When comparing BYOND vs Polycode, the Slant community recommends BYOND for most people. In the question“What are the best 2D game engines?” BYOND is ranked 29th while Polycode is ranked 32nd. 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 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.
Pro Can create portable native applications
Polycode uses Lua and C++ to create native applications for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Mobile platforms are planned for the future.
Pro Free and open source
Polycode is free and open source (released under the MIT license). The source code is freely available on GitHub.
Pro IDE for 3D editing
Recently, the editor and its integrated tools have been released in compiled form. Features coding and scene editing in one application.
Pro C++/Lua
Polycode is distributed in a C++ form as well as with IDE. And there's an additional LUA-based scripting system.
Cons
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.
Con Abandoned
The project does not seem to be maintained anymore: there has been no new release nor commit since mid-2015.
Con No mobile support
Doesn't have support for Android or iOS.