IMO, yes.

GameStudio is, basically, and IDE. IDEs have gotten big in the programming industry because they allow someone with a not very in depth knowledge of a given language to quickly write/debug/maintain code.

I don't know anything about game programming. But I've got the basic parts of a racing game done for my son. No, it won't win any awards and I probably couldn't give it away let alone sell it. But I think that's a limitation imposed by my abilities (or lack of) than GS.

Bottom line, I never pay for software. If you can't find Open Source or freeware that already does the job, just wait a few months. When I do have to buy software, I never pay full price. Ebay is your friend.

But after months of research, trying a variety of free/demo game IDEs, I decided to buy GameStudio. Its easy to use and comes with a wealth of resources (this forum and all the links to tutorial, models, terrain etc).

Mark