Game Engines

Introduction

One of the most common questions asked by aspiring game developers is the question “What game engine should I use?” It’s not an easy question to answer, even for developers who have been considering at game development for a while. This FAQ aims to provide enough information to allow inquiring devs to make an intelligent, informed decision as to what tools are right for them, or, at least to provide enough information to start on their search and allow them to ask more specific questions.

What is a game engine?

An engine is a complete package: a comprehensive set of tools to help you build a game from scratch. Engines typically contain some kind of level/scene editor, tools for importing and managing game assets (models, textures, sounds, sprites, etc.), an animation system, and a scripting language or API to program the game’s logic. You’ll still need to write code to use an engine, but you’ll only need to concentrate on game logic; the system-level heavy lifting has already been done for you.

What is a game framework?

A framework is much lighter weight than an engine. Frameworks exist to abstract away the lowest-level programming details, and allow a developer to make interactive graphics programs easily. Typically, a framework will handle creating the OS-level window in which the game will run (this is surprisingly complicated), provide a straightforward, platform-independent way to draw things in that window (whether 2D sprites or proper OpenGL/DirectX code), provide access to the state of various input devices (keyboard, mouse, joystick, etc.), and provide a system for handling sound. Everything else you need to code yourself. This has advantages and disadvantages. A framework is much less than an engine, but it means you are free to build any architecture you desire, rather than working within the constraints of any pre-existing engine’s design.

So…why do I need one of these?

Strictly speaking, you don’t need to use any of these sorts of tools at all, however the road to building a game without any of them is long, arduous, and filled with peril. Many developers who have found themselves asking this same question find themselves falling into what’s sometimes referred to as the “engine trap,” that is, they spend all their time trying to recreate the functionality found in these sorts of tools, and fail to ever actually develop the game that they started out trying to make.

If your end goal is to build a game, it is almost always a better choice to do so with the aid of some sort of third party tools.

So do I need a Framework, or an Engine?

This depends on your background and goals. Generally speaking, if your motivation is “I want to make a game,” you should choose an engine. An engine will get the messy architecture bits out of your way and let you immediately focus on art, design, and gameplay.

However, if your goal is “I want to learn to program games,” you’re probably better off using a framework, as you’ll be able to make your own decisions about how to build things, and you’ll come away with a much stronger understanding of how games are really built.

Additionally, it’s possible to design a game such that no engine will be well-suited to build it. Fez and Minecraft, for example, would likely have been much more work to build in Unity than to write from scratch on top of a framework due to how uniquely they approach gameplay, and how their assets are handled.

Also, if you want modern fancy graphics (like Xbox 360 or better), use an engine. You’ll go completely mad trying to reimplement all that stuff yourself unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

Which framework should I use?

This is a hard question, as the answer to it will depend largely on what you’re looking for the framework to accomplish. Common frameworks used for game development include

Haxeflixel – Haxe based 2D framework supporting HTML5, iOS, Android, Desktop and more.
LibGDX – Java Framework / Engine
Love – 2D Lua based Game Framework
MonoGame – C# based framework for 2D games. Supports Windows, iOS, Android, MacOS, PS4, PSVita, Xbox One, and Switch
PyGame – 2D Python Game Framework
Pyglet –
Processing –
SDL – Low-level library written in C. Supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iOS, and Android
SFML – Slightly higher-level than SDL, written in C++. Supports Windows, Linux and Mac OS X
lgameframework – 3D game development framework for Lua
LWJGL – Java library providing access to OpenGL, OpenAL, GLFW, Vulkan, OpenCL, BGFX, AssImp, NanoVG, STB, etc.
Ogre – 3D C/C++ Rendering Engine
OpenTK – OpenGL & OpenAL framework for .NET
Flixel – Flash-based framework written in AS3
Allegro – C/C++. Allegro is a cross-platform library mainly aimed at video game and multimedia programming.

Which engine should I use?

This is another hard question, as there are a lot of engines out there, and there isn’t a hard and fast set of rules for picking what’s best for you.

This list is by no means exhaustive, and serves to provide a starting point for your search for the right engine for you.

Engine Name	Platforms	2D/3D	Language	Cost	Pros	Cons
GameMaker: Studio	Deploys to: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8, HTML5, Ubuntu, Tizen, Windows UWP	2D	GML (custom)	Free to $799, depending on the modules	One-time payment, no revenue sharing, easy to use for beginners, active community, lots of exports	Limited, not generally accepted in a professional environment, the language only works in GameMaker
Godot	Deploys to: Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, HTML5, Linux, Windows UWP, Various consoles	2D/3D	GDScript (similar to Python), Python (currently in beta 2018/03), C#, F# (Mono), Visual Scripting, Nim	Free (Open Source MIT)	Easy to use for beginners (python like syntax), interesting scene/node system, lots of exports, Linux editor	Big update coming in May/June to the 3D engine so probably stick to the 2d engine until 3.0 drops, community is smaller, custom scripting language
Unreal Engine 4	Develop: Win, Mac, Linux	3D/2D	C++, Blueprint Visual Scripting	5% of profits from sales	Good documentation, Powerful tools/editor, active community, Does not require active subscription to release a game, Oculus/Morpheus VR Support	Upper-mid/High specs PC preferred
	Deploys to: Win, iOS, Mac, PS4, XB1, HTML5, Android, Linux
Unity	Develop: Win/Mac/Linux	2D/3D	C#, UnityScript	Free up to $100,000 revenue	Great Asset Pipeline, 1-Click deploy to different platforms, Large, Active community, good documentation	Messy with version control, pay to remove splash screen
	Deploys to: Win, Mac, Linux, HTML5, iOS, Android, PS4, XB1 , N3DS, Wii U, Switch			Subscription fee for pro version
RPGMaker	Develop: Win/Mac/Linux	2D/3D	None	Free and paid versions, more options in paid	Easy to use and requires no coding knowledge. Extensive premade sprite assets with many more available online.	Can be pretty basic and lacks some customization.
CopperCube	Develop: Windows, Mac	3D	C++, JavaScript, Visual Scripting	Free	Very easy to use for beginners, runs fast even on very old systems	Source (C++) only in paid pro version
	Deploys to: Windows, Mac, Android, Web
Cryengine	Develop: Windows	3D	C++ / Lua/C# (scripting)	Pay What You Want	Powerful rendering, no royalties, active VR development	Little documentation currently, Not beginner friendly
	Deploys to: Win, Linux, PS4, XB1
Defold	Develop: Windows, Mac, Linux	2D	Lua	Free	Rich IDE, used by King for their own games, no royalties, excellent docs and active community
	Deploys to: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, HTML5
Duality	Develop: Win	2D	C#	Free	Open Source, Very Extensible, Modular	Small Community, Not Cross-Platform out of the box.
	Deploys to: Win
JMonkey3	Develop: Win, Mac,Linux	3D	Java	Free	Excellent documentation, Active community, Beginner Friendly, Open Source	Smaller Community, very few commercial projects
	Deploys to: Win, Mac, Linux, Android, Web
Blender Game Engine	Develop: Win, Mac Linux	3D	Python 3.0	Free	Good for prototyping, good documentation, active community	No longer considered a priority by the blender team.
	Deploys to: Win, Mac, Linux, Android, Web
Irrlicht	Develop: Win, Mac, Linux	3D	c++	Free	Open Source, Good documentation, Active community, Excellent Asset Pipeline	Very few notable projects built using it
	Deploys to: Win, Mac, Linux
Cocos2D	Develop: Win, Mac, Linux (some platforms need cocos2d-x)	2D	Depending on platform, C++, C# or Objective C	Free	Large number of resources online, very powerful for 2D games, widely used for commercial ios development	not as active a community
	Deploys To: Pc, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Windows Phone, Android in development
Corona	Develop: Win, Mac	2D	Lua	Free	Rapid prototyping, live build testing, large and active community, good docs and tutorials, easy to learn, powerful rich APIs	Pay to remove splash screen
	Deploys To: iOS, Android, Kindle, Win32, macOS, tvOS, Android TV
Stencyl	Develop: Win, Mac	2D	Haxe, Visual Scripting	Free for browser, $$$ for iOS or Kongregate or Newgrounds	Good for beginners, integrated graphics program, active community, decent documentation	inflexible, no support for vector graphics
	Deploys to: Flash
Multimedia Fusion	Deploys To: Win, Mac, Linux, iOS, Windows Phone, XNA, Java, Android, Flash	2D	Visual Scripting	$119 standard version, More for more features	Lots of resources online, fast prototyping, visual scripting, lots of third party support	Not good for very complex games, not good for more than 1 developer, lots of “quirks”
BYOND	Develop: Win	2D	DM	Free	Good documentation, very active community, Rapid development, beginner friendly	not scalable, not good for complex projects
	Deploys to: Win
ImpactJS	Develop: any desktop	2D	Javascript	$99	tile based games, sprite animation, html5!	not for complex rendering projects
	Deploys to: HMTL5
Construct 2	Deploys to: HTML5	2D	Visual scripting, Javascript	Free for personal use, $$ for commercial	good for beginners, no code needed, exceptional documentation, active community	Free version is very limited, engine is designed for beginners and is limited because of it
Torque 2D	Deploys to: Windows, OS X, iOS	2D	C++, Objective-C, TorqueScript	Open Source, MIT License	Rapid prototyping, fast turn around on features and bug fixes, extremely fast, advanced physics capabilities, scalable asset system, script component system, open source, active community, highly performant “tile” system	no editors (yet), documentation is a WIP, community could be larger
Torque 3D	Deploys to: Windows, Linux, OS X	3D	C++, TorqueScript	Open Source, MIT License	full in-game editor suite, lots of built-in gameplay and environment objects, full source code access	custom scripting language, documentation is patchy, community could be larger
Source	Deploys to: Windows, OS X, Linux, PS3, Xbox360	3D	C++, Squirrel	Free for non-commercial use on PC, $$$ for commercial and other platforms	Very easy to use level editor	Programming documentation is not always up to date. Very minimal support
BDX	Develop: Windows, Mac, Linux	3D	Java	Free	Open-source, no import/export process, Blender-integrated, light engine	Tiny community, small feature list vs. larger engines
	Deploys to: Win, Mac, Linux, HTML5, Android, iOS
Superpowers HTML5	Deploys to: Web, Desktop, Mobile (Intel XDK)	2D/3D	TypeScript	Open source (MIT-like)	Real-time collaboration over the Internet, great for jams, extensible	Not the most performant engine out there
Panda3D	Develop: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux	3D	Python (fully featured) or C++	Open source (Modified BSD License)	Very versatile, powerful scene graph, easy & quick prototyping with Python, optional community-maintained PBR pipeline, no royalties	No editor, so external editing tools need to be used (blender, netradiant,..), slightly niche
	Deploys to:Windows, Mac OS X, Linux