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Español The Best 20 iOS and Android Mobile Game Engines. Development Platforms & Tools in 2021.
Let's take a quick look at the mobile game engines , consider the main platforms for their development, trends and innovations in 2021.
Figures and perspectives of Mobile Game Engines:
According to the latest App Annie report “GAMING SPOTLIGHT” mobile games are currently the main driver of growth in digital games consumption and they intend to expand their global leadership in 2021. As you can see the result 2020 - this tendency is following, more information in our Digest 2020.
At the end of the article, you can find a 40% discount coupon for the first month of using ASOMobile - a tool for creating ASO and researching competitors in the mobile app market.
Growth trends and tendencies are as follows:
As it is clear from the graph, mobile gaming consumer spending is projected to be $ 120 billion in 2021, well above all other categories such as PC and console games.
How to ride this growth wave and not drown in it?
This growth in mobile gaming has been ensured by the tight integration of devices into our lives. The smartphone has long ceased to be a means of communication and has turned into a complex for communication, business and, of course, entertainment. The close interaction of devices with all spheres of our life turned out to be a rather long-term trend (and continues to be), to which the market could not fail to respond adequately!
Innovations, developments, and designs in the field of mobile gaming boosted the development of platforms for developing mobile games, creating and improving existing engines - all this is an excellent background in order not to miss the opportunity to succeed as a developer of mobile games. And all of the above is exactly the reason why everything will work out - no excuses!
For your success, we have prepared an overview of the most popular mobile game engines. Check out and choose! All the developments, paid and free, are at your disposal - then it's up to little, just choose and develop a mobile game. And by the way, after developing you can try one of the app store optimization tools for getting good positions in search results.
* as always with reviews, we simply arrange everything in alphabetical order, without ratings or ratings.
Amazon Lumberyard
Amazon Lumberyard is mobile game engine, royalty-free, seat-licensed, gaming software engine fully integrated with Twitch and AWS, with a ton of additional features going forward.
The Lumberyard engine is characterized by high performance, efficiency, and modularity. It helps to create ambitious high-quality projects for PCs, game consoles, and mobile devices in a short time.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- PC
- Xbox one
- Playstation 4
Pricing policy - free
AppGameKit
It's an easy-to-learn game development engine perfect for beginners, amateurs and indie developers. Anyone can now quickly code and build cross-platform apps with AppGameKit - let your demos and games run on mobile devices.
Supported platforms:
- Windows Phone
- iOS
- Android
Prices:
- AppGameKit Studio - 99$
- AppGameKit Classic - 49,99$
- AppGameKit Unlimited - 120,47$
- The Game Creators Collection - 83,48$
- AppGameKit Bumper Pack - 99,99$
- and others
Buildbox
Buildbox is one of popular mobile game engines for create 3D and 2D video games without coding - simply and easily. This can be called a game constructor - choose images for the character, assign him a role, import and the game starts!
Supported platforms:
- iOS
Prices:
Cocos2d
Cocos2d is a cross-platform framework used for developing interactive applications and games. It is open source software and contains many forks. One of its best features is that Cocos2d-x allows you to create games in a very small size: 1.5 MB. It comes with detailed documentation and has a large support community.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- HTML5
- Windows
- Mac
Pricing policy - free.
Construct 3
Construct is an HTML5 platform for creating 2D games. Also easy to use since no coding is required, it has many features to help you develop visually appealing games in a short time. It also allows multi-platform export, so your project will be ready to run on multiple devices at the same time.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Windows Phone
- Web platforms: Kongregate, NewGrounds, itch.io
Prices:
- Personal plan - $ 69 per year
- Business plans: Startup - 92 USD per year
- BUSINESS LICENSES - 373 USD per year
CRYENGINE
It is a powerful game development platform for you and your team that allows you to create world-class high-end gaming entertainment. Wide range of visual effects, animation toolkit, in-game profiling.
Supported platforms:
- All platforms
Pricing policy - using the platform is free. Royalties 5% (the first 5 thousand dollars of annual income are not subject to royalties).
Defold
Defold is a cross-platform game engine for web and mobile. Quite a popular engine among game developers, It focuses on 2D, but also allows you to develop 3D projects.
Supported platforms:
- Android
- iOS
- macOS
- Linux
- Windows
- Steam
- HTML5
Pricing policy - free.
Fusion 2.5
This mobile game engine is simple and intuitive game creation with just the mouse. Everything from character and level design to programming - everything is done visually and completely understandable. As the software developers say, "If you can read, you can program with Fusion 2.5!"
Benefits:
- Free HTML5 Game and Application Development
- Physics objects with Box2D
- Simple and consistent interface
- Outstanding community and user support
- First game in less than 1 hour
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Flash
- XNA (Windows Mobile phone and Xbox)
Price policy: free functionality and the following package rates
GameMaker Studio 2
GameMaker Studio 2 is a 2D game development engine that has powerful functional features. The availability of training and tutorials makes the development process simple and clear. An interesting note from the developers: an efficient workflow that doesn't slow down game creation, even if you're on a laptop.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Android TV
- Windows Phone
- Tizen
- Amazon Fire
- PS Vita
- fireTV
- Microsoft UWP
- HTML5
Price policy:
Gideros
Gideros is free, open source and cross-platform technology to create amazing games. You can also test your game on a real device in real time.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- MacOSX
- Android
- Windows Phone
- Windows
- Windows RT
Pricing policy - free.
Godot
Godot provides a huge set of common tools, so you can just focus on building your game without reinventing the wheel. Godot is completely free and open source under a very liberal MIT license. No strings attached, no fees, nothing. Your game belongs to you to the last line of the engine code.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Windows
- macOS
- Linux
- UWP
- BSD
Pricing policy - free.
Haxe
As the Haxe programming language, it includes a library from which you can choose frameworks and choose between a wide range of functions and procedures (APIs) for your mobile game development.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- HTML5
Pricing policy - availability of different types of support, from free to corporate.
MonoGame
MonoGame is a unified framework for building cross-platform games. With free access to documentation and community support.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Windows Phone
- Android
Pricing policy - free.
Phaser
Fast and free 2D mobile game engine for Canvas and WebGL.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
Pricing policy - free, but you can purchase individual plugins.
Solar 2D
Solar 2D is a Lua-based game engine focused on ease of iteration and use. You can use its 2D features and find many plugins at Corona MarketPlace. The peculiarities are the availability of clear and accessible documentation, active and strong community support.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- tvOS
- Android
- Android TV
- macOS
- Windows
- Linux
- HTML5
Plans: Basic functionality is free of charge.
SpriteKit
SpriteKit is a powerful 2D sprite-based game development framework from Apple. SpriteKit uses SKView, which is an image, a visual that you see on your screen. For those familiar with building an iOS app, it is similar to Storyboard. Less code, more images!
Please note this framework is supported by Apple, which means that you do not need to download additional libraries or external sources, and you can be 100% sure that it is ideal for all Apple products.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
Price - free.
Starling Framework
The Starling Framework is also a cross-platform mobile game engine offering free and open source development capabilities. Starling is built on the basis of Adobe AIR ™ technology, it works not only in the browser but also on all major mobile platforms, including iOS and Android.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
Pricing policy - free
Titanium
A product from Appcelerator, which is a platform for building applications for various mobile devices (listed below) using JavaScript. With efficient modules, you can save time by writing less code. A single codebase makes it even easier and allows developers to build mobile apps without having to manage multiple sets of tools and languages. It offers over 5000 APIs for various platforms.
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Hybrid
- HTML5
Price policy:
Indie: Free
Pro: $ 199 / month
Enterprise: customized plan
Unity
Popular platform for developing interactive real-time content
Provides the ability to develop 2D, 3D and VR games and applications in the shortest possible time. Tools for everyone from artists to cameramen - everything you need to bring your idea to life today.
For beginners and those who want to improve their skills, there is a training program.
Unity offers an entire library of Microgames - ready-made templates to help you develop and publish your first game in just 30 minutes!
Supported platforms:
- iOS
- Android
- Windows Phone
- Tizen OS
- Fire OS
Price policy:
- free plans Student and Personal
- Plan Plus - 399 $ per year
- Plan Pro - 1800 $ per year
- Enterprise - 2000 $ per year
Unreal Engine
An excellent platform for experienced and not so developers, as it allows you to make changes or modifications to the game without the need for programming skills and code intervention.
Availability of online training, webinar library and instructor-led training options.
Working with 3D graphics and support within the community.
Supported platforms:
- Windows PC
- Sony PlayStation 4
- Xbox one
- Mac OS X
- iOS
- Android
- VR platforms
- Linux
- SteamOS
- HTML5
Price policy:
- Free plans
- Individual and customized plans
So what does it take to create a 2021 mobile game?
Of course, apart from a desire and an idea, you need convenient tools for its implementation. That is why we have made this small overview of platforms and engines for developing mobile games that can help create exciting best games for Android / iOS. When choosing a platform to develop a game, consider your budget (although some are free), requirements and expectations. Then choose the best option for you and just go!
