sorry very new to this, but can i upload stuff made in the gamemaker program to itch without having to pay money? i want to try out the software but dont want to be limited to the gx site once im ready to share the project.
Heya,
As per their licensing page and FAQ:
"If you want to make money from your game, you need to buy a Commercial License for $99.99 .
If you want to export to Console you need the Enterprise subscription.
Other than that, everything else is free and unlimited!"
So as long as you're not making money in any way you'd be fine. I assume this also falls under taking donations for a game, so you'd have to be careful about that. You can also see that exporting to web or desktop is on the free tier alongside their GX thing. So you'd be safe on that front!
https://itch.io/games/made-with-gamemaker
There are currently about 16k games on itch that claim to be made with gamemaker. So I would say, it is fairly certain, that you are not limited to the gx site.
I am not sure how donations are considered in view of licenses. In my opinion, there is no such thing as non commercial money collection. Donations are income, you have to pay taxes and are using the the software commercially, whether you demand money for a game or only accept donations. But that is my opinion and the reality might be different for each country, what is considered commercially.