@This thread.
Okay, so I'll add my two cents now.
I've been with the forums/community and GameMakerStudio for awhile, not half as long as some of the true seniors here but longer than most and definitely long enough to have opinions, thoughts and concerns on the matter. I've been working in GMS for about 6 years, since the end of 2012. Some of you will know my previous account, TheMatrixHasMe, which I no longer use. For the record, I'm 39 years old, so I would like to contribute to this thread without anyone attacking me or calling me unprofessional or accusing me of throwing a tantrum because that's not what this thread is about.
I think we can all agree that their are two major problems at the heart of this matter.
1)
YoYo's handling of the transition from GMS1 to GMS2. This can be broken down into smaller complaints, which have already been listed in various ways by other forum contributors here but I will list my major grievances for transparency sake.
a) As a developer with a game to market for mobile platforms (or html if that is you) your hand is forced by the transition. Because of constantly evolving security measures and active evolution that is web browsers and mobile platforms it's imperative that the source code for the engine be updated in some way. Since GMS is not open source, we don't have the keys to the car. This means the responsibility falls on YoYo to do and again it forces the dev to upgrade to GMS2. Doesn't matter if you are happy with GMS1, say goodbye to that engine.
b)Forced hands don't get good discounts. The forced hands, being the html and mobile platform developers, are the ones mostly likely to have purchased the most expensive packages for GMS1 (800 dollar master collection anyone?) and also are the ones who have to spend the most on GMS2 for all of the packages (Modules). So like some of the others here I've easily spent over a thousand dollars on YoYo Products. I'm not going to go into great detail of business models or how other companies do business here, but hypothetically if YoYo took a five percent cut instead of cash up front, I would have to make 20,000 dollars on a game before they started taking an equal cut. Plus under that business model they could migrate me to a new engine with no additional costs and they would be far more likely to make sure that my games made a smooth transition considering it affects their bottom line. Which leads me to my next point.
c)If you are an developer forced to migrate to GMS2, because of the GMS sunset, then you would be very reasonable to expect YoYo to be prepared for the transition by now, after all, they set their own sunset. But they are not. I think this is probably the biggest problem and the main driving force behind many complaints here. For example, when I migrated I couldn't get cloud syncing to work as their was an issue with an internal function that I could not access. I was forced to file a bug report and wait for YoYo to fix it at their own pace. When you combine that with unreliable response times and spotty/inconsistent communication you have a real problem.
2)
Communication and treatment of professionals and customers.
a) As a payed product, we should have some kind of customer service and recourse to getting issues corrected. But YoYo doesn't really have a customer service and the treatment of the customers, in my opinion, is more indicative of companies who have free products. Because of the fact that there is no customer service, I think it's very natural, for most people to assume then, that the forums must be an extension of the company for communication purposes, both in getting feedback and in informing users. While the forum does act as a sort of propaganda arm of YoYo, making announcements, doing some basic marketing, etc., there also seems to be a disconnect from YoYo and the forums, seemingly done intentionally, so that YoYo is absolved of what goes on here. Which means that our voices are still not heard. Which leads me to the issues with the forums.
b)What is the role of the moderators and yoyo staff here? I have had my share of grievances with some of the moderators/staff here. When it comes to transparency, they are the bridge between us and YoYo. In reality their role should be to make sure that the garbage stays out (marketing, trolls, disrespectful users, etc.,), as well as make sure that the forumers/customers are supported/helped, and also, I would think, to be an ear to the ground for YoYo. Unfortunately, I haven't seen enough of that from the staff here and I've even had moments on the forums where I've been held back by the staff from succeeding. I won't go into detail of those issues though as that begins to derail the focus that most of the grievers can identify with. At the end of the day though, YoYo is responsible for this forum whether they want to distance themselves or not, as well as responsible to hear and address the voices of concern coming from their customers. Twitter and Facebook announcements don't do that.
In light of all this, I, like many of the long term users in here, feel that YoYo's end of the bargain has not been met for the money was shelled out. I personally am not happy with GMS2 and do not feel promises have been kept. This is not throwing a tantrum, this is me taking time and effort to, as articulately as possible, communicate with YoYo and their staff that you are failing some of the most loyal, core and senior customers you have. I see voices in here that I respect the most getting treated as if their time, effort and expertise means nothing. The silence of staff, as well as the approval of silencing voices and dissent, speaks volumes.It seems that YoYo's business strategy seems to be to cater more to hobbyists and impulse purchases and that their business and customer service models do not seem to be aimed at longer term customers and/or professional users as much as swooping up newer users and collecting the front end payday.
The longer that YoYo takes to address these concerns (they've already taken too long), the more this is just going to become an echo chamber of unheard frustration. YoYo, you may need to google how to deal with frustrated customers. You don't seem to be making them feel heard and addressing their concerns.
Hopefully, my addition to this isn't too much of a rant. I'm not sure I do the best job of articulating the trees from the forest but I'm trying to support my fellow forum friends and let them know they are not alone and there is another one here with the same frustrations, the same concerns, the same problems. You are not crazy.
It's one thing to be critical and to make your voice heard, it's another to behave like objectionable children.
Throwing your toys out of the pram doesn't help, and it certainly doesn't make YYG more likely to communicate frequently in the future. If you want to GameMaker to be professional software, start acting like professionals.
People here aren't acting like children. They are venting and expressing frustration. You took the same exact approach in the YoYo Games Indie Game Publishing thread, found here
https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/yoyo-games-indie-game-publishing.47878/. You attacked the people expressing concern, said they weren't professionals, and then denounced their opinion. When I defended people you never responded to me. These are people who are seasoned veterans with the product as well as YoYo's most loyal customers. People that have incomes depending on this product. They have real concerns that need to be addressed and YoYo is NOT doing that. They have every right to voice their frustration, concerns and opinions and when they don't get answers from the company they have every right to "throw their toys out of the pram". The fact that you call them objectionable children shows a disrespect and lack of actual empathy for their problems as well as a rather blind loyalty to YoYo.
Edit: Small fixes.
Additional Edit: Some phrasings modified to be more constructive.