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The Big List Of Game Making Tools

UPDATE MARCH 2013!

Consider to check out the new, completely updated and improved version of this list :)
“Big List of Game Making Tools” (old: August 2011) -> makegames.PixelProspector.com (new: March 2013)
makegames-homepage

On this page you can find a bunch of good game development tools that help you to create a game.
I haven’t tested all of the programs by myself yet but I do have spoken to many devs and asked them what they think of them.
Before you start I highly recommend to read Finishing A Game (great article about game development by Derek Yu, the developer of Spelunky)

For each game making tool you will find:

  • quotes from game developers that actually use the program
  • a few recommendable games
  • links to tutorials

Note that the purpose of this article isn’t to list all tools that exist on this planet… only a few that are already used and recommended by many developers.
(However here are some additional game making tools and links to sites that list much more programs)

I will update this article soonish and improve it with additional info…
Moreover I will also add the very promising CraftStudio and Arcade Game Studio

For 2D Games

For 3D Games (and 2D Games)

For 2D GAMES


Game Maker


Price: Free (40$ Pro Version)

“Design your very own games using easy-to-learn drag-and-drop actions [...] And when you’ve become more experienced, there is an easy built-in programming GameMaker Language (GML), which gives you the full flexibility of creating games with GameMaker.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Beau Blyth (Shoot First, Action Fist, Das Uberleben, Sim War 5, Fish Face)
“Game Maker is an incredible piece of software that allows fumbling idiots to later become syntax masters. Because it allows you to make something (though something glitchy) from day one, you are never discouraged from continuing to learn.”

Daniel Remar (Iji, Hero Core, Garden Gnome Carnage, Castle Of Elite)
“A quirky but powerful 2D scripting tool, I use it both for complex freeware games and rapidly prototyping commercial games at work. When used right, there’s nothing it can’t do.”

Jo-Remi Madsen (Owlboy, Dungeon Chaos, Vikings On Trampolines)
“Game Maker is such a rapid tool, we’ve managed to create prize-winning games in a week”

Jonathan Lavigne (Ninja Senki, Wizorb, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World)
“Game Maker takes care of the low-level aspects of programming so you can focus on creating the actual game.”

Kurt Waldowski (Sandy Evolution, Kinetics)
“When it comes to making 2d Games, Game Maker is an amazing tool. It helps you quickly put ideas into action, allowing for rapid prototyping and the development of full fledged games. It caters to the beginner, but also maintains advanced features and depth, making Game Maker a great game creation tool for everyone.”

Robert “Darthlupi” Lupinek (Legend Of Shadow, Blasting Agent, Kungfu Attack, Wonderbounce)
“This is by far the most flexible and engaging rapid game development tool that I have played with. If you looking to prototype or fully develop a great game experience and you want jump straight into the process, this is the tool buddy.”

Alexis “Alexitron” Andujar” (The Power, Blasterman Vs. Yellowskull, Jet Pod)
Where it not for Game Maker I would have never made my first game back in 2006. I have tried many tools before and after Game Maker and none appealed to me enough to make me want to push myself to finish a game with it. When I first came in contact with Game Maker it promised that I would be able to make a game with it without a single line of code, and it was true! At least 7 of of my games where made with absolutely no code in them, just little icons that you drag and drop around. Now I use code but only because I learned it trough drag and drop , is code hidden behind little non-intimidating icon things, how awesome is that? Another great thing about Game Maker is how much resources and shared knowledge is available for it. Lots of tutorials and open source games and many, many wonderful communities. To top it all is super cheap, and even thou they are talking about newer more expensive versions, is all optional , you can still use it for free.
Game Maker is an excellent tool and I highly recommend it.

Faucet (Gang Garrison 2)
“Game Maker is a toolset for creating 2D games with some 3D support tacked on. It can be used by beginners and intermediate developers alike, but advanced users will tend to put a fist through their screens in utter frustration and irritation. The blurb claims that no programming is necessary, but that is an outright lie – however, you do have the choice between an easy to learn visual language that will quickly become a dead end in your coding skill tree, and a more traditional scripting language which will teach you lessons that can misdirect your coding skills for years to come.”

Tom Grochowiak (Magi, ArcMagi, Cinders)
“It’s no secret that most of MoaCube’s projects are developed in GameMaker. I’ve been using it for 7 years now. Sometimes simply to play around with ideas, but mostly for commercial projects and some rapid prototyping back during my days at Codeminion.
I’ve developed a certain love-hate relationship with the software. We’ve had some good times together, but there were times when I considered filling divorce papers and turned my head after the younger and sexier Unity. So far, we decided to stay together. For the kids’ sake, you know…”
[Read the complete Professional developer's look at GameMaker]

Spelunky

Hydorah

Dungeon Chaos

Browse Games that were created with Game Maker:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 2D GAMES


Multimedia Fusion 2


Price: 119$ (Free Demo available)

“Get impressive results with no programming skills or knowledge required. Simply start by creating a frame containing any graphics you desire. Then start inserting and dragging objects. Finally, set their behaviors in the intuitive, grid-style Event Editor and you are on your way to great creations!” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Ilker Esen (Neva, Vincere Totus Astrum)
“MMF2 is an outstanding tool to achieve anything that comes close to simplicity of 2D game development.”

Paolo Taje (NaaC, Tubopac)
“If you want to celebrate the gloriousness of pixels with an arcade game, Multimedia Fusion is the way”

Chris Nimmo (Falafel Adventure, Uchuusen)
“Some people love programming and that’s fine; but for those who just want to see their ideas in action without getting deep into code, Multimedia Fusion 2 has a working environment that is easy to get used to but also has the flexibility to go quite far. Notable games include: Noitu Love 2, Knytt, Bonesaw and Eternal Daughter.”

KNPMaster (Cave Jumper, Click Copter)
MultiMedia Fusion (MMF) is a great, easy to use, easy to learn, game/application creation utility. The only limits are your own imagination. The added ability to build to flash is definitely one of it’s shining points.

Jürgen “Jot” Brunner (Pitiri 1977)
“Multimedia fusion opened the doors to game developing for me. The tool feels just like good Gameplay: easy to learn but hard to master. The possibilities in 2d prototyping are endless. So whenever I have an idea and I want to show it to someone, it takes only a few hours to create a small prototype to show off. That’s fantastic and the reason why I love Multimedia Fusion.
I´m pretty sure that when Clickteam releases the IOs & the Android exporter, MMF2 will be one of the main tools on the market to create 2d games for smartphones.”

Paul Schneider (GunGirl 2)
“MMF2 is a great program to easily make your dream game a reality. The vast number of community created plug-ins is fantastic and in many times a life saver.”

David K Newton (Crystal Towers 2, Treaure Tower, Special Agent)
“The MMF series came up with a scriptless system for writing games, with gameplay logic laid out instead in the form of a spreadsheet of conditions and actions. This makes it easy for beginners to pick it up and drop in premade objects and movements, but still allows more advanced users to customize things to work exactly as they want them to. Extensions from its community add to its capabilities, and if you still can’t find an object that does what you want, you can always go into Visual Studio and write your own.

Recently, its strength has been in the variety of platforms that it supports – one source file can be exported to run as an EXE, as desktop or mobile Java, Flash, iOS, and soon Android and XNA. Despite being initially targeted at beginners and the educational market, its developers have also been making gradual improvements to make it more suitable for more advanced game development. I still use it even though I’m a coder by profession – for a long time now it’s made me take for granted that I can put together little game prototypes in about half an hour without vast amounts of setup work.”

Neva

Merry Gear Solid 2

GunGirl2

Browse Games that were created with Multimedia Fusion 2:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 2D GAMES


Construct Classic & Construct 2

Construct Classic

Price: Free
“Make 2D DirectX games for Windows with Construct Classic’s visual, human-readable event system. No programming is necessary! Take advantage of Construct’s super-fast 2D engine, impressive pixel shader effects, physics engine, and powerful library of extensions and behaviors – all using the powerful event system. Construct Classic is free and open source (GPL). Want to make HTML5 games? Try the modernised follow-up Construct 2.” (from Homepage)

Construct 2

Price: Free (32$ Pro Version)
“Create exciting HTML5 web games with Construct 2′s visual, human-readable event system. No programming is necessary! HTML5 games are just like Flash, but in pure HTML and Javascript – and they run on Mac, iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows and Linux! Develop games quickly and easily without any platform-porting headaches, all the while using Construct 2′s non-programming event system. It’s great for beginners and faster than coding for experts, and your games run everywhere.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Unfortunately no quotes from developers (yet) but here is an interview with one of the creators of Construct

The Iconclasts

Yokai

Classicvania

Browse Games that were created with Construct Classic:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 2D GAMES


Flixel


Price: Free

“Flixel is a revolution in Flash game production. An amazing new way for man to interface with machine. The beginning of a new tomorrow.
Never before has the world witnessed such a collection of AS3 files. We put it all in the new flixel 2.
Groups to help organize game objects, quad trees for faster, more accurate collisions, a cleaner API, plus all the old flixel classics: animated sprites,
tilemaps, and particle emitters. Most importantly, flixel is still completely free for personal or commercial use.
What are you waiting for? It’s time to make games!”

Quotes from Developers:

Shane Neville (Ray Ardent: Science Ninja)
As a first time programmer, Flixel gave me a solid framework in which to build a game and a great community to help me through the rough bits. Without Flixel, I don’t think Ray Ardent: Science Ninja would have ever made it out the door.

Robert “Darthlupi” Lupinek (Legend Of Shadow, Blasting Agent, Kungfu Attack)
“Fast, super stable, flexible AS3 Framework that doesn’t box you in. Had a super fun experience from demo tweaking to writing my own games. If you want to cut your teeth on game development, this is a fun place to start!”

Richard Davey aka “Photon Storm” (Cat Astro Phi)
“Retro style games are becoming more popular than ever online and Flash has turned out to be the perfect tool for creating them, as hit titles like Canabalt and Fathom demonstrate. This may seem at odds with a technology known for its vector graphics and timeline animation. But under the hood Flash is perfectly capable of pushing around large volumes of pixels which is exactly what is required. Flixel is a game framework that has evolved into a powerful way to rapidly create games in Flash. covering plenty of core features including a fast blitting engine, tile map support, collision, basic physics, sound, keyboard handling, path finding and plenty more. The strong community and available plug-ins make it a great choice for devs.”

Canabalt

Kung Fu Attack

Ray Ardent: Science Ninja

Browse Games that were created with Flixel:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

General Flash Related Help:

Browse Games that were created with Flash

For 2D GAMES


FlashPunk


Price: Free

“FlashPunk is a free ActionScript 3 library designed for developing 2D Flash games. It provides you with a fast, clean framework to prototype and develop your games in.
This means that most of the dirty work (timestep, animation, input, and collision to name a few) is already coded for you and ready to go,
giving you more time and energy to concentrate on the design and testing of your game.” (from Hoempage)

Quotes from Developers:

Droqen (Fishbane)
“FlashPunk gives you the perfect tools to create a game in Flash without the need to mess with Adobe’s expensive product that isn’t exactly built for coding anyway. With a wonderful tutorial to ease you in and a good range of ways to get help or help yourself, I suggest it to anyone who’s at all interested in Flash devving. (that’s a word, right?)”

Matt Thorson (Jumper Series, Give Up Robot)
To me, FlashPunk is the perfect next step for anyone currently using middleware like Game Maker or MultiMedia Fusion. The tutorials helps ease you into “real” programming and the engine is elegantly designed and powerful.

Rami Ismail of Vlambeer (Super Crate Box)
“FlashPunk is a great and well-maintained AS3 library by the amazing Chevy Ray. FlashPunk is easy to get into for new programmers & great for more advanced programmers, who can adapt its structure and code to whatever they need it to be. Its ease-of-use, versatility, modability and structure made AS3 programming more flexible, less time-consuming and more fun.”

Super Puzzle Platformer

Give Up Robot

Fishbane

Browse Games that were created with FlashPunk:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 2D GAMES


Stencyl


Price: Free

“StencylWorks enables creators of all all skills levels to create iOS and Flash games with or without code. StencylWorks takes care of the essentials like physics and native APIs so you can focus on what’s important. Our drag-and-drop gameplay designer, inspired by the successful MIT Scratch project, presents a simple block-snapping interface with new functionality and hundreds of ready-to-use blocks. With StencylForge, creators can access an open marketplace for sharing the assets and building blocks for creating new games.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Greg “Greg-Anims” Sergeant (Making Monkeys, Use Boxmen)
“Being able to drag and drop code blocks together has sped up my workflow so much. I was able to prototype Making Monkeys in just a few days and try out new gameplay elements very quickly. I am already working alongside some great people on my next game in StencylWorks.”

Cory “Irock” Martin (The Binding Force, Robichai)
“Stencyl is a fresh approach to game creation, and it’s allowed me to turn my dreams into a reality. For everything from importing resources, to designing levels in the Scene Designer, to designing fonts, to creating players and NPCs, to sharing your creations with the world, Stencyl offers the best tools there are. Great dreams are best created with great tools. Stencyl has gotten my dream further than it ever would have gotten using any other toolset.”

Emanuele Feronato (well-known gamedev blogger)
“Let me say one thing: I love StencylWorks. It’s an incredible tool which will allow you to save a lot of time, and you should definitively try it.”

The Binding Force

Dangerous Dungeons

Making Monkeys

Browse Games that were created with Stencyl:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)

Unity


Price: Free

“Unity 3 is a game development tool that has been designed to let you focus on creating amazing games.
Unity is the development environment that gets out of your way, allowing you to focus on simply creating your game.
Developing for web, mobile, or console? Unity is the tool for the job.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Joel Nyström of Ludosity Interactive (Bob Came In Pieces, Mama & Son: Clean House)
“Unity has a strong indie-angle, with very attractive pricing (and no royalties). But it’s not only low-barrier entry and easy to use, it’s also well suited for AAA with state-of-the art content pipeline, full console support, and all the flexibility you’d need with the scripting through C# and .Net. If I can help it, I will use Unity for all our projects for the foreseeable future.”

Ole Teglbjærg of Press Play (Max & The Magic Marker)
“Unity3D is a powerful engine that builds to almost all platforms. It’s greatest asset is that it is so easy to get to a playable result fast.
Being able to build to multiple platforms, allows you to more or less have the same codebase for multiple versions of the same game, making fixes across platforms a lot easier.
Another cool thing about Unity3D is the fact that it allows artists, designers, and programmers all to work in the same environment, making the pipeline a lot smoother. However, this can also become a problem, when team size grows and anybody can screw up each other’s work, since the versioning tools provided are not optimal at the moment.
Another awesome thing is the very active community surrounding the engine, where you can find help for a lot of problems.
The company is growing rapidly and updates and improvements are coming out often. They just opened up for what they call Unity Asset Store, which is a place where people can sell bits and pieces of code or graphics to each other. This could be menu systems (which one of the things Unity is still lacking), AI-libraries, shader packs, or simply animations. This could turn out to be a great short cut for smaller developers without the money to build their own AI system etc.”

Ian Strandberg (He has a YouTube Channel about indie games called Verbal Processing)
“Why Choose Unity 3D – Part 1″
“Why Choose Unity 3D – Part 2″

2D Games

Max And The Magic Marker

FEIST

3D Games

Blush

Off-Road Velociraptor Safari

Bob Came In Pieces

Browse Games that were created with Unity:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)

UDK – Unreal Development Kit


Price: Free for non-commercial use / For commercial use = Licensing 99$ + Royalties

“UDK is Unreal Engine 3 – a complete professional development framework.
All the tools you need to create great games, advanced visualizations and detailed 3D simulations on the PC and iOS.
The best tools in the industry are in your hands.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Unfortunately no quotes from developers (yet)

FPS Terminator

Waves

Dungeon Defenders

Browse Games that were created with UDK:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)

XNA Game Studio


Price: Free / 99$ per year if you want to publish your games on XBLIG / 2D and 3D Games

“App Hub joins the worlds of Windows Phone and Xbox LIVE Indie Game app and game development, and provides the tools and resources you need to create, distribute, and merchandise for both platforms.
Download the integrated set of development tools to begin coding and then sign up for App Hub membership
to publish your work to every person using Windows Phone on the Windows Phone Marketplace or the 25 million active Xbox LIVE members on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Jo-Remi Madsen of Roflgames (Owlboy, Dungeon Chaos)
“XNA is perfect for creating great looking 2D games, and you can achieve fantastic looking effects wiht great ease. We’re currently using XNA to create our first big title ‘Owlboy’.”

Jonathan Lavigne of Pixeltao (Ninja Senki, Wizorb)
“Even though XNA iss awesome, it’s really just a bunch of libraries put together to make coding games faster. But you have to already have solid coding skills before being able to make something decent with it. However with a good knowledge of C#, you can get your game running on XBox 360 in a short time.”

2D Games

Owlboy

Spelunky

3D Games

Leave Home

Magicka

Sol Survivor

Browse Games that were created with XNA:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)

BlitzMax


Price: 80$ (Free Demo available)

“BlitzMax is the new, next generation game programming language from Blitz Research. BlitzMax retains the BASIC roots of Blitz3D and BlitzPlus, but adds a ton of cool new features and abilities.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Robbert Prins of Foppygames (Flyout, Ranger)
“A strong point of Blitz Max and Blitz3D is that the languages are used by beginners (supported by the helpful community) as well as by more advanced programmers. The games produced with these languages also cover the full range.”

Wiebo de Wit (Thrust Xtreme, Grid Assault)
“Blitzmax is simple enough to get started quickly and flexible enough to allow for some really complex games. The range and expand-ability of the language through modules will allow you to create games, but also the tools you need to help you create those games more easily. That, the community and multi-platform support is why I keep coming back to Blitzmax.”

Jayenkai (NeonPlat 2,Microbe2, Alien Deathmatch 2)
“Writing a new freeware game each week usually leaves no time for after-sales fix ups. As such, I’m happy that the developers of BlitzMax have done such a great job at making sure it’s as study as it could possibly be. Using BlitzMax I can rapidly develop my games, and have them run in a more-or-less identical fashion on everybody’s computer, without having to worry that it might suddenly fall to pieces each time they update their system. It just works.”

2D Games

Neonplat 2

Thrust Xtreme

3D Games

SUAVE

Tecno – The Base

Browse Games that were created with BlitzMax:

Tutorials & Help

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)


jMonkeyEngine


Price: Free

“Make any type of game for all modern platforms. Program in plain Java and experience rapid time-to-market development without limitations.”

Quotes from Developers:

Unfortunately no quotes from developers (yet)

Mythruna

Ships With Cannons

Browse Games that were created with jMonkeyEngine:

Tutorials & Help

For 3D GAMES (AND 2D GAMES)


Torque


Price for Torque 3D: Free (Open Source)
Price for Torque 2D: 128$ (Free Demo available / Requires separate Licences if you want to publish on Consoles and iPhone)

“Available for nearly every platform and specialized separately for 3D and 2D games, Torque is the most licensed engine middleware in the games industry.” (from Homepage)

Quotes from Developers:

Unfortunately no quotes from developers (yet)

On The Rainslick: Precipe Of Darkness

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Browse Games that were created with Torque:

Tutorials & Help

Further Info:


ADDITIONAL GAME MAKING TOOLS


Game Making Tools For Mobile Devices

Game Making Tools For Specific Genres

More Game Making Tools

2D Physics Engines

2D Level Editor

Ogmo Editor is a general-purpose 2D visual level editor for independant game developers. It’s an Adobe® AIR™ application and it is cross-platform, running on Windows, OS X and Linux.



GAME DEVELOPMENT ARTICLES


Lists Of More Game Engines

March 16, 2013 46 Comments

  • That is an incredibly beautiful list of frameworks and tools to get started. The only thing that could make it better would to be to include so coding editors, links to packages, or sdk downloads, etc. Overall, excellent list for anyone to jump into game design and find something for them to work.

    reply

    Porter

    August 8, 2011

  • I might add something like that in the future… A nice collection of source code editors etc. :)

    reply

    PixelProspector

    August 12, 2011

  • I will humbly suggest that you add jMonkeyEngine 3 to the list. Our community and overall development activity is most definitely on par with the engines listed here. Also, it’s entirely open source, which is lacking representation in the 3D category.

    I can probably get a commentary from commercial projects such as:
    Mythruna – mythruna.com
    Hostile Sector – hostilesector.com
    Ships with Cannons – shipswithcannons.net
    Tygron Serious Gaming – tygron.nl

    Send me an e-mail if there’s any additional information I can provide you with.

    And thank you so much for these excellent indie resources! We’ll be sure to point many aspiring game developers here.

    ~ Erlend

    reply

    Erlend Sogge Heggen

    August 8, 2011

  • Thanks for letting me know about jMonkeyEngine 3. The YouTube video gives a nice impression so far. As soon as i have given it a closer look and like it I will ad it to the list with Screenshots etc. (But for now you can find it under “More Game Making Tools”)

    reply

    PixelProspector

    August 12, 2011

  • There is also another good Engie for .NET Development:

    http://deltaengine.net/

    reply

    Kornelis

    August 8, 2011

  • wow, awesome list/article :)

    reply

    davidp

    August 8, 2011

  • Thanks man :)

    reply

    PixelProspector

    August 12, 2011

  • Thank you so much showing all my friends this website.

    reply

    Finn Spencer

    August 10, 2011

  • [...] Maker, Kodu Game Lab, App Inventor and – as of last weekend – Stencyl, and there are many more alternatives out there. What’s really great is that many of these tools are cheap, if not completely [...]

    reply

    Smartbomb

    August 25, 2011

  • I was wondering why no mention of GameSalad. Is there an issue with it?

    reply

    Joseph S.

    August 25, 2011

  • GameSalad is mentioned on iPhone Game Engines & Resources :)

    reply

    PixelProspector

    August 25, 2011

  • Really nicely done on the compiling of these lists! I look forward to seeing more from your site. Like other commentators, I have an engine to mention for adding.

    The M.U.G.E.N engine is considered to be for the Fighting game genre, Beats of Rage and OpenBor are for the Beat ‘em Up genre BTW. One is considered ‘Versus’, usually between two characters and the other is more Side-scrolling cooperative against scores of enemies.

    BoR (Beats of Rage):
    http://www.senileteam.com/

    OpenBoR:
    http://lavalit.com:8080/

    Thanks!

    reply

    Fight'N Words

    October 4, 2011

  • While the engine isn’t synonymous with quality games, it was none the less difficult for me to choose only a few examples. For those who are curious, we are a growing community with popularity rivaling that of Mugen.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCFjRb3rrb4

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRY2aVQMBdI

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5BIoPRMnPg

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuYhFVt6dis

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFCejX-jFig

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–l17gai8Mg

    reply

    Fight'N Words

    October 9, 2011

  • Just a heads up, jMonkeyEngine 3 SDK Beta is now out. We would greatly appreciate it if you or a Java developer you know could review the engine and add it to the article if it’s to your liking.

    Cheers,
    ~ Erlend Sogge Heggen

    reply

    Erlend Sogge Heggen

    October 26, 2011

  • [...] A nice list of game creation software here. [...]

    reply

  • [...] looks like a bit of fun for Christmas. If you are interested in gaming here is a site that gives advice on different gaming engines, tools and resources. Let me know if you create anything over Christmas, we can have a competition to see who produces [...]

    reply

  • [...] noch nicht genau weiß, womit er eigentlich arbeiten möchte, ist hier an der richtigen Adresse: http://www.pixelprospector.com/the-big-list-of-game-making-tools/…]

    reply

  • [...] The Big List Of Game Making Tools games development [...]

    reply

    Super.licio.us | Superlevel

    December 16, 2011

  • Please add Game Develop (www.en.compilgames.net to find more) to the 2d tools

    reply

    Darkhog

    January 10, 2012

  • [...] just what we’ll have to call it for now. Anyway, you shouldn’t be worrying about any of that. You’ve got homework to do. jQuery(document).ready(function($) { [...]

    reply

  • Noticed one small error, Unity is not free, its $1500 +$1500 androind + $1500 iOS, there is a ‘free version’ but it has some painful limitations.

    Anyways, which of the free or cheap ones is really the best?

    reply

    Us3r

    March 26, 2012

  • Heads up! Stencyl 2.0 has just been released! Do you think that the Stencyl section will have to be updated because of that?

    reply

    Megabdi

    April 21, 2012

  • [...] If you’re completely clueless as to where to begin finding tools to make games with, don’t panic! Everybody was a beginner once, and (as if often the case) the indie community is eager to help. [...]

    reply

    Smartbomb

    May 2, 2012

  • Pixelprospector may consider to review “Game Develop” as an alternative game making tool, that seems similar (and as an alternative) to GM and Construct. Link: http://www.en.compilgames.net/index.php Description:
    “Game Develop is a free game development software, allowing creation of any kind of 2D games. No programming knowledge is required, all the development process is made thanks to a graphical user interface, with all editors integrated.”

    reply

    Giorgio

    June 26, 2012

  • Great list! Awesome to start, congratulations!

    But I definetely think that Blender Game Engine needs *way* more focus. It’s a tool very comparable to Unity, while being entirely FREE and OPEN-SOURCE (which is a major argument). Games like Dead Cyborg or Super Blender Galaxy have shown how powerful it can be. Hope it’ll be included in the detailed list!

    Thanks!

    reply

    Phen0m

    July 30, 2012

  • Hi everyone,

    nice blog i must say… and its worth to read about each and every software stated here… i would like to ask a question specially for my sake. Being a software engineer and have experience in Microsoft.NET and its major languages like C# and all what would suit me best if i want to create professional games ? and want to earn too and i want platform independent stuff that can be run alomst everywhere.. i have studied about MICROSOFT’s XNA but its only for XBOX and Windows platform. Please guide me. I really want to step in to the world of professional games. Any guidance would be highly appreciated. Thanks

    reply

    Salman

    August 4, 2012

  • Consider to try Unity.

    reply

    PixelProspector

    August 5, 2012

  • [...] like Microsoft’s Kodu platform to more sophisticated software like Game Maker, Phlogram, Multimedia Fusion, and Torque, or free 3D modeling programs like Sculptris, there are vast resources and support [...]

    reply

  • [...] The Big List of Game Making Tools [...]

    reply

  • [...] Por si con eso no os basta, aqui tenéis un post muy interesante que recopila muchos de las herramientas, ademas de juegos hechos con ellas: THE BIG LIST OF GAME MAKING TOOLS [...]

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  • does any game engine for playstation vita exist? 2d ofcourse!! :D+ding!

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    ayat

    October 24, 2012

  • I always love to make my own game, but my big problem is a PC when ever I got it I promise to create my own 3D game that world will hail to INSHA ALLAH

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    Buhari Musa Ayuba

    October 30, 2012

  • What about Cryengine 3 SDK? That’s free for non commercial use now.

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    Carl Smith

    October 31, 2012

  • [...] in the games world of late, especially with the recent indie game creators revolution. There are so many tools for rapid development now days that creating really great games in 48-hours is actually pretty [...]

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  • [...] There are, of course, a huge number of other tools to make games. Most of them are not for beginners, but here are a few selections (there’s a much bigger list here). [...]

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  • [...] RPG you probably won’t ever finish, be sure to give this video a watch. (Then head here or here for everything you might [...]

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  • I am surprised to see no reviews or comments for UDK.
    Anybody against it?

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    abheeshek

    January 19, 2013

  • [...] The Big List Of Game Making Tools « PixelProspector – the indie goldmine [...]

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  • Nice article. However, in order to make it truly useful, something is sorely needed: a quick reference of the platforms that these engines target. This is crucial information when you need to make a choice of engines; most of the time, the devices that will run your games were already chosen before looking for an engine.

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    Heriberto Delgado

    January 26, 2013

  • This and much more will be implemented in the next update of the article :)

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    PixelProspector

    January 29, 2013

  • Hey just an FYI… Torque 3D is now open source under the MIT license. We have already done a major ‘fix’ update so we are now at v.2.0. We are expecting 3.0 with some nifty new features in March. Might want to update your page.

    Ron

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    Ron Kapaun

    January 30, 2013

  • Thanks for the info.
    I have just updated it.

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    PixelProspector

    January 30, 2013

  • Thanks for this post, u are great! There is one thing that discourages, i see some tools here doesnt recquire any programming skills, i am programmer learning game develop, why i should lost my time and learning hard things with programming while there are people doing all the stuff without coding? Just drag and drop, like game maker :x

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    Apokaliptor

    February 7, 2013

  • [...] Some coding languages are easy to pick up, like GML, the language used with the GameMaker software, the latest version of which is available on Steam right now. Other languages are harder, so frankly, it’s all up to your personal choice and level of competence. What I’m trying to say is that for a beginner, learning to code takes time. Researching tutorials on Google, the inevitable frustration when it takes 10 or more lessons to begin coding anything near what a game might look like. So you may, like I did, look for another answer. What I found is that there are many pieces of software like GameMaker which are designed to get you from 0 – 60 as fast as you can learn to drag and drop, which is quite quick really. You can find a decent list here. [...]

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  • [...] Game maker software for kids. [...]

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  • [...] also welcome anyone to come work on concept art, analog/board games and other projects. Check out this resources section to learn more about the tools of the [...]

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    About Us | RVA Game Jams!

    March 23, 2013

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