Video gaming is the fastest-growing industry, surpassing even the music and movie industries combined. Games have evolved from pixelated 2D platformers to high resolutions and lifelike graphics. Nowadays, powerful game app development tools are available in the market that helps us create intricately detailed open worlds and immersive experiences across different platforms.
Are you a budding developer looking to develop your dream game? Nowadays, anyone can make a video game with free game development tools and a little bit of know-how. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean the task is easy, even a simple Hyper-casual game requires a fair amount of technical knowledge. But thanks to the availability of tools for game development, the process has been significantly streamlined.
In this blog, we will highlight the best game development tools you can use to start creating your game today.
Here we have listed the top tools for game development that facilitate the development process and make developers’ lives easier. Whether you want to create a simple 2D mobile game or a complex 4K graphics video game for the console, the journey starts with the best game development tools.
Unreal Engine is one of the most popular game development tools in the industry, developed by Epic Games. The popular game engine was used to create popular games like Fortnite, Hellblade, Tetris Effect, and Street Fighter 5. If you want to develop a game with high-end visuals and graphics, Unreal Engine is your best tool for game development.
It can be used to develop 2D mobile games to high-end RPGs for Consoles and PCs. Moreover, the game engine also provides features like built-in editore, cinematic tools, live debugging, hot reloading, and post-processing effects.
Type: Game Engine
Pricing: Free and Open-source, 5% commission for games with revenue over $5,000
As the name suggests, RPG Maker is most commonly used to create role-playing games. It is one of the best learning tools for budding developers or those interested in developing games without prior technical knowledge.
It is a complete game development tool, meaning it provides everything you need to develop a game, ranging from level designs to music. Developers can use various features like custom code, map editors, asset packs, character generators, and databases to develop a game from scratch. Moreover, there are other products from the RPG Maker franchise that you can use.
Type: Game Engine
Pricing: $80, Commercial.
If you’re an experienced game developer, you must be familiar with Unity. It is one of the most popular free game development tools, preferred by every developer. It comes with multiple features and functionalities that can be used to create any type of game with ease. It is based on the C# scripting language and utilises features like visual studio and animation tools for 2D/3D mobile game development.
The game engine offers a user-friendly interface and can be used by amateur developers with ease. Moreover, Unity is a cross-platform game engine so you can publish games on multiple platforms without changing the code. Unity was used to create popular mobile games like Pokemon GO, Cuphead, and Lara Croft.
Type: Game Engine
Pricing: Free and Open-source
Game Maker Studio 2 is an extensive game engine mainly used for 2D game development. The game engine features a drag-and-drop function and C-like scripting language that makes it possible to develop entire games with ease.
It is compatible with various platforms like Android, iOS, PC, Mac, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch. You can easily develop and publish games on these platforms without little or no adjustments to the code. However, it is a paid feature not available to free users.
Type: Game Engine
Pricing: Free, Open Source.
Visual Studio is an interactive game development tool for creating high-quality 2D and 3D games for a wide range of devices like smartphones, tablets, and desktops. The game engine is packed with various features for writing shaders, designing 3D games, and developing DirectX games.
Moreover, Visual Studio features an integrated development environment(IDE) which makes it easier to write code by implementing Intellisense, which helps in eliminating errors.
Type: Coding and Programming Tool
Pricing: Free, Open Source
Marmalade is a cross-platform game software development kit used by game publishers like Electronic Arts. It provides a user-friendly interface with features like C++ programming, simulation testing, and device testing.
One of the best features of Marmalade is the availability of third-party plug-ins and standard coding libraries. Game Developers can also deploy code on multiple platforms without changing it.
Type: Software Development Kit (SDK)
Pricing: Free. Open Source
C++ is one of the most widely used programming languages for developing games. One of the best features of C++ is that every part of the code can be broken down and divided into objects, which makes it easy to reuse. Although the programming language is hard to learn, it is still one of the most preferred languages as it provides control over hardware, memory management, and other parameters.
Many top game publishers like Rockstar Games, Capcom, and Valve have used this programming language in their games. If you are interested in learning C++ programming language, you can use coding apps like Mimo and Programming Hub.
Type: Programming Language
Pricing: Free, Open Source
For veteran developers, Blender needs no introduction. It is an open-source game development tool used for 3D modeling and animation. Blender can also be used to create 3D assets, and images, render entire scenes, and edit existing files.
Thanks to the open-source model Blender features a vast active community and offers tons of plug-ins. Although it will take some time to master, Blender is fairly easy-to-use.
Type: Computer Graphics Software
Pricing: Free, Open-source
If you’re looking for a scan library for game production, Quixel Bridge should be your go-to choice. Developers can easily create stunning graphics for your game using Megascans on Quixel Bridge. The software development kit provides a wide range of 3D assets, atlases, vegetation, and media tools for developing and designing games.
Developers can also download any resources they require and the kit offers seamless integration with top game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine.
Type: Software Development Kit
Pricing: Free, Open Source
PlayCanvas is one of the best HTML5 game development tools used to create 2D and 3D games with a cloud collaborator. This means that developers don’t require to download any resources and can conduct simultaneous editing via a browser-based interface. The game engine is capable of rigid body physics, three-dimensional audio, and 3D animations.
The game engine supports WebGl-based browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
Type: Game Engine
Pricing: Free, Open-source
Over the years, there have been many prominent game development tools that facilitate the development process. We have listed the most popular tools for game development that developers primarily use. However, with technological advancements, this list can change and grow. One thing is certain, mobile game development companies have to stay updated with the newest tools in the market to fulfil the increasing demand of users in the gaming industry.
Ans. Beginner game developers can use various game engines that don’t require coding knowledge to develop games. If you are an amateur developer, you can use Unity, Godot, Cry Engine, and Unreal Engine for game development.
Ans. C++ provides native code that runs the fastest of all the programming languages. This language performs well compared to other programming languages.
Ans. While both game engines are great in their own right, most game developers use Unity for developing games. If you want to create a high-end game with stunning graphics, you can choose Unreal Engine.
