2D Game Dev: Tools for Getting Started

bscotchseth

Hey, gang! We often get approached by people who are looking to get into game development, and they don't know where to start. Well, we think the best place to start is with the tools. Once you have those, you can start playing around with them and making some awesome stuff. As people post more stuff, we can compile it into useful chunks and maybe get some pros/cons going on each setup.

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The Butterscotch Setup
This is what we use at Butterscotch. It's really great for beginners because Game Maker has a drag-and-drop interface that you can use without learning lots of code. But still, as you learn to use it, you'll find yourself accidentally learning code in order to solve more complicated problems, and before you know it, you'll be a programming whiz! Plus, it's cheap and can export to all kinds of platforms.

• Game Maker: Studio (development environment with its own scripting language)
  
• Inkscape (for all of your art needs)
  
• Freemusicarchive (Get a bunch of music for your games!)
  
• BFXR (Make cool 8-bit sound effects!)
  

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Tile Isle's Haxeflixel Combo (Submitted by @SeiferTim)
Our buddy Tim swears by Haxeflixel, just as we swear by Game Maker. Haxeflixel is much more open, so you can bend it to your will however you like, but it's also going to be a little more difficult for someone who's just getting started with programming and game development.

• Tim's Tutorial - Learn how to use Haxeflixel!
  
• ShoeBox is a free Adobe Air based app for Windows and Mac OSX with game and ui related tools.
  
• Map Editor - A tile map editorwith a lot of features.
  
• OgmoEditor - A free tile map editor. I think it works better than Tiled, but with not quite as many features.
  
• Pickle Editor - a simple, but powerful Pixel sprite editor.
  

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Game Develop (Submitted by @CBenoit)

• Game Develop - A simple and solid tool for aspiring developers who want to make games without all that pesky programming stuff! Can export to HTML5 and native, with mobile coming soon.

Know of any other useful tools floating around out there? Post em in here!

SeiferTim

  
http://haxeflixel.com/documentation/tutorials/

bscotchseth

Wait, you got your tutorial put on the HaxeFlixel main site? DAAAAAANG

SeiferTim

I put it there myself 'cause they gave me access to the website's Git Repo

bscotchseth

SNEAKY SNEAKY. Looks good!

SeiferTim

Thanks!
Here are some more tools that I've found useful:

• http://renderhjs.net/shoebox/ - ShoeBox is a free Adobe Air based app for Windows and Mac OSX with game and ui related tools. 
• http://www.mapeditor.org/ - a tile map editor with a lot of features.
• http://www.ogmoeditor.com/ - a free tile map editor. I think it works better than Tiled, but with not quite as many features.
  
• http://www.pickleeditor.com/ - a simple, but powerful Pixel sprite editor.
  

bscotchseth

Updated the main post.

bscotchseth

NOW YOU KNOW! Are you doing some game dev stuff?

bscotchseth

It's hard to say right now. It has been kinda hit or miss for us. The times where it has made a huge improvement in game speed came at a cost of draining battery super fast and having the phone get a bit hot.

BUT we've only tried it on two games, so our sample isn't very big.

bscotchseth

LIKE THIS!

1. Get the tools

2. Go through the tutorials associated with those tools until you're comfortable enough to try something on your own, or just screw around with them until you can do something.

3. Come up with a super simple idea to execute, and try to make it happen.

If you can get through all three of those things, then everything else will follow.

CBenoit

As I mentioned in my presentation, there is a great software to develop games without having to learn a programming language : Game Develop, I used to create games with it before and today, it's even more powerful (and open source since some day).

Ulnarevern

I agree. Game develop is an awesome piece of sofftware for people who aren't good at programming (some bases in programming are an advantage though) and is really easy to use. It only lacks some good games to demonstrate it's power. With it you can create games for Windows, linux and web. I believe it's better for create small game rather than complete big ones (but it is possible).

CBenoit

By the way, a feature to create games on smartphones is coming. Or maybe this is a new software. To check.

bscotchseth

Cool; I'll add it to the list!