Top Software to use for Mobile Game Development

Based off feedback from both readers and experts in the industry, here are our top 6 best mobile game development software choices:

Today it’s used across many platforms including Android, iOS, Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10, Tizen OS, Linux/Unix/SteamOS, Windows PC/Mac/WebGL, or Flash (through additional extensions), Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One. It also provides great support for integrating third-party assets, both free and paid.

Best suited to those who are most familiar with JavaScript or C# as their programming languages of choice. However, they also provide full support for Boo (a Python-like language) so all skill levels can use them effectively.

The features in Unity3D include:

– 2D and 3D development

– Physically-based rendering (PBR) from version 5.x onward

– Online multiplayer networking from version 4.6 onward

– Android, iOS, Windows Phone 8 & Windows Store apps from version 5.0 onward.

– OSX & Linux editor available in the beta form since June 2014

– Web Player plug-in for web deployment to a web browser, Is the best-supported WebGL platform currently with Firefox best supported. The use of supported browsers can further increase performance through native support for specific technologies such as HTML Canvas acceleration, WebGL 2, and WebVR.

– Unity supports the import of most popular 3D model formats such as .obj or .fbx

– 2D sprites and animations created in an external program such as Photoshop can be brought into Unity using a drag and drop interface or through the clipboard. Other common image creation tools include GIMP, Photoshop, Paint.NET, or Krita.

– Scripting via C#, JavaScript (UnityScript), Boo, Python, IL, C++ & more are all supported

– Each project has its target platform to test with so changes between platforms is limited only to configurations/projects you desire to switch between or remove entirely if not needed.

Many other features are best supported on higher-end machines. These include terrain generation, better physics & particle systems, and more. If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of all the features in Unity3D, right down to low-level rendering to scripting support, this blog post is best summarised by the Unity knowledge base itself.

Unity3D has come under heavy criticism over the years due to its lack of documentation available freely online, requiring the purchase of their manual or forcing users to search through forums for solutions. Fortunately, they have recently released an offline version of their manual for free across multiple platforms including Android and iOS devices. It’s best viewed with Adobe Acrobat Reader DC which you can download if it isn’t already installed on your device.

As a side note, Unity3D recently released the price of their Pro license from $1500 to $75/month. This caused outrage across social media and message boards so they quickly retracted this change and brought back the old pricing structure. However, there is no telling what will happen in the future so best grab it while you still can!

Pre-built 3D models from OpenGameArt or purchased from sites such as Turbosquid offer an easy way for people new to development to get a headstart when building their games. Many services provide a wide range of genres including characters, tile sets & sprite sheets, and even full scenes that look handcrafted but can be clicked together within Unity without any real programming knowledge.

Advantages

Other advantages of using the best free software for mobile game development include being able to use their free versions until you have enough capital or a decent following to be confident in charging your players. The best example of this is Unity3D’s edition which allows you up to $100,000 gross revenue per year with a maximum team size of 2 developers.

The best place to start when looking for tutorials is YouTube. There are channels dedicated to Unity3D, including multiple channels from the official Unity3D channel. Each video posted from these channels provides best practice techniques.

Other best places to look for best practice techniques include the Unity3D forums and Stack Overflow. The best way to find answers is to search Stack Overflow first with multiple keywords and reviews of the best results displayed on top. Ensure you also read the accepted answer as this may provide a better solution than your own! If neither of those returns satisfactory results, try searching YouTube or Google instead. If all else fails, ask a question on one of these sites and wait patiently for an answer.

Unreal Engine

Is best known for its high-end graphics, particularly designed to improve performance on mobile platforms. However, it also supports cloud computing features that allow developers to iterate content quickly without having to wait for builds or distribute large levels through physical media. These features enable developers to create games with large worlds and expandable environments using minimal hardware resources. While this may not be as effective on stationary computer platforms, it’s especially useful for making games on handheld devices.

Unreal Engine 4 makes it easy to distribute games across multiple platforms too. It supports Android, iOS, Linux, Mac OS X, PlayStation 4 (PS4), Windows, and Xbox One. While this isn’t as universal as Unity it still covers most major game development platforms.

With the best mobile game development software under your belt you’ll be able to create high-end mobile games quickly without worrying about performance issues or software complexities. You will be well on your way to an award-winning game!

Corona SDK

Best known as one of the best mobile game development software on the market, best suited for high-end games. Acquired by Applifier in 2013, Corona has gained a larger audience of users.

The engine focuses mostly on creating games for devices with high hardware capabilities and provides a premium experience for users playing on mobile phones or tablets through 2D or 3D scenes. It also includes an integrated editor that provides rich functionality without the need to add addons or plugins, and it includes monetization options like ads and in-app purchases.

You can use Lua as your scripting language, which compiles to machine code before the binary is assign, allowing for faster performance.

Now there are even more reasons to choose Corona SDK as best mobile game development software with its latest release of LUA APIs (application programming interfaces) which enable you to access various device functions like taking photos and recording videos, managing contacts, debugging with logs, encrypting data locally on the device via Lua Crypto, getting location information through GPS or network location by using Location Services , etc. You can now do all these without having to deal with Java. Here’s an excellent tutorial .

It also provides built-in support for social features like achievements and leaderboards. Integrated into games using the Corona Cloud service. Or you can use Corona Native for Facebook, G+ and other social platforms.

There’s a huge community giving support to users on the forums , and best of all, if you’re a student or a beginner, they have an educational discount .

Corona SDK best mobile game development software is one of the best choices among mobile game engines with its ease of use, fast performance and vast online community offering education and feedback. And best yet it’s free!

AppGameKit (AGK)

Best known for its development environment and programming language allowing users with little to no previous coding knowledge to create Android, iOS and Windows Phone games.

But their best part is that they are very affordable ranging from $99-$399 plus additional costs per month if you want cloud services like push notifications.

But there’s more! As part of the AGK community, you get access to a whole network of tutorials, forums and documentation, all dedicated to providing support for your games.

There are four pricing options available with the best one costing $99/year:

– Basic ($99/year) — includes cross platform compatibility, cloud services and full access to their development environment. It also includes 100MB of storage and no ads.

– Plus ($199/year) — comes with unlimited data storage and up to 5 GB of storage space per user. Also, it removes all ads and adds unlimited push notifications.

– Pro ($499/year) — this is best for teams with 4 users or less as it increases the number of team members up to 10 plus 1 year free subscription for any new member. It brings you easy deployment tools as well as removing any ads.

– Enterprise ($599/year) — best for teams that consist of 10 members or more as it increases the number of team members up to 100 plus 1 year free subscription for any new member. It also adds customisable branding and priority support.

If you intend on hiring other people like artists, app designers etc., they offer the best value for money with each person costing $65/month. If you want to make use of their cloud services, this will cost you either $10/month (no minimum development time) or $29/month (minimum 50 hours per month). Either way, these prices are very competitive against other game design companies out there!

And if all that wasn’t enough, they have a 14-day free trial so you could test run their software before making any commitments.

Construct 2

An HTML5-based engine best known for its ease of use in creating browser-based mobile games without writing any code. It makes use of visual events instead of directly editing code so developers can build their games quickly. Although it doesn’t have the capabilities to publish natively on iOS or Android.

ConstructJS is a JavaScript library suited for developing platformers with pixel art style graphics due to its rendering capabilities. Tile sets which are best designed through external graphic editors like Aseprite and Graphics Gale.

simplicity and quick design process, for its support availability which includes tutorials and one on one support through the community forums. In addition, using Construct 2 offers flexibility in designing mobile games capable of running smoothly on multiple platforms. Such as: HTML5-based browser can play a game built with Construct 2 without requiring a special plugin.

The best features of Construct 2 include:

– Custom events system that allows you to program games without writing code.
“by using a combination of the powerful event sheet and easy drag-and-drop actions”.

– Behavior addition that best suits mobile game design, including behaviors like sprite movement, touch interactions, accelerometer controls, joystick controls, scorekeeping.

ConstructJS suits mobile game development for platformers which require pixel graphics rendering capabilities done through external graphic editors. However, Construct 2 suits mobile game design best since it offers a custom events system for programming without writing code. While also allowing the use of behaviors best suited for mobile game development. Such as touch interactions and accelerometers. In addition Construct 2 allows users to easily switch between desktop browsers or mobile devices. By only requiring the HTML5-based browser to operate, best design for cross-platform compatibility.

Game Maker Studio

Best known for its drag and drop language support. GML used to code just about anything you’d want to include into your game: platformers, top-down shooters, arcade titles.

Game Maker Studio is a great development engine to use if you’re a beginner in the world of coding. It includes everything you need to take your idea from concept through to completion on mobile devices.

Best part about using Game Maker Studio is that creating your game art assets and programming them into your project. This makes it much easier for novices, that doesn’t mean more seasoned programmers can’t use it though.

The best place to start with Game Maker Studio is actually on the website. Yoyo Games provides several tutorials for users at all levels of expertise. Our favorite was by game developer Andi Grubb, who worked on Google Play Indie Games’ Choice Award-winning title ‘Tiny Thief’. He takes you through creating a simple platformer in under 20 minutes!

Best feature about GameMaker Studio is that it allows developers to publish your games to multiple platforms. This means not only can you make mobile titles but also desktop hosted ones too!

GameMaker Studio is best for creating mobile games. YoYo Games has also introduced a new HTML5 exporter so you can now publish your projects as web based titles.

Best tutorials on using Game Maker Studio is by Hanm Nihiwatu. How to create a mobile shooter game in the engine. Using GML this video will teach you from beginning to end on how you can implement all the tools.

Best things about YoYo Games’ program is that it’s not that expensive compared to other professional development kits. Which typically cost around $600 per licence. Their website multiple purchase options for mobile and desktop versions of Game Maker Studio.
We hope this blog post has given you some valuable insights on the best software options for mobile game development. Please get in touch with our team of experts who can guide you.