First off, I hope this thread is allowed. I will not be asking people to fund a Game Maker made game this time, which got my last thread deleted, which I am okay with.
Second, this is not a blank, inflammatory comparison of Game Maker to Construct 2. I started making a Game Maker game and am converting it to Construct 2, because I can't afford the $200 Android exporter for Game Maker. So, to save $200, I am once again using Construct 2, and I will tell you my experiences.
First off, I have personally benchmarked Game Maker and Construct 2, in a many-objects test of my own. Game Maker handles loads of objects 33% faster according to my own benchmark. However, what matters more when making a game is your methods. If you can't optimize, no engine is going to save you.
Okay so Game Maker makes it easy to draw duplicates of an image to create reflections, using Image Alpha and overlaying it. I could not find how to do this easily and automatically in Construct 2, so to create the same effect, I am using Glow Shaders. So because of my methods and lazyness, not the engine itself, my game runs faster in Game Maker, because it's not using so many shaders.
Game Maker files end up being half the filesize of Construct 2 files, due to the way Construct 2 needs 3 formats of a sound including WAV while Game Maker doesn't.
Whether you want to use Game Maker is also a question of whether you want to write 5 lines of code (Game Maker), or create a detailed event (Construct 2) to perform an action.
I'm not going to even say what my preference is. I'm just stating the facts as I see them.
Each software has it's own purpose and style.
Unity 3D is strong, Game Maker Studio is Cool and Construct 2 is Fun and Easy.