Video Game Making Software

There’s a ton of software out there that can help you make video games. When I say software I mean software development kits or an actual game engine. Each software has features that you may or may not need so make sure to do your research before investing time into one.  The three that I will be going into are my favorite from personal experience.  They are Unity 3D, Corona SDK and Cocos2D.

Unity 3D engine is a great one to learn if you’re looking to create 2D/3D video games on various platforms. It also comes with its own WYSIWYG editor so you don’t have to code everything. Unity 3D is great for beginner and experts since it uses multiple programming languages such as Javascript and C#, however it has a moderate learning curve. There is a free version available with some features missing.

Corona SDK is awesome if you’re just starting out learning how to make video games.  It allows for rapid prototyping and actually rapid development too. Great for beginners. I’ve used this one for the majority of my games, and the development speed is great! It allows for multi platform development, but for the majority of the features you would need to pay for them.

I would suggest using Corona SDK if you have the money and are planning to create simple video games.

Cocos2D is another SDK if you’re looking to develop for the iOS only. It allows you to code natively for the iPhone which means you can integrate all the latest features into your game without having to wait for an update from a 3rd party developer such as the two engine’s above. Cocos2D has a WIYWYG interface, however I don’t have much experience with it so I can’t comment on that. Overall it’s a great SDK if you’re looking to already work with the Objective-C programming language, and I’ve created more advanced game’s with this SDK then I have with Corona SDK.

There are a ton more SDKs and Engines out there then what I have previously mentioned, however these are the ones I have most experience with and can give some solid advice on how to make video games.

This is part of series on How to Make Video Games