47th GM48
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Learn GameMaker Studio 2

Whether you're building your first platformer or crafting an expansive Metroidvania, this community hub connects you with tutorials, open-source examples, and quarterly game jams that sharpen your skills in 48-hour sprints.

Start Your Journey Genre Tutorials

New to game jams? Learn what they are · Download GameMaker Studio 2

Your First Steps in GameMaker

Start creating games today with a clear, beginner-friendly path that takes you from installing GameMaker to building your first playable prototype.

1. Get Set Up

Download GameMaker Studio 2, create your account, and explore the interface. Learn where sprites, objects, and rooms live in the IDE.

Download GameMaker

2. Follow Tutorials

Work through beginner tutorials covering sprites, movement, collision detection, and basic GML scripting—everything you need for a simple game.

Browse Tutorials

3. Build Something

Create a simple game prototype from start to finish. Try remixing open-source examples or following along with complete project walkthroughs.

Study Examples
Learning Tip: Don't aim for perfection on your first project. Focus on finishing something playable, even if it's simple. You'll learn more by completing a small game than by starting (and abandoning) a large one, and you'll feel accomplished.

Learn GameMaker by Building Games in 48 Hours

The gm(48) game jam happens quarterly, giving you a supportive environment to practice rapid prototyping, get constructive feedback, and grow your skills alongside a community of GameMaker developers.

Learn to Scope

48-hour deadlines teach you what's possible in a weekend—a critical skill for finishing projects and avoiding feature creep.

Get Real Feedback

Every participant plays and rates other entries, giving you detailed feedback on gameplay, art, audio, and accessibility.

Find Your Community

Connect with other GameMaker developers, form teams, get mentorship, and share your progress in a welcoming Discord community.

Grow Every Jam

Track your progress across multiple jams. Top games can receive funding to develop their prototypes into full commercial releases.

Participate in the next gm(48) on January 17, 2026 Games made with GameMaker Studio 2

How to Make a Metroidvania or Platformer in GameMaker

Master the most popular game jam genres with curated tutorials, open-source examples, and reusable code from experienced gm(48) developers.

Make a Metroidvania

Exploration, upgrades & backtracking

Build interconnected worlds where players gain abilities that unlock new areas. Learn room transitions, persistent state management, minimaps, and ability-gated progression systems.

Core Metroidvania Systems:

  • Room graph design & non-linear progression
  • Ability upgrades (double-jump, dash, wall-climb)
  • Minimap rendering & room discovery tracking
  • Save rooms & persistent world state
  • Enemy respawning & resource management
Browse Metroidvania Tutorials Study Open-Source Examples

Build a Platformer

Responsive movement & level design

Create tight, responsive platforming with pixel-perfect collision, satisfying jump mechanics, and polished game feel. Master the fundamentals that make platformers feel great to play.

Essential Platformer Mechanics:

  • Precise collision detection & slope handling
  • Jump buffering & coyote time for forgiveness
  • Variable jump height & air control
  • Camera zones, smoothing & screen transitions
  • Particle effects, screen shake & audio feedback
Browse Platformer Tutorials Get Movement Scripts
Pro Tip: Both genres work great for 48-hour jams when you limit scope. Focus on 3-5 rooms for a Metroidvania or 5-10 levels for a platformer. Polish a small experience rather than building something too ambitious to finish.

GameMaker Resource Library

Accelerate your learning with tutorials, guides, assets, and code snippets shared by the gm(48) community. Everything is free and built by developers who understand GameMaker.

Tutorials

Step-by-step guides from basics to advanced techniques

Guides

In-depth articles on game design and best practices

Assets

Free sprites, sounds, and art for your projects

Code Snippets

Reusable GML scripts for common game mechanics

Featured Tutorials

View All Tutorials
resource

Sine Waves make your game prettier

Spice up the visuals in your game using sine wave motion.

Mimpy
Lv. 26
resource

Expandable Collision System (with slopes)

Create a robust collision system for your platformer (or other types of games).

Pedro Muller
Lv. 1
resource

BGM48 | Music for gm48 entries

72 pieces of background music for use in your gm48 entries

Allison J. James
Patron

Essential Guides

View All Guides
guide

How to make better games (99.9% success rate)

Guide to making better games. Works just about as well as most hand sanitizers.

Yosi
Lv. 46
guide

Make your game better in 5 seconds

Seriously, do this 🙏🙏🙏

baku
Patron
guide

Presenting your game: Icon + Description

Aim to stand out from the crowd with a great icon and description

baku
Patron
guide

how to make a Metroidvania in 48-hours!

A guide on how I made some competent full feeling Metroidvania's in only 48 hours!

singleshot
Lv. 43
example

The Most Complicated Camera Code

Pretty self explanatory.

Yosi
Lv. 46
guide

Saving and Loading User Data

...and why you should be doing it

Stratemagician
Lv. 3
guide

How to survive your first Jam - Mentally & Physically

A Game Jam, like any competition, takes some level of mental and physical preparation. These are my tips to prepare for a jam.

Tydecon Games
Patron
Browse All Resources

Ready to Build Your First Game?

Join the next gm(48) on January 17, 2026 and transform your idea into a playable prototype. Participants learn rapid development, get constructive feedback, and discover what they can accomplish in just 48 hours.

Browse these post-mortems to see how developers approached their jam entries, solved technical challenges, and grew their GameMaker skills through iteration.

Momentum Rush

Post-mortem

Until the first day of making this game was over, it was something completely different. In May I ma... Read more

Monkosum
Lv. 3

Don't Zone Out

Post-mortem

I'm actually very happy with the way that 'Don't zone out' turned out. So happy that I'm currently d... Read more

Pelican Police
Lv. 3

Lysis

Post-mortem

This was a fun game to make, and the first gm48 where I composed unique music, wrote and used my own... Read more

Mcwequiesk
Lv. 10

Cave of Generations

Post-mortem

This was a damn good GM48, man. I've been extremely busy and stressed out for the last 3 months, una... Read more

baku
Patron

OneSlot Odyssey

Post-mortem

Wow, I had a blast competing in my first-ever game jam. This was, in fact, probably the first game I... Read more

Joe
Lv. 3

PokeyPoke

Post-mortem

Only a tiny amount of the level design is any good, completely ran out of time in the midst of build... Read more

ShaunJS
Lv. 3
Ready to participate in a GameMaker game jam?
The next gm(48) begins on January 17 and is open for free to GameMaker developers of any type, skill level and background.

Need a reminder?

Subscribe to never miss another game jam
Why participate?
Become better at game design, game development and GameMaker
Compete to win a license to GameMaker Studio 2 as prize, sponsored by YoYo Games
Get constructive feedback from a diverse community of game developers by participating

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions from folks learning GameMaker

Start by downloading GameMaker Studio 2 (it's free to try), then follow beginner tutorials to learn the basics of sprites, objects, and rooms. Build small practice projects to get comfortable with the interface before attempting larger games. Most beginners can create their first playable game within a week of practice.

For a simple prototype, you can build a basic platformer in a weekend once you know the fundamentals. A small Metroidvania with 3-5 interconnected rooms is achievable in 48 hours during a game jam. Full commercial games take months, but starting small helps you learn the core mechanics and systems you'll reuse in larger projects.

No! GameMaker has a drag-and-drop visual scripting system that's perfect for beginners. As you get more comfortable, you can learn GML (GameMaker Language) to unlock more advanced features. Many developers start with drag-and-drop and gradually transition to code as they learn.

Game jams teach you to finish projects, scope appropriately, and work under deadlines—skills that tutorials alone can't provide. You'll get constructive feedback from other developers, learn by playing other entries, and join a supportive community. Many participants say they learn more in one jam than in months of solo practice.

Our resource library has hundreds of free tutorials, sprites, sound effects, and GML code snippets shared by the community. You can also study open-source projects from past gm(48) entries to see how experienced developers structure their games. Everything is free to use and learn from.

From Idea to Game in 48 Hours

Join thousands of GameMaker developers who have discovered the joy of game jams.

No experience? No problem. GameMaker developers of all skill levels and backgrounds use the gm(48) game jam to create games, learn new skills, and connect with the community.

Ready to start your game development journey? Create an account and join the next gm(48) game jam!

Why Participate? What is a Game Jam? Upcoming game jams