There is a drastic increase in the usage of smartphones and tablets. Not only do people use it for getting things done and other innovative tasks, but they also use it for entertainment. One of the most relaxing and effective distractions from work is playing games. The gaming market is significantly huge because game art services provided by various 3D game art outsourcing studios incorporate concept art, 2D & 3D game assets to design video games which draw people’s attention to a very large extent, as a result of which demand gets increased. Considering the rising demand, the game development process in itself is a niche in the digital market.
There is a difference between computer games and mobile games. Unlike the games that come out for different gaming consoles and PCs, mobile games take comparatively lesser time to develop, test and launch. One of the main reasons for this is the difference in the specifications and the size. But, on the other hand, there is rapid and significant development in mobile games since the onset of more sophisticated tools. Thanks to these game development tools, any concept or idea in the mind of a developer can quickly come into reality with implementation. So, here are ten of the best gaming app development tools in 2021. You can check the Best Mobile Game Development Company.
- Corona SDK
It is a software development kit available for Windows and OS X. Corona uses Lua as its scripting language. You can develop games for free if you use this tool. However, getting the app’s premium version is necessary to create an app with better features and overall performance.
The rendering engine that the Corona SDK uses is OpenGL. Thanks to its inbuilt scene management and transition library, it is relatively easy to adjust and modify a game’s quality in graphics. It also offers a Corona Editor and Text Plugin to ease things further. All in all, you can create a graphical environment to design the levels and understand object interaction. Corona SDK is the best game development tool if you are looking to develop a cross-platform game.
- SpriteKit
The tool is available for iOS and OS X. It is Apple’s game development framework for 2D games. The framework supports both Swift and Objective-C language. It is a highly convenient tool for game developers, and scene management becomes relatively easy in SpriteKit because of SKView’s presence. Similarly, developers can use SKAction to rotate and move various objects in the game.
The framework supports custom Low code development platform. In addition, it offers a scene and particle editor to design different levels and help develop various particle systems, respectively.
- Unity
It is by far one of the best and most famous game development engines. Unity supports UnityScript and C#, and UnityScript is its language like there is JavaScript. There is a free and a paid version of Unity, with the difference in features. However, you can do a lot and develop great games even with the free version. You can deploy it on many platforms, and the tool is ideal for cross-platform game development.
- Cocos2D
Game developers can use Cocos2D for free, which is an open-source framework. It supports OS X and iOS, and the languages acceptable are Swift and Objective-C. If you code in Objective-C, Cocos2D supports Android through Spritebuilder. It is an Android plugin that is used for creating projects. Spritebuilder also provides a graphical design environment that helps developers prototype and build games.
- Marmalade
It offers a free set of tools with which porting and mobile game development becomes an easy process. Marmalade is among the fastest cross-platform gaming engines with the best performance to develop 2D and 3D mobile games. C++ is the acceptable language for coding in Marmalade, and the Quick version of Marmalade supports app development using the Lua scripting language. The Web version of Marmalade supports the creation of hybrid apps using CSS, Js, and HTML.
- Cry Engine
Crytek, a German company, is the developer of this gaming engine. It is a mobile game development engine that helps create 3D games for Windows and other consoles. For example, with the help of the Cry engine, you can develop a first-person shooter game. You can also make other advanced games using C++, ActionScript, and Lua. The engine has both a free version and a premium version for developing games with more elaborate features. It also covers a significant portion of the gaming market.
- Amazon Lumberyard
This gaming engine has the same architecture that is of the Cry engine. The Lumberyard is a free AAA game development engine from Amazon, and it offers a high level of cross-platform functionality and free tools. All in all, it provides you with enough resources to quickly develop high-quality games using the engine. The best benefit of using Amazon’s Lumberyard is that you do not need to share your earnings with Amazon. Because of its integration with Twitch, developers can engage with the gaming community using it.
- Next Peer
Next Peer is a multiplayer software development kit addressing the multiplayer mobile gaming issues. It supports asynchronous as well as synchronous gameplay. Thus, it also improves the gaming experience quality. In addition, next Peer has delayed synchronous tech that lets users play their past sessions of other players. Because of the presence of this feature, Next Peer is a very competitive tool in the mobile game development market.
- Haxe
This open-source and multi-platform programming language goes well with Android as well as iOS. Moreover, it is easy to learn specifically for developers with pre-existing knowledge and C++, PHP, or Java experience. As a result, it is a great tool when it comes to developing cross-platform games smoothly. Haxe’s standard library provides the ideal set of APIs that prove to be highly essential during development. Similarly, its compiler produces cross-platform native code that readily compiles tonnes of classes, making game development quicker.
- Gideros
It is another free and open-source game development tool that uses the Lua scripting language. Gideros supports iOS, Android, OS X, Windows, and a few other platforms. What is unique about Gideros is that it produces class-based API, letting developers function with ease by writing clean code with high reusability. If you have experience using Lua, Gideros is a great and easy tool for cross-platform game development.
Final Words
So, these were the ten best game development tools in 2021. Of course, all tools have unique benefits, but pre-existing knowledge acts as an advantage here. For example, a particular tool will be more beneficial to you if you possess knowledge about the coding language of that tool. Similarly, many of these engines are relatively easy to use even for first-timers, like Unity.