GameSalad
GameSalad is a game development platform that provides you an environment to develop a game with a visual programming interface. It is aimed at beginner developers and students that are in the learning phase. The ease of use is the biggest feature of GameSalad as it has a pre-defined set of codes to perform a specific function without the need for additional coding. The education package provides a complete curriculum from start to finish. It gives students the flexibility to work at home by accessing the interface from any browser. Teachers can assign homework and see performance remotely.
A major advantage is the web-based coding that enables students to build high-resource demanding games with low-end PC and without traditional programming syntax codes. The educator is provided with everything they need to teach students, including Computer Science fundamentals, modular units, Individual genres in every unit, and all necessary data.
The developer package comes with a single license and is cost-effective. It has some additional features like sharing your final product with the major platform, including Appstore, Playstore, Amazon, and Windows. GameSalad has an integrated physics algorithm that simulates realistic motion and collision effects.
GameSalad Alternatives
#1 Unity
Unity is the world’s most leading cross-platform game engine by Unity Technologies, introduced in 2005. The engine can be used to create both 3D and 2D games and simulations for its many platforms. It gives users the ability to develop games in different environments. It offers a primary scripting API in C# for both the Unity editor in plugins and the game itself and simple drag and drops functionality. The interface can be adapted to any working mode. Its tools are quite simple to use and allow you to develop animations without knowing any programming language.
With this, you can easily import and export your own 3D models and design your own texture materials that enable you to create a complete environment from zero. Compared to all the other similar game engines, it is more powerful and allows you to add sound to each object separately and create a complete interface. It also has a list of core features and tools that make it a comprehensive solution. Try it out if you are looking for a powerful game engine.
#2 Adventure Game Studio
Adventure Game Studio is an open-source development tool that is specially designed to create graphics adventure games. This solution is aimed at intermediate-level video game designers. It combines an integrated development environment for setting up most aspects of the game with the scripting language based on the C language to process the game logic. It is a simple and easy-to-understand solution and does not require any professional skills to design your own Graphic Video Game.
It has everything you need, from importing graphics and writing the game script right through testing your video game under one platform. It was started at a fundamental level and is known for thousands of users, and produces thousands of games. It includes core features such as import sprites, creates a view of animations, a script with audio complete, draw room walkable areas, easy to understand, and much more. If you easily want to create a graphic adventure game, this is a perfect tool.
#3 GDevelop
GDevelop is a cross-platform open-source game creator that is designed to be used by everyone with no programming skills required. With the help of this solution, you can unleash your creativity and create any kind of game including puzzle, strategy, and shoot-em-up, etc.
It has a simple and easy to understand editor where you access all its features without any limitations. Through this, you can publish your games to the web, Android, iOS, Mac, Windows, and even Facebook Messenger, etc. Games created by this solution run anywhere you can even do a one-click export.
As compared to all other similar engines, GDevelop offers unlimited possibilities to express your ideas without being blocked. You can prototype new features on your games in a few minutes and refine thee without limits.
To deliver a comprehensive solution, it offers a step-by-step guide system that teaches you how to start. The engine also includes core features such as easy to understand, create and publish your own game in minutes, simple editor, and create objects for your game, and add behavior to your game object, etc.
#4 Wick Editor
Wick Editor is a comprehensive free flash-like browser-based toolkit for creating small interactive things for the internet. With this solution, you can easily create, animation, video game and everything in between. All your creations can run on any device with the browser that means mobile too.
The editor is a hybrid of an animation tool and a coding environment that heavily inspired by similar tools such as flash, scratch, and HyperCard. Wick Editor developed in response to a growing need for such a tool for the modern web.
The best thing about this editor is that it is completely free for everyone with all its tools and features. It is also best for beginners because it offers step by step guide system that teaches you how to create stunning stuff.
Wick Editor includes core features such as attractive interface, import files, step by step, updates, drag and drop interface, and easy to understand, etc. Adventure Game Studio is one of the best open-source game editors as compared to others.
#5 Orx
Orx is an open-source, lightweight, portable, plugin-based, and easy-to-use 2D-oriented video game engine design for professional game designers. The engine provides a complete game creation framework, including a 3D scene graph, hardware-accelerated 2D rendering, sound, animation, physics, and much more. The main objective of this platform is that to enable fast game prototyping and creation. With the help of these platforms, professionals can easily design any video game.
Orx has an object-oriented design with the plugin architecture that allows its kernel to be cross-platform and delegates hardware and OS-dependent tasks to plugins. Unlike Unity and all the other game engines, it also has a list of core features such as automated sprite rendering using the 3D hardware, advanced resource management, viewport system, 3D scene graph, etc. Try it out; you’ll be amazed by all the things on this stunning and powerful platform.
#6 Stencyl
Stencyl is a video game development suite that helps developers to create 2D video games for mobile and computer devices. The solution is available for free, with select publishing options available for purchase. It is known as the easiest and quickest way to make a complete video game.
Games created in this solution can be exported to the web via the Adobe Flash Player and to the personal computer as executable games and onto various mobile devices as Android and iOS apps. Physics and collisions are managed by Box2D that can be selectively or completely disabled to decrease any potential performance impact for games that do not require complete physics simulation.
Stencyl is an authoring tool and IDE that include several modules used to accomplish the necessary tasks to create games with the solution. Unlike others, it also includes core features such as simple and attractive editor, drag and drop interface, writes code if you want, import files, fast development, and much more.
#7 Godot Engine
Godot Engine is a 2D and 3D cross-platform compatible game engine released as an open-source solution under the MIT license. It runs on Windows, Mac OS, Linux, and Haiku and can design video games targeting PC, web, and phones. It aims to offer a complete integrated game development solution. It enables game developers to create a game from scratch that needs no other tools beyond content creation. Its architecture is built around the concept of a tree if nested scenes. From scripts to graphical assets, all video game resources are saved as part of the computer’s file system.
This storage solution is intended to simplify all the game development teams to collaborate on script coding using version control. This game engine support deployment to multiple platforms and enable specification to texture compression and resolution setting for each solution. It is also best for beginners and offers a complete guide that makes it simple. Godot Engine includes core features such as animation system, level of detail, particle system, multithreading, render targets, texture import and audio playback, etc.
#8 Urho3D
Urho3D is a free and lightweight cross-platform 2D and 3D game engine implemented in C++ and released under the MIT license. The solution is inspired by OGRE and Horde3D and contains all the major tools and features. With the help of this game engine, you can easily design any size and kind of game, add objects, set pixels, and soundtracks to deliver a complete experience.
Urho3D is also best for beginners and offers tutorials and a step-by-step guide that makes it better than others. The solution introduces an advanced type of shadow mapping system for all the light types such as cascaded shadow maps for directional lights normal offset adjustment in the additional depth bias.
Its task-based multithreading system also makes it better than others. The app features configurable rendering pipeline, component-based scene model, automatic instancing, point, spot and directional lights, static and skinned decals, HDR rendering, and cross-platform support.
#9 Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine is a Game Engine created by Epic Games in 1998. It is a complete solution of creation tools designed to meet ambitious artistic vision while being flexible enough to ensure success for teams of all sizes. As an established, industry-leading engine, the solution delivers a powerful, and proven performance that you can trust.
The engine features a massive range of unique tools and workflows that put you in control, whether your team made up of five or more than 500 developers. Its pre-built, modular systems, advance level, customize plugins, and source control integration empower you to meet each project’s unique needs.
Unreal Engine is an all-in-one game engine that comes with a full product suite that comes production-ready out of the box without the need for additional plugins or purchases. The solution works similar as compared to other engines, but its advanced tools and features make it better than others.
Unreal Engine core features include simple editor, create high-quality photorealistic renders, immersive AR and VR experience, and deep support for the platforms that matter. Overall, Unreal Engine is one of the best game engines as compared to others.
#10 CryENGINE
CryENGINE is a first all-in-one game development solution with truly scalable computation, multi-award winning graphics, realistic physics, and intuitive visual scripting, etc. The game engine is developed by a German developer named Crytek in 2006. Its editor comes with all the major tools and features in order to deliver a complete and comprehensive experience.
CryENGINE makes the learning curve less steep with complete source code. Clear tutorials, detailed documentation, and a strong development community make it better them others. The marketplace provides you with a wide range of assets ready to use in your products.
It comes as an alternative to Unreal Engine but offers lots of new features that make it better than others. CryENGINE app’s core features include sandbox editor, road and river tools, integrated vegetation, placement tools and cover, high-quality 3D water, AI editing system, rope physics, and much more. If you are looking for a true game engine with complete tools, then you’ll surely enjoy CryENGINE.
#11 AutoDesk StingRay
AutoDesk StingRay is a game engine that comes with Windows, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS, and Android devices and uses Lua Scripting Language. Autodesk produces a new game engine called AutoDesk’s StingRay that comes with all the features and compiling options for users who wanted to convert Revit Models into interactive 3D experiences such as VR with a minimum effort.
It comes with all the major tools, features, and technology that allow its users to create any video game. It offers particle and other visual effect options and post-processing effects like depth-of-field, motion blur, and lens blur effects to make it more powerful. It can be used NVIDIA’s PhysX physics system works with Autodesk gameware tools like Beast for global illumination, Scaleform, and FBX, etc. There is also a range of core features that make it a comprehensive solution to make any video game.
#12 Strata Sculpt 3D
Strata Sculpt 3D is an Online Virtual Clay, Modeling, Sculpting, and 3D Printing application designed for professionals. It is a modern style 3D object builder that comes with all the leading tools, features, and services. With this help of this, you can easily create and customize any size of a 3D object, add different objects and shapes that make your object more interesting.
The best thing about this solution is that it comes with a massive library of simple objects and shapes that consists of multiple categories. Each category has its purposes that you can easily choose and edit without any limitation. There is also has an option that allows you to upload on objects and shapes to own personalized objects.
As compared to all the other similar online 3D object builder software, Strata Sculpt 3D is much powerful and offers a simple editor that is full of advanced tools and items. Its most prominent feature includes massive showcase, expert artist guides, online community, and camera menu to rest your view, multiple filters, effects, and more.
#13 RPGMaker
RPGMaker is a platform that enables users to create games from high-budget to general 2D games. The platform helps the users to create games from their imagination into reality even if they do not have any programming skills.
The platform allows the users to customize every aspect of their game through the easy-to-use interface. RPGMaker has large features, and the best thing about this software is that anyone can create a game on this platform without any previous experience. It provides all kinds of games categories from action to puzzle and provides the implementation of events in the scenarios like transitions, animations, and automatic movements.
It enables companies to create simulations against simpler hackler attacks. RPGMaker helps the user to stay focus on the real mechanics and story of the game instead of worrying about the coding issues. The platforms also have a vast number of freeware demos, scripts, tilesets, tutorials, and animations that can be used by anyone. RPGMaker has a free trial and a paid version, while customer support is provided online.
#14 Keyshot
Keyshot is one of the best 3D rendering software that instantly brings you real-time 3D rendering and display results. The solution comes with the aim to reduce the time to create realistic product visuals. It starts at a very basic level, and now it has millions of users around the world who can use it to create their products easily and quickly.
The solution comes with advanced editing capabilities and offers almost all the core services and features that help you create and modify your design in minutes. It includes native support for over 30 landing 3D file formats and offers a range of plug-ins and app sync features to automatically grape your date.
It offers more than 750 preset materials, with thousands more on its cloud that helps you create advanced designs. The solution is also best for those who get new ideas and has a massive gallery that you can freely explore without any limit. Keyshot is commercial software and offers three different price plans. Each plan has its own cost and core features.