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What are the best 2D game engines for creating simple multiplayer webapps?

10

Options
Considered

43

User
Recs.

Jan 4, 2023

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

10 Options Considered

Best 2D game engines for creating simple multiplayer webapps	Price	Languages	Desktop targets
-- GDevelop	-	C++, JavaScript	Windows 7+, macOS 10.11+, Linux
-- GameMaker: Studio	-	-	Windows, Linux, macOS, Windows UWP, HTML5
-- Construct 2	-	JavaScript (engine)	Windows XP+, UWP, Mac OS X 10.6+, Linux
-- BYOND	Free	DM	-
-- Scratch	-	-	-

GDevelop

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Top Pro

Open source plugin SDK

The plugin SDK is open source, so if you want to extend it, you can. See More

Top Con

No cross-compiler

The Windows and Linux versions of GDevelop can each compile a native application; but the Windows version cannot compile for Linux, nor vice versa. See More

Specs

Languages:C++, JavaScript

Desktop targets:Windows 7+, macOS 10.11+, Linux

Mobile targets:Android 5+, iOS 11+

Top Pro

Free and open-source

GDevelop's runtime libraries are MIT licensed. It can be used freely for projects of any type and there are no royalties associated with publishing games developed with GDevelop. See More

Top Pro

Support both native and HTML5 games (web and mobile development)

GDevelop is able to create HTML5 games that can run on web browsers and be exported to iOS and Android using solutions like Intel XDK or Cocoon.JS. GDevelop is also one of the only friendly game creator that is able to make native games for Windows and Linux, which are blazing fast and allow to make advanced games with lots of objects, effects and very large levels. See More

Top Pro

Powerful events system to create games without programming

No need for coding using this system which is clear and powerful: events are composed of conditions and actions. Actions are launched when conditions are fulfilled. This is a very friendly way of making games and is still efficient for advanced usage, contrary to most other "block"/"drag'n'drop" systems. See More

Top Pro

Easy to use

The whole interface is intuitive and easy to learn: each part of the game can be designed using visual editors. The objects editor is used to create the objects of the game, the scene editor help you to build the levels of your game and the events editor allows to give life to the whole game without programming. See More

Top Pro

Online version available, compatible with iOS and Android

Thanks to its open source nature, GDevApp.com was built over the GDevelop engine. GDevApp.com is a complete game creator similar to GDevelop, available directly in your browser and compatible with iPad and most Android tablets and phone! The app is perfect for making games directly from your sofa and you can even start a game on GDevApp and export it to open it inside GDevelop. See More

Top Pro

Quickly add behaviors to objects

Prebuilt behaviors can be added to objects. This is a very efficient way to add a physics engine or make a platformer game. Lots of behaviors are included, from the most advanced (Physics, platformer, top-down movement) to really simple one (like the behavior to destroy objects when outside the screen or the one to drag objects with mouse or touch). And you still have full controls over your game as behaviors can be modified using the events! See More

Top Pro

Lots of features to build games

The engine includes pathfinding, physics engine, multitouch support, custom hitboxes, platformer engine, tiled maps, multiple layers and cameras out of the box. All of these features can be used without programming knowledge, using the visual editors. See More

GameMaker: Studio

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Top Pro

It has an IDE used for loading all of the assets

It is very easy to manage all these resources you want to put in your game, the UI widgets for each assets (sprites, sounds, backgrounds, rooms, objects and shaders) are intuitive enough for when adding or even editing the properties of each your assets. The included editors are also good and easy to use (sprite/image editors, shader editor and room editor). See More

Top Con

Exporting to some formats costs extra

You need to buy extra modules to be able to export to platforms like Android, iOS, HTML5 and others. See More

Specs

Desktop targets:Windows, Linux, macOS, Windows UWP, HTML5

Mobile targets:Android, iOS, (deprecated: Windows Phone, Tizen)

3D:Poor support

Top Pro

Easy to learn

GameMaker: Studio is incredibly easy to learn. It requires almost no programming knowledge which means those without the technical experience, such as designers or artists, can get their idea made. The internet is filled with tutorials for all skill levels for GameMaker: Studio. This makes learning it hassle free as there are great text and video guides out there. The official tutorials are located here, and there is also a great tutorial by famous indie developer Derek Yu. See More

Top Con

Poor level editor

No marquee select, no layers, can be glitchy, no grouping, etc. See More

Top Pro

Easy to add native code to GMS

Good extension support. You can do anything with gms! You just need to know how to code natively in the respectively export (like Android). See More

Top Con

Tends to crash or not compile games properly

Top Pro

Has a free version that still allows for creative game development

Game Maker Studio uses a tiered service beginning with a free options. With this option you have basic features that can still be used to make a decent game. If you decide this engine is for you, the first paid option is only about fifty U.S. dollars. This means you wont have to commit hundreds of dollars only to find out the engine is not what you need. See More

Top Con

The cost to buy for development is outrageous

The cost for this tool is hindering for indie developers who have little money to work with. See More

Top Pro

Has a Marketplace

Yoyogames website has a marketplace which opens up an opportunity for people to sell or giveaway created assets and resources (sprites, scripts, sounds, extensions, full source codes, etc.) for use in GameMaker. This benefits people who needs quality assets for their games, and for creative people to provide these assets for extra income. The Marketplace has a rating system so it can eventually increase the quality and competitiveness of the assets submitted. See More

Top Con

Bad history of ignoring critical bugs

In the past, the developer failed to update the software for iOS and Android when game-breaking updates were made to those platforms. See More

Top Pro

Supports 3D

There is also 3D support that doesn't interfere with the primary 2D focus. See More

Top Con

No GUI editor

The GUI must be hard-coded, leaving a lot of tricky calculations and jumping through hoops to accommodate different devices and displays; it's probably the least developed and hardest thing about GMS2 compared to comparable engines See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform

GameMaker: Studio projects can be deployed to: HTML5, Linux, Windows, OS X, Windows Phone, Android, iOS and PS3/4/Vita. See More

Top Con

Poor accessibility and integration

Documentation and resources largely focus on proprietary scripting language, which is necessary for achieving full potential of the software due to poor drag and drop integration. See More

Top Pro

Battle-tested

It's been around since 1999. See More

Top Con

Code editor not friendly to indented code

While the editor of course has features for intending code such as auto indent and smart tabs that can be turned on or off, these features work in unusual ways and, overall, the editor is not very adaptable to various typing styles. Also, Home always takes you to position 0 and never to the beginning of the text no matter how many times you hit it. Thus, if you hit Home and then Enter a new line, with auto indent on, it will always mess up the indentation on the line following the new line leaving you to fudge around to fix it manually. If you prefer tabs over spaces, forget it. Finally, if you leave the GameMaker app and try to click back into the code editor, the code editor will not fully get the focus sometimes leaving you with the ability to type but not tab. It usually takes two clicks to fully focus the code editor from outside the GM app. See More

Top Pro

Access to the GML scripting language

Game Maker Language (GML) is the primary scripting language that is interpreted similarly to Java's Just-In-Time compilation used in GameMaker. It is used to further enhance and control the design of a game through more conventional programming, as opposed to the drag and drop system. See More

Top Con

Proprietary language forces expensive "lock in"

Because it uses GML, a very non-standard custom language, new users do not learn a transferrable language and become locked in. See More

Top Pro

Cross-platform multiplayer support

There is the possibility of creating games that interact with different platforms and is not that hard. See More

Top Con

Expensive for what it offers

There are several options with more flexibility, better learning resources, and a lower price point. See More

Top Pro

Easy cross-platform shader support

Write your own shaders in one shader language and have it automatically ported to all platforms. Or even chose a specific shader language to wield the full power of the target device. See More

Top Con

Development has been and will be cosmetic

The change from 1.x to 2.x was cosmetic, the engine and language stayed the same. The roadmap for future development is also cosmetic and includes updating the sprite editor, adding an audio editor, and adding a "mini map" for the IDE. See More

Top Pro

Easy to find resources/tutorials/assistance

GameMaker: Studio has a huge following, tons of people put up tutorial videos, and it's just generally easy to find help. It has a huge community. See More

Top Con

Lacks a cross-platform dev environment

The dev environment only runs on Windows. See More

Top Con

The level editor is terrible

The worst level/room editor of all the game development packages. No marquee select, no layers, only one undo, glitchy, terrible manipulation of scale/rotation, can't manipulate draw order, no grouping, etc. It really is woeful and is surprising that anyone can use it at a professional level....truly is the weakest link in GSM! See More

Top Con

No code refactoring

Top Con

Destructive DRM

In late 2012/early 2013, YoYo Games released a version of their new Studio IDE for cross-platform development that would import games and destroy all of the image type resources for some legitimate purchasers of the software by superimposing a pirate symbol on top of the image. This was due to a fault in their digital rights management software implementation which they use as a method of combating pirated copies of the software. Though the false positives bug is reported to be fixed, the DRM is still in place and may affect placeholder graphics, etc. YoYoGames publicly stated they would remove the DRM at a later point in time, but that other less-invasive DRM techniques would remain. See More

Top Con

Programming language is limited

Language does not support actual objects, structs, real data types, functions, overloading, even argument naming. Developers generally have to code around the lack of these features in very tricky ways. See More

Construct 2

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Top Pro

Built in behaviors make development workflows very efficient

Behaviors add pre-packaged functionality to object types. See More

Top Con

Editor is Windows only

Although Construct 2 is able to export projects to Windows, OS X and Linux, the program itself currently only runs on Windows. See More

Specs

Languages:JavaScript (engine)

Desktop targets:Windows XP+, UWP, Mac OS X 10.6+, Linux

Mobile targets:Android 4.0+, iOS 8.0+

Top Pro

Allow server-less multiplayer game creation

Construct 2 uses WebRTC technology to support it's multiplayer functionality. The nature of the technology allows peer-to-peer connection which does not require game developer to create server side architecture to allow communication between games. See More

Top Con

Free version is severely limited

Although a free version of the engine is available, it lacks features that are essential to creating a high quality product. See More

Top Pro

Allows for rapid development

After using a few quick tutorials you can quickly catch on to the event system this program uses and quickly be able to build any type of 2D game you want. You can download a few sprites from google and put together a working level of Mega Man with character movement / animation / enemies / collision detection / scoring / Tile map and AI within about 2 hours. The built in behaviors are incredible. It's amazing how Construct can simplify the most redundant tasks in game development. See More

Top Con

Poor mobile performance

Construct 2 is focused on Javascript. Javascript isn't as fast as native code, which results in poor performance on mobile. See More

Top Pro

In-depth event system

Construct 2's event system allows for deep, detailed control over all aspects of your game. You aren't limited to just a few options. Rather, Scirra has thought of nearly everything in advance with access to any desired parameter of any object all paired with simple and intuitive ways to interact with them. Your events can be organized with event sheets (that can be included in other sheets), event groups, sub-events, loops, and functions that make the coding portion of your game as efficient as possible. You don't need any programming knowledge, but if you do have some, you'll feel right at home with the freedom C2 offers. See More

Top Con

Does not export to native mobile code

Construct 2 builds to HTML 5 only, which can cause performance issues on mobile devices. See More

Top Pro

Very fast preview

In Construct 2 you can preview your games instantly at any time. There’s no need to wait for compiling or other time consuming processes. See More

Top Pro

Built-in tilemap object

The tilemap object allows tile-based games to be designed more easily. The object's tilemap can also be edited in the layout view using the tilemap bar. See More

Top Pro

Built-in pathfinding

Top Pro

Built-in animation/image editor

Basic sprites and tiles of 2D games can be made with engine's built-in tools. See More

Top Pro

Supportive devs

The developers are always available to help. See More

Top Pro

Supports camera, microphone, speech recognition and synthesis

Can use cameras in PCs and on mobiles. You can use the synthesis that can recognize your speech or you can write something and it can talk for you. See More

Top Pro

Available on Steam

You can also download Construct 2 on Steam. See More

Top Pro

Free (feature limited) version available

A free version of Construct 2 is available. It's not time restricted in any way, but is feature limited. See More

Top Pro

Quick to pick up

Construct 2 is fast to pick up, get into, and belt out some pretty impressive games in a relatively small amount of time. Seems to be built for people who don't have a lot of programming skills, but want to make great games. See More

Top Pro

Export control for all major platforms

All platform exporters are part of the subscription. There are no additional fees and new exporters are added quickly and maintained well. Currently, 15 platforms are supported, including HMTL 5, iOS, Android, Windows, Chrome Store, PhoneGap and Scirra. See More

Top Pro

Easy to create particles and animations

With spriter file implementation and internal animation editor Construct 2 provides an easy way of creating particles and animations. See More

Top Pro

Built-in physics system

Thanks to the great power of Erin Catto's Box2D, Construct 2 is able to make physics games which are similar to Cut the Rope and Angry Birds. See More

Top Pro

Active plugin ecosystem

Construct 2 has an active plugin ecosystem providing behaviors and features that smooth the workflow for certain game types. See More

Top Pro

Affordable

Construct 2 is available in 4 variants. There's a free version with limited functionality that prohibits from making money from C2 creations and a full version that requires either a personal, business or educational license. The personal license is aimed at indie developers that make less than $5000 from games made with Construct 2 and non-profit organisations and costs $129.99. The business license is required once $5000 or more is already made and costs $429.99. These licenses are one-time buys that include all future upgrades of the software. An educational license is also available for $29.99/month that allows having Construct 2 on all on-site computers. See More

Top Pro

Supportive community

Construct 2 has a supportive community. Their forums have tens of thousands of topics with ten times more posts. See More

Top Pro

Powerful drag & drop editor

Using Construct 2 requires very little programming knowledge as it's all drag'n'drop, intuitive, visual and event-driven instead of code-only. See More

BYOND

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Top Pro

Multiplayer online is easy

BYOND focuses on providing easy multiplayer support as the key feature of their engine. Coding a few lines can already give you a simple game! You will just need to do port forwarding and anybody can join your game, either using the BYOND software, or via their web browser. See More

Top Con

BYOND has its own coding language

BYOND uses DM (Dream Maker), which is similar to object-oriented C++. The language is very easy to learn, but it is specific to BYOND. This easy to learn language may be perfect for a new or indie developer, but for an experienced coder, using DM may be less powerful than the C++ or Java you may be used to. See More

Specs

License:Proprietary

Top Pro

Community Resources

BYOND's site provides easy access to many resources produced over the years. Since BYOND has gone through several stages, from 1.0 to 5.0, there are many games and resources still available that are older, so look for the resources and games made around 2013 or later to get the BYOND 5.0 content. See More

Top Con

Lacks a cross-platform development environment

You currently need to use Windows to develop your game. When your game is complete, you can host it on Windows or Linux. See More

Top Pro

Web browser compatability

Players can join your game using any web browser. For details on optimizing your game for web browsers, see the BYOND Webclient Developers' guide. See More

Top Con

Requires coding

You will need to write code to create games using BYOND. See More

Top Pro

BYOND coding language

BYOND uses its own coding language, DM (Dream Maker). The language is easy to learn, and provides a handful of built-in procedures handling collisions. All networking code is handled for you, so all you need to do is make your game. See More

Top Pro

Free

BYOND is free, and you can sell your game, no strings attached. See More

Top Pro

Map editor and image editor

BYOND's Dream Maker software comes with a built-in map editor and image editor. Just create a map file, create a few image files, and then add a few lines of code to represent the ground and your player. See More

Scratch

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Defold

Top Pro

Easy to learn

Defold uses Lua, which is regarded as an easy to learn language by most. See More

Specs

Desktop targets:Windows; Linux; HTML5; OSX

Mobile targets:iOS; Android; FB Instant Games

Dev platforms:Windows; Linux; OSX

Top Pro

Visual editor

Top Pro

Easy and fast export for various platforms

Top Pro

Collaborative

You can invite friends from the dashboard and create games together. See More

Top Pro

Very performant

Being crossplatform it is important to work on low end devices. See More

Top Pro

Great community

A very active and friendly community in forums. See More

Top Pro

Fast results

Going from idea to result is very important for the creative process. See More

Top Pro

Good combination of visual editing + code (Lua)

You can do a lot with drag and drop, but you're not limited -- the code (Lua, which is easy to learn) allows you more power than just visual editing usually gives you. See More

Top Pro

Completely free of charge

Software and online dashboard are free of charge. See More

ImpactJS

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Construct 3

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Unreal

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