Can I use GameMaker Language (GML) without GameMaker Studio?

Question

I use Python to code normally. However, it isn't ideal for creating games. I found out that GameMaker Language was. I want to use GameMaker Language without actually having to buy GameMaker Studio. I have PyCharm. If there is a free IDE, PyCharm/Atom.io plugin, or different way to code GameMaker Language, what is it?

Answer 1

GML itself is implemented by YoYo Games and consequently only exists in GameMaker itself.

If you want something that looks like GML, many JavaScript-inspired languages end up with a similar syntax - something like Killa (a Lua fork with JS-like syntax) or Duktape (an embeddable JS runtime) would work for use with other engines, and countless JavaScript/TypeScript-based game engines exist.

If you want something that works like GML (functions and all), that's where things get tricky - although many attempts at replicating GameMaker exist (the largest one likely being ENIGMA), usually they aren't very feature-complete - at some point the developers lose motivation and/or realize that majority of their userbase is people that cannot afford GameMaker.
If you are very particularly after the easy-to-use collision functions, Godot has a somewhat similar scheme with a move_and_collide.

As Steven mentioned, it is impossible to give unopinionated recommendations on alternatives, but you should be able to find plenty of these on your own - try things out and find what works best for you.

Answer 2

You could actually do it on VSCode with an extension called GML Support. But you will not be able to run it. You will still need to run it on GameMaker Studio though.