframe projects to get you up and running fast. To start, we have some official templates based on some of our tutorial content but we are working on more of these to help our users get started. You also have the option to create your own templates that will allow you to get started quickly whenever you jump into a new project. You can also share your template projects with others via the Marketplace or by simply sharing the Project Template Export .yyz file.
Link your Opera Account to GM
You can now link your GameMaker Account to your Opera Account. This will make it easier and faster for you to upload games to GXC, as you will not need to login each time. We are currently working on users being able to register an account and login to the IDE using only their Opera Account. Single sign-in will be available in update 2.3.7.
To read all the changes, updates and bug fixes coming with GameMaker Studio 2 Version 2.3.6 - check out the full Release Notes here. We can’t wait to share more new and exciting upcoming features with you soon. Happy GameMaking!
