2D Game Engines

  • ZZT (1991)
    • text-mode game with its own editor and scripting language
    • for graphical point-and-click adventure games
    • Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Construction Engine (for classic NES/SNES/GBA-style RPGs)
  • RPG Maker (1998-)
    • for rpgs! (costs $, but never buy it at full price! they go on sale in almost every steam sale)
  • GameMaker (1999-)
    • any genre; use a drag-and-drop visual programming language or a scripting language (GML)
  • Ren'Py (2004-)
    • for visual novels
  • LÖVE (2008-)
    • any genre; code in Lua
  • Puzzlescript (2013-)
    • HTML5 puzzle game engine
  • Godot (2014-)
  • Bitsy (2017-)
    • for little adventure games and stories
    • bitsy hacks: code you can paste into your game to add new functions
  • GB Studio (2019-)
    • any genre; drag-and-drop visual editor; games compatible with the limitations of the gameboy
  • Decker (2022-)
    • multimedia engine inspired by HyperCard
  • Narrat (2022-)
    • for narrative games with RPG features, visual novels, and interactive fiction