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Favorite Game Making Tools Sticky

A topic by flankstaek created Dec 02, 2015 Views: 29,934 Replies: 131
Viewing posts 1 to 108
(16 edits) (+19)

Thought it might be fun to have a thread where everyone could share their favorite tools for making games.

I'm gonna use this post to list all of the tools everyone's posted and try and organize them!

Engines


Graphics


IDE/Programming


Audio/SFX


Tools


Version Control

Mobile (thanks thatguynm!)


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I've always used Game Maker so I kind of have to put that, but I've also dabbled in RPG Maker and had a lot of fun with it.

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I've been using Scirra Construct 2 extensively for the past 2 years (Steam clocks me at over 1,000 hours) and I love it. I've made all my games using that alone, though I've recently been doing some Unity tutorials so I can push into doing 3D stuff as well.


Eric Neuhaus (@donkeyspaceman)
donkeyspaceman.itch.io

(3 edits) (+7)

I'm using a 3D open-source game engine called BDX. It's a 3D Java-based engine built with LibGDX that interfaces and works with Blender as the editor. It's integrated really well, so there's no "Import / Export" process manually involved - BDX handles everything.

It's pretty fun and easy to use, and has a lot of cool stuff that I'd miss if I jumped elsewhere, like gamepad support, input maps (with gamepad support!), 3D physics, a component system, animated sprites, draw batching, 2D filters, filter downsampling, 3D shaders, and, obviously, integration with Blender. Even despite those nice additional features, the engine itself is rather small, as it's built on top of existing frameworks and programs (LibGDX, jBullet, I think, etc). This size makes it easier to understand the functions and features of the engine, and also makes it easier to work on it or add new features.

I've contributed quite a few commits to the engine to improve and patch it up, and it's improved a lot since I first started using it around a year ago. Actually, one of the games I published here on itch, Kyro, was made in BDX, which is cool.

Anyway, check it out!


EDIT: Oh, and Aseprite is a cool cross-platform open-source sprite editor; nice animation tools, in particular.

++ for Aseprite!

#TeamLibGDX \o/

Wow so many people using different engines! Luxe is very interesting - I haven't looked into it... but I have developed in Haxe and OpenFL.

Construct 2 and Game Maker are super awesome. I don't have much experience with these either. GameMaker I must say, super impressed with some of the games developed in it - Hyper Light Drifter... omg.

I develop mainly in Flash (now renamed to Adobe Animate). I've been making Flash Games since 2005, and have my first title on Steam this year - Armed with Wings Rearmed.

Rearmed is developed in Flash Pro 2015 targeting AIR Desktop. Flash is great to develop desktop games in, super quick, flexible and can be quite powerful .

I've also worked in Unity, pretty standard stuff. I much prefer developing in Flash over Unity, I just wish Adobe supported as many targets as Unity does.

(1 edit)

You actually make games in Flash the program? I haven't seen the UI or seen people make games in Flash itself for awhile; I think most people do it all by code and external tile editors these days... Haha, it brings back memories to think about Kirupa's Flash demos and tutorials. I remember having a Bubble Bobble 2 platforming demo that I checked out, but could never really replicate.

HAha yeah I generally make my AS3 games with Flash Pro + Flash Develop for coding. In the case of Rearmed, I'm coding everything within Flash Pro on the timeline - fully classic! Rocking it like it's 2005.

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I use GameMaker Studio and Photoshop mainly, but when doing more detailed 2D animation I use Plastic Animation Paper, which is great for pencil- or ink-style animation (bonus: it's free).

I also have this neat tool called Autostitch, for making panoramas out of photos. Not something I use for games often right now, but pretty handy if you ever need to do a skybox.

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Here are most of the tools I use to develop my games:

  • Haxeflixel as my development framework (which includes other tools such as Lime and OpenFL).
  • FlashDevelop for my IDE.
  • Pyxel Edit for art and animation creation.
  • Reaper for music creation (with a bunch of free VSTs)
  • LabChirp for sfx creation.
  • git in combination with Bitbucket for my source control.
  • LICEcap for creating animated gifs to show off.
  • Paint.NET, gimp, and inkscape for image creation that isn't my in game art (banners, boxshots, etc.).
(2 edits)

@rocky mountain land for sale thank you for sharing the tool names.

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(+3)

My toolkit is pretty much the same all these years:

  • LibGDX, IntelliJ IDEA for programming
  • Photoshop, Aseprite, PyxelEdit, MagicaVoxel, Wacom Bamboo for GFX
  • BFXR, REAPER w/ tons of VST for SFX
  • Tiled for levels (thought I used inkscape for level design once)
  • Bitbucket as VCS
  • LICEcap for GIFs
  • OBS for video recording and streaming

I once did all of this just using one programming tool that doesn't even take much space at all. Didn't uploaded my work too itch since this was before I knew about this site. Too bad I didn't know about this website back then!!!

Im a total unity fanboy. Does everything I want, runs on everything and is fun to work with - I'll leave it at that.

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Unreal Engine 4

Blender

Mixamo

Fuse

Source Tree

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If we've got Visual Studio up, might as well throw in a vote for eclipse - https://eclipse.org/downloads/

As I do most of my work by hand, and my day job features it, it's what I use. Platform has drastically improved since they pushed the Luna re-release, now comes with an inbuilt dark theme that doesn't suck (mandatory for constant programming I find, especially at night) and Java as a whole is really pushing usability improvements since 8 was released.

(automatic generic classpath var, no more multiple conflicting Java versions, eclipse has an auto-installer / updater, all sorts of nice stuff. As someone who's used eclipse since Ganymede and Java since 1.5, these are actual real improvements I value)

Note: is an IDE for programming, is not a game engine. Use at your peril, Your Mileage Will Vary :P

There's been way more variety in here than I initially expected! To be honest I totally expected everyone to toss out Unity/Game Maker as their game engine, it's super cool to see the diversity in tools here :)

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i use haxepunk for my engine (which, like hexdie said, includes lime and openfl),

aseprite for makin my pixelart,

flashdevelop for my ide,

and usually bfxr + audacity to make sounds (i usually try to get someone else to make sounds, though)

Flash Develop for the win! Good luck with HaxePunk. I hear OpenFL is supporting consoles soon and I truly hope it works out well. I'd love to develop in Haxe again, but I'm still waiting for the tools and community to grow.

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Yeah that is honestly a major issue right now. I felt kinda pressured to switch because Flash is becoming less popular by the day, but HaxePunk's forums are much less responsive than Flashpunk's were in answering questions and such.

Try the OpenFL forums too, Joshua Granick responds to most threads - he knows much about OpenFL :) Hopefully a thing or two about HaxePunk as well.

If you're like me and end up with free time on a train or somewhere away from the computer that could be better spent working on your project, then you may find these programs useful:

Pixly (Android) Free (donate to remove ads)

Pixly is an amazing little powerhouse app for creating sprites, tiles, backgrounds, or anything pixel art on android. It supports layers, animation, custom palettes and has a set of great tools. The developer is a cool guy who is usually quick to respond to any concerns or suggestions. You can also export scaled images and gifs as well. I've been using this for a while and so far it's been one of the best pixel art programs I've used and the best on android.

A cool thing about Pixly is that even though it saves layered and animated files in a proprietary format, if you go into the gallery on your phone these files will be available as PNGs. These PNGs will have their layers and frames separated. This works well for starting a piece on mobile, the bringing it onto the computer to finish.

It does have some quirks. It won't copy/paste anything that is the same color as the background color (easily fixed by changing the background color before copying). Undo can be funny when selections come into play, but there is a histor toolbar that lets you step through any changes made. It also has some other quirks, but overall it's a fantastic program.

Sprite Something (iOS) $4.99

Pixly isn't on iOS, but those with Apple devices do have Sprite Something. This app has many of the same features as Pixly and a great interface as well. I haven't used this one in a while so there might be better alternatives out there. It has a bit of a learning curve for some features, but it is great for making anything pixel-related. Works great on an iPad as well!

Out of the pixel art/sprite apps I've seen and used on iOS, this is one of the best.

Caustic (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android) $9.99 (Android, iOS) Free (Windows, Mac)

Caustic is a nifty audio program/app that has a bunch of features for a good price. It combines a sequencer, mixers, drum pad, vocoder, and various synths that allow you to create music, sound effects, etc. It can sound pretty artificial at times, but then again I'm a crappy musician with no training, so your results may vary.

I like it because you can customize a lot of the instruments, create presets, and the file formats are the same across devices. This lets me start something on my phone, save it to a dropbox, then tweak it on iPad.

There are some better audio apps on iOS like Figure, Rhythm, and Tabletop...but This one works well for what I need.

(2 edits) (+1)
  • I use Ren'Py, it's a python based visual novel engine. Easy to understand, ports to a good number of platforms and is free for commercial use.
  • I just came across Bfxr, a cool sound effect making tool.
  • I also love Hexels as a graphic program, it's a pixel art program that lets you draw in different shaped hexels.
  • Medibang and FireAlpaca are both great paint tools for those who want to draw, they're free, available on plenty of platforms and offer cloud saving.
  • Someone needed to mention presskit()
Admin(+5)

All of my games have been made in LÖVE. It's a desktop Lua based game engine (with support for Android and iOS coming out next release IIRC). All of my games are written in MoonScript (which is what itch.io is made in), which compiles down to Lua. There's nothing game specific about the language but it makes the syntax for Lua much nicer.

If I need to do any pixel art I'll use Aseprite

All the music I write is done in Renoise, it's a modern adaption of a music tracker. Music is written in a matrix instead of a piano roll or as sheet music.

I'm pretty bad at sound effects so I'll typically generate some stuff with bfxr.

For writing code I use Vim.

If I'm recording a timelapse I'll use gLapse.

And for hosting games... well naturally I'll use itch.io :)

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I've used Unity for my last two Ludum Dare games, but that's pretty much the extent of my Unity usage. It's good, but it's also a non-open-source commercial engine. So a few minus points from me.

I've made a few games in LibGDX, but I don't like it that much. Probably something to do with Java and my negative attitude towards that.

I've made a few games in Phaser, and I like it. I don't like its "sprites are gameobjects" way of doing things, but otherwise, it's pretty great.

I've also made my own "engines" for many of my games. Currently I'm making a very simple 3D engine with TypeScript and Three.js. I intend to use it in the Ludum Dare in a few days.

And then to the programs I use:

  • IDE/text editor: For Java/Scala I use Eclipse, and Atom for others. (Which are mostly Rust, TypeScript and C#) I also used to use emacs, but Atom seduced me with its looks.
  • Graphics editor: Paint.NET, Blender, learning Photoshop
  • DAW: LMMS, Reaper
  • Timelapse tools: For screencapping, I use scrot if I'm on Linux and Chronolapse if I'm on Windows. For making the screencaps into a video, ffmpeg.
  • Streaming: OBS

Oh wow, what makes you want to make your own engine instead of using a proprietary one?

Is there a specific set of features that you generally find lacking or do you just like to do it? I'm not sure I'd be able to code my own engine, although I did a couple personalized graphics libraries/game utilities on top of SFML a while back a whole engine seems like an enormous undertaking for a single project.

It's mostly just that I like low level stuff. I'm also a bit obsessed about being the one to make everything in my games. And I'm lazy and can't be bothered to learn engines ^^'

Just to clarify, I haven't made games big enough that they would need actual proper engines with all the cool features, so my "engines" aren't that much of an undertaking. Also, haven't yet made one in a low-level language, just Java and TypeScript so far.

I love game-making tools I just recently download the game-making tool from randomapk and that's amazing you have amazing information on your forum.

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Ay ay ay, if you're going to post tools, don't forget Sunvox! The most powerful, cross-platform, free (on almost all platforms), and easy-to-use tracker DAW there is, in my opinion! I've made quite a few tutorial videos over the years using the program, and have made quite a few songs with it as well. Every song on my SoundCloud there was made in Sunvox, and you can hear the quality falling the further back you go in time, haha. That means I and Sunvox are just getting better. :>

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For anyone using Unity, I recommend using Visual Studio Code as an editor. It has the speed and customization of Sublime Text, with debugging support and omnisense for Unity C# projects.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

-Unity Integration info : https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/runtimes/unity

-Unity Debugging info : http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/vs-code-unity-deb...

I 2nd this. Monodevelop is rather terrible.

3rd this =D

My workflow is pretty simple:

  • Framework: LÖVE (sometimes with Lua, sometimes with MoonScript, still not sure which one I like better)
  • Text editor: Atom
  • Graphics: Paint.NET, and maybe Piskel for animations
  • Sound:
    • FL Studio for general music stuff
    • Audacity for simple editing
    • BFXR for some sound effects
    • I'm gonna try and break out LSDJ for music for my next game
  • Level editing: can't decide :(
  • Version control: Bitbucket/Github/Github for Windows
  • Recording: OBS
  • Gifs: Licecap, begrudgingly
  • Video editing: Hitfilm
  • Hosting: itch.io, of course!

Just kidding, that isn't simple at all. :P

    (1 edit)
    Gifs: Licecap, begrudgingly

    You could use Gifcam. It works pretty solidly, indeed, and is what I use when making GIFs. I also used to take videos with OBS and then use GIMP to convert it to multiple layers in a single image, and then export that into a GIF.

    Gifcam actually appears to have the same problem that Liceecap has, which is that you have to have the position the window to set the recording area. It's really annoying trying to move a window to line up perfectly with another one.

    Generally, you'd want to take a small portion of the screen for your GIFs so you can make out details and keep file sizes low, I think. If you need to perfectly capture a small gameplay window, you probably should go with OBS to record the window, and then use GIMP to export a GIF from that captured vid.

    Yeah, that's definitely an option I should investigate. I also heard you could use ffmpeg to convert videos to gifs?

    Yeah, that also might be possible, but I'm not sure. I think I've heard something like that around the Internet.

    (+3)

    I'm noticing Superpowers isn't on that list, a new-kid-on-the-block, open source, extensible HTML5 game engine.

    (+2)

    I heard about this today! It looks super promising, I hope it can be successful :)

    Admin (1 edit)

    Game Maker:Studio is easily my favorite, but i've always been a GM person ever since the 4.3 days -- maybe the fact that i spent so much time with the tool is why i'm so comfortable with it? i will say that GM definitely has its frustrating parts, but i feel like just about every engine does, yeah? i could never get into Construct or Stencyl, and Unity is too overwhelming for my brain to handle. GM:Studio seems to be just right for me, giving me a solid set of tools while also giving me the ability to add onto it fairly easily and without learning *too* much code. (it's also a fantastic tool for prototyping!)

    for pixel art, i use GraphicsGale, which is kinda like a "Photoshop Lite, for pixel art and animations" if i had to summarize it. it's about $20 or $30 from HumanBalance, but it's a great program -- albeit a little buggy in places.

    (1 edit)

    We use the Corona SDK. I've used it personally since 2010 and then when I formed Glitch in 2012 it made sense to continue using it. It's strictly 2D ( well there's some perspective stuff you can mess with to get 2.5d sorta ) and uses Lua. It's lovely to work in ( both for prototypes and full games ) and has a fantastic community. - https://coronalabs.com/

    I've been using Blitz 3D since I started. It's actually pretty good, but it's no longer supported and it's showing its age. I definitely want to use something new for my next project, something with similar features (3D graphics / code is all text rather than an editor / light on RAM) so I'm checking this thread to look for recommendations. (If you've got a good one, just reply to me directly)

    (I've tried unity but found it too fiddly. Same goes for Unreal, and I'm trying to get to grips with monogame but I'm having lots of compatibility issues with models.)

    As for everything else, I use milkshape for modelling (this is also really old, and I wouldn't recommend it per se, but it is surprisingly easy/fast to use for simple low poly models, so that's something), audacity and a korg M1 for music/sound.

    Moderator

    For the most part I've just been coding my games in Javascript and Python (the latter using PyGame), but I also tried my hand at Ren'Py, and loved it. On the rare occasions that I used pixel art, The GIMP turned out to be surprisingly well-suited, if overkill. It was also useful for altering some 3rd-party art that didn't quite fit my needs, thanks to all those filters. But I've been trying out all kinds of other tools, for various purposes. It's always a good idea to be curious.

    My pixel art workflow is kind of weird. I make backgrounds/tiles/decoration art with GIMP, but items/characters/animations with aseprite. I make low-poly 3D models with wings3D, I won't/can't really do hi-poly.

    I like the freedom coding in PyGame with no engine gives you, but nowadays I also make games in HaxeFlixel. I can add python libraries like MoviePy and create small video clips and tweet them right from inside the game. Distributing a game with PyGame and native dependencies is a pain though.

    I have discovered the Yarn dialog editor. That is pretty good.

    (+1)

    I came across this 3D posing program called DesignDoll yesterday that's designed to make to make poses for drawing. It's not a free program ($80 for the license) but you can fiddle around with it in trial mode. Trial mode lacks the ability to export the models to OBJ, loading (you can save in trial mode though) saved files, and the use of the program's community submissions. It's a pretty cool program for those dealing with detailed 2D figures as it is pretty limited as a 3D program, but it gives more than enough for details needed for proportions.






    A lot of these people have recommended amazing tools, and I don't have much to add when it comes to game design. However, I will add Aria Maetosa as a good open source MIDI creation software. I have had so much fun remixing and recreating past songs since I have no idea how to write my own stuff, but I hope for all my games to at least use this software for music.

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    I was surprised to not see Clickteam Fusion here. Hundreds of games have been made in Fusion including big ones like Knytt Underground. It has been around in its various incarnations for almost two decades and is still going strong. It's the engine that Construct directly ripped off (apparently Scirra have even forced their way into Clickteam conventions before trying to market Construct).

    Fusion is very accessible to beginners, however as a game industry veteran knowing dozens of languages and engines, I still use Fusion all the time! Almost all the games on my website were made in it. It's deceptively powerful as its mouse-based scripting language lets you lay down the logic for a game much, much faster than in traditional languages. I know Unity inside and out but I can probably make a 2D game around 3-4 times faster in Fusion (no joke).

    Codea is a pretty awesome ipad programming tool.

    (+1)

    I use, among other game development tools, Unity, Construct 2, Lightwave, 3ds max, Blacksmith 3d, Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Premiere.

    I'm making realtime 3d games in the Unity engine and 2d in Construct 2.

    Lightwave and 3ds max are my main two 3d art tools, but I sometimes use Blacksmith 3d as a '3d paint' utility.

    Photoshop I use for texture art and 2d graphics, sometimes I also use ShaderMap 2 to generate normal maps and such from photographed texture assets.

    After Effects and Premiere are my go-to tools for compositing and video editing, respectively, but recently I've been using Resolve for color correction, and Fusion 8, sometimes, as it's a great video/VFX tool and it is available for free.

    Currently I'm creating a little adventure game called Spiral Skies. It is days away from completion at this point.

    Spiral Skies

    I have been using the App Game Kit (AGK) since 2013. It's a great little development environment that is cross platform (Windows, Linux, it's, Blackberry and Android with RaspberryPi in the works). I've managed to win an Ultrabook, an All-In-One and a tablet using this engine. I thoroughly recommend it. You can get it via www.appgamekit.com

    I've also used Game Guru which is a great FPS engine that enables rapid level creation. This is also from The Game Creators via www.thegamecreators.com

    For screen recording I've always used the free version of Screencast-O-Matic. It has some nice features, allows 15 mins of recording, you can hide the mouse pointer and export to AVi, MP4 or GIF.

    (+1)

    I don't believe this one has been mentioned but I am suddenly very impressed with open source 2D digital painting software Krita, especially given that the next, currently pre-alpha, version can even do animation:


    Will definitely be using that if I need to do any detailed colour 2D animation in the future.

    (1 edit) (+1)

    For game audio, Acoustica's MixCraft is pretty nice. 

    I always use SDL for my C++ games. You can add it to the list if you want.

    To the moderators: Can you please make this topic Sticky so that people can find a comprehensive list of game development tools?

    Moderator(+1)

    Good idea! There you go!

    Great, thanks!

    (+1)

    blender, cakewalk, awesomebump, Google, and sketchbook just to name a few.

    Google has a tool to do this too? O_O WHERE IS THIS!!!!??? Please.

    (1 edit)

    Why are these not clickable?

    • Flash/Adobe Animate
    • Photoshop

    This one might not be a good game maker, but people used it to make, types of games..... I guess. But, Alice 3?

    (+1)

    I'm new at game development since I'm more into the art aspects than the programming aspects. I'm trying to find a game engine/tool that focuses on the art side of game development than the coding side. I do have Flash, Blender (Don't use it as much since I'm not good at 3D), Photoshop, Krita,  Medibang, and Fire Alpaca though I mostly use them for drawing cartoons & comics on.  I also have Clip Studio Paint but I don't know if anyone uses it for game art.

    I have downloaded Aseprite, Pixelmash, Playscii, and Piskel since they're free and I can use them to create game sprites.

    I have downloaded some game engines since they're free, I have Unity, Unreal Engine, Godot, Superpowers, Stencyl, Game Maker Studio (The Free Trial version), and RPG Maker MV (Which I've downloaded via Steam on my MAC) However I'm still new to game development so I no idea which one I should try first. 

    (+1)

    If you're more into graphics than coding you could start by joining a team as the graphic artist - there's some postings now and again for people looking to be part of a team.

    I learnt to program in Game Maker (a few versions before Studio) and their tutorials gave me a very good basic understanding of gaming as they were detailed and instructive and gave you a lot of insight into game development in general - not just the use of Game Maker.  I would  recommend working through a few of their beginner tutorials as a good start.   

    Then if you're not big on coding look at engines like Game Salad* or Construct that give you basic tools to work with and no coding.  Clickteam Fusion that also has no coding - they also have a free starter version you can play with - and is more flexible than those other 2, but is a bit harder to learn. 

    *Game Salad:  at the time I looked at it, their terms of service gave them too many rights, it put me off.

    (+1)

    Hi,

    Here is my list of tools for HTM5 games:

    • Ubuntu
    • Vscodium (vscode without trackers)
    • Phaser 3 (game engine)
    • Gimp
    • Tiled
    • sfxr (sound fx)
    • Reaper (sequencer)
    • Github
    • Qjoypad (map gamepads buttons to keyboard keys)
    (+1)

    I like Clickteam Fusion as i can make my games pretty fast, though i am starting to through some programming into the mix for things the engine cannot handle on its own :)

    (+1)

    I am leaving it here...some may find it useful 

     

    TextureWorks: Artificial Intelligence Based texture Synthesizer, image high resolution convertor & texture Map generator with over 1600 free textures. 

    Wishlist it on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1140360/TextureWorks/

    (+1)

    I like using Construct 2 for my modern stuff and for retro hardware I use Arcade Game Designer. Making graphics and designing levels for either I use Gimp and Tiled.

    (+1)

    I always go the complex way. My current engine is NALA of which the current version uses MonoGame, but I'm not sure it will stay that way forever. As for the scripting language I use NIL, which much like MoonScript compiles down to Lua, however NIL has a completely different approach, and is made to be much stricter than Lua, and most of all meant for projects that can easily surpass over thousands lines of source code, without getting odd bugs just because you misspelled a variable name (which has always been an issue in Lua when creating larger projects), NIL has also a few quicker (and cleaner) ways to set up meta-tables. 

    I coded NALA myself, and NALA in turn uses my Bubble FrameWork, and Kthura Map Editor, the JCR6 file system and some other features most of all with RPG games in min (except from MonoGame, all those things were also coded by me myself and I... I guess I just like to be self-reliant).

    (1 edit) (+2)

    I used OGRE as the renderer in my game and Bullet Physics for collisions and other physics tasks. I added Lua as my scripting engine and built the rest of the engine to glue them all together. Given how sophisticated popular game engines like Unity or Unreal have become, the idea of building a custom engine seems almost like an unproductive thought, but an issue in my case was that I needed to expose a scripting debugger to my players and none of the known engines can do that. Turns out it was a lot of fun just to work on it. So I would definitely say.. go custom if you value the journey more than the destination.

    (+2)

    My favorite Game Making Tool probably is Blender. It allows you to model anything you could need for a game, and (in versions previous to 2.8) has a game engine that allows you to run quick physics tests, etc. I'm currently working on a game using the BGE (Blender Game Engine) but have been trying to learn Unreal Engine 4.

    (+2)

    Please consider adding my 2D multi-platform game engine/framework nCine. You can also find it here on Itch.io.

    Since I like to have full control over my program, I use my own engines for my games. I want to support systems & platforms that Unity and Unreal probably never will, and old graphics cards because I don’t need the newer features.

    (+1)

    If you´re looking for genre-specific engines, there are also Adventure Game Studio and Visionaire Studio for Point and Click Adventure games. Personally, i was never able to get the hang of AGS. But i´m using Visionaire Studio right now, which works out better for me, so far.

    (+1)

    Hi, I'm Joël.

    I use unity + the fungus plugin to create my visual novel but being more of a photographer/videographer I also use:

    Da Vinci resolve and Premiere pro for my videos and Silkypix and Paint.net for my photos.

    By the way, is there an engine in the list that you would recommended for FMV kind of games (with easier ways to integrate videos) ?

    (+1)

    I use Construct 2 for 2d games, Unity for 3d. I also use Photoshop.

    But I also have a sprawling pipeline of scattered stuff used largely for video editing and VFX and the tools used there easily spill over into gamedev where cutscenes and the like are concerned.

    I.e. Vegas Pro, Hitfilm Pro, Lightwave (yes, really, I and many others still use Lightwave) and Blender, etc. Plus a lot of smaller utilities with niche but still significant use cases. I did a fair number of my 3d assets in LW. http://matthornb.itch.io/ Those 3d assets and a lot of other stuff are going on sale right now (April 10-12, 2020)

    And in some cases with projects such as Miniature Multiverse, I find myself doing odd things when working with miniature art graphics lately - like simulating fluid water flowing around a rough 3d photogrammetric scan of a level that is otherwise miniature art so that the reflections on the liquid match the rest of the scene plausibly. I will do stuff like digitally extending a miniature set with digital skies, oceans and similar extensions matched in position to each node. The result is a rather unique sort of feeling of wandering around a place that 'feels' sort of weirdly analog. Because much of it actually is built realistically with O scale minis.

    http://www.miniaturemultiverse.com/

    (+1)

    I would have to say Unity. I use it even for really simple 2D games.

    I tried Unreal Engine last year but the node system doesn't come easy to me. Plus,  it kept crashing on my computer.

    (+3)

    I always use notepad++ to make all of my web games but I use visual studio and unity for other things.

    (+2)

    That's cool! I've never heard of using notepad++ for web games. In my projects I use the notepad++ compare plugin to find the differences between code files.

    Yeah I love using it! It's so simple that it's my go to.

    (+1)

    It’s not on here, but I usually use Clip Studio Paint for art. However I’m not sure if I should switch to Krita for animations. Unity is my preferred engine for games. 

    (+1)

    I have been using Clickteam (Klick and Play, The games Factory, Fusion, Fusion 2.0, Fusion 2.5), Game maker, C++(textbased game) and Qbasic.

    I am not a good programmer but i have a bit of understand.  There are a lot of extensions made by the community and as of later years not so many bugs. I few years ago i could stop working on a project because it was toobig and had too many bugs digging too deep into the core game mechanics. You could argue that my current project, MadCowBalls2 is half a game and half a framework to support most 2d games.

    At the moment im using Clickteam Fusion 2.5, BTV Solo and Gimp. If someone want some help with something in any of the Clickteam applications mentioned above im happy to help out.

    (+1)

    For me it is : 

    Programming - C++ / C# , 

    Media library -  SDL2.0.  

    Draw sprites - Paint.Net, 

    music creation - LLMS.

    I am learning C++/#  language

    (1 edit) (+2)

    My favourite list currently:

    • Engine: Godot
    • Art: Aseprite / Krita / ProCreate
    • Audio: Ableton Live
    • Version Control: Git
    • Documentation: OneNotes / Word / GoodNotes / StarUML
    • File Management / Text Editor: Terminal / Atom
    (+1)

    Atom + at least 50 packages, C++, OpenGL and Tiled, sometimes AngelScript. GIMP for pixel art. I do the rest from scratch.

    (+2)

    I just discovered Coppercube, a visial editor for the copperlicht engine, can import an enormous amount of 3D file formats and has a ton of candy to explore. Can publish for Win, Mac, Android and HTML5 by one click.  It was called Unity-light... Some features are somewhat halfbaken, but it allows to insert your JS, making it very flexible.  Esp. beginners are quickly getting results.

    CopperCube features

    (+1)

    UNITY, BLENDER, AUDACITY

    (+1)

    I fell like a good tool to add on the sound section would be Bosca Ceoil as it is very easy for beginners!

    (+1)

    So very cool to see such a wide variety of tools and engines employed in development. Here's our current list. I am sure I am missing some small utilities. Some of these can be their own topics when talking about a DAW, so broad strokes here.

    Godot Engine is the engine we're creating games in now (we used to work in Unity).

    For assets and images Blender and Krita are our go to. Though for doing straight pixel work we've been using PikoPixel.

    Audio and video production is a pretty heavy topic. Traktion Waveform is our DAW. Kdenlive for creating videos. OBS Studio for recording raw video. We do use straight FFmpeg via command line for automation and fun audio and video tricks.

    For testing our games on other platforms we're using VirtualBox (macOS virtualizing mostly) and Wine.

    When in need of a text editor, we go between Atom and gedit. Atom has a neat trick for doing collaborative editing.

    Last, but perhaps one of the most important tools you can deploy, git for source control. No frills. Straight command line.

    Alright...if I forgot anything....well...I'll try to add it if it comes to mind.

    ~ Skunkie

    (+1)

    What about Godot? A shame it’s not on that list. It’s super powerfull and totally free for any kind of project, big or small. I’m baffled.

    (+1)

    I'm using the Unity5x engine, I favor MonoDevelop when coding, although I use Visual Studio when I need to create extra devtools and I haven't managed to get Stetic UI designer to work for MD :( 

    For asset creation I use Blender and GIMP

    I previously used Azure Team Services for project management, but I recently began creating my own management tool for the fun of it, and also to remove alot of the stuff that I never had any use of in Azure. Difficult to not see it as my favorite management tool considering I'm able to tailor it completely after my own needs...

    I'm using another tool I created for fun (GIFSnapper) to capture and generate GIF animations on screen for content to dev. logs, and to record videos I really like OBS Studio

    (+1)

    Started learning Unity a few months ago, having dabbled in modding the Subnautica games. Foolishly (I think) settled on the High Def Render Pipeline for our game, which has been a challenge. Lots of churn going on with Unity builds and the different render pipelines. I do like it though, and as a coder at heart I like working with C#. Totally rely on the Asset Store for visuals and audio - artistic talent of a dead slug, me! 😁

    (+1)

    for making the games: Unity engine

    for coding: Visual studio code

    for designing: Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP)

    (+1)

    I have also used Game Maker so I kind of have to put that, but I've also dabbled in RPG Maker and had a lot of fun with it.

    (+1)

    I don't really see CSP (Clip Studio Paint) in the painting software list. Maybe I missed it. You could add that one. It's pretty cool.

    I wanna recommend Photopea https://www.photopea.com/ for psd recovery though. If a file gets corrupted (usually if your PC shuts down while saving a file) it's GG. Or at least I thought so, having been unable to recover my file until I found this tool. You might lose some layers but generally the .psd will be intact.

    This one just caught my eye, a new open source game engine implemented in Rust https://bevyengine.org/

    (1 edit) (+1)

    I'm genuinely surprised Godot isn't listed on here (unless someone already mentioned it and I overlooked it.) Godot is a powerful open source engine with loads of built in tools and well written documentation. It also has it's own language, gdscript, which Python programmers well find fairly comfortable. It also allows for making a game in C# with the aid of .NET Core or Mono. 


    It's a good engine, and I think the devs around here would get a kick out of it. https://godotengine.org/


    EDIT: And I now see that it has been mentioned before. However I'm more than happy to sing it's praises regardless.

    (+1)

    I like to use SFXR (https://www.drpetter.se/project_sfxr.html) for sound effects and Figma (figma.com) for graphics. They're both pretty good

    (+1)

    i mainly use clickteam fusion 2.5 (with the games factory 1.06) and unity for game development

    also learning many cool game engines like construct series and gamemaker 8.1

    for sfx stuff i use labchrip

    also for drawing graphics i use paint, paint.net, paint 3d and krita (i also use flash if i need to make animated stuff)

    i also use piskel for pixel art because i have no money for aseprite and yeah

    labchrip, thanks for this app! I try to use it! 

    (1 edit)

    This is a great list! I stumbled upon this thread after just recently starting a list of open source gamedev  tools (for my own reference, and something to do between actual gamedev projects). Edit: now i remember I've posted here before.

    https://github.com/technicat/gamedev

    Non-functioning links: BDX, Flixel, and Blitz 3D

    What about GDevelop for open source game making, and Codeberg for repos? 

    gdevelop is very nice for 2d games and apps ive made few games in it.

    i usually use  unity, gamemaker, coppercube most of the time

    but right now im working on next version of hell engine

    a lightweight simple and codeless game engine to create raytracing shooter games created in Python (Core) and GameMaker (Editor)

    download it here :  https://mohamadhanijanaty85.itch.io/hell-engine

    (+2)

    All my stuff is make in PlayBASIC, but then again I did write it..  so whatever  

    (1 edit) (+1)

    As a tabletop game designer, artist, writer, and publisher, I gotta say that Notepad as a digital tool on smartphones and laptops is one of the tools I use a LOT. also physical notepads, too. Libre Office: Libre Office Writer and Libre Officer Calc, are also very often used. 3D Paint is one of those tools that I happen to use regularly, because it is easy to use, available almost everywhere, and you can use it on the net, too. I list these because I use these all regularly among other tools, programs, etc., but I also like these. Simple free tools that are usually already even on library computers. I like to keep my easy, simple and carefree.

    And I shall mention these, too.

    I have used Rupert Spore’s Fictional Area Creation Tool ( https://rupert-spore.itch.io/fictional-area-creation-tool-fact ) as a writing prompt tool and as an inspiration sparkler.

    I've also used Creature Feature All Dice Table by Jesse Galena and Thomas George as an inspiration ignition as part of my creative writing process. You can get yourself the latest copy of it (https://rexiconjesse.itch.io/creature-feature) on their creator page ( https://rexiconjesse.itch.io/ )

    (+3)

    Aseperite is worth every penny

    (+3)

    GODOT Engine

    Affinity Photo/Designer Graphics 

    Ableton Live Audio


    Is what I use and like the most :)

    (+1)

    I personally like tyranobuilder! I like making visual novels with added in RPG elements, being a mix of the two genres, and while it takes a bit of work to squeeze into the engine it works quite nicely

    I'm giving it my all to learn SDL2 and I have made quite a good progress if I do say so myself. So far, SDL2 is just downright amazing. It's low-level, difficult, lots of code and all but it's still good.

    OOP with SDL2 is incredibly easy and perfect. It's low-level for which you have to write much more code but you get much more control over your game. Writing a lot of code isn't really a problem as long as you abide with OOP for reusable code which is really helpful. You can use OpenGL with SDL2 if you want, SDL2 has been around for decades, SDL2 is under active development, SDL2 has a large community, SDL2 games work on a lot of platforms etc.

    Seriously, SDL2 might be difficult and low-level and you have to write lots of code or probably the fact that it's mainly used with C/C++. But it has a lot of pros and is heavenly to me. I only started learning about a week ago and I've made nice progress.

    (+2)

    Where is godot?!

    (+1)

    I use C++ 99% of the time for everything. I'm currently using SFML but I haven't made any games with it yet. I'm also learning Modern OpenGL on the other hand to do some crazy graphics stuff.

    (3 edits)

    Always been a Gamemaker1 guy. Dabbled a bit in PICO-8 though too.

    And recently I came across Flickgame.org. As more of an artist than a programmer I had a blast with it. Most beginner-friendly "engine" ever!

    Also: SFXR for simple SFX

    pocket platformer, mosi, bitsy 3d color and godot eventually. rest is plain code...

    Python Arcade: https://api.arcade.academy/en/latest/

    I create my own game engines. My Fairy Tale, Star Story I and II have been created with the Apollo Game Engine, which I created myself. Star Story II is however the final project in Apollo as I am just in the development of a brand new engine named  "Scyndi's Creative Interpreter" (or SCI for short) in what I am also doing my next project already.

    I create as many tools myself as possible in either C++ or C# depending on what I need for that specific tool.

    But as I can also not do all by myself, I also use programs like Paint.net, GIMP, Audacity and such. I have not really a "favorite". The tool just has to do the job and shouldn't be too hard to use. 

    (+1)

    No way you were the moderator at Gamejolt... I remember you

    Always good to see I left behind an impression somewhere.

    It's true, I used to be a moderator on Game Jolt. 

    My workflow is Aseprite for Graphics, Tiled for map design, and Phaser.js as the game engine, all of which have been mentioned here :-p

    I use Godot engine to making games (im new from using this), Krita to draw sprites, create some banners or animations
    LMMS to making some music for my games and Audacity to edit something audio stuff-
     

    Favourite tools. Audacity, absynth, unity, blender, seashore, my guitar 

    Unity

    Mixamo

    Rokoku

    VisualStudios community

    Blender

    I need something for create audio.

    Pixel studio and GIMP for pixel and digital arts, Godot for game engine. Godot's in-built GDScript editor and visual studio code are my favourite IDEs.

    I think Corel Painter would be a good addition to the graphics side of things. I've been using it instead of photoshop for years and at least for me it's much nicer to work with when it comes to actual drawing/ painting. Photoshop is still much better for any sort of photo emitting of course.


    I tried to use MagicaVoxel you already have on the list, just to try out the voxel thing. It seemed like a pretty good tool, but damn it, the whole menu layout is unintuitive as hell.

    I use Unity as my game engine to create games and write with C# because it's basically all I know. For 3D graphics and design I use blender and for 2D I usually use adobe illustrator for sprites or photoshop. I'm planning on using Adobe Animate for animation but i'm not into the stuff yet. I use Visual Studio as my IDE because it's default for Unity and is just easy for me. I use Garageband for creating soundtracks and plan on upgrading to something more complex like FLStudio or maybe Logic Pro when I become better at it.

    (+1)

    I use Scratch 3 and TurboWarp :)

    (2 edits)

    coppercube 3d all the way for me
    gimp for image editing
    blender3d for modeling and animation
    LMMS for tunes
    i use game sound generators most often for soundsfx

    I've made a cool prompt generator, this is helping me a lot to make games with new ideas that I would have never thought about! Here is the link -> Random Theme Generator

    (1 edit)
    • Unity
    • Aseprite for pixel art, easily able to just edit the files and have the changes automatically import to Unity
    • Audacity for sfx 
    • Visual Studio for C# development
    • OBS for screen recordings. Take screenshots from the video and can convert the output to GIF if need-be

    Basic but gets the job done :) 

    GIMP - an old favorite of mine

    OpenCanvas

    Audacity - good program for sound.

    Godot - A great, completely free and moddable game engine

    Pixilart - A simple program for art

    Itch.io - My personal favorite place to download game soundtracks

    Defold - a very underrated game engine https://defold.com/

    Gdevelop - just for quick Prototyping https://www.getpaint.net/

    VisionCrafterAI - For all my Game Design Arts, Backgrounds, Character Design, Pixel Design (all Graphic stuff)  https://visioncrafterai.itch.io/

    REAPER - Audio Production https://www.reaper.fm/



    I can't believe articy:Draft X doesn't seem to have been mentioned here. I'm making an RPG with Disco Elysium-style branching dialogue and articy is a godsend, especially if you're writing games with open-ended, branching stories.

    articy lets you write dialogue and plot timelines by means of a 'flowchart' simply called the flow, where you can also do simple scripting by attaching code to flow items, and also comes with a database to help you keep track of documents, images, music, locations, people, items, etc. (which can also be tied to modules in the flow). Best of all, you can export your project directly to Unity or Unreal.

    Its uses are very niche, but if you're looking to make a visual novel, then Visual Novel Maker is a pretty great engine. It's a bit rough around the edges, but you can create a whole game from start to finish with it. It's by the same people that make RPG Maker, it just doesn't receive the same level of support