Big List of Game Creation Tools

D

Digital

New member
This is a compiled list of current game engines and game making tools to help any indie game developer get started with their project.

General Game Engines

General Game Engines may or may not require programming experience, but are tailored to make game development relatively easy for the new developer. These engines are generally genre agnostic, which means that you can create a wide variety of games with them.




Engine


Programming required?


2D or 3D?


Available for


Exports to




Construct 2


No


2D


Windows


Desktop, Consoles, Mobile, Web




GameMaker: Studio


No


2D


Windows


Desktop, Consoles, Mobile, Web




Unity


Yes


2D, 3D


Windows, Mac


Desktop, Consoles, Mobile, Web




Unreal Engine


Yes


3D


Windows, Mac


Desktop, Consoles, Mobile




Clickteam Fusion


No


2D


Windows


Desktop, Mobile, Web




Stencyl


No


2D


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web




GameSalad


No


2D


Windows, Mac


Desktop, Mobile, Web




PICO-8


Yes


2D


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Web




CryEngine


Yes


3D


Windows


Desktop, Consoles




PlayCanvas


Yes


2D, 3D


Browser (Windows, Mac, Linux, Mobile)


Desktop, Mobile, Web





Genre Specific Game Engines

These game engines are more specific towards specific styles of games, but have the added plus of having no programming skill required for new game developers who feel that programming may be beyond them.




Engine


Programming required?


2D or 3D?


Available for


Exports to




Arcade Game Studio


No


2D (Arcade Games)


Windows


Desktop




M.U.G.E.N.


No


2D (Beat'Em Ups)


Windows


Desktop




RPG Maker


No


2D (RPG)


Windows, Mac


Desktop, Browser, Mobile




Adventure Game Studio


No


2D (Adventure Games)


Windows


Desktop




Visionaire Studio


No


2D (Adventure Games)


Windows


Desktop




Wintermute Engine


No


2D (Adventure Games)


Windows


Desktop




Ren’Py


No


2D (Visual Novels)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop




Twine


No


2D (Text Adventures)


Windows, Mac


Desktop




Inform


No


2D (Text Adventures)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop




Adrift


No


2D (Text Adventures)


Windows


Desktop





Game Frameworks

These game frameworks require programming knowledge in the language they are written for, but provide a ton of useful utility to get your game off of the ground quickly. If you love programming, you are probably looking for one of these to get started.





Engine


Programming required?


2D or 3D?


Available for


Exports to




MonoGame


Yes


2D + 3D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web




Phaser


Yes


2D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web




LÖVE


Yes


2D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web




Flixel


Yes


2D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Web




HaxeFlixel


Yes


2D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web




Flashpunk


Yes


2D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Web




Polycode


Yes


2D + 3D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web





Turbulenz


Yes


2D + 3D (All Genres)


Windows, Mac, Linux


Desktop, Mobile, Web





Please feel free to reply with any other frameworks or engines that you feel should be mentioned here. :)

 
I imagine this will be very useful to many members! Thank you very much clearly a lot of time was spent compiling this @Digital - is there anything here you would personally recommend in particular?

 
Callum said:
I imagine this will be very useful to many members! Thank you very much clearly a lot of time was spent compiling this @Digital - is there anything here you would personally recommend in particular?
Click to expand...
I have played lightly with Phaser and RPG Maker so far, but have spent some more time with MonoGame. MonoGame is very much a heavy hitter though, and not designed for the web, and requires knowledge of .NET based technologies, namely C# as most examples favor it.

Phaser and RPG Maker (Phaser being javascript, RPG Maker (MV) being a game maker that walks you though it, but outputs stuff in Javascript) are both suitable for web.

 
I've used Phaser also - personally I love it and I've created a handful of small games for clients.

i will be posting a series of Tutorials very soon for creating your first game. @Callum you are welcome to try it out once it's posted.

 
3ds Max and ZBrush are good modellers that I use at university. Personally I recommend ZBrush to those with experience in art packages e.g Photoshop, Paint Tool Sai 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top