1. GameSalad

2. Stencyl

3. Game Maker Studio 2

4. Flowlab

5. Click Team Fusion 2.5

6. Construct
7. Game Froot

 

3. Game Maker Studio 2

 

From the beginning Game maker studio 2 gives a more professional look and you get a feeling you're working with a good tool for game creation.

 

Tutorial

 

In the tutorial I was making a nice looking top down shooter game. Comparing to other programs I've come up with so far this one takes a bit more time and you can do it in two ways. Either by drag and drop or by coding directly in the program. Although the game itself is not that complex you got through many steps and options while building it and getting a good feeling for the program itself.

 

Screenshot 3

 

Interface

 

All players/actors are named sprites and their propertis are objects. Rooms are used as levels. All of these resources you can see on the right side of the screen. On the left side you have the room layers where you put your objects into. Middle area is used for room overview and for editing anythng from sprites to objects, sounds, etc... Bottom area is reserved for compile notes, errors and other output related topics.

 

Screenshot 2

 

Events

 

Events are what defines the objects and in terms the sprites you are using. There are many to choose from and if you follow the tutorial closely you should be able to use quite a few few of them already. The rest is up to research and specific needs I guess. It gets a bit complicated at first but after you make a couple objects, things get easier unless you're doing a really complex sprite.

 

Pricing

 

For a change the pricing is not annual but if you'd like to publish to more platforms the price can go up quite a bit. For example publishing to mobile costs you 319$ while desktop goes for 79$. Initially the program is free to use with some restrictions.

 

Screenshot 1

 

Showcase

 

There are quite a few games showcased on the site so I can see potential in this program. Wouldn't like to use 2 different ones though so let's keep looking. Was trying to make a video of the game but keep getting an error. Will update if I ever figure what it is (game or program related)

 

Score

 

There will always be an influence of my opinion to the final score so do mind that in these reviews as they progress. Anyway Stencyl looks fine for a beginner and as with other programs you will need some time to figure it out. If you're into a platformed 2d games it can be a place to start especially if you plan on only doing those. Then it's worth investing into the program and some additional resources. Otherwise it makes sense to search for a more suitable one for you.

 

Difficulty: 9
Literature: 9
Cost: 4
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Overall score: 6