Build your game
Start here
Based on what you said. Nothing here is binding — change an answer and it changes its mind.
Start with
Godot
Free with no conditions, fastest to start, strongest at 2D. The default recommendation.
Sign up to start building your game — it's free
An account gets you a page of your own, somewhere to publish what you make, devlogs, and the private production tools. Nothing costs anything to start, and you only ever pay a fee if you sell something.
One person reads every sign-up, so there is usually a short wait before you are let in.
Also worth a look
This is a signpost, not a verdict. Every engine on this site has shipped games people love, and the engine matters far less than finishing — a mediocre game you finished teaches you more than a brilliant one you abandoned at 40%. The long version is here, and every guide is here.
Every engine, with a guide
- GodotFree with no conditions, fastest to start, strongest at 2D. The default recommendation.
- UnityThe biggest tutorial library in existence, and still the best choice for mobile.
- UnrealFree until $1M, then 5%. Unmatched 3D visuals, and the heaviest thing on this list.
- GameMaker2D only, and very good at it. Undertale, Hyper Light Drifter, Katana ZERO.
- RPG MakerEverything included. The fastest route to a finished first game, especially for writers.
- Ren'PyVisual novels, and almost all of them. A script format a writer can read.
- TwineText and choices, in a browser, in thirty seconds. The lowest barrier in game development.
- ConstructEvent sheets instead of code. Runs on a locked-down machine, teaches real logic.
- LÖVENot an engine — a framework. You write Lua, it draws. Balatro was made with it.
- BevyRust and ECS, no editor, pre-1.0. For programmers who want to know how it works.