Whilst the free version of GameMaker Studio 2 gives you the ability to try out GMS2 and make projects to get used to how everything works, if you want to share these projects with other people, or perhaps even sell them on the various games stores, you will need to subscribe to unlock the full potential of GMS2.
The available subscriptions are:
- Indie (Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, HTML5, Android, iOS, tvOS, UWP)
- Entreprise (Windows, macOS, Ubuntu, HTML5, Android, iOS, tvOS, UWP, Xbox, Playstation, Switch)
For a lot more info on each of these above subscription, please see this FAQ about which subscription is right for you.
Purchasing A New Subscription
To purchase any of the above subscriptions you must first go to the YoYo Games website and sign into your account.
Once in your account you need to go to the Subscriptions section of the Account Dashboard, where you'll see the options to buy a subscription suitable for your account. You can then add the licence(s) you want to your basket and go through the Checkout.
Once payment has been completed, you can go back to the Subscriptions section of your YoYo Games Account dashboard and your new licence should be shown (please note, there will be a small delay as your licence is actually created and so if you returned to the page very quickly you may need to refresh the page one time).
Installing/Updating GameMaker With Your New Purchase
If you have not already installed GameMaker Studio 2, you can get the installer now by going to the Download section of your account dashboard and selecting the installer that you require for your computer.
The next time you launch GameMaker Studio 2, it will then automatically download and install the additional GMS2 components required for building projects for your newly-purchased licences.
If you do have any issues with this automatic process, please see this FAQ about how to refresh your GMS2 Subscription.
Ensuring You Have The Required External Tools and Permissions
However, it is very important that you now also see this FAQ about what third-party tools and SDKs the version of GMS2 you are using requires in order to support these new targets, as whilst your GMS2 installation is now complete you may not have everything that you actually require in order to develop for your new platform of choice.
You should also check this guide before installing any external tools, as versions too-new for GMS2 are just as likely to cause problems when building your projects as versions which are too old.
Similarly, if you know your computer has antivirus and/or firewall software running, or if your machine user account has restricted privileges, you should also review this FAQ about GMS2's required internet access and user permissions.
But, once this is all done you will be ready to use your new purchase.