Education Version

[coynerm]

Hi-

I'm looking to purchase GM version for use in my CS courses at HS. I've been using the trial version and GM is a bit hit in my classes (for obvious reasons).

Wondering what experiences/advice other teachers who have the purchased have to say? Want to make sure I know what I'm getting into before I ask my supervisor for the money.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
M

 

[FrostyCat]

I'm not a teacher myself, but I have been in contact with several teachers about the educational version on these forums. The results aren't that pretty.

Here's a recent one about having trouble authenticating due to DNS and server glitches at YoYo: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/woes-of-the-education-version.48133/

Here's one of several topics about the helpdesk not responding promptly to tickets: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.p...icense-open-lab-scenario-best-practice.42191/

Here's an example of YoYo suddenly pulling support without adequate prior notice, and causing a local institution to drop GM: https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.p...able-explain-yourselves-yoyo.5510/#post-40491

I don't have any hard evidence on whether this is an actual majority or a case of "reverse survivorship bias", but the sheer number of cases I know of strongly suggests that the educational license is still questionable in terms of readiness.

If YoYo wants my vote back on this issue, they need to up their game on communication and sensitivity to educational needs, and drop the cavalier attitude that some YoYo devs demonstrate when we express concern for such needs.

 

[David Batty]

I have trained around 6000 teachers in the last seven years, mostly Python and VB, but I do get a good number wanting Gamemaker training. Gamemaker is popular in schools, although the teachers often are just following what the kids are up to.

Now that GMS2 (Trial Version) is free for educational establishments I have heard of far more schools installing GMS2 rather than a dodgy copy of GM8.1 from a website they found on the internet.

GMS2 is idea for teaching programming in schools, the drag and drop interface is the best way to go at first, this ensures that the kids get used to the environment and workflow while doing rapid development. I then get them to right click and convert an action to GML to see what the GML version looks like. Once they have seen how to move right (for example) in GML, I then get them to use a code window in future for doing this. Over time they easily convert from drag and drop to GML.

 

[FrostyCat]

Now that GMS2 is free for educational establishments I have heard of far more schools installing GMS2 rather than a dodgy copy of GM8.1 from a website they found on the internet.

Are you sure GMS 2 is actually free that way? According to this page, the resource-uncapped educational version of GMS 2 definitely isn't free.

 

[Nocturne]

Now that GMS2 is free for educational establishments I have heard of far more schools installing GMS2 rather than a dodgy copy of GM8.1 from a website they found on the internet.

I'm afraid that this information is incorrect. Schools can use the Trial version free of charge, but if they wish to unlock the full functionality then they need to purchase seats for one of the available licences, as explained in the link posted by @FrostyCat ...

 

[David Batty]

I did mean that the trial version is free for schools, not the full version. I have edited my post to clarify this. More schools are installing the free trial version nowadays, previously each school I went to had downloaded a dodgy copy of an old version 8 or 7 from 'somewhere'.

 

[Lark]

The way it works is quite interesting, David is correct "Now that GMS2 (Trial Version) is free for educational establishments".

When you buy as a school you get a "Seat Manager"
You have to buy at least 5 seats, for example, but 5 seat licenses of "Desktop" the Windows version
In your seat manager, you will see 5 seats listed.
You create a username and password an assign it as a student login aka as a seat license
Under the students log in info in the Manager is a checkmark representing the access to the pro features
If you remove the check mark next to the desktop seat the student license reverts to trial.
You do not have to delete the license or the student, you can just assign this released license to another student in your manager.

This system is amazingly easy to use. I have dealt with AutoDesk, Camtasia, and Unity where you had to license via a network server or a machine. Students could not use their licenses except on the one workstation at school. With GMS2 the student could be anywhere, and you can turn on and off seats with the click of a mouse.

The only problem I have come across is created by the student themselves. The student logs in on a workstation they must remember to log out if they want to work on a different workstation using the same login. They can log out to free it up, or delete the seat and create a new one within the limit of your purchase.

I love the new system. I just wish it was a little more affordable for a nonprofit or a public institution that has limited funding.

I have had very little technical issues, one workstation required a reinstall since I started using GMS2.