When comparing ENIGMA Development Environment vs BYOND, the Slant community recommends BYOND for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D game engines?” BYOND is ranked 29th while ENIGMA Development Environment is ranked 60th. The most important reason people chose BYOND is:
BYOND is in active development and updates are released constantly.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Raw C++ power and GML accessibility
Almost full support for GML,
The ability to create and access C++ types, templates, and functions, compile DLLs and other C/C++ scripts
Pro Cross platform
Support for Windows, Mac and Linux.
Pro Compatible with GameMaker
Enigma can support over 90% of gamemaker's GML language
Pro Friendly user interface
besides the powerful combination between GML and C++, beginners can also use drag and dropping.
Pro Free and Open Source

Pro Faster than GameMaker
Written in C++, many features have been demonstrated running much faster than interpreted equivalents in GameMaker (up to 10-20 times faster than GM 8.1).
Pro Under active development
Changes are made daily to add new functions/fixing bugs.
Pro Helpful error messages
A full stack trace with available cores and memory information as well as operating system and Java version including file names and number is generated whenever an exception is encountered, with a handy link to submit the issue to GitHub.
Pro In active development
BYOND is in active development and updates are released constantly.
Pro Easy to use
The software itself is very easy to learn and use for beginners.
Pro Helpful community
BYOND's community is relatively large and extremely helpful. Any question a beginner or an experienced user may have is quickly answered.
Pro Large Community
Fairly large player base and multiple games to play.
Cons
Con A few bugs & glitches
Because Enigma is under very rapid development, with new functions added almost daily, some bugs and unexaplainable glitches can happen, though they also gets patched quickly.
Con No code refactoring
Like any C++ based programs, the ability to refactor is limited. However, the new Ide for engima will support a few refactoring cababilities
Con Highly supports multiplayer, but can make solo games ready for download.
Con Exclusive programming language
The language is known as DM, and is modified using Dream Maker. It is an object oriented, interpreted language, which closely resembles C++, Java and PHP. More information available in the DM Guide.
