Free Resources for Making and
Designing Video Games

So you want to make a video game but you are on a pretty tight budget! As a matter of fact your budget is pretty much zero! Well, don't let that discourage you because there are plenty of resources out there that you can take advantage of. And they are all free and all legitimate. Granted, you probably won't get a state of the art game by just using free software and tools but you can really do some amazing stuff. So, don't get discouraged, just look through my list of free resources for making video games.

Ebooks

 

Tutorials

Software for Game Making

  • Adventure Game Studio - Adventure Game Studio allows you to create your own point-and-click adventure games, similar to the early 90's Sierra and Lucasarts adventures. It consists of an easy-to-use editor to create your games, and a run-time engine to play them. You need to learn a little bit of scripting to use this game making software.
  • The Platinum Arts Sandbox - This is quite a nice Open Source 3d Game Maker - Platinum Arts Sandbox Free 3D Game Maker is an open source game design program for kids and adults.  The focus is to make the process of creating games and worlds easy enough for kids but powerful enough to create full game projects.  Sandbox is already being used in many schools and colleges throughout the world and included in game design contests. 
  • The Reality Factory - Been around a while and is open source. - the freely available toolkit that truly lets you create complete games without knowing any programming. Reality Factory provides a complete toolkit for creating 3D action, adventure, role-playing, machinima and many other types of games straight out of the box.
  • GameMaker 7 - Free download of this Game Making Software by YoYoGames.com
  • Platform Studio - Create platform based games and other types of 2d Games. Free software
  • DreamGame - This is an application for managing assets and designing video games. They have a home version, professional version and a free download trial

Software for Graphics Manipulation (3d modeling etc.)

  • gSculpt - gSculpt is an open source, procedural subdivision modeller. It has a comprehensive set of polygon modelling tools, including most of those found in Wings 3D, and more.
  • Blender - the free open source 3D content creation suite, available for all major operating systems under the GNU General Public License .
  • Mekanimo - A 2D physics simulator that can be used for rapid game development.
  • GIMP - Free software for graphics editing and manipulating

 

More and Miscellaneous Game Making Software and Tools

  • Box2d - Box2D is an open source physics engine written primarily for games. As the name suggests, Box2D is a purely 2D engine. However, Box2D has grown beyond it's humble box simulating roots, and can now handle convex polygons and other shapes coming soon.
  • Bullet - A 3d physics engine. It is an open source 3D physics engine created by Erwin Coumans.
  • Pencil - Great software for drawing and rendering 2d images and animation

Making Games Online

  • Roblox - This is an easy to use online game making website that is kid friendly.
  • Sploder - Another free online game making website
  • PlayCrafter - Make online Flash Games without programming

Newsletters, Email and other Stuff

  • The GameCreators Newsletter - This is a great newsletter that I subscribe to. It is published by the Game Creators who bring us FPS Creator and DarkBASIC - Lots of modeling stuff, tips of the month, free models and other stuff. Sign Up here.

MORE

  • Toon Boom Studio - Not free but simply amazing software. Toon Boom Studio is the best 2D animation software to learn and create animation with. Ideal for students and hobbyists looking for an easy-to-use animation program, excellent for teachers and educational institutions, Studio makes all animation techniques accessible to users, offering them the most creative and rewarding experience.
  • Older versions of Toon Boom: The current version is 6.0 but you can get earlier versions for a very reasonable price on amazon:

Toon Boom Studio 5 Software

 

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For absolute beginners

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