This page compiles a list of free resources for making games, especially for beginners. If you have suggestions to add please let us know!
Graphics software
| Name |
Description |
| Gimp |
Popular general purpose drawing and image manipulation software. Open Source. |
| Inkscape |
Popular vector graphics software. Open Source. |
| Krita |
Digital painting program. Open Source. |
| Blender |
Popular 3D modeling & animation software. Open Source. |
| Paint.NET |
Intuitive image editing, like Paint but enhanced with layers, transparency, etc. (Windows only). |
| MagicaVoxel |
Voxel editor, which is a cool way to make original assets, either in 2D or 3D. |
| Piskel |
Editor for animated sprites, has an online version. Ad-supported. |
| GraphicsGale |
Old-school looking but powerful pixel art editor, supports animations. |
Audio software
| Name |
Description |
| sfxr |
Excellent and accessible tool for creating sounds effects. Check @thomastc's jfxr for an online variant. |
| Chiptone |
Visual, powerful, online sound generator. |
| Audacity |
Simple and popular audio recording, mixing & conversion software. Perfect for turning WAVs into lighter formats. |
| Beepbox |
The easiest music making tool you could find. Online and Open Source. |
| Bosca Ceoil |
Easy music editor, great for beginners. Misses an undo button. Open Source. |
| TIC-80 |
While a full-featured fantasy console, you could just use its accessible music tracker. Open Source. |
| Audiotool |
Online, knobs-and-cables music editor. Exporting requires a free account. |
| LMMS |
Full featured, cross-platform music creation software inspired by FL Studio. Open Source. |
Game engines/frameworks
General purpose engines
| Name |
Description |
| Godot Engine |
Powerful engine for 3D and 2D games. Uses a Python-like language. Open Source. |
| Unity |
Popular and feature-rich engine, both for 3D and 2D games. Requires programming in C#. Free version has few limitations and plenty to work with. |
| Unreal Engine |
Popular and feature-rich engine specialized in 3D games. Supports a quite accessible, visual scripting language called Blueprints. And good old C++. |
| Defold |
A cross-platform engine mostly made for 2D games targeting web and mobiles. Originally a proprietary engine, it turned Open Source in 2020. |
| TIC-80 |
Fantasy console, similar to the popular but paid Pico-8. Customizable palette. Open Source. |
| Stencyl |
2D game engine that uses visual blocks instead of code. Free version lets you publish for the web. |
| GDevelop |
2D game engine letting you write logic without knowledge of coding. Open Source. |
| Game Pencil |
A cross-platform 2D engine inspired by Unity & Game Maker, except Open Source. Uses JS scripting. |
| PlayCanvas |
Web-based, collaborative 3D engine, think Google Docs except for game making. Free to use for public projects. Multi-platform. |
| GB Studio |
Game Boy ROM creation engine, also exports to the web and mobile. No coding required, open source. |
| Wick Editor |
A web editor for animation and games, largely inspired by the Flash editor. |
Genre-specific engines
| Name |
Description |
| Twine |
Popular engine for writing interactive stories without code. Version 2 is web-based. Open Source. |
| Bitsy |
Web-based visual engine for little pixel art adventure games. |
| Ren'Py |
A popular visual novel tool, using a simple scripting language. Also supports Python scripting. Open source. |
| PuzzleScript |
Online puzzle game engine using a concise custom language. Open source. |
| Scratch |
Very accessible, and even kid-friendly engine for creating visual stories, animations and games. |
| Flickgame |
Barebones pixel art editor and point-and-click engine, uses a color code system as hyperlinks. Open source. |
Beginner-friendly frameworks
| Name |
Description |
| Löve2D |
Popular 2D game framework built to be easy to use. Uses the accessible Lua language. Open source. |
| PhaserJS |
JavaScript framework to make 2D games for the browser. Open source. |
| LibGDX |
Cross-platform Java framework with lots of features for both 2D and 3D. Open source. |
Free assets
Screen capture
| Name |
Description |
| Open Broadcaster Software |
Lets you record your desktop to either videos or streaming platforms. |
| ScreenToGif |
Powerful tool for recording short sequences from your screen, editing them and exporting them as gifs (Windows only). |
| GifCam |
A lightweight tool for capturing Gifs from your screen (Windows only). |
| Peek |
Simple animated GIF screen recorder with an easy to use interface. Cross-platform. |
| Gyazo |
Service letting you capture your screen (as a picture or GIF) and automatically publishing the result to a dedicated website. |
| Snipping Tool |
A native and often underrated Windows program for capturing screnshots. |
Level design
| Name |
Description |
| TilEd |
Powerful editor for 2D maps (platformers, RPGs, etc.), which can then be exported in either its own TFX format or simple JSON. Open Source. |
| LDtk |
A modern 2D level editor, with a strong focus on user-friendliness. Supports JSON and TFX exports. Open Source. |
Learning
| Name |
Description |
| Game jams: The Game-Jammer's Cookbook |
An extensive and illustrated PDF about what it takes to make a successful game jam entry. Soft paywall. |
| Art: Ctrl+Paint |
An excellent and extensive collection of videos about drawing in general, then digital painting in particular. Whatever art style you are interested in, these can help you improve your art skills. |