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2D Game Engine Comparison For Rapid Prototyping For Anyone

Introduction

I've always wanted to build my own game but had zero knowledge about this area. Game engines have advanced so much that most people can now put something reasonably impressive together for fun (or profit) without too much effort. This post inspired me to dive in.

What does this repo offer me?

There are an overwhelming number of game engines to pick from so here is:

  • A 2023 shortlist for anyone to try out that are all free
  • Links to get you started
  • The same playable game for each engine to make it easy to compare (created by following the links provided)
  • The source code for each game
  • A list of engines that didn't quite make the cut, with reasons (mostly objective)

Selection criteria

I've been a software engineer since about 2007 and although I can code in a variety of languages I wanted something that anyone could pick up so these are the key criteria for inclusion:

  • Free (you can build a good game without being forced to upgrade to premium versions). Open Source is a bonus
  • Good documentation
  • Good community
  • Under active development
  • Easy visual programming (so you don't need to learn how to code)
  • Support working in a common and useful programming language (so you can teach yourself coding at the same time or not feel limited by the visual scripting)
  • Easy to use editor
  • Supports exporting to HTML5 (since this is an easy format to host and share, e.g. free hosting on https://itch.io/games). More formats available is even better

For total beginners 2D games are much simpler to build than 3D games. If you're interested in 3D games I would create a few 2D prototypes first and pick the game engines I've marked as supporting 3D.

If you enjoy this project, please consider ♥️ buying me a beer 🍺 ♥️ and starring ⭐ the project. My personal website for the curious.

Summary

GDevelop is probably the one you should start with. If you feel limited, move to Unity but expect a steep learning curve. I've personally decided to stick with Unity (despite the 2023 pricing fiasco) as it's powerful and I like C#, plus some of my friends are using this. Key information can be found below, see the Comparison section next for a deeper analysis.

Area GDevelop Unity
Playable game link My demo My demo
Playable game screenshot GDevelop screenshot Unity screenshot
Game size ~9 MB ~10 MB
Time (hours) - General tutorials 1.5 6.5
Time (hours) - Platformer tutorial 2 10
Time (hours) - Platformer polish 4.75 18
Time (hours) - Total 8.25 34.5
Notable games Hyperspace Dogfights Cuphead, Hearthstone, Hollow Knight
Showcase YouTube YouTube

Comparison

See Details below to clarify some of the ratings.

  • Key
    • ⭐ - excellent (very few flaws)
    • ✅ - good (flaws but overall pleasant experience)
    • 🆗 - average (mixed experience)
    • 😡- poor (easy to find flaws, overall negative experience)
    • ❌- not supported
Area GDevelop Unity
Version used 5.1.160 2021.3.27f1
Updates ⭐ (every month) ⭐ (every 2 weeks)
Pricing / Licensing ⭐, Link / Open Source (MIT) 🆗 Link
2D ✅ ✅
3D 😡 (being improved) ✅
Platforms ✅ (HTML5, Mobile, Desktop & Facebook) ⭐ (Free: HTML5, Mobile, Desktop. Paid: Console)
Documentation ⭐ 🆗
Community ✅ ⭐
Ease of use ⭐ 🆗
Build time / Speed ⭐ ✅
Editor ✅ ✅
Editor - Autocomplete ✅ ⭐
Editor - Size ~400 MB ~7 GB
Editor - Preview ✅ (quick) ✅ (quick)
Languages supported JavaScript C#
Game controls ⭐ (Keyboard built-in, controller via extension) ⭐ (new input system very flexible)
Sprites ✅ (built-in Piskel support) ✅
Enemies ✅ (AI via extensions) ⭐
Asset store ✅ ⭐
Tilemaps ✅ ⭐
Text 🆗 ⭐
Hit detection ✅ ⭐
Animations ✅ (via Piskel) ⭐
Particle effects ✅ ⭐
Sound effects ✅ ⭐
Music ✅ ⭐
Abstraction ⭐ (custom objects, extensions, functions, etc.) ⭐ (prefabs, subgraphs, functions, etc.)

Details

GDevelop

Overall good fun to use and quick to get up and running for a total beginner. Recommended.

Key parts are free and there are useful free services. Documentation is easy to find, up-to-date and there are extensive videos. There's an active community that's a reasonable size. Editor on mobile is limited but on desktop and web it's unrestricted. Editor supports grouping, comments and colours for organisation plus the preview is instant. HTML5 builds are unlimited but you only get a few per day for other platforms, but this is probably manageable. Can download extensions in the IDE to build things faster (e.g. add controller support) and you can add your own. IDE has built-in guided lessons. Reasonable selection of free assets.

Console builds are not supported. Can't use other editors for JavaScript coding (e.g. Visual Studio Code). Specialises in 2D games; 3D games can be made through extensions but are in an early state, but is being developed rapidly. Although 2D is a speciality it lacks advanced features like skeletal animations. Tilemaps could be a bit more clever. Some of the older tutorials haven't been updated for the new IDE and have a few minor errors. IDE provides reasonable autocomplete but improvements can be made here. Could do with more free assets, especially sounds & music.

The developers are really good at listening to feedback and polishing things, so things keep changing rapidly. GDevelop 5.3 was released which added a few things I thought were lacking when starting out, such as object folders, improved variable syntax, Steamworks integration (networking, achievements, etc.) and simplified conditions / actions.

Unity

Overall very powerful but at the expense of being complicated and having many unpolished features. Would recommend you start with GDevelop first then migrate to this if you feel limited. You might choose this first if you want:

  • To learn a solid backend programming language (static typing will give you nicer errors than JavaScript and switching to Java later is also easy)
  • To learn a battle-tested popular game engine (Unreal Engine is its main competitor)
  • You want something that won't limit you (but may frustrate you)

The important parts are free (unless you want to release to consoles). API documentation and the community is good. There is a full learning track but it's mostly for 3D. Excellent external editors (e.g. Visual Studio) are easy to setup and are a must if not using visual scripting. Massive selection of free assets. Very powerful and has many tools (e.g. smart tiling, skeletal animations, solid particle system, etc.). Good for 2D and 3D although the 2D isn't really specialised (just a modified view of the 3D world, which you might prefer if you want to mix and match). Multiplayer is available.

Initially found it hard to make progress because there's so much to learn. It took 4x as long as GDevelop to learn enough and build the equivalent game, although I feel the Unity one is more polished. This is not helped by the fact that many of the official tutorials are designed for specific versions, so expect mistakes or bugs when not using the exact one. In addition the 2D tutorials are poor at teaching you the fundamentals (stick to YouTube). The vast majority of tutorials (both official and unofficial) focus on coding rather than visual scripting. It's not too tricky to convert between them, but you may find it tricky to get started if you want to only focus on visual scripting. In the end I chose to follow C# ones and then try some visual scripting which was nice enough (much of the C# is copy / pasting anyway so you'll probably be ok). Many annoyingly unpolished features (e.g. "2d game kits" left to rot, version mismatch issues, default WebGL template doesn't stretch properly, etc. - too many to list, also see https://garry.net/posts/unity-2020). The editor is complicated to get to grips with initially. Projects are slow to open.

If you would like to get started faster then there a few packages in the Optional section that could be good.

2023 pricing fiasco

Ultimately, all companies need to make money but they did a bad job with this one. At least the CEO quit. This has made me a bit more cautious, but I'm still sticking with Unity because overall it is a good tool and ultimately anything you pick that's free might have similar changes.

Engine Guides

General

Language guide

This project only focuses on engines that offer visual programming (in addition to common languages). However, you may wish to start with visual programming and then dig into a popular programming language (e.g. for job purposes). Choosing a language is ultimately a personal preference. Below is a brief guide for the common ones:

  • JavaScript - popular in web development
  • TypeScript - typed version of JavaScript. Gaining popularity in web development
  • Java / C# - solid all-rounders. Syntax is similar. Usually seen in backend services. C# is popular in games too (e.g. Unity engine, Godot engine)
  • Python - easy to read. Popular in AI / machine learning. Good as a general purpose scripting language for automation
  • Lua - easy to embed in other applications. Easy to learn. Popular in games (e.g. Love engine, Roblox, World of Warcraft interface customisation, etc.)
  • C++ - subjectively harder than the others to learn. Great for optimisation. Usually seen in high performance systems, low level software and games (e.g. Unreal Engine)

GDevelop

Playable game for the source code in this repository

Getting started

  1. Basics
  2. Create a very bare game skeleton
  3. Turn the skeleton into a playable game
  4. Add polish to playable game
    • YouTube - Particle Emitter – In Depth Tutorial - GDevelop
    • YouTube - The 10 BEST Game Development Extensions
      • "Advanced platformer movements"
      • "Camera Shake"
      • "Gamepads (controllers)"
      • "Multitouch joystick and buttons"
      • "Hexagonal grid" / "Snap objects to a virtual grid"
      • "Shake Object (position, angle, scale)" (can use for any kind of general movement, including button scaling, etc.) - useful but particles are usually easier for simple death / pickup / hit animations since they don't mess with the original object
      • "Rectangular Movement"
      • "Health (life points)"
      • "Smooth Camera" (can be used to stabilise camera when jumping)
      • "Fire bullets"
  5. Optional

Notes

  • Event list is run from top to bottom every frame
  • You can disable the in-game watermark in Game properties without needing a subscription

Tips

Performance
  • Events will stop being read if the condition above is false. This means you can optimise by putting a common conditional at the top (e.g. if player is dead, then do a bunch of stuff) - doesn't automatically combine common conditionals
  • Collision detection is intense so if you can use something else (like distance from object for a coin where perfect collision detection is less important), then do that instead
  • If you need to display many objects, you can improve FPS by reducing animation loops or removing actions like movement
  • Delete / de-activate behaviours for things that are off the screen ("Object 'Is On Screen' Detection" extension super useful)
  • Be reasonable with your asset sizes
  • Use tile maps for large scenes
  • Keep size small
    • Can remove unused resources easily by using Remove unused... in the right-click menu in the Resources tab

Unity

Playable game for the source code in this repository

Getting started

  1. Create minimal playable game
  2. Basics
  3. Add polish to playable game
    • Removed camera follow component
    • Added slime enemy that uses new Enemy tag and updated WaypointFollower script to allow sprite flipping
    • Added OnPlayerDeath and OnLevelCompleted so PlayerMovement script can stop the player moving cleanly. Movement stopping is slightly different in each scenario
    • Renamed PlayerLife script to PlayerDamageController and added enemy killing by jumping
    • Added more functions to WaypointFollower script to allow clean destruction. This is handled by the death transition in the animator
    • Modified PlayerDamageController and PlayerMovement scripts to allow jumping off enemy head on kill
    • Modified PlayerMovement script jumping to allow variable jump height (https://forum.unity.com/threads/setting-variable-jump-height-for-the-second-jump.391842/)
    • Added dust effect to PlayerMovement script
    • Added Checkpoint script to handle checkpoints. CheckpointParent script used to make it easier to setup events. Event used to let player know last position. Be careful when copying the coordinates around, Vector3 is fine to copy because it's a struct but Transform will give you a reference (see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/standard/design-guidelines/choosing-between-class-and-struct)
    • Created 1-way platforms by adding another layer and ticking Use One Way in the Platform Effector 2D component
    • ItemCollector script now fires an event when an item is collected. Created new FinishGated script and moved counting logic there. Moved collected item count from canvas into game world above finish flag. These work together to show the user they need to collect all the items to finish
    • Added Fader script to fade and unfade finish flag to give an extra visual indicator that items need to be collected to unlock the flag. Also created FaderVS to show how visual scripting can be used in conjunction with C# scripts. They are both reasonably similar and are used in the FinishGated script
    • Replaced old input system with new input system
    • See Building links above for final build (this was more fiddly than expected due to the default WebGL template not having sensible defaults)
  4. Optional

Notes

  • Glossary
    • Component - contain properties which you can edit to define the behavior of a GameObject
    • GameObject - fundamental objects in Unity that represent characters, props and scenery
    • Prefabs - templates for GameObjects with preset components - basically drag a GameObject that's been setup to a folder, usually Prefabs
  • Fundamentals
    • All game objects have a Transform component because they're displayed on the scene somewhere
  • Keyboard shortcuts
    • QWERTY - these map to the editor common tool group that starts with the Hand
    • SHIFT+F - Zoom into currently selected game object. Or double click on the game object
    • CTRL+D - Duplicate the currently selected game object
    • CTRL+P - Play / Stop playing game
    • TileMaps
      • Hold Shift and left-click to erase a tile you just layed
      • Rotate a tile before painting by using [ and ]
    • Hold CTRL when moving a sprite to move in increments
    • Hold ALT when using Rect Tool on a sprite to resize from the centre
  • Areas
    • These are in alphabetical order for easy reference
    • Animations
      • Don't forget to check Loop Time in the inspector for the animation clip (asset with triangle icon) to make sure the animation loops
      • You can drag sprites into the animation timeline but it's a bit fiddly because sometimes it won't let you. Just make sure to select the game object and it should work
      • Usually need to change transition defaults so Has Exit Time is unchecked and Transition Duration is 0
      • Triggers are one-off events that can be used in the Animator (e.g. death)
      • Animation window
        • Dots in top right allow you to Show Sample Rate which will let you change the speed of the animation
      • Recording animations is easier than trying to do things programatically
    • Audio
      • Play On Awake is checked by default which usually isn't what you want
    • Designing
      • Using Squares as initial game objects mean you get a Sprite Renderer component added automatically, making setup slightly faster
      • Whenever you nest a game object under another game object, the Transform component becomes relative to the parent (e.g. if you put the camera under the player object, the camera will follow the player)
      • Freeze rotation Z on rigid body to stop it rotating about that plane
    • Editor
      • If you mess up Editor layout, can just select Default in the top right
      • Prefabs are highlighted in blue. Edit Prefabs by clicking on the > arrow on right (if you edit the game object directly it only applies to that one and not all the others)
      • When adding a new game object, check the Z value because it sometimes isn't exactly 0
      • Hierarchy window
        • Eye icon to left of objects lets you toggle visibility
    • IDE (e.g. Visual Studio)
      • Moving scripts around after creating them can break the intellisense so need to regenerate using Edit -> Preferences -> External Tools -> Select your IDE in External Script Editor -> Click Regenerate project files. This seems to happen more often with Visual Studio Code
    • Inspector
      • ? icon takes you straight to documentation
    • Project Settings
      • Input Manager lets you rebind keys for old input system
    • Sprites
      • Click the sprite group (not the individual frames) to set the Pixels Per Unit value before working with a sprite
  • Troubleshooting
    • When changing UnityEvents, you need to setup up the serializable fields for events again otherwise you'll get strange type errors
    • Visual Studio Code
      • When adding new scripts, intellisense may not work for the new files. This can be fixed by regenerating the project files as per the setup steps
      • In some cases regenerating will not fix the issue, seem to be quite a few bugs here
      • Overall, the Visual Studio integration seems a lot more bug free, so recommend using that instead

Potential game engines

  • Unreal - market leader. Better experience for 3D games but can also do 2D games. Can export to HTML5. Has visual scripting via Blueprints. Code must be C++ (harder than C#). Pixel 2D and PaperZD packages are popular, but PaperZD doesn't support multiplayer. PaperZD got bought by Epic to replace Paper2D since it hasn't been updated in a long time (Link). However Paper2D does support multiplayer. Would likely be a worse experience than Unity so this hasn't be prioritised yet (Link)

Rejected game engines

These are in alphabetical order for easy reference. Each is validated against the key criteria defined at top. Any ❌ results in a rejection. In some cases you may think the rejection is unfair, so feel free to try some out. There are a large number of game engines and they had to be cut down somehow. "Last update" column updated on 01/11/2023.

Engine Free version Visual programming Common languages HTML5 supported Docs Community Ease of use Last update Notes
BabylonJS ✅ ❌ ✅ TypeScript ✅ ✅ ? ? ✅ 5 days ago Can do 2.5D. Phaser 3 preferred for 2D. No plans to focus on 2D
Bitsy ✅ ✅ ❌ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🆗 97 days ago ❌ Can't make anything complex (simple grid-based games)
Cocos2dx ✅ ❌ ✅ JavaScript, Lua ✅ ❌ Poor ? ? ✅ 15 days ago Seems more geared towards chinese market than english
Construct 3 ❌ Too limited ✅ ✅ JavaScript ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 49 days ago Forum discussion suggests free version is too limited
Defold ✅ ❌ ✅ Lua ✅ ✅ ? ? ✅ 8 days ago
GameMaker ❌ Too limited ✅ ❌ GML ❌ Paid ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 47 days ago
Godot ✅ ❌ ✅ C# ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 28 days ago Visual scripting support was removed in 4.0
Love ✅ ❌ ✅ Lua ✅ ✅ ? ? ❌ ~2 years ago
Phaser ✅ ❌ ✅ JavaScript, TypeScript ✅ 🆗 ? ? 🆗 6 months ago Visual scripting via paid 3rd party editor
PICO-8 ✅ ❌ ✅ Lua ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 🆗 10 months ago Fantasy console. Font hard to read in free version
Pixel Vision 8 ✅ ❌ ✅ C# ❌ ✅ ? ? ❌ Development paused Fantasy console
PlayCanvas ❌ Too limited ❌ ✅ JavaScript ✅ ✅ ? ? ✅ 3 weeks ago Free version does not allow private projects
PuzzleScript ✅ ❌ (not needed) ❌ PuzzleScript ✅ ✅ ? ✅ 🆗 6 months ago ❌ Can't make anything complex (puzzles only)
Stencyl ✅ ✅ ❌ Haxe ✅ ? ? ✅ ❌ 2 years ago ❌ Free version can only publish to web
TIC-80 ✅ ❌ ✅ JavaScript, Lua, Python, Ruby ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ 2 months ago Fantasy console. Similar to PICO-8 but less limited (more memory for code and sprites). External editor requires paid version
Twine ✅ ❌ (not needed) ✅ JavaScript via Snowman ✅ ✅ ? ✅ ✅ 3 months ago ❌ Can't make anything complex (interactive stories only)

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Comparison of 2D game engines for rapid prototyping.

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demo tutorial game-engine unity example game-development gdevelop comparison game-engine-2d

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