The project is financed on Patreon by the community. You will program using GDScript , a language similar to Python. Just download a 20Mo zip file, extract and launch. No install needed. It comes with a full documentation and a very active community. Recommended if you already know how to code. You can use third party companies to port your games to consoles. Head over there to download Godot and launch it. Then follow the official Getting Started documentation or follow this tutorial series by HeartBeast directly if you prefer videos.
This one is an open source framework that can be used in many different languages depending on which version you choose.
There is a unified package called Cocos Creator that includes the Cocos2d engine alongside an editor and other tools. The forums are relatively active and the documentation is pretty clean. The goal is to develop once and publish to all platforms. Head over there to download and install it, then go follow this tutorial if you prefer video or here if you prefer text. Phaser is a free and open source game engine designed to create browser based games.
You can also use TypeScript. The documentation is complete although a bit hard to navigate and the written tutorials are great.
Totally free and open-source. Head over there to download Phaser, then follow this tutorial and that one afterward. You can also go here instead if you prefer video content.
Solar2D is a free and open-source game engine that is more focused towards building mobile games, although you can build for a variety of platforms. Free and partly? According to the documentation , Solar2D is cross-platform. Download it here , install it and head over here to get started. The RPG Maker suite is very popular amongst beginner game makers. There are multiple versions you can choose from. You should look at some videos such at this one and this one before deciding which one is the best for you.
The older versions use Ruby. There is no official documentation. The RPG Maker forums are also very active. Older versions only support desktop. I debated including this one on the list. Unreal Engine is one of the if not the most powerful engine on the market. A lot of AAA games are built in it. From the official website:. Go to the official website and download Unreal Engine.
Then head over there and follow the tutorial. Buildbox is a game engine designed for making mobile games. It is incredibly beginner friendly which is both its strength and weakness.
There are a lot of templates to start from. That means the games you will make with it are usually going to be very similar to others that are already on the market.
There is a manual that serves as documentation and forums that are decently active. Definitely watch this video to get a better grasp on what Buildbox is before buying it. Each world has its own background art and physics like gravity. They can be played in order, or mixed and match to make endless games. Buy it here and follow the official tutorials.
Clickteam Fusion is designed to make very simple 2d games mobile or desktop. As such, it is beginner friendly. You add objects into a scene and modify their attributes with input boxes.
There is some sort of documentation although very simple because of the lack of programming in the engine. The forums are decently active. Though to me it seems a bit expensive and the design of the website and of the software itself put me off — it has a very s vibe. Download the free edition or buy the product and follow this tutorial. This game engine used to be sold but was then bought by King , the famous company that made Candy Crush.
They made the core technology free and public to improve it and they use it themselves for some of their games. Defold has an asset portal where you can download things like sprite sets, extensions or code snippets. The game engine looks a bit more complex to learn than others such as Construct or Buildbox. Totally free. Head over there to download it and follow this tutorial or this one if you prefer video.
This minimalistic game engine is designed to make desktop or mobile games with complete freedom. That also means there is no interface nor visual scripting functionalities. You have to code everything yourself in Lua. It comes with a wiki and moderately active forums. You can build your games for desktop and mobile, aswell as browser with a tierce plugin.
Check for yourself here. It has a massive community full of helpful tutorials, and it also has the Unity Asset Store, which is full of useful tools and assets to help game development. However, Unity has a stiff learning curve. The interface can be slow and bloated as well, and it may be difficult to find the tool or toggle you need in its messy interface.
This makes it affordable for indie developers, although it moves up to a more expensive pricing model after that cap is reached. The Corona Engine is free to use, and it uses the easy to learn and use Lua programming language. Corona is designed around making mobile games, in fact when making your game the preview for the game is displayed in a phone emulator. Corona is also useful because it features live game making, where the changes you make to the game are instantly visible.
Corona is a bit bare bones, there is no real interface like other engines, just an IDE and the game preview. All assets must be made in other programs, and all the animations must be sprite sheets. This can be both intimidating and freeing, and more work.
However, Lua is fairly easy to learn, and the documentation is well written and easy to follow. There are no big name games made in Corona, but it does have some successful apps, like Gunman Taco Truck and Fun Run 2. While Corona is free to use, it does have a price associated with proprietary integrations, most notably with ad providers.
The editor is rich and useful, and it has powerful mapping, inventory, item, and character tools. RPG maker is perfect for making games with no coding, as most of the game design is done in the editor, but making scripts for your game is possible and useful. It also has a warm and friendly community, full of helpful tutorials and user made assets. RPG maker has made a few successful games, like Yumi Nikki and OneShot, but it is better known as a hobby engine than a professional one.
LibGDX is less of a game engine and more of a framework; offering loads of features but no real beginner friendly interface. Being on the Java platform means that the games made using libGDX are very portable, and can run on a number of platforms.
Just setting up the environment for libGDX might be a bit much for some people. There are no major releases for libGDX, although it is open source and free to use and publish with. Two months after graduating, I found my dream job that aligned with my values and goals in life! It has a very easy to learn built in scripting language, with Python support if more complexity is required.
There are many more engines not listed here, all with powerful tools and particular use cases. Finding the right one to invest in can be difficult but rewarding, and starting your career in game design is as simple as downloading a program and watching some tutorials. About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication.
Ethan Scully is a writer, editor, and game developer who managers Career Karma's content partnership initiatives and is currently based in Istanbul. Improve this question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Improve this answer. The Overflow Blog. Stack Gives Back Safety in numbers: crowdsourcing data on nefarious IP addresses. Featured on Meta. New post summary designs on greatest hits now, everywhere else eventually.
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