Game Engines

This page lists game engines: libraries and frameworks which make game development much easier than with normal libraries like SDL or OpenGL. Game engines are commonly used to develop Fangame, since they make game development faster and easier than programming games from scratch.

Many popular game engines are bundled with an IDE. Such IDEs often include support for some kind of system to allow game development without writing code.

Free/Libre and Open Source Game Engines

The following game engines are free/libre and open source software (FLOSS), as defined by the Free Software Definition and the Open Source Definition. This does not necessarily mean that they are non-commercial.

Blender Game Engine

Link: http://www.blender.org

Blender is a popular FLOSS 3-D modeling program; the Blender Game Engine is a 3-D game engine for Blender. Yo Frankie! is an example of a game created with this engine.

Construct Classic

Link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/construct/

Construct Classic is a 2-D game engine bundled with an IDE similar to the Clickteam programs.

Construct Classic only works on Windows due to a dependency on DirectX. The developers have stated that they have no intention to fix this problem.

ENIGMA

Link: http://enigma-dev.org

ENIGMA is a project to replace the Game Maker interpreter with a FLOSS Game Maker compiler. It is bundled with LateralGM, a Game Maker-compatible IDE written in Java. ENIGMA is currently in alpha, so some features are broken or missing.

Like Game Maker, ENIGMA is a 2-D game engine with limited 3-D support.

Game Editor

Link: http://game-editor.com

Game Editor is a 2-D game engine bundled with an IDE.

Game Editor is not a good choice for platformers due to its collision system, but works well for games that have simpler physics.

LÖVE

Link: https://love2d.org/

LÖVE is a 2-D game engine for the Lua programming language.

Stellar Game Engine

Link: http://stellarengine.nongnu.org

The Stellar Game Engine is a 2-D game engine for the Python programming language.

Proprietary Alternatives

The following game engines are proprietary, i.e. they are not free/libre and open source software. This does not necessarily mean that they are commercial.

Game Maker

Link: http://www.yoyogames.com/

Game Maker is a 2-D game engine bundled with an IDE. It also has limited 3-D support.

Unity

Link: http://unity3d.com

Unity is a popular 3-D game engine.