AuthorTopic: Game Engines for 2D Sidescroller?  (Read 2302 times)

Offline Sokolov1964

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Game Engines for 2D Sidescroller?

on: July 13, 2016, 03:22:39 am
So I'm working on making a 2D game, my first attempt at one; a Metroidvania-style sidescroller.  I know next to nothing about game design, and discovered the Unity engine pretty much immediately.  It was free and it was a game engine, so I thought "That's the one!" and have started trying to learn C# coding and how to go about what I'm doing.  But I've read that Unity isn't really for 2D, and isn't even particularly well-optimized for it?  Maybe there's something out there that's easier to use and more focused to what I'm actually trying to do?  If so, I'd love to know about it.  Bonus points for ease of use for a total noob like myself.

Also, have been seeking help on my player character here http://pixelation.org/index.php?topic=20679.0 if you're interested.

jun

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Re: Game Engines for 2D Sidescroller?

Reply #1 on: July 13, 2016, 03:54:11 am
There are a lot of options. I suggest doing a Google search and research more. See which glove fits your hand.

Some popular ones off the top of my head -
GameMaker Studio
Godot Engine
Unity2D
Unreal Engine
Construct

And hundreds of libraries.

Just look them up and see what feels comfortable to you. There's no "best" engine.
Also, Unity handles 2D well if you know what you're doing.

Offline yrizoud

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Re: Game Engines for 2D Sidescroller?

Reply #2 on: July 13, 2016, 09:09:25 am
If you're a beginning programmer, it's easy to be completely overwhelmed.
I'd recommend something as straightforward as Flixel : It produces Flash games, which makes it easier to share your developments, and includes ready-made components for tile maps, basic collision, particles. For a platformer more complex than mario (NES), you'll also need a practical map editor, and there are many which interface well with Flixel.

Offline Quady14

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Re: Game Engines for 2D Sidescroller?

Reply #3 on: July 31, 2016, 12:14:47 pm
I don't have much personal experience with it, only briefly dabbled, but you might try giving Stencyl a look. It's free, has supported a fair handful of games (including in-development Metroidvania Ghost Song which looks incredibly good) and has a pretty well-supported and populated forum which might help you work out the programming side of things while Pixelation helps you with the art side of things. Surely people on either side could do both, but yeah, start there and see how it works out! I'm a total mess as soon as programming becomes involved, but if I remember right Stencyl has some good basic tools to get you started with flexible features to let you do your own coding once you're ready for that. Hope this helps!
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