When comparing Moai SDK vs HaxePunk, the Slant community recommends Moai SDK for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D game engines?” Moai SDK is ranked 19th while HaxePunk is ranked 22nd. The most important reason people chose Moai SDK is:
Because it uses Lua + C++.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fast
Because it uses Lua + C++.
Pro Gives you total control
You can use your own custom shaders and extend the language with C++. MOAI doesn't give you everything, instead it gives you the tools you need to develop any game you want.
Pro Full source code is available
So it is extendable with C++
Pro Easy-to-use particle engine
Uses a limited subset of Lua
Pro Uses Lua, with LuaJIT where possible
Pro Is used by many pro developers
Moai SDK is used by popular developers including Double Fine for their mobile game, Middle Manager of Justice, and for their Kickstarter hit, Broken Age(formerly, Double Fine Adventure.) It was also used to create the popular mobile game Bubble Ball 2.
This proves that this engine can be used to make fully-featured and fun games.
Pro API interfaces
Has options for development like Hanappe and Rapanui, providing a different way to interact with the engine.
Pro Helpful community
The Moai SDK Forum is active and users will go to great extents to answer queries, post code snippets, beta test, and even purchase and give feedback on each others' games.
Pro Helpful and detailed documentation
Although the Moai SDK is very advanced and uses complicated features, the documentation wiki thoroughly and clearly explains how to use these features, such as the Moai Cloud(a service that provides web services for your game), and multiple ways to build from source.
Pro Joystick and multi-touch support
Useful for mobile games and soon consoles (OpenFL has a console port in the works).
Pro Crossplatform testing/releasing
HaxePunk uses OpenFL which means you can compile to just about every device. A lot of the rendering code has been optimized so if you use HaxePunk’s graphic classes you are pretty much ready to deploy on any target.
Pro Generic entity system
A generic Entity system that only uses what you “attach” to it. If you need collision masks they are available but if an entity doesn’t need to collide with anything then simply don’t add a mask. Same goes for graphics.
Pro Written in Haxe instead of AS3
This comes with blazing fast compile times, proper static typing, multiple output targets, and a powerful macro system.
Pro Multiple collision masks
HaxePunk has added several collision masks beyond what FlashPunk had including a grid with slope values, circles, and polygons. This is in addition to FlashPunk’s tile grid and hitbox.
Pro Tweens
Tweens are available just like they are in FlashPunk. If you need to interpolate values for sounds, movement, etc… it’s probably already available as a tween. There is also a VarTween that lets you interpolate any value you want.
Cons
Con Not for beginning developers
The Moai SDK has very advanced features which allow it to create powerful games. A drawback from this is that it is not very suitable for beginners.
Con Not necessarily tested or stable
Con Scarce documentation
Since it is a minimalist framework there is not that much documentation, but if you are used to reading API references and source code you are good to go!
Con Development has ceased
The last update was over a year ago. Users should not expect things to still work on future OS versions unless they're ready to fix them yourself.
Con Messy / fragmented documentation
Not a lot of documentation is available.
Con Small comunity
It’s a small but growing community.