On using the Godot game engine

[VinnyVideo]

I didn't have much going on last night, so I gave Godot a go! All I did was download it and make a "Hello World" message, but it seems promising. It is quite a bit different from both GM and Clickteam, though, so if you've used those environments, Godot will require a different mindset.

One thing I don't get is, why use a paid professional product for hobby projects if you don't intend to become a pro?

I can relate to this. I'd rather not spend money on stuff full of features designed for professionals (for example, tools for monetizing your games and managing large dev teams) when I have no intention of selling my work.

I think Game Maker got its claim to fame on MFGG due to being either free or really inexpensive back in the day.

As someone who started with 6.1, this is pretty true. Once upon a time, the registered version of Game Maker was a mere $20. Nowadays it's quite a bit more...

Currently, the cheapest paid version of GM Studio 2 costs $39 USD... per year. In the past, if you bought GM, you had it forever, but now they've moved to a subscription model (yuck). There is a free trial version, but it's severely limited in the number of resources you can use, and it can't even export executables. It definitely seems like YoYoGames is trying to move away from making products that are friendly to hobbyists and students. However, if you're a serious professional, GM is probably not your best option either. These days, GM is trying to occupy an awkward middle ground, and I'm not sure how well this will work.

Course clear! You got a card.