updated 05/08/18
Sponsored by:
pchogyan.net
3D2Sprite
gametemplates.itch.io
Actively developed, best and latest tools and engines:
Defold
Homepage:
https://www.defold.com/
Defold is a free Java game engine been used to develop number of commercial titles. It offer a visual level editor, Lua scripting with low level access, physics, particles, networking, and many more to develop 2D games for any platforms that runs Java including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS and it even has an HTML5 port to target web browsers using WebGL The actual development tool is also available for Windows, Mac and Linux both 32 and 64bit.
libGDX
Homepage:
https://libgdx.badlogicgames.com/
libGDX is a free and open-source Java framework that we can use to develop 2D and 3D games for any platforms that supports Java and OpenGL including Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS. It also has a WebGL port to target HTML5.
MonoGame
Homepage:
http://www.monogame.net/
MonoGame is a free and open-source .NET framework for developing 2D and 3D games that runs on any platform that supports .NET and OpenGL or DirectX including mobiles, consoles and PC. The complexity of the framework is somewhere between a complete game engine like Unity and a graphics API like OpenGL. It provide low level access that make it possible to port our games to any major platforms at good performance including Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android, PS4, PS VITA, XBOX ONE and Nintendo Switch, more supported platforms are planned to come in the future.
CopperLicht
Homepage:
https://www.ambiera.com/copperlicht/
CopperLicht is a free and open source 3D JavaScript game library using WebGL and offer many features: dynamic lighting, realtime 3D shadows, special effects, built-in physics, encryption, static and animated 3D mesh support, wide variety of 3D formats are supported, audio support,
Fully featured 3D world editor also available (Windows, Mac only) with many additional features such as:terrain editor, wind moved vegetation, realtime water, procedural tree generation, room builder:
https://www.ambiera.com/coppercube/
App Game Kit (AGK) v2
Homepage:
http://www.appgamekit.com
AppGameKit
(2) is an easy, instant game development engine, ideal for Beginners,
Hobbyists & Indie developers. Now anyone can easily and quickly code
and build 2D, 3D and VR apps for multiple platforms using AGKs BASIC
scripting system. With just a few commands you can have demos/games up
and running on Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, MacOS and HTML5.
LÖVE
Homepage:
https://love2d.org/
LÖVE is a framework for making 2D games in the Lua programming language.
LÖVE is totally free and open-source under the zlib/libpng license.It can be used in anything from friendly
open-source hobby projects, to evil, closed-source commercial ones.
and works on
Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
jMonkey Engine
Homepage:
http://jmonkeyengine.org/
jMonkeyEngine
is a Java game engine made especially for modern 3D development, as it
uses shader technology extensively. jMonkeyEngine is written purely in
Java and uses LWJGL as its default renderer. OpenGL 2 through OpenGL 4is
fully supported.
jMonkeyEngine is a community-centric open-source project released under the new
BSD license.
Phaser
Homepage:
http://phaser.io/
Phaser is a free and open-source JavaScript framework for developing 2D mobile games using HTML5. As the games are made using web technology, our games runs virtually on any platform with a web browser that comes with HTML5 and WebGL support. We can use 3rd party tools to package our game to run on Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, iOS and of course it runs in the browser natively. The framework does offer a preloaded, mobile friendly light weight physics engine also Box2D for advanced physics simulation, fast rendering engine, plugin system to add 3rd party features and a lot more.
Monkey 2
Homepage:
http://monkeycoder.co.nz
Monkey
is a next-generation games programming language that allows you to
create apps on multiple platforms with the greatest of ease. It
works by translating Monkey code to one of a different number of
languages at compile time - including C++, C#, Java, Javascript and
Actionscript. Monkey has a proprietary lightweight framework called
Mojo for creating games. It designed primarily for 2D games, with a
powerful set of APIs that make it easy to draw blazing fast graphics on
all platforms including: Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android, WP7, WP8,
HTML5, Flash, and Xbox360 (XNA)
RPG Maker MV
Homepage:
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/products/programs/rpg-maker-mv
RPG
Maker MV is the latest member of the RPG Maker series that allow us to
target multiple platforms such as Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android
and HTML5 and also develop on Windows, Linux and Mac. The engine does
support touch out of the box and allow us to develop RPG games without
coding using an extremely powerful event system, but in case that would
be not enough we can use JavaScript and community made plugins to extend
the engine with new features. With patient and scripting we can make
any kind of game in the engine not only RPG but out of the box it is
focusing on RPG games only. An other very useful thing about the engine
is that it comes with tons of assets, character parts, items and tiles
to design our game world and there is even more we can buy which is one
of the strongest point of the engine for people who don't have artistic
skills.
Godot Engine
Homepage:
https://godotengine.org
Godot
is a fully featured, open source, MIT licensed, game engine. It focuses
on having great tools, and a visual oriented workflow that can export
to PC, Mobile and Web platforms with no hassle. The editor, language and
APIs are feature rich, yet simple to learn, allowing you to become
productive in a matter of hours.
Construct 2 / 3
Homepage:
https://www.scirra.com/
Construct 2 is a game maker that lets everyone to create games for Windows,MacOS,Linux,iOS,Android
and
the Web.Construct 2 redefines game making and allows everyone to make
their own
games - no programming required. Construct 2's intuitive editor makes it
straightforward to bring your ideas to life. The latest version,
Construct 3 is a web based product that offer the same features and
functionality inside our browser:
https://www.construct.net
GameMaker Studio 2
Homepage:
https://www.yoyogames.com/gamemaker
GameMaker:Studio
is designed to be a one-stop tool for single and small teams of game
developers,it includes all the tools that you are would expect : sprite
editor, timelines, paths, room editor,built in physics engine and it's
own programming language, GML.
GameMaker:Studio allows you to export to Windows and MacOS with add-on modules available for Ubuntu.Html5,
iOS, and Android
GDevelop 5
Homepage:
https://gdevelop-app.com/
GDevelop 5 is a free and open-source game development software, allowing creation of
any kind of 2D games with no programming knowledge is required. All the
development process is made inside an editor with a powerful event
system but in case it would be not enough we can also use JavaScript to
add our own features. The creation under GDevelop is entirely visual and
intuitive: Add an object in the object's list, and drag'n'drop it on
the scene. The latest version of the tool v5 is a web based product,
offer only HTML5 export and additional features for a monthly price like
Android and iOS build, this version is under development and more
features expected to come. Being a web based tool, a version running in
the browser also available, but at the moment we can not export our
games from the browser version.
https://editor.gdevelop-app.com
Unity3D
Homepage:
http://unity3d.com/
Unity3D
is a game development tool that has been designed to let you focus on
creating amazing games for Windows,Mac OS,Linux,iOS,Android and the
web.Every game can be a masterpiece.Unity3D delivers the technology to
impress and inspire your players
Other engines, tools and frameworks that do exists, and worth a look but the development is not so active and also lack some features and support for certain platforms:
3D2Sprite
Homepage:
3d2sprite.blogspot.com
3D2Sprite is a simple application for Windows and Ubuntu to create 2D sprites from 3D models that we can use to make a 2.5D, Isometric or 3D looking game inside a 2D engine. For more information and latest version visit the website:
3d2sprite.blogspot.com
PICO-8
Homepage:
http://www.pico-8.com
PICO-8 is a "Fantasy Console" for playing, making and sharing tiny games and other computer programs. When you turn it on, the machine greets you with a shell for typing in Lua commands and
provides simple built-in tools for creating your own cartridges.
PICO-8 has the tools for editing code, music, sound, sprite, maps built right in to the console. Games (carts) can be saved in a special .png format and sent directly
to other users, shared via an online cart player, or exported to stand-alone HTML5.
PICO-8 is currently in Alpha stage and available for Windows, Linux, MacOS and Raspberry Pi with the plan to add binary export to Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS and Android in the future.
Voxatron
Homepage: http://www.voxatron.com
Voxatron is a "Fantasy Console" and collection of games made entirely out of voxels. Make your own games or remix others with the included tools. Create your own animations, characters, pickups, music and build a world out of them. Official games are included with voxatron and user-made games can be played and shared through the built in BBS explorer. The games shared on the BBS are also playable from the browser just click Carts on the homepage and play.
SpiderBasic
Homepage:
http://www.spiderbasic.com/
SpiderBasic is new web client-side programming language based on established BASIC rules. Its
main purpose is to allow development of very complex, windowed based web applications.
It provides a large commandset to handle complex and reactive GUI, 2D games, and many more in
a coherent manner. Every library and commands behave the same and have similar
syntax for easier and faster learning.
Mighty Editor
Homepage:
http://mightyfingers.com/
Mighty Editor is a web based, open-source HTML5 game editor, based on Phaser game engine. Create HTML5 games on the fly in a productive manner. No need to install or setup anything just go to Mighty Editor and start developing your game using the map editor, code editor, animation editor physics editor and share a link to your game or export it and be stand alone with no dependencies to the editor.
WiMi5
Homepage:
http://wimi5.com/
WiMi5 is a cloud gaming framework that ease the creation, publication and monetization of casual games for the web. The WiMi5 platform is quick and easy to learn. The Logic Editor allows
you to create HTML5 games visually with no programming or coding
required. With the Scene Editor you can create unique game scenes, manage different layers,
2D objets, sprites, animations, etc.
Java RPG Game Maker
Homepage:
https://www.scorchsoft.com/rpg-game-maker-java.html
This Java based rpg game making program
allows you to quickly and easily create simple games using pictures,
photographs or drawings as the scenes within the game. Make games with
no programming knowledge. The Java RPG Game Maker will run on
Windows,
PC,
MAC and
Linux platforms.
Horde3D
Homepage:
http://www.horde3d.org/home.html
Horde3D is a small open source 3D rendering engine. It is written in an effort to
create a graphics engine that offers the stunning visual effects expected in next-generation
games while at the same time being as lightweight and conceptually clean as possible.
Horde3D has a simple and intuitive interface accessible from virtually any programming
language and is particularly suitable for rendering large crowds of animated characters
in next-generation quality.
Urho3D
Homepage:
http://urho3d.github.io/
Urho3D is a lightweight, cross-platform rendering and game engine implemented in C++ and released under the MIT license. The engine is using Direct3D or OpenGL for rendering, AngelScript and Lua for scripting, Box2D for 2D physics, Bullet for 3D physics, kNet for networking, SDL for cross-platform support, currently support Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Android and Raspberry Pi
Castle Game Engine
Homepage:
http://castle-engine.sourceforge.net/
Castle Game Engine is a free and open-source 3D game engine for Pascal and Lazarus on all supported platforms. The engine is using VRML / X3D format but can also import and convert internally many other formats such as MD3 (including vertex animation), COLLADA, OBJ, 3DS and includes many 3D graphics features such as shaders, shadows, bump mapping, mirrors, custom viewports, screen-space effects, and much more. API is perfect for 2D games too, with flexible rendering of 2D images, movies, text and everything you can compose from them.
Open RPG Maker
Homepage:
http://openrpgmaker.sourceforge.net/
Open RPG Maker is a free and open source 2D RPG creation utility (under development), similar to the popular RPG Maker series. Open RPG Maker is mostly based on RPG Maker 2003, but with some added features, and more advanced usability. This tool will allow users to create 2D RPG games for Windows, Linux and Mac OS. For more details, see the
wiki
BYOND
Homepage:
http://www.byond.com/
BYOND is a community for making and playing online multiplayer games. As a player, enjoy hundreds of games created by the community. As a developer, make your own indie sensation with an easy-to-learn language, built-in online support, built in multiplayer support, simple programming language, 2D or isometrick game support for Windows, Linux and Web
Open Game Maker 2D
Homepage:
http://lin.is-programmer.com/
Open Game Maker 2D is a
free, open source, and cross-platform IDE for the individual game developers. It aims to be a Delphi-like RAD environment in 2D game development field for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Windows Mobile, Andorid and iOS. Features: WYSIWYG scene designer, Script editor with syntax highlighting, Script compiler and debugger, Sprite editor, path editor and map editor, Property editor and event editor
Axis Game Factory
Homepgae:
http://www.axisgamefactory.com
Axis Game Factory is a comprehensive toolset designed to provide game developers with a powerful and rapid level creation, terrain/vegetation editing, lighting and atmosphere system.
AGF is designed to work in concert with the Free and Pro versions of the Unity game engine. on the PC, MAC and Linux systems but can also be used as a stand alone game engine to develop Adventure, platformer and FPS games.
CraftStudio
Homepage:
http://craftstud.io/
CraftStudio lets you build games from scratch in real-time.It has all the tools you need built right in, including modeling, painting and animating. No format compatibility issues, no lengthy conversion process, no synchronization issues.
It all works out of the box!CraftStudio was built to be extremely easy.From models to maps to scripting, it's all just blocks!Make your own game rules without any technical knowledge.
Leadwerks Engine
Homepage:
http://leadwerks.com
Leadwerks is a fast & flexible game engine with built-in level design tools and script editor for building any kind of 3D game.Currently available for Windows, Linux MacOS.
Gameplay3D
Homepage:
http://www.gameplay3d.io
Gameplay3D is an open-source cross-platform 3D engine for Windows,Linux,MacOS,iOS,Android,that is aimed at the indie game developer ecosystem.Writen in C++,Full-featured OpenGL 3.2+ rendering system,Shader-based material system...
read more
Citrus Engine
Homepage:
http://citrusengine.com/
The Citrus Engine is a professional-grade, scalable ActionScript 3 game engine built for industry-quality games.It comes built-in with a “platformer” starter-kit, which you can use to easily make awesome 2D or 3D sidescrolling games.Citrus Engine is not only made for platformer games, but for all type of games for Windows,MacOS,Linux,iOS,Android
Platinum Arts Sandbox
Homepage:
http://www.sandboxgamemaker.com/
Platinum Arts Sandbox is a 3D game maker based
on the Cube 2 engine that allows users to quickly and easily create and
edit their own worlds in game, even cooperatively. It is free,
open-source, and easy to use for Kids and Adults. Through the in-game and cooperative editing and focus on ease of use, the program is easy enough for kids to use but powerful enough for full game projects.
Sandbox includes Save The Princess Gameplay, an RPG Maker, a
Sidescoller maker, a Movie Maker (aka Machinima), Save The Banana, Base
Capture, and more! Sandbox is already being used in many schools and
colleges throughout the world and is included in game design contests.
Game Editor
Homepage:
http://game-editor.com/Main_Page
Game Editor is a 2D game authoring package. It supports multi platform development to iPhone, iPad, Mac OS X, Windows , Linux, Windows-based Smartphones, GP2X, Pocket PCs, and Handheld PCs.
Game Editor is the open source
game design software that gives you the power to create the games of
your dreams, and, unlike other game creation tools, gives you the chance
to get and change the source code of the game creator and design and
develop 2D games for personal computers as well as mobile devices.
GameKit
Homepage:
http://code.google.com/p/gamekit/
A cross-platform 3D game engine using Ogre or Irrlicht and Bullet for Windows,Linux,Mac,Android ns iPhone.
The goal of gamekit is to create a basic game engine that allows fast
prototyping build around open source software free for commercial use. Engine is written in C++ and the game logic can be done in C++, Lua scripting or logic bricks
Stencyl
Homepage:
http://www.stencyl.com/
Stencyl is a game creation platform that allows users to create 2D
video games for Windows,Mac,Linux,iPhone,Android and the web. The software is available
for free, with select publishing options available for purchase.Stencyl isn't your average game creation software; it's a gorgeous,
intuitive toolset that accelerates your workflow and then gets out of the way.
Blender Game Engine
Homepage:
http://www.blender.org/
The Blender Game Engine is a component of Blender, a free and open-source comprehensive 3D production suite, used for making real-time interactive content. The game engine was written from scratch in C++ as a mostly independent component, and includes support for features such as Python scripting and OpenAL 3D sound.
The Blender game engine uses a system of graphical "logic bricks" (a
combination of "sensors", "controllers" and "actuators") to control the
movement and display of objects in the engine. The game engine can also
be extended via a set of Python
bindings.
Panda3D
Homepage:
http://www.panda3d.org/
Panda3D is a game engine a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs.
Panda3D is Open Source and free for any purpose, including commercial ventures, thanks to its liberal license.which includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games.Panda3D's intended game-development language is Python.The engine itself is written in C++,
and utilizes an automatic wrapper-generator to expose the complete
functionality of the engine in a Python interface. This approach gives a
developer the advantages of Python development, such as rapid
development and advanced memory management, but keeps the performance of
a compiled language in the engine core.
Crystal Space 3D
Homepage:
http://crystalspace3d.org/main/Main_Page
Crystal Space is a framework,full-featured Software Development Kit (SDK) for developing 3D applications
such as games and virtual reality.It is free (LGPL) and cross-platform (Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X).
Tululoo Game Maker
Homepage:
http://tululoo.com/
Tululoo Game Maker is a complex game creation environment that allows you to create browser based games.The program generates a Javascript code that can be played in web browsers using HTML5.With Tululoo you can create games for your mobile devices as the latest ones already support the new HTML5 standards.Tululoo comes with a user freandly resource manager and script editor,where you can import your images,backgrounds,animated sprites,sounds.You can easily create the objects (actors ile player,enemies,collectable items) and you can also add your own functions and scripts to the game.
Maker3D
Homepage:
http://maker3d.tk/
Maker3D is a powerfull 3D RPG maker environment.
The software is designed to provide user-friendly and familiar RPG
creation tool for the maker-community. Software offers an easy,
self-documenting clickable/writable scripting system based on BASIC
programming language. With chipset and tileset based map editing, you
can easilly create the universe for your game. To use the application,
no programming skills needed. Maker3D ships with large built-in content,
including tilesets, chipsets, monsters, avatars. Everything, you need.
Shiva3D
Homepage:
http://www.stonetrip.com/
ShiVa3D is a 3D game engine with a graphical editor designed to create applications and videogames for the Web, Consoles and Mobile devices.
It can produce games and 3D graphical simulations for Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry Tablet OS/BlackBerry 10, Android, Palm OS, Wi
i and WebOS, standalone or embedded in web browsers.
The game engine uses OpenGL, OpenGL ES or DirectX, and can also run in software mode. ShiVa3D also supports industry standard plug-ins such as NVIDIA PhysX, F-Mod sounds library, and ARToolKit.The Editor is a WYSIWYG software for designing games and applications.
Create particle effects, trails, animation; design HUDs,
materials, terrains, ocean, script AIs in LUA and assign sounds with
ease.
Maratis 3D
Homepage:
http://www.maratis3d.org/
Maratis is a simple and visual game
development tool designed for artists and developers. Applications
created with Maratis are fully portable thanks to the simple and clear C++ code.
The Engine has been tested on Windows, Mac and iPhone, and can be virtually used on every platform.
Raydium 3D
Homepage:
http://raydium.org/
Raydium is a free game engine available under GPL License.It provides a set of functions wich allow quick and flexible games creation.Functions covers things like player inputs (keyboard, mouse, joystick,
joypad, force feedback), rendering (3D objets, OSD (On Screen Display)),
time (a game must run at the exact same speed on every computer)
The project was started in 2001, trying to become a small 3D library
GLBasic
Homepage:
http://www.glbasic.com/
GLBasic is a commercial BASIC programming language and games development package built on the BASIC language, that can compile to various platforms, including Windows,Linux,Mac OS,iOS,Android. The language is designed to be simple and intuitive.If you are searching for an easy to learn, fast to write, and flexible language then GLBasic is what you need.
BlitzMax
Homepage:
https://nitrologic.itch.io/blitzmax
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.BlitzMax has been designed from the ground up for multiplatform support, and BlitzMax programs can be compiled
for Windows, MacOS X and Linux.
GRIT Engine
Homepage:
http://www.gritengine.com/
The Grit Game Engine is a community project to build a free game engine
(and pipeline tool-chain) under the MIT license for implementing open world 3D games, such as
the those in the GTA series.GRIT is being optimized for open world games,it support large maps (e.g. more than 30 square km,with considerable diversity in geometry.
Cube Engine
Homepage:
http://cubeengine.com/
Cube is a first-person shooter video game that shares the name of its free and open-source engine.Cube 2's rendering engine is designed around modern graphics processing units and the engine includes a sandbox scene editor to create multiplayer and singleplayer scenes and the CubeScript language let as to customize the gameplay.
PureBasic
Homepage:
http://www.purebasic.com/
PureBasic is a native 32 bit and 64 bit programming language and games development package based on established BASIC rules. The key features of
PureBasic are portability (Windows, Linux, MacOS X and AmigaOS are currently supported), the production of very fast
and highly optimized executables and, of course, the very simple BASIC syntax.
Cafu Engine
Homepage:
http://www.cafu.de/
The Cafu Engine is an all-purpose, modern 3D graphics engine and
game development kit, feature complete to get you started quickly. It can be used to create a variety of 3D applications, including games, simulations, and training and architectural software.Cafu is available to everyone as 100% free software on Windows and Linux,under the GPLv3 license.
NAOS Engine
Homepage:
http://www.guildsoftware.com/naos/
The NAOS Engine™ is a highly scalable, client/server game
engine, designed to support a very large MMORPG.
Continuously developed and refined for our own game,
Vendetta Online, the engine has been
proven through years of usage and expansion (public Alpha
in May of 2002, retail game launch in 2004, and up
to present-day). Our client supports Windows, WinRT/Metro, Mac,
Linux and Android™, with rendering drivers for DirectX (11 and
9), OpenGL and
OpenGL ES 2.0. The server is intended for distributed use
across a cluster running FreeBSD or Linux, and has been
experimentally implemented on Amazon EC2. We are currently in
the process of making this engine available as a licensed
middleware product.
OGRE3D
Homepage:
http://www.ogre3d.org/
OGRE (
Object-Oriented
Graphics
Rendering
Engine)
is a scene-oriented, flexible 3D engine written in C++ designed to make
it easier and more intuitive for developers to produce applications
utilising hardware-accelerated 3D graphics. The class library abstracts
all the details of using the underlying system libraries like Direct3D
and OpenGL and provides an interface based on world objects and other
intuitive classes.
IRRLicht Engine
Homepage:
http://irrlicht.sourceforge.net/
The Irrlicht Engine is an open source high performance realtime
3D engine written in C++. It is completely cross-platform, using
D3D, OpenGL and its own software renderers, and has all of the state-of-the-arth features which can be found in commercial 3d engines.
We've got a huge active community, and there are lots of projects in development
that use the engine. You can find enhancements for
Irrlicht all over the web, like alternative terrain renderers,
portal renderers, exporters, world layers, tutorials, editors, language bindings for java, perl, ruby, basic, python, lua, and so on. And best of all: It's completely free.
Ardor3D
Homepage:
http://ardor3d.com/
Ardor3D is a scenegraph based 3D Game Engine written entirely in Java and utilizing OpenGL for high performance gaming and visualization.An Ardor3D based game or application can run on most computer platforms
that support both Java and OpenGL such as Windows, Linux, Solaris and
Mac OSX.
