Game Engines for Indie Developers
Open Source Game Engines
| Engine | Source Access | License | Access Cost | Revenue Share | Subscription | Language | 2D | 3D | Physics | Visual Scripting | Platforms | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MonoGame | Yes | Ms-PL | Free | No | No | C# | Yes | Yes | External | No | Desktop, Mobile, Console | Framework |
| Godot | Yes | MIT | Free | No | No | GDScript, C#, C++ | Yes | Yes | Godot Physics, Jolt | Yes | Desktop, Mobile, Web, Console | General Purpose |
| O3DE | Yes | Apache 2.0 | Free | No | No | C++, Lua | Mixed | Yes | PhysX | Yes | Desktop, Console | AAA |
| Bevy | Yes | MIT / Apache 2.0 | Free | No | No | Rust | Yes | Yes | Rapier | No | Desktop, Web | ECS Engine |
| Stride | Yes | MIT | Free | No | No | C# | Yes | Yes | Bepu | Yes | Desktop | .NET Engine |
| Urho3D | Yes | MIT | Free | No | No | C++ | Yes | Yes | Bullet | No | Desktop, Mobile | Lightweight |
| rbfx | Yes | MIT | Free | No | No | C++ | Yes | Yes | Bullet | No | Desktop | Vulkan Engine |
| Panda3D | Yes | BSD | Free | No | No | Python, C++ | Mixed | Yes | Bullet | No | Desktop | Simulation |
| Armory3D | Yes | Zlib | Free | No | No | Haxe | Yes | Yes | Bullet | Yes | Desktop | Blender Integration |
| Raylib | Yes | Zlib | Free | No | No | C | Yes | Mixed | External | No | Cross-platform | Framework |
| Defold | Yes | Defold License | Free | No | No | Lua | Yes | Mixed | Box2D | No | Mobile, Desktop | Mobile |
| Cocos Creator | Yes | MIT | Free | No | No | TypeScript | Yes | Mixed | Box2D | Yes | Mobile, Web | Mobile |
| Luanti (Minetest Engine) | Yes | LGPL | Free | No | No | C++, Lua | No | Yes | Built-in | No | Desktop | Voxel |
Commercial Game Engines
| Engine | Source Access | License | Access Cost | Revenue Share | Subscription | Language | 2D | 3D | Physics | Visual Scripting | Platforms | Primary Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unity | Mixed | Proprietary | Free / Paid | Mixed | Yes | C# | Yes | Yes | PhysX, Box2D | Yes | All | General Purpose |
| Unreal Engine 5 | Mixed | Proprietary | Free | Yes | No | C++, Blueprint | Mixed | Yes | Chaos | Yes | All | AAA |
| CryEngine | Mixed | Proprietary | Free | Yes | No | C++, C# | No | Yes | Built-in | Yes | Desktop, Console | AAA |
| Flax Engine | Mixed | Proprietary | Free | Yes | No | C#, C++ | Yes | Yes | Built-in | Yes | Desktop | AAA |
| GameMaker | No | Proprietary | Paid | No | Yes | GML | Yes | No | Box2D | No | Desktop, Mobile | 2D |
| RPG Maker | No | Proprietary | Paid | No | No | JavaScript | Yes | No | Basic | No | Desktop | RPG |
| Construct 3 | No | Proprietary | Paid | No | Yes | JavaScript | Yes | No | Built-in | Yes | Web | No-code |
| Vision Engine | No | Proprietary | Paid | Mixed | Mixed | C++ | Mixed | Yes | Havok | Yes | Desktop | Legacy AAA |
2 replies
fun to read on mobile
I really wanted to make another attempt at using Stride, but their editor currently only works on Windows and I'm not going back to that without a fight.