AppGameKit Classic: Easy Game Development
A little background:
I’m a professional developer schooled in C### and Java. I am however not schooled to create games, but I know how the mechanics work. 3D game development is more of a hobby/side-project. Please read my review as such, if you’re completely new to programming, my feeling about this product can greatly differ from your perspective. Most of my pros and cons are subjective. But true in my opinion. Also: I use this product only for 3D development, I have no interest in the 2D side.
– Real player with 1305.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Software Training Programming Games.
I’ve changed my review. I thought about deleting it and posting a whole new review, but then I decided to keep it so TGC’s intentions to make AGK functional on Linux would be documented in the comments. If you would like to see the old review, so you’ll have some context if you read the comments, click here .
Okay, I’ve got better things to do with my time now that AGK on Linux has notably improved, and 2 lengthy reviews is 2 too many, so let’s get down to brass tacks.
– Real player with 1279.9 hrs in game
Leadwerks Game Engine
Leadwerks is a semi easy-to-use and very powerful game engine written in OpenGL 4 with a deferred renderer. The engine is crossplatform between Windows & Linux, frequently updated, and has a very friendly and active community. With Leadwerks, you can create any game you want, be it an FPS game, 3rd person shooter, a puzzle game, or something super wacky, you can make it in the Leadwerks engine.
Some Of The Great Features
The deferred renderer is the pride and joy in this engine, giving you the ability to easily add dynamic lights and/or static lights with realistic shadows instantly, no lightmap baking needed. CSG level editing (like Source Engine’s Hammer editor) is fun and fast in the Leadwerks editor, allowing you to map out and create a level to test out pretty quickly. The engine is built upon OpenGL 4, making the engine crossplatform between Windows and Linux. A Mac version is currently in the works and should be out sometime in the near future.
– Real player with 1535.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Software Training Sandbox Games.
If you read this before the end of the 2nd December 2014, and you are wanting to be be able to write a 3D game, get this now. Its incredible value at 50% off. If you have and use visual studio and write code in C++, and want to use it to write a game, splash out and get the Standard version too. I bought mine in a previous sale, with -25% off, and have invested many hours in using this latest version during the beta testing of 3.3.
There are lots of video tutorials on you-tube, which are really useful for a beginner to understand how to start to use Leadwerks. The Forum http://www.leadwerks.com/werkspace/ is a great community resource, which is always worth a visit when your stuck, answers to many of your questions can be found by searching in here. If its not already answered you can ask the community, and there are some really great people who have been using Leadwerks for years, including Josh (Leadwerks CEO) who respond with knowlegeable answers.
– Real player with 979.8 hrs in game
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
Read More: Best Software Training Indie Games.
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
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