{"id":109643,"date":"2016-11-02T15:00:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=109643"},"modified":"2016-11-02T15:01:31","modified_gmt":"2016-11-02T13:01:31","slug":"the-best-free-software-for-learning-to-make-video-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/features\/109643-the-best-free-software-for-learning-to-make-video-games","title":{"rendered":"The best free software for learning to make video games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Making a video game is one of the most complex and demanding tasks you can begin, but that doesn&#8217;t mean game design can&#8217;t be a hobby or a self-taught skill.<\/p>\n<p>Many game developers first started out by using software which allowed them to make simple games, progressing later to more advanced programming languages and game engines.<\/p>\n<p>To get started learning how to create video games, your first step is downloading one of the helpful programs listed below.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">GameMaker<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.yoyogames.com\/gamemaker\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>GameMaker has been around for years and has been used to create a number of popular indie games on Steam.<\/p>\n<p>The software does not require any extensive programming knowledge and uses its own proprietary language which is easy to learn and use.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/If38I4F7Zs0\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Stencyl<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.stencyl.com\/download\/\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Stencyl is a drag-and-drop game creator which requires no prior coding knowledge, and can create games for a variety of platforms.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/SNhdHTof4to\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">RPG Maker MV<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/363890\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>RPG Maker is a classic game design tool\u00a0which has been through many iterations and is now available on Steam.<\/p>\n<p>The game requires a basic knowledge of Javascript and is tailor-made for role-playing game design, with pre-built character generators, battle screens, and more.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AdLt8ZcyCqA\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Twine<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/twinery.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Twine provides a unique way to visualise constructs such as dialogue trees and interactive plots.<\/p>\n<p>It is a very useful tool for potential game developers interested in experimenting with plot arcs and story design.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qkqBKdvpQZc\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Unity 3D<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/unity3d.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unity 3D is a versatile, \u00a0free game engine which has been used for a massive number of recent games.<\/p>\n<p>The software does require some programming knowledge, although the Unity website provides users with in-depth tutorials in order to get started using the software.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8lWpnvNxs8k\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 class=\"my-4\">Unreal Engine 4<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unrealengine.com\/what-is-unreal-engine-4\" target=\"_blank\">Download<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Unreal Engine 4 is the most advanced free software on this list, offering the most features but also requiring a good knowledge of\u00a0programming.<\/p>\n<p>It includes everything you need to make a triple-A game, but is not nearly as easy to use as less powerful game makers.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l88n8a4Yphw\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h4><strong>Now read:\u00a0<a title=\"Permalink to These South African game developers just moved to a tropical island\" href=\"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/business\/105543-these-south-african-game-developers-just-moved-to-a-tropical-island.html\" rel=\"bookmark\">These South African game developers just moved to a tropical island<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These tools make it easy to get started on creating your own video games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":232,"featured_media":109645,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_enabled":true,"_sma_x_custom_text":"","_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[447,1826,19047,23109],"class_list":["post-109643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-development","tag-game","tag-learn","tag-teach-yourself"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/232"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}