If you’re a game dev starting out, it might be a bit intimidating looking through the plethora of options for where to start, what tools to use, and most importantly, the game engine that’ll be the backbone of a project you’ll be working on for a long time.
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I’ve been there, and after experimenting with a bunch of different engines over time, I think I’ve got solid answers for anyone looking to get into game-making. Any engine will work if you try hard enough, but some have a way shorter learning curve than others.
7Honorable Mentions
Before we get into the six engines I’d say you should genuinely consider, there are four that (for varying reasons) deserve a quick mention, but probably shouldn’t be considered as a genuine option for your first game except under specific circumstances.
One of theGOATs of web browser games, Scratch, is easy to get into using block coding and simple commands, but is underpowered and difficult to make anything complex or polished. It’s fun for kids to learn a tiny bit of visual coding, but that’s it.
Another one that’s great for kids,Roblox is decent for learningprogramming, but the fact your game can only ever be on their platform, with their style of pretty limited monetization, means it’s not something you should be considering in the long run.
While it’s produced awesome games like Balatro and Gravity Circuit,Love2D is a user-unfriendly frameworkif you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. You can get by using this as a beginner, but most things need to be coded manually, and you’re probably better off learning elsewhere.
Similarly, though it’s thebackbone of incredible games like Celesteand Stardew Valley,Monogame is moreso a frameworkfor coding games in Visual Studio with little to no UI. It’s great for experienced programmers who want tons of customizability, but not for beginners.
6RPG Maker
They Weren’t Lying, This Thing Can Make RPGs.
First on this list,RPG Maker is, well, an RPG Makerand little else. If the game you want to make is a turn-based RPG, or it’s somethingthat would use a similar framework, like Oneshotor To The Moon, then it works perfectly fine. Otherwise, it’s restrictive and not worth working with.
There are some exceptions, of course, but given the vast majority of RPG Maker versions cost quite a bit of money, it’s not something I’d say you should consider unless you’re sure you won’t need anything outside the framework it provides and think it’ll help speed up development.
5Clickteam Fusion
Easy Visual Coding, Not Much Else.
Slightly less limited,but still ultimately underpowered, Clickteam Fusionis perhaps unfairly known as the FNAF game engine, but it’s a decent tool based on visual coding that’s great if you’re just starting. It is restrictive with what it can do, though.
For one, while the visual coding system is easy to understand, it doesn’t lead to the most complex of functions, meaning you might need a few statements for something you could do in one line of code. It’s alright, it works, but it’s also expensive, so maybe consider something else.
Clunky, Hard To Look At, But Limitless.
Now, the biggest fall from grace in the industry,Unity’s bullet points might look pretty appealing, but under the surface, the engine is incredibly beginner-unfriendly. From the totalitarian user interface to the constant adding of useless features and deprecation of good ones, Unity seems to just get worse with every update.
That isn’t to say the engine itself is bad at making games, far from it. Some of the greatest games of all time were made in Unity, and beginners can still pick it up and make beautiful, fun games. It’s just lower on this list because it’s much harder to recommend than the next three entries nowadays.
3GameMaker
Great For 2D, Not Much Else.
Though it’s got less potential than Unity does, ultimately if you’re interestedin making a 2D game, GameMakeris a much better bet. It’s intuitive, designed to be easy for beginners to get into, and you can create games that are immensely polished or are exactly what you had in mind.
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It’s got all the accessibility of engines designed for beginners, but with none of the often janky, limited coding that prevents you from doing what you want. If you’re truly afraid of trying an engine meant to work for every type of game, GameMaker is your best bet, but if you want something less limited, go for one of the next two.
Surprisingly Accessible.
Unreal Engine, one of the most prolific enginesout there, is decently accessible no matter your skill level. Don’t let the fact that most Triple-A game devs use it deter you from trying, it has built-in visual coding through Blueprints, accessible libraries and documentation, which isn’t that hard to figure out.
For example,Mortal Shell was made by only 15 people, almost exclusively with Blueprints. Unreal isn’t as scary as you might think it is, and no matter what your game idea is, you can probably find a way to execute it effectively and make it look pretty at the same time.
Best For Beginners, And Always Open-Source.
The trueunderdog game engine, Godot, is in my opinion the best engine for beginners. Of every engine I’ve dabbled in, Godot’s own GDScript is the easiest language to understand, the UI is all straightforward to understand and user-friendly, and it’s got incredible potential, especially since it’s open-source.
I’m only a bit biased, asI’ve chosen to make my own game in Godot, but it’s not without reason. If you’re starting, trying to learn the ropes of game dev and get a game out without the hassle of learning complex coding, struggling through archaic UI and wanting something that works well, Godot should be your go-to.
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