Artstage

Artstage

Very promising program. The author often updates it, which is important. There are tools for modeling and texturing. As a result, you can export both model and texture to game engines.

Thanks to the developer for the diligence!

Real player with 182.4 hrs in game

This is the most efficient and full-fledged poly-modeling tool I’ve been able to find to use in VR. It’s great and helped me a lot with retopology. I’m glad I’ve bought this, much appreciate work done by autor of this software, but still hope there will be two tools added during future updates: “bridge tool” to build poly between two selected edges and “cap hole” tool to create surface in place of enclosed edge loop.

Real player with 47.1 hrs in game

Artstage on Steam

Puppet Play 🎬

Puppet Play 🎬

You have the idea, we have everything else!

Puppet Play aims to make animating as easy as possible by utilizing the possibilities of VR headsets. In traditional animation tools, animating is done by manipulating gizmos on a 2D screen. In Puppet Play everything is animated by recording your movement in real-time. This not only makes animating easy but also super fast. No matter the prior experience, if you have a cool idea for a movie you can turn it into reality in a few minutes (depending on your idea it might take a bit longer)!

Grab an object → press record → move it around & repeat!

Additional tools like motion capture, remote control & auto walk support the process. Use your headset to record live audio and once everything is complete, export and share your creation in a standard video format (mp4).

A huge collection of different characters (not only puppets), props and environments are ready for you to use! All things animatable are separated into 3 categories:

Puppets: Characters with Full-Body-Inverse-Kinematic rigs for fast animations

Props: Large objects to build & decorate your set with.

Items: Small objects that can also be attached to the puppets, like weapon, hair & hats.

You are in your own movie studio with many different sets that can be further customized with props. They range from traditional puppet theatres to fully-fledged 3D scenes for your next epic cinematic trailer!

A puppet on a stick or a full 3D character with individually animatable limbs: Choose what fits your vision & time scope. Short on time but still want to tell a story? Choose puppets on a stick! Got a bit more time on your hand and want to go into detail? Then choose a fully animatable humanoid character!

It’s designed for VR, there is no place for 2D UIs! All interactions are physical and integrated into the movie/puppet studio world. Or to say it in cool UX design terms: It’s a fully diegetic UI!

Once your animation is complete, you can export and share it as a standard video file (mp4). You have all rights to upload and monetize anything you make with our tool!

Puppet Play is being developed by a team of freshly graduated students from Hochschule Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. Puppet Play started as a semester project in the study “Animation and Game” at the campus.


Read More: Best Animation & Modeling Video Production Games.


Puppet Play 🎬 on Steam

PixelOver

PixelOver

This is a tool for pixel art that I wasn’t expecting I’d get in love with so much! ^^

Even in early access, PixelOver is a pretty solid and unique software. Also, it’s constantly & actively improved by the developer (and it kinda amazes me how fast he’s working with this project).

Here’s a (non exahustive) list of features from PixelOver that I like a lot :)

  • It converts normal 2D art to pixel art (you can use bitmap files and vector files!)

  • Customizable palettes, shaders and dithering for pixel art conversions

Real player with 39.2 hrs in game

it’s Early Access, but it gives you enough tools for it to be worth a buy! Quick and easy bone animation, but it’s not just that, you have other options, like transform, deform and skew! A warp transform tool would be so amazing if added!

You can manipulate these tools on every individual frame on your animation if you want!

PixelOver is pretty useful! I love it!

Real player with 33.4 hrs in game

PixelOver on Steam

Simmetri

Simmetri

As the lead creative designer at the Public VR Lab, I’m in a constant search for the next VR creation tool. Playing with Simmetri for the first time was a dream come true. The endless possibilities Simmetri offercs, handed to me in such a simple, accessible way, astonished me and sparked my imagination.

The ease of handling complicated concepts and ideas is unparalleled in the field.

The tutorials were clear and strightforward and enabled me to dive into the app with a smile, having understood the functions and concepts of the app.

Real player with 305.1 hrs in game

I’m a professor in the creative writing program of a large public university. I’ve long been on the hunt for a tool that would allow me and my students–almost none of us STEM types or coders–to make narrative art in VR (and in 2D). Simmetri is that tool. It neatly and intuitively bridges the gap between the desire of a non-technical person to tell a story in VR and the fulfillment of that desire.

I’ve tried Unity and Unreal Engine, as well as a host of other “game-making” tools (my Steam library is full of them), and all of them buffaloed me almost as soon as I got started. I’m fifteen or so hours in to my use of Simmetri, and already I’ve produced at least one “VR story” that I’m pleased with and that I can show off to my colleagues and students as a proof-of-concept, to help sell them on the idea of VR as a serious narrative medium. Now that I’ve got my legs under me, I see no end to the creations that Simmetri will make possible.

Real player with 275.2 hrs in game

Simmetri on Steam

Posable Heroes

Posable Heroes

Game, with unique mechanic, cool levels, funny scenes and beautiful soundtrack. One-man creation, Posable heroes. I played a lot in this game and i can say, this is not the end. I hope you, Lint, will have a lot of money from this game and buy will briliant pony :D

Игра, с уникальной механикой, классными уровнями, смешными сценками и замечательным саунд-треком. Создана одним человеком, Posable Heroes. Я много наиграл в неё и могу сказать, это не конец. Я надеюсь ты, линт, получешь большую прибыль с этой игры и купишь брилиантовую пони :D

Real player with 97.8 hrs in game

Really fun game, quite addictive when you get the hang of it. Things get a little clunky when multiple characters are interacting in one animation, each throwing the other off their sequence of movements, but for the most part this is a really cool unique game I recommend.

Real player with 19.8 hrs in game

Posable Heroes on Steam

Dynamic Dungeons Editor

Dynamic Dungeons Editor

For those who don’t know, this is a complete re-do of the old Dynamic Dungeon Editor which had a some what dated feel to it.

The new DDE is built with Unity and has a much better feel to it.

If you play table top role playing games on a TV, monitor, or projector setup with people physically in the room with you (not playing remotely) this is the best software currently out.

It has a small learning curve in my opinion, but honestly anyone can use the basic features: load a map (animated or static) and start playing Dungeons & Dragons or whatever RPG your heart desires.

Real player with 142.4 hrs in game

I originally purchased Dynamic Dungeons through Patreon and it has been a game changer for our DnD games. The ability to use a quick change map, pre-build the campaign, download or create custom props and then reveal it all slowly with fog of war is just amazing. Add to that the options for particle effects, motion background and immersive environmental sounds and you have a classy set up for your DnD gaming sessions.

I do all my creation on my robust PC and then copy the campaign over to the laptop for the session itself. We set up a 40" LCD TV on a pool table with Plexiglass on top to set out miniatures on. The players move their minis and I control NPCs, fog of war and other features from my laptop for them to view on the screen.

Real player with 72.0 hrs in game

Dynamic Dungeons Editor on Steam

Girl Mod | GIRLS VR (create + pose in VR)

Girl Mod | GIRLS VR (create + pose in VR)

Just tried out this game and like it. The girl looks more realistic than I was expecting (makes me appreciate how far VR has come and where its going in the future ❂‿❂

The artwork is great. There are only four or five scenes right now and I would like to see more, epecially like the neon scene where there is more physics. Flinging stuff around is always cool. The girl is easy enough to pose and is animated (you can see her breathing and looking around etc.)

If you like this style of game, I would recommend it for sure…def does what it says, and has lots of potential.

Real player with 1.7 hrs in game

This girl is the most pretty, realistic with great physics out there in VR. But it’s wasted because the developer has appeared to have left the project. Would be nice if they at least sold it to someone to continue the development.

Real player with 0.8 hrs in game

Girl Mod | GIRLS VR (create + pose in VR) on Steam

Lords of New York

Lords of New York

I’ve been waiting for this game for years, and finally now that it’s in Early Access and I’ve had a chance to play it a bunch, I am really enjoying it. It’s basically a game about cheating at poker, with a bunch of other poker cheats. It’s your standard Texas Hold ‘Em, only each character has different abilities that help them get an edge. These abilities are unlocked and “level up” as rounds of play go on, but even from the first deal, you’re able to manipulate the cards, your opponents, and of course, make the usual decisions like call, raise, or fold. It’s a great new take on poker, and the game for the most part seems pretty balanced, despite each character having a different set of abilities. It always feels good to win a hand of poker, but it’s even more fun playing when you have these extra tools at your disposal to make the cards go your way, or get a peek at your opponent’s hand.

Real player with 4.0 hrs in game

just bought because of sale, but i liked the idea about the different powers the charactors have i wish there was a story mode hopefully there will be. If there is that update then it could be the best poker game on steam just maybe but only with that story mode complete please finish the game please.

Real player with 2.3 hrs in game

Lords of New York on Steam

GameGuru

GameGuru

Gameguru is a rough-around-the edges, cheap, underpowered game engine. It is a spiritual successor to TGC’s previos successful endeavor: FPS Creator. FPS creator was a dream come true for wanna-be mappers and newbie game designers wanting to create their own simple little first person experiences. It worked well enough for what it was, had a super active community, and lots of mods, an easy-to-learn custom scripting language, and many successful games were made with it.

FPS Creator reloaded promised to be the upgrade everyone wanted from FPS Creator. It was gonna feature all next gen graphical features, a bigger map editor, and in general more freedom and ability. This was proposed on kickstarter where it didn’t meet it’s exorbitant asking donation, so it later was rebranded and came out as GameGuru.

Real player with 650.3 hrs in game

Yeah, okay, GameGuru doesn’t have the best graphics around, but they have a specific look to it, so there’s that. Making the graphics look as good as UE4 and Unity however, is practically impossible. But that’s not my point, my point is GameGuru’s graphics are good enough for making games for the hecc of it.

The engine is editable to certain extents, but not really enough for hardcore coders and developers. Again, this is an engine made more for the fun of it. Making some nice $$$ is possible, but not too easy.

Real player with 387.7 hrs in game

GameGuru on Steam

Pixel Game Maker MV

Pixel Game Maker MV

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m now ready to weigh in my thoughts on Pixel Game Maker MV. I’ve been using this software since early access back in 2018.

TL;DR:

Pixel Game Maker MV is a great game development engine for those that are not programmers, and want to be able to create either side scrolling or top down action games. It’s got enough for a single person development operation to chew on here to create the game you want to create in the way you want it created; bearing in mind that you operate within the program’s limits. If programming/scripting is outside your reach (or if it’s something you can do), this is a great engine that has the potential to be amazing as long as the developers continue with updates & performance improvements. There are assets and DLC that is available at the time of writing for you to get a jump on a concept quickly, but there are no asset standards (outside of keeping things divisible by 2) to conform with.

Real player with 2587.5 hrs in game

I’ll begin this review with I’m 36, not 16. I have no illusions about making a game and distributing it for gain. This is a hobby for me and that is the perspective I write this review from. I have a day job. I moonlight as a hobby pixel artist, and that drives me to dev software to have fun with, and bring it to life.

I began with RPG Maker MV as my first dip into game dev software. I do not have a desire to learn to code so that software was more interesting to me compared to more advanced engines. After years in RMMV I felt the want for more control from the ground up, and not be boxed in by hard limitations from the software, and the need for plugins to break through those hard limitations. Pixel Game Maker MV grants me that feeling. I did not feel like the learning curve to get going on a project was difficult, even without a large database of video tutorial content on YouTube at the time.

Real player with 1866.7 hrs in game

Pixel Game Maker MV on Steam