The GameMaker Studio 2 Trial Licence permits you to test the product and make small games to get used to how everything works. However, there will come a time when you feel the need to make bigger projects and create games that other people can play, which means you need to upgrade your licence to unlock the full potential of the product.
When you upgrade GameMaker Studio 2 you are unlocking the full functionality of the product and removing the limitations that the Trial Licence imposes, and each licence will also permit you to compile and distribute your games for different platforms. The available upgrade licences are:
- Desktop (Windows, Mac, Ubuntu)
- UWP (Windows 10 Desktop, Windows 10 Mobile, XboxOne)
- Mobile (iOS, Android)
- Web (HTML5)
- Consoles (XboxOne, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch)
To get the any of the above licences you must first go to the YoYo Games website and sign up for a YoYo Account. Once you have your account (or if you already have an account) you need to sign in and go to the Products section of the Account Dashboard, where you'll see the option buy a licence as well as the licences (if any) that you currently own:
You will be shown a checkout screen with the details of the purchase and a button to proceed to the checkout (note that if your YoYo Account is not fully up-to-date then you may have to do this before you can continue with the purchase):
You can then click the "Continue Shopping" button to add further licences or choose a payment method (either by credit card or through PayPal).
Once payment has been completed, you can go back to the Products section of your YoYo Games Account dashboard and your new licence should be shown:
Now you have to download and install GameMaker Studio 2, which you can get by going to the Download section of the account dashboard and selecting the version that you require for your computer (either for PC or for Mac):
After installing and running GameMaker Studio 2 you will be prompted to log in using the same YoYo Account email and password you used to purchase the product. GMS2 will then download and install your extra runtime files and you can start to make games for any of the desktop targets.