forum.gamemaker.io

The GameMaker Community forum (forum.gamemaker.io) is an official-style discussion board for GameMaker users, built on XenForo. You can read most boards as a guest, but to post, reply, or join events like the GMC Jam you need a registered account. Participation works best when you post in the right board, include enough detail for others to reproduce your problem, and follow the community guidelines. Below is what you need to know before your first post.

Getting started: account and access

The forum shows a Log in / Register option in the header. Registration is the gate for anything beyond reading.

• As a guest, you can browse boards, open threads, and read replies. The forum greets you as "Hey, Guest!" and prompts you to log in or register.
• With an account, you can start threads, reply, react to posts, and take part in community events.
• JavaScript should be enabled for the full experience; the site explicitly notes that disabling it degrades the forum, and that an outdated browser may render incorrectly.

There is no pricing information on the page, so nothing here should be read as confirming a free or paid membership — the visible action is simply register or log in.

Finding the right board before you post

The forum is organized into sections, and posting in the correct one is the difference between a fast answer and a moved or ignored thread. The main areas visible on the index include:

The index makes the rule blunt: in Community Chat, "DO NOT POST PROGRAMMING OR TECHNICAL QUESTIONS HERE." If your question is about code, put it in Programming.

How to ask a question that actually gets answered

The recent thread list shows the pattern of what works. Threads marked SOLVED — such as a surface-clearing issue, a text box bug, or a JSON load error — tend to be specific and reproducible. Vague titles sit unanswered.

A practical checklist for a Programming post:

1. State the goal in one sentence — what you expected to happen.
2. State what actually happens, including the exact error text if there is one (for example, a JSON load error message).
3. Show the relevant code, not your whole project. Paste the event or function involved.
4. Say what you already tried, so people don't repeat suggestions.
5. Mark the thread solved once it's fixed, so others can find the answer later.

Threads like "Persisting issue with vertical moving platforms" get multiple replies because the problem is concrete; a post that only says "my game is broken" gives nothing to work with.

Community rules and etiquette

• Read the Community Guidelines first. The forum points new users there before posting anywhere else.
• Stay on topic per board. Technical questions belong in Programming, not Community Chat.
• Don't hijack threads. If your issue differs from the original post, start your own.
• Be patient and civil. Replies can take hours or days; the timestamps on the index show threads often resolve within a day when the question is clear.
• Use the search and "New posts" / "Latest activity" views before asking — your question may already be answered.

Joining community events

The forum runs its own game jams under the GMC Jam board. The index advertises the next one, The Interstellar GMC Jam 60, running October 21st–26th, 2026 (12:00 UTC to 12:00 UTC), with a "Clash of Gangs" team element alongside individual prizes. To take part, register or log in, then follow the GMC Jam board and the linked event page for rules and submission details. The board also hosts a sub-forum for individual jams and discussion threads such as the Slow Jam.

Quick answers

• Can I read without an account? Yes — browsing and reading threads works as a guest.
• Where do I ask a code question? The Programming board.
• Where do I chat about the community? Community Chat — but not for technical help.
• How do I join a jam? Register, then follow the GMC Jam board and the current event announcement.
• Why does the site look broken? Enable JavaScript and update your browser.

forum.gamemaker.io is the GameMaker Community (GMC), a discussion forum for people who build games with GameMaker. It runs on XenForo forum software and is organized around help, project sharing, and community events rather than being a documentation site or a download portal. If you have a GameMaker question, want feedback on a project, or want to join a game jam, this is the place those conversations happen.

What you'll find there

The forum is split into sections with clearly different purposes:

• Programming — the busiest area. Threads are typically specific technical problems, such as "Dynamic, off-grid tilesets?", "The best way to allow two npcs to fight?", or a platformer issue with vertically moving platforms. Many carry a SOLVED prefix once answered.
• Community Announcements — official news posts, including marketplace and tooling updates.
• Community Chat — general discussion about the community itself. The description explicitly states not to post programming or technical questions here.
• GMC Jam — the home of the community's recurring game jam, with a sub-forum for individual jam discussions.
• Collaboration — portfolios, team building, and job offers. This is a moderated section, so posts are reviewed.

Who it's for

Two groups get the most out of it:

1. Developers stuck on a problem. The Programming board is where you post a concrete issue and get replies from other users. Threads show reply counts and view counts, so you can gauge how active a topic is before posting.
2. People looking for community and collaboration. The Jam and Collaboration sections serve those who want to build with others, compete, or find teammates.

How to use it

• Reading requires nothing. You can browse threads, view latest activity, and read solutions without an account.
• Posting requires registration. The header shows Log in / Register options, so an account is needed to start a thread or reply.
• Enable JavaScript. The site displays a notice that JavaScript is disabled and recommends enabling it for a better experience; it also warns about outdated browsers.
• Search before posting. Many common problems already have SOLVED threads, which is faster than waiting for a reply.

A concrete example

Say your 2D platformer character falls through a vertically moving platform. You'd post in Programming with your GameMaker version, the relevant code, and what you've tried. Other users reply in the thread, and once resolved the thread can be marked SOLVED — which is exactly the pattern visible in the forum's current thread list.

What it is not

It is not the official GameMaker manual or a store. It is a peer community: answers come from other developers, and quality varies by thread. For authoritative engine documentation, you'd go elsewhere; for practical help and community activity, this is the right destination.

The GameMaker Community forum (forum.gamemaker.io) is an official-style XenForo board where you can get four main kinds of help: answers to programming and technical problems, feedback on your project, shared resources and tutorials, and collaboration or job connections. It fits you best if you are actively building a GameMaker project and want peer input rather than official support tickets. The forum is in English, and the visible activity is dominated by programming threads, so expect the fastest responses on code-level questions.

Programming and technical problem solving

This is the busiest area of the forum. The "Programming" section is where members post code errors, feature implementation questions, and performance issues. From the visible thread list, typical posts include:

• Bug and error diagnosis — e.g. a "Json Load Error" thread marked SOLVED, or "Skill issue with clearing a surface" marked SOLVED. Members post the problem, others reply, and the original poster often edits the title to add SOLVED once fixed.
• Feature implementation — e.g. "The best way to allow two npcs to fight?" and "Dynamic, off-grid tilesets?" These are design-plus-code questions where you get opinions on approaches, not just fixes.
• Persistent, hard-to-reproduce issues — e.g. a 2D platformer thread about "Persisting issue with vertical moving platforms" that ran to 8 replies and 443 views. Long threads like this usually mean the problem was subtle and multiple people weighed in.
• Edge-case behavior — e.g. "can't figure out why text box doesn't work under one specific circumstance."

Practical takeaway: if you post a programming question, include the exact error text, the relevant code, and what you already tried. Threads that get solved tend to be the ones where the asker gave enough to reproduce the problem.

Project feedback and testing

Beyond raw code, the forum has spaces for showing work and getting reactions. The "Projects" area and the collaboration section cover portfolios, team building, and job offers. If you want playtesting or design critique, this is where you post a build or a description and ask for specific feedback. Note that the collaboration forum is described as moderated, so posts there go through review before appearing.

Resources: tutorials, tools, and assets

The forum hosts announcements and shared material rather than being a pure download library. Visible examples include an official "Marketplace Future and the Prefab Library" announcement, which points to tooling and asset-related news. Community announcements and the general "Community Chat" area are where tutorials, tools, and marketplace developments get discussed. If you are looking for a specific asset or a how-to, search the programming and community sections first — much of the useful material is embedded inside discussion threads rather than in a separate downloads page.

Collaboration, teams, and job offers

The collaboration section exists specifically for portfolios, team building, and job offers. This is the place to find a programmer, artist, or designer for a project, or to offer your own skills. Because it is moderated, expect a short delay before your post is visible.

Community events: the GMC Jam

The forum runs its own recurring game jam, the GMC Jam. The visible announcement states that "The Interstellar GMC Jam 60 will take place between October 21st, 2026 12:00 UTC - October 26th, 2026 12:00 UTC," and that it features a "Clash of Gangs" team element alongside individual prizes. The GMC Jam section has its own sub-forums, including "Community Jams," with discussion threads such as "Slow Jam 03." Jams are a practical way to get feedback fast, finish a small project under a deadline, and meet other developers.

What the forum is not

• It is not a replacement for official GameMaker technical support. The help here comes from other community members.
• It is not the place for general chat in the programming sections — the Community Chat description explicitly says not to post programming or technical questions there.
• It is not guaranteed to be fast. Some threads sit with zero replies (e.g. a recent "Dynamic, off-grid tilesets?" post had 0 replies and 15 views shortly after posting), while others get answered within the hour.

How to get the most out of it

1. Search before posting. Many issues, especially JSON and surface errors, already have SOLVED threads.
2. Post in the right section. Programming questions go in Programming; project showcases and team requests go in the collaboration or projects areas.
3. Give reproducible detail. Error messages, code snippets, GameMaker version, and steps to reproduce.
4. Mark your thread SOLVED when it is fixed, so others can find the answer.
5. Check the jam schedule if you want structured practice and feedback.

The forum is most valuable when you treat it as a peer community: you get out of it roughly what you put in, and the clearest wins come from well-documented programming questions and active participation in jams and project threads.

The GameMaker Community forum (forum.gamemaker.io) is organized into a handful of top-level sections, each with a distinct purpose: Programming for technical help, Community Chat for general discussion, Community Announcements for official news, Marketplace for assets and prefabs, Collaboration for team-building and job offers, and GMC Jam for the community's recurring game jam. If you're looking for an answer to a code problem, go straight to Programming; if you want to talk about the community itself, use Community Chat. The sections below explain what belongs where and how to browse efficiently.

Programming

This is the busiest section and the one most visitors arrive for. It's where members post technical questions and troubleshooting threads about GameMaker projects.

Typical thread titles visible on the forum index include things like "Dynamic, off-grid tilesets?", "The best way to allow two npcs to fight?", and "(2D Platformer) - Persisting issue with vertical moving platforms." Threads are tagged with status markers such as SOLVED, which makes it easy to spot questions that already have a working answer before you post your own.

Use this section when you have a concrete technical problem: an error message, unexpected behavior in your game, or a "how do I implement X" question. Because replies and view counts are shown in the thread list, you can gauge whether a topic is active or already resolved.

Community Chat

This section is for anything relevant to the GameMaker Community as a whole. The forum's own description states it should be your first stop before posting anywhere else, and it points to the Community Guidelines.

The important restriction: do not post programming or technical questions here. Those belong in Programming. Community Chat is for meta-discussion about the forum and community — for example, a thread titled "Forum Issue I can't reply" appears in this section.

Community Announcements

This section holds all official community announcements and news posts. It's a low-volume, high-signal area (the index shows roughly 248 threads and 13.2K posts) and is the right place to check for official updates rather than user questions. An example thread is "OFFICIAL Marketplace Future and the Prefab Library."

Marketplace

The Marketplace section covers assets and prefabs for GameMaker. It's where official or community marketplace-related news and discussion lives — the "Prefab Library" announcement above is an example of the kind of topic you'll find here.

Collaboration

This section is for portfolios, team building, and job offers. It is described as a moderated forum, so posts are reviewed. Use it if you're looking for collaborators, advertising your skills, or recruiting for a project.

GMC Jam

GMC Jam is the home of the community's regularly occurring game jam, with its own sub-forums (including a Community Jams sub-forum). The index shows around 180 threads and 20.8K posts here.

The current banner announcement gives a concrete example of how these events work: the Interstellar GMC Jam 60 runs from October 21st, 2026 12:00 UTC to October 26th, 2026 12:00 UTC, and features a "Clash of Gangs" team element alongside the usual individual prizes. A "Slow Jam 03 | Discussion" thread also appears in the sub-forum, showing that discussion threads accompany each jam.

How to Browse New and Featured Content

The forum's navigation menu provides several ways to keep up without reading every section:

• New posts — the latest replies across the forum.
• Latest activity — a broader activity stream.
• What's new — recent content, including a Featured content view.

The forum index itself also lists the most recent threads with their section, author, reply count, view count, and last-post time, so you can scan activity at a glance.

Quick Reference

Practical Notes Before Posting

• Read the Community Guidelines (linked from Community Chat) before your first post.
• Match your topic to the section: technical problems go to Programming, not Community Chat.
• The forum notes that JavaScript should be enabled for the best experience, and that an out-of-date browser may display the site incorrectly — worth checking if menus or threads behave oddly.
• Logging in or registering is required to post; the index shows Log in / Register prompts for guests.

The GMC Jam is the GameMaker Community's own recurring game jam, run through the forum at forum.gamemaker.io. It is a time-boxed event where participants build a game around a theme, then share and discuss the results with other community members. If you already use GameMaker and want a deadline-driven reason to finish a small project, it is the forum's main recurring event for that. You do not need to be an experienced developer to take part; the structure is built around short, scoped projects rather than polished releases.

What the jam actually is

A game jam is a limited-time development sprint. The GMC Jam follows that format: a set window is announced, participants develop during it, and the community then plays, votes on, or discusses the entries. The jam has its own dedicated section on the forum, separate from the programming help boards, so announcements, rules, and entry threads stay in one place.

The forum listing shows the jam running under a sub-forum structure, with a "Community Jams" sub-forum and a "GMC Jam" section holding the announcement and discussion threads. That separation matters: it means you can follow the jam without wading through general programming posts.

How a jam is structured

The clearest example in the current forum material is The Interstellar GMC Jam 60, scheduled for October 21st, 2026 12:00 UTC to October 26th, 2026 12:00 UTC. That gives you the shape of a typical event:

• A fixed start and end time, stated in UTC so participants across time zones share one deadline.
• A theme, revealed for the event (here, an interstellar theme).
• A team element, in this case "Clash of Gangs," where participants are encouraged to pick a gang and support other members of it during the jam.
• Prizes, described as "the usual individual prizes," alongside the team framing.

The "Clash of Gangs" mechanic is worth noting because it changes the jam from a purely solo exercise into something with a social layer. You can still work on your own entry, but you are also sorted into a group and expected to encourage the others in it.

How to take part

1. Register or log in on the forum. The jam threads sit behind the normal forum account system, and posting an entry or joining discussion requires an account.
2. Find the announcement thread. Jam announcements appear in the GMC Jam section of the forum, with a link to fuller details. The Interstellar Jam 60 announcement, for instance, points to a "click here to find out more" page for the full rules.
3. Check the dates against your own schedule. The window is stated in UTC, so convert it before committing. A five-day window (as in Jam 60) is the kind of span you can plan a small project around.
4. Join the discussion thread for that jam. Each jam has its own discussion thread in the Community Jams sub-forum, which is where participants coordinate, ask questions, and share progress.
5. Build and submit within the window, following whatever submission rules the announcement specifies.

What you get out of it

The forum's jam section is one of its most active areas by post count, and the value is mostly in the constraints:

• A deadline that forces you to scope a project down to something finishable.
• A theme that removes the blank-page problem of choosing what to make.
• Feedback and visibility from other participants who play and discuss entries.
• Team interaction, if you take part in a mechanic like Clash of Gangs, which gives you a reason to engage with other developers rather than working in isolation.

Common points of confusion

• The jam is not the same as the general programming boards. Technical questions belong in the Programming section; jam announcements, rules, and entries belong in the GMC Jam section. Posting a jam question in the wrong place is a common first mistake.
• The jam section has sub-forums. Community Jams sits underneath it, and individual jam discussion threads live there. If you only look at the top-level GMC Jam listing, you may miss the active thread for the current event.
• Times are in UTC. Treat the announced window as authoritative and convert it, rather than assuming it matches your local clock.
• JavaScript and browser version matter. The forum itself notes that JavaScript should be enabled and that an outdated browser may cause display problems, so if threads look broken, that is the first thing to check.

If you want a concrete next step, open the GMC Jam section, read the current announcement thread in full, and check whether the stated window fits your schedule before registering your interest in the discussion thread.