When comparing Moai SDK vs Buildbox, 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 Buildbox is ranked 51st. 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 Drag - and - drop editor
Drag - and - drop editor without writing any line of code.
Pro Easy to learn
Buildbox is a drag and drop engine, making it easy for beginners to pick up. There are many tutorials available to help get you started.
Pro Has many game templates
Buildbox has 20+ different game templates including templates for platformers, racing games and Flappy Bird clones.
Pro Built-in support for ads
You can add banner and interstitial ads from multiple ad networks, including AdMob, RevMob, Facebook. They can work with Amazon's, Microsoft's, Google's and Apple's app stores.
Pro Develop once publish everywhere
Exporting iOS/Android/macOS/Windows/Steam/Amazon
Pro Cross-platform
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 Incredibly Expensive
$99/mo for full functionality probably makes this the least accessible piece of game development software in regards to price, all with a very limiting feature set.
Con You are restricted by it's limitations
For example, you can only make certain kind of games.
Con Not very powerful
You will be limited to using templates to build games.
Con Subscription Model
The two more reasonable price points limit the functionality of a software already far less powerful than many more cost effective alternatives.
Con Very expensive
Buildbox has a 15-day trial version, after that a $2675 license to use it must be bought.
Con Stability Issues
The software has stability issues on Windows, with the preview window causing program crashes when simple functionality is added.