[转]Game Engines
http://content.gpwiki.org/index.php/Game_Engines
A game engine is the core library functions used in a game, usually related to graphics, input, sound, networking and other systems.
Engines are separate from game-specific code, which enables different games to use the same engine. (Games of different genres even, in some cases.)
Engines have different features. When picking an engine, you have to pay attention to whether or not it satisfies the needs of your game.
Engine Overview
Game engines | |||||||||||
C-script like language/C++/Delphi | Commercial | 3D via DirectX | Physics | ||||||||
C++ | Allegro | Supports user-made plugins and modules | |||||||||
.NET | Free | 2D via Direct3D or OpenGL | |||||||||
C++ | Indie/Commercial | Hardware accelerated 2D via Direct3D or OpenGL | Physics | Scene management, high-level framework, automatic memory management | Not cross platform yet | ||||||
C | Free (Open Source) | 2D and 3D | |||||||||
C#, C# for Unity, Flash, Java (server), AWT | Free and commercial | N/A | Also includes persistence (database access). Check web page for more feature detail | Makes it possible to create online/multiplayer apps without caring about (or even knowing about) networking. Novel approach via graphical modelling | |||||||
Delphi / Delphi .NET | Free | 2D/3D via DirectX | GUI Editor | Versions later than v3.1 are only for BDS and Turbo Delphi | |||||||
.NET | LGPL | 3D via OpenGL/DirectX/XNA | Based on the very popular OGRE rendering engine. | ||||||||
C++/Lua | Free | 3D via OpenGL | Professional Results, Includes all tools | Shaders, Shipped a Commercial game, Easy to use, Flexible | As far as I can see, the site does not indicate source is included with the download (or for that matter, is available) Hard to use art pipeline, no community. | ||||||
C++/Python | Commercial & Indie | DirectX/9 | Professional Results, Includes all tools | Shaders, Shipped various Commercial games, Easy to use, proven | Also available with (source-less) Indie versions. | ||||||
Free (Open Source) | 3D via OpenGL | Physics (including soft bodies) via Bullet, custom written shaders (via GLSL). Can use logic bricks to create basic games without programming experience, or Python for more complex games. | Included as part of Blender, a fully featured 3D package, so modeling, texturing, etc. all built in. | Occasionally spotty documentation. | |||||||
Basic | Commercial | 2d/3D via DirectX7 | Big community, a lot games | Easy to start, support BSP, 3DS, better for shareware games | No OOP, basic syntax | ||||||
Object Basic | Commercial | 2d via OpenGL | Has many modules (GUI, 3D, Sound, Physics, etc ). Easy to start | Fast 2D engine, better for casual games(Arcanoids, Puzzles etc.), OOP, LUA Bind | Has no 3D module | ||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D via DirectX | incl. Leveleditor and 3D gui components | ||||||||
.NET 2.0/3.5 (C#) | Free | 3D via DirectX 9/DirectX 10 | Have more modules (GUI, Sound, Physics, Collisions, Animations, Effects (Hardware Shaders), Terrains, etc ). Easy to start | Easy to use, object oriented, animation system, integrated physics | |||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D | Voxel terrain, shader editor, more | Active development, good support, clean architecture | |||||||
Ruby | Free | 2D via OpenGL | Game states, plugginable game logic.. game engine features | Available on github, 28+ bundled examples. | |||||||
C/C++ | Commercial | 3D | Collision Detection, AI | ||||||||
C++ | Free (Open Source) | Accelerated 2D | Open Source. Excellent lightweight networking | ||||||||
Pascal/Delphi derivative | Indie/Commercial | 2D/3D via OpenGL, with an optional separate non-hardware-accelerated 2D mode for compatibility. | Various community supplied extensions (GUIs, Parsers, Virtual Machines) | Fast 2D graphics | Somewhat buggy 3D, not-cross platform, somewhat slow bug-fix cycle. | ||||||
C++, Lua | Free Open Source (MIT) | 2D via OpenGL | Various community supplied extensions, derived from cocos2d for iPhone to make it multi-platform. | 2D graphics, many commercial games produced using this library. | Mainly for mobile platforms, other platforms are for development. | ||||||
C++ | Closed Source; LGPL announced on site | 2D via SDL/glSDL and optimized MMX blitters | XML parser, Log, propietary file system to package your resources with full protection and useful EditorDPF to manage them, graphics primitives, cursors, tiles, sprites, fonts, several FX effects, GUI system, accurate timer, MPEG-I video, full support of OGG,modules,WAV and VOC, useful network API andmore... | Full documentation (english and spanish). Cross-platform. Heavily optimized for each current CPU (MMX and SSE). Available as a DLL or static library(only Win32). EditorDPF, a resources manager. SetupProyect, a customizable config system. Everything is free! | |||||||
C/C++ | Free (LGPL) | 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
VB(COM)/FreeBASIC(VTable) | Free (GPL) | 2D(and old school style 3D) via DirectX8 | complete 2D game development environment. Supports VB,VB .Net, FreeBASIC | AutoMove(ala Zelda1),Sprites,Overlays,Maps,Audio,Network,Counters, Key,Joy, FreeBASIC supported through IDispatch, DBFE, or Vtable Documentation in chm, plenty of tutorials and examples.. | Final Build, FreeBASIC build in transition, see DBOS, DBHGE at our site | ||||||
C (server), C++ (client), java (editor) | GPL | 2d/3d via SDL and OGRE3D | complete MMORPG engine | ||||||||
C++ | Free(LGPL) | 3D via OpenSceneGraph (OpenGL) | ODE Physics, STAGE Game Editor, Much More | A well-supported open source project. Built upon other open source projects (OSG, ODE, OpenAL, etc.). Great for games, simulations, or other graphical applications. Supports massive terrains. Used by many large scale companies (e.g., Boeing, Lockheed Martin, etc.), educational institutions, and small developers. | |||||||
C++ | GPL | 2D / 3D via OpenGL | Lessons and samples for easy start. Shaders are supported. | ||||||||
Basic | Shareware | 2d/3D via DirectX9 | Big community, a lot games | Easy to start, support BSP, 3DS, better for shareware games | |||||||
C++ | Free | 2D via DirectX | Tool used to create Dizzy games, in the classic adventure style | ||||||||
VB6 | Free | 2D+ via Direct3D | Automated Sprites, 2D Tile Map (Unlimited Layers), Collision Checking, Explosions, Basic Particle Engine, High Level | ||||||||
VB6.0 and VB.NET | Free (closed source) | Mostly 2D and some 3D DX9 | Various functions/methods to aid in RAD | Great for 2D, many helpers for common game routines | Limited 3D support | ||||||
VB 6.0 (also VB.NET) | Free | 2D hardware via DirectGraphics (D3D8) | Draw 2D textures with isometric or caballera perspective in one call, support movie playback (include DivX formats), easy imput handling class, PAK File format support (Quake/Half-Life format), basic Timers counters, support for Timers Events for multithreaing routines (like Timer control of VB but without control interface and instance of this) and more... | Single light DLL (VB6 Runtime and DirectX API only dependency), simple interface, easy to start, several layers of abstraction, automatic resources management, full documentation of all functions |
spanish ;-) ) | ||||||
.NET | Commercial | 3D via DirectX9 | Ageia PhysX, HLSL Shaders, GUI Editor. | Object-Oriented, Active Development, High-Level Scripting. | |||||||
opensource GPL | 2D/3D via OpenGL | Easily extendible, perfect pixel collision, PathFinding, special effects, automatic engine that don't draw what you don't see, engine anti bug | very simple: you can write a game in very few lines of code; You can extend simply the game engine with your function | the API documentation isn't completed yet | |||||||
C++ | zlib/libpng | 2D SDL but 3D planned using OpenGL | see web site | Very easy to use and fast rendering | Engine is still in the early stages | ||||||
Any .Net (VB/C#/C++) | Unannounced | 2D Physics. Stable fixed timeslice timer. Entity management. | Completely transparent, decoration of properties/methods with attributes makes them automatically synchronised. Remote simulation error prediction. Flexibility to choose any graphics/sound/scripting. | Alpha build only. No 3D physics yet. Light documentation. | |||||||
VB6/C | LGPL | 2D using DirectX 8.1 | See Web Site (or the SDK) | Very easy to use, fast, lots of utilities for a rapid game development, particle engine, sprite engine, map engine and dynamic lights engine (in development but works, see SDK), tiler, console, PAK file format (Quake PAK's), compression , MD5, and much more! | Web site in Spanish (engine 95 % in English, will fix this soon) | ||||||
C++ | Free and Commercial | 3D, DirectX 9/10/11, OpenGL, OpenGL ES | Next-Gen Graphics. MMO Capable. Physics. Rich Toolset. Lot of Tutorials. Stable. | ||||||||
Free and Commercial | 3D via LWJGL | ||||||||||
AngelScript (made with C++) | Free (LGPL) | Advanced 2D with hardware acceleration | |||||||||
language hibrid between Pascal and C | Open Source | 2D via SDL | Perfect Pixel collision, path finding routine, music modules and Ogg Vorbis Support, cross plataform, very similitudes with Div Game Studio: compatibility with more of file formats (FPG, MAP, PAL, etc...) and a few compatibility with the syntax and other functions of the Div language | Very easy syntax, documentation and web site in english and spanish, a complete game of functions, easy for newbies, the evolution of Div Game Studio! |
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C++, Python | Free of charge / open source (LGPL 2.1) | 2D software renderer via SDL, hw-accelerated mode via OpenGL | Ingame console, GUI framework pychan based on guichan, custom XML-based file formats | One of the few open source 2D isometric game engines available | Not feature complete at this point but ready to create game with it nevertheless | ||||||
.NET | Free | 3D via DirectX | Template, Collision Detection, Physics, Skeletons | ||||||||
C++ | Free (BSD) | 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
Ruby | Free | 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
C++ | Commercial, Free trial | 3D | WYSIWYG World Editor provides Terrain editor, FX design, Physics editor, Pathfinding editor, Procedural geometry | Active development, good support, knowledgeable community | |||||||
Delphi | Free and Commercial | 2D/3D | Terrific for making quick 2d tile-based games with easy scripting interface, slow 3D support(via DirectX) | ||||||||
No Programming | Free and Commercial | 2D | Physics, Particles | Visual system allows for rapid development. | Mac OS X on Intel only. | ||||||
C++ | Commercial, Free trial | 2D/3D | Physics, Particles, Terrain, Character animation | Comprehensive and fully visual IDE, tailored for developers, designers and artists. Production proofed workflow. | |||||||
C++ | Free/Commercial | 3D via DirectX | |||||||||
C++ | Engine code is Zlib/libPNG-licensed | 3D via OpenGL/DirectX, with DirectX support in the works | As of 5-28-2008, the project has been marked as no longer under development. | ||||||||
BASIC | Commercial | 2D/3D via OpenGL | IDE is Windows only, but can compile for other devices included Palm, Android, Windows CE. Simple classes can be used. No chance of source code is usually needed to run on any platform. | Easy to start, use and can publish programs for AppStore, Palm Catalogue and Android Marketplace | None | ||||||
100% lua scriptable, C++ source | Donation-based licensing. Free version available. Closed source. | 2D/3D via OpenGL/DirectX | Includes 2D/3D Irrlicht graphics, Bullet physics, 3d OpenAL sound, cryptography, threading, world management, gui controls, gui skins, event management, key-mapping, special fx, dynamic lighting, animation, multi-language support. GUI Editors, Programmer's Reference and more... | 100% scriptable - No install required! No compilers required! Completely extensible and flexible. For apps, sims and games. | |||||||
Free | 2D via OpenGL | ||||||||||
C++, Ruby | Free (MIT licensed itself, but relies on FMOD or SDL_mixer) | 2D via OpenGL | Integration with many Ruby libraries | Modern C++, rather minimalistic | |||||||
C++, Lua | GPL | 2D via SDL | Open & Flexible, write Games in Lua or direct in C++ | Currently still in Development (rewriting from former D-Version known as "indiana") | |||||||
C++ | Open Source (Zlib/libpng license) | 2D via DirectX | Authoring tools, lightweight | Easy to start, good engine structure | No multiplatform | ||||||
C++, C DLL interface | Free (LGPL) | 3D via OpenGL | Shader based design, skeletal animation, animation blending, morph targets, post processing effects like HDR or DOF, COLLADA support | Lightweight next-generation engine with clean design | |||||||
id Tech 1 | C | Free (GPL) | 2.5D, fan-made enhancements: 3D | C++ support in some fan-made versions. | Used to make Doom WAD's, Ports and Mods. Large active community | Official version technically outdated/limited, fan-made versions still maintained and updated | |||||
id Tech 2 | C | Free (GPL) or Commercial without GPL limits | 3D | C++ support in some fan-made versions. | Allows designing of Quake II Mods (with Quake IISource) | Technically outdated, may not work on later Windows + Linux machines. | |||||
id Tech 3 | C | Free (GPL) or Commercial without GPL limits | 3D | C++ support in some fan-made versions. Last C-based id Engine that works on all Windows and Linux machines. | Still used today | Relatively weak graphics compared to new Engines | |||||
id Tech 4 | C++ | Free (GPL), previously commercial | 3D | First intended C++ id Engine | Full realtime shadows, XBOX Support (With XBOX License) | Graphics based on outdated stencil shadows (compared to modern next-gen games) | |||||
Python/Cython | Open Source (modified BSD) / Commercial license req'd for splash screen removal | 2D via OpenGL or Direct3D 9 via SDL | Component based, data driven, sprites, fonts, parallax scrolling | Dynamic development and fully static binary only deployment to targets. No hassle building and packaging for all targets using the Schafer tool. | Currently in alpha stage of development, though actively developed. | ||||||
C++ | Free (GPL) | 2D via OpenGL | very low overhead... | ||||||||
C | Free | Only a networking engine. | |||||||||
C++/.NET | Free (zlib/pnglib) | 3D via DirectX(8,9), OpenGL or various software renderers | Collision Detection, HDR, PARALLAX | Big Community, a lot examples and tutorials | Active development - Stable | ||||||
C++ | Free | 2D | Built on top of the Marmalade SDK. Accelerometer, compass, multi-touch, http resource loading, unified ad API, auto screen size and aspect management. | Unified animating Ad API supporting 12 different ad providers for free game developers that want to maximise their games revenue potential. Fully documented and regularly updated. | |||||||
C# | LGPL | 3D via Managed DirectX | Focused to graphics cards that support shaders 2.0 or better, It uses Newton Physics Engine to generate realistic movements and responses, HDR support (the graphic card must support floating point blending), FirstPerson and SelfDriven (exported from 3D Studio Max) cameras support, Animation Skeletal animation using channels, Imports directly MD5 files..., Postproduction system integrated in the engine, AI Engine: Genetic Programming Framework | Very more easy and intuitive interface, documentation and support are in english, a simple DLL | |||||||
Jamascript | Commercial(Withdrawn from sale) | 3D | Inbuilt editors | Easy to Learn, online games like flash | No longer supported | ||||||
Javascript | Browsers | LGPL | 2D | Supports both Canvas and HTML-based sprites | easy to get started, lots of examples | Needs a fairly new browser | |||||
C++ | Free (GPL) | 2D via OpenGL | Collision detection,Cg&GLS effects,GUI,etc. Contains full 2D open source framework with editor. | ||||||||
C/C++ | Free | 3D via DirectX | |||||||||
JGame | Free (BSD) | 2D | |||||||||
Free (BSD) | 3D via LWJGL | A Java scene graph based 3D game engine. See the latest release notes | |||||||||
Free (Creative Commons License) | 2D via LWJGL | ||||||||||
Free (BSD) | 2D | ? | Java Online Gaming Real-time Engine. | ||||||||
Engine in C++, Games in Lua | Free (non-commercial), Commercial (15% from profits), Closed Source | Hardware accelerated 2D | LiveData Manager to swap data on change, Box2D-based physics, 3D Sound based on XACT (Content-driven API), Game Programming in LuaScript (optional: encrypted scripts), Achievement System, Networking, Unicode support for bitmap fonts, Profile system for saving in-game variables | Still evolving. Last update: 2011-07, developed by ONE person (consequence, integrity, the same API and quality of code :P) | Alpha phase (2011-07), lack of tools (in plans), developed by ONE person | ||||||
C++/C#/Delphi/BlitzMax | Commercial | 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
C++ | Free (zlib/libpng) | 3D via OpenGL | GLSL and Cg shaders, HDR rendering, MRT , Portals, occlusion culling, PVS, Skeletal and Morphing Animation, Exporter for Blender to lfm format, Post-Processing Framework, Paging terrain with splatting (includes editor + generator), Built-in GUI, Particle system editor|more.. | ||||||||
zlib/libpng | 2D via OpenGL | Box2D wrapper library included out-of-box. | |||||||||
Custom | Commercial | 3D | WYSIWYG editor, Crossplatform | RPG (role playing game) designer, character generation, battle system, easy to Learn, team management | |||||||
Open Source (CPAL) | 2D via OpenGL (WIP 3D) | Physics (Box2D or Chipmunk), animation, analytics, monetization. | Good performance. Developed by a professional team. Cloud services. | ||||||||
C# | Free (Open Source) | 2D (3D is planned in 2012) | Based on Mono | Open source XNA implementation | |||||||
Custom - none scripting | Commercial | 2D | ActiveX, Dll, many plug-ins, movement extensions | Easy to Learn, a favourite with younger developers, online games like flash | |||||||
PHP | Free / Commercial | 2D (AJAX) | Comes with the full source code, allows to add/edit modules. | ||||||||
C/C++ | Free/Commercial | 3D via DirectX or OpenGL | |||||||||
VB/Delphi/.NET | Free | 3D via DirectX | |||||||||
API: C#/.NET, Internally: C++ | Free/Commercial | 3D via DirectX or OpenGL | Game Demo, GUI Editor, Map Editor, Resource Editor (Mesh, Particles, etc...), ODE and PhysX by AGEA Support, and Documentation | You can purchase the source code of the engine. | |||||||
C++ | Free (MPL) | 3D via DirectX or OpenGL | |||||||||
C# | Free (Open Source) | 2D (top-down and platformer) via SFML (OpenGL) | Open source, multiplayer (MMORPG) support, very active development | ||||||||
zlib/libpng | ClanLib (OpenGL) | Fast Game Creation with Lua | sector based partitioning, easy editing files, level editor | Beta | |||||||
C++ | Free (LGPL) / Commercial | 3D (OGRE hence DX + OpenGL) | Multithread and pluggable design, MyGUI, Physics (Bullet), Unicode, OGEd - Game Editor | Multithread, Plugin-based, Clean OO, Early stage of development | Early stage of development | ||||||
C++ | Free (LGPL) / Commercial | 3D via DirectX or OpenGL | Super 3D Engine, Support All HighEnd 3D Technologies, Plugin structure | Big Community, A lot examples and tutorials, made severals big games (like as air simulation, 3d adventure, 3d action), Open Source | too big source code | ||||||
VB6 | Free | 2d via DirectX7 / DirectX8 | |||||||||
C/C++ | Free (zlib) | 2.5D, hardware accelerated | Data driven. Lightweight. Portable. Very easy to use. | Extended unique features (animation graph, hierarchical config files, independent clocks, hierarchical objects, differential scrolling, ...). | |||||||
.NET | Free | 2D via DirectX | |||||||||
C++, Python | Free | 3D via OpenGL, DirectX or TinyGL | Free models, documentation, simple installation | Used by Disney to make ToonTown, easy learning, very stable | |||||||
C++ | 3D via OpenGL (+ experimental 3D via DirectX9) | ||||||||||
C++ | Free (LGPL) | 2D and 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
C++, Lua | 2d/3d via DirectX/OpenGL on Windows/Mac | Animation editor; dialog editor; particle editor; ultra-flexible particle system; 2d sprite system; dynamic texture atlas support; flat file support; background file reading support; small footprint. | Used by PlayFirst and many other developers to write over 100 published causal games. Best-in-class i18n. Excellent documentation and support in the forums. | No game editor (yet; one is planned). | |||||||
C++ | GPL / Proprietary (Commercial) | 2D/3D via OpenSceneGraph (OpenGL) | Physics via ODE, object oriented | Small and easy game engine. Uses the most existing code possible. | Very young and still alpha | ||||||
C++ | Free | 2D | Super Game Engine for developing super games like as Zuma | have great game ZUMA | Not 3D | ||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D via DirectX | Physics, Collision Detection, HDR | Easy to start, flexible engine | Bad working with shadowing | ||||||
C++ | Free and Commercial | 2D | Font, TTF, Spline, Tar files | Lightweight and Crossplatform | |||||||
Basic | Commercial | ||||||||||
Free (GPLv3) | 3D via OpenGL | Integrated Physics | No proprietary dependencies | Still in Beta (lacks features) | |||||||
C | GPL, Commercial | Software, OpenGL | |||||||||
C | GPL, Commercial | OpenGL | |||||||||
C | GPL, Commercial | OpenGL | |||||||||
C | Free (GPL) | 3D via OpenGL | Physics via ODE | ||||||||
None needed | Free | 3D via OpenGL or Direct3D | Collision Detection, Translucency, Lighting | Requires no programming, very easy to use, includes most needed tools | Very limited gameplay options, outdated graphics engine, very small community | ||||||
None needed | 3D viaGenesis3D(DirectX) | ||||||||||
C# (.NET) | 3D via Axiom(OpenGL) | ||||||||||
Completelty .NET 2.0 (C#). No wrapped C++ Libraries. | Free (BSD) | 3D via Managed DirectX | User Interface | Easy to start programming DirectX. Framework is well structured and you can modify it to your liking. | |||||||
C/Delphi | Shareware | 2D | Level Editor | Easy to use | Not open source | ||||||
C/Delphi | Shareware | 2D | Level Editor | Easy to use | |||||||
C# | Free | 2D engine via XNA | |||||||||
C++ / Python | Free (Public Domain) | 2D and 3D via OpenGL | Gerneral Purpose Engine | Easy to use and versatile | |||||||
Lua, C | Commercial | 2D and 3D via OpenGL | Specially designed for casino and amusement game machines. Deploy to gaming boards and PC. | Extremely easy to use, has own IDE and other GUI tools. | 3D is very limited. | ||||||
C++ | Free (LGPL) | 2D via OpenGL | Engine for graphic adventures | Easy to use | |||||||
C++/Lua | GPL2 | 3D via OpenGL | Large User Community | ||||||||
C++ | Free (zlib/libpng) | 3D via OpenGL 2.0 | Collision Detection, Shader (GLSL), very simple | Very easy like BASIC languages but powerfull like C++ & OpenGL | Active development. Some unfinished parts | ||||||
C++ | Commercial/Free | Direct3D | Havok Physics, Valve Faceposer Technology, VGUI, HDR, Steam Community,SDk | ||||||||
GPL | 2D via software or hardware (OpenGL or DirectX) rendering | Map editor, tile editor, image editor, imports RPG Maker resources | Very good map/tile engine, cross-platform, imports many resources, and fully featured to make your own SNES/Genesis style game. | ||||||||
C++ | Free | 3D via DirectX | |||||||||
Thousand ParsecFramework | Python, C++, others | Free (GPL) | 2D/3D | Framework for online turn based space strategy games | |||||||
Basic | Free (GPL) | 2D | |||||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D via OpenGL | Mission Editor, Terrain Editor, Mac and Linux Support, WYSIWYG GUI Editor, Particle Engine, Theora Video, Multiple Language Support | Source Code Included, Large Community, Many 3D modeling exporters | Buggy, slow, outdated | ||||||
C++ | Commercial | 2D | |||||||||
VB/Delphi/C++/.NET | Free for learning/Commercial | 3D via DirectX | Physics, Plugins for popular modeling packages, Active user base, Normal Mapping, Relief Mapping, and complex shaders | ||||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D | Physics, HDR (UE3) | high cost | |||||||
C++ | Non-Commercial / Educational | 3D | Need to be a 'serious developer'. Still pricey. No source code. | ||||||||
C++ | Commercial | 3D | DX9/DX10/DX11/OpenGL/OpenGL ES render, shaders 5.0, hardware tessellation, stereo 3D, physics, pathfinding, sound, GUI | Great 3D Engine, image quality like as CryEngine and Unreal, small cost, more tools | |||||||
C++ | Free/Commercial | 3D via DirectX or OpenGL | Ageia PhysX, terrain engine, extensible shaders, JIT compiled scripts, collaboration tools, friendly community, most file formats supported | Smooth workflows, lots of powerful tools, complete documentation | Advanced features cost more, source code is separate license | ||||||
Lua or VergeC | Free (BSD license) | Software 2D | Friendly community, tile-based map editor tool, fully scriptable game | Extremely easy to rapidly prototype something, simple-to-use software graphics. | Requires some knowledge of scripting. Does not have hardware accelerated graphics. | ||||||
VB6 | Free (Open Source) | 2D via 3D | Designed towards ORPG and MMORPG design | ||||||||
[Valve] | commercial | 2D/3D via DirectX and OpenGL | |||||||||
C++ | Commercial | DirectX 9-11 | Supports XBLA, PSN and WiiWare. Includes FMOD and RakNet free-of-charge. Includes 20+ integrations to other 3rd party middleware (physics, AI, weather, vegetation, audio, asset management and more) | Optimized for many platforms. Highly flexible workflow. Modular architecture. Flexible pricing. Excellent support. | Not as well known. Community is small, but growing. | ||||||
C# (.NET) | Commercial, Free for Open Source and Educational Use | 3D via XNA | All-in-one Game Development Toolset, HDR, Per-pixel, Parallax, Dynamic Soft Shadows, God Rays, SSAO*), Entity/Model/Material Editor, Particle Editor (Explosions, Volumetrics) , Advanced Physics (Rag Dolls, Vehicles), Terrain Editor (Procedural Generation, Massive Full-Globe Terrain, Land Cover Painting, Geodata), AI and Pathfinding, Multiplayer Networking, Cinematics/Path/Road Editors, Real-time In-Game Scene/Mission Editing, Script/Conversation Editor, 3D Audio, Day-Night Cycle, Free Starter Kits/Asset Libraries, C# Shaders, UI Editor, Web Deployment*, Collaborative Editing* (* coming soon) | ||||||||
C# / XNA | Free | 2D Tile Map Editor and Engine | WYSIWYG parallax layer editing, animated tiles, custom properties, | plugin support, XNA-ready content pipeline extensions | |||||||
C++ | Free | 3D via OGRE(OpenGL), Direct3D9 | |||||||||
D | Free (LGPL) | 3D via OpenGL | |||||||||
.NET(C#) | Commercial (Free) | Integrated physics(BulletXNA), image processing(OpenCV), augmented-reality(SLARToolkit)), multi-threading, steering behaviors. | |||||||||
C++ | Free | 2D via DirectX 8.1 and 9.0 | Tiles Maps (AnaConda Map Editor), Sprites, Particle Systems, Bitmap Fonts | Very stable, easy to use, fast games development | |||||||
C++ | Free (LGPL) | 3D via DirectX and OpenGL | |||||||||
C++ | Open Source | Library independent(both DirectX and OpenGL etc | very object-oriented and plugin-based, you can create your own graphics plugin without modified base library | ||||||||
C# | Beta | SDL.NET | IronPython | Map Editor, Sprite, Plugin system, e.t.c | |||||||
C | Free (GPL) | 2D | Ogg Vorbis support, complete framework, collision detection | Easy to start, learn and use. Fast 2D engine. Self-contained system. |
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