Game Development Resources and Tools

[ development  git  ]
Written on October 24, 2023
Reading time: 4 min

Here are some lists of resources that you can use to learn about game development, or as a reference for your game projects.

General Game Development

Game Engines

A game engine is a software framework with an associated set of tools, designed to facilitate the development of video games. Game engines are often designed to be cross-platform, and provide important basic functionality such as rendering, physics, sound, scripting, and asset management.

Open Source Game Engines

These game engines are open source. They are not only free, but also provide full access to the engine’s low-level code, allowing you to modify the engine to suit your needs (or even contribute to the engine’s development).

Note that these engines often have difficulties with distribution on console platforms. This is because console platforms make their software development kits proprietary, and thus open source game engines cannot publicly publish tools for these platforms.

Godot Engine

[Defold]

  • 2D and 3D game engine
  • Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, HTML5, Android, iOS.
    • Console support: Playstation 5 and Nintendo Switch support is available by request for licensed developers.
  • Scripting languages: Lua
  • Defold Tutorials

HaxeFlixel

  • 2D game engine built with Haxe
  • Supports Windows, Linux, Mac, HTML5, Android, iOS.
    • Console support: Nintendo Switch support is available by request for licensed developers.
  • Scripting language: Haxe

O3DE

  • 3D game engine built with C++.
  • Supports Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android.
  • Originally known as Amazon Lumberyard (itself a heavily modified fork of CryEngine) later acquired by the Linux Foundation.
  • /r/O3DE - For O3DE game development

GDevelop

Closed Source Game Engines

These game engines are closed source, and require a license to use. The license often allows free use for non-commercial projects, but requires a paid license for commercial projects. Additionally, the low-level code of these engines is kept highly proprietary, and is not accessible to the public.

Unity

Unreal Engine

  • 2D and 3D game engine
  • Developed by Epic Games and used in games like Fortnite
  • Scripting languages: Blueprints or C++

GameMaker Studio

  • 2D game engine
  • Developed by YoYo Games and used in games like Forager and Undertale
  • Recently went free-to-use

Construct 3

  • 2D game engine

Flax Engine

Assets

Here are some lists of free assets that you can use in your game projects.

Blogs and Blog Posts

Programming

Design Patterns

C++

  • CPPCon - VODS of an annual conference for C++ developers

Subreddits