Suggest a game engine for starters Thread

Ive been thinking of leaving Engine001 and im looking for another engine to replace it.

It needs:
To support object orientated programming (No programming knowledge/language required)
Be free*
Unlimited rooms, Items, sprites etc*

*In GameMaker from YoYo games you must pay for the full package, if you dont you get a demo version where creativity is limited (limited rooms, sprites etc) both are unacceptable. I just want to further develop my game without spending a penny, taking as long as i want and able to have as many rooms, sprites etc as i want. Just like Unity (Unity packages are more agreeable than GameMaker in my opinion)

GameMaker from YoYo games is NOT accepted, PERIOD...

So give me a few engines that suit my requirements...

Oh yes, i forgot, the game is 2D just like Pokemon (Before it came into 3D)

First of all from the time you are saying I am leaving Engine001 which is a great engine for starters with a really easy and object orianted interface and also excluding Game Maker another pretty good engine for newbies you don't leave us a lot of choices on what you want, these 2 are probably the easiest and decent engines for beginners. Would you like to give us the reason why you are leaving Engine001 so we can help you? Of course I would directly tell you to go and learn an easy programming language (Visual Basic for example) so you can get more advanced but you stated that you are not interested in that.

there is blender game engine

Mistergeorge wrote: First of all from the time you are saying I am leaving Engine001 which is a great engine for starters with a really easy and object orianted interface and also excluding Game Maker another pretty good engine for newbies you don't leave us a lot of choices on what you want, these 2 are probably the easiest and decent engines for beginners. Would you like to give us the reason why you are leaving Engine001 so we can help you? Of course I would directly tell you to go and learn an easy programming language (Visual Basic for example) so you can get more advanced but you stated that you are not interested in that.

I fully agree, 001 IS a brilliant engine! No doubt! Support & updates seem to be suffering and...well you can figure out the rest
I had a feeling someone would say I don't have much choice.

The beef I have with programming is learning (Yeah Im lazy), ive worked with C#, VB & Lua, but only very small amounts (Ifs, Loops etc)
I tried to do my game on Unity using C#, ive worked with it and im still not 100% with it, i still have lots to learn, the issue is the learning (of the programming language) frustrates me to the point of rage quit, also a community that scalds you (From personal experience) dosnt help...so there's no point in going on if im getting frustrated over it, tried...2 times now i think. Along side this, i cant find any tutorials that explains things in a way i understand...for exmaple, when using a loop, i always see 'i' but why? No tutorial explain why i is always used, until i asked my tutor at college.

Say what you want about this, i certainly agree with you, even on the negatives...

Don't worry about not being able to learn programming at the beginning. It took my a long time and I still believe I don't know half the things I should. Don't go to C# directly, it is pretty straightforward but yet not a very easy language to learn as your first one. My first engine was Engine001 and I am so lucky I found it. Engine001 has a great system of algorithms that gets you directly in the logic of them. Also when you are in the Scripting Interface there is a mode option, if you press "Textual' then it will convert your Graphical algorithm to a VB code. (I am 90% sure about that but don't take my word for it) That way it may be really helpful to make it easier for you to learn VB as your first programming language. And yes VB was the first coding language I learned, it is pretty easy and it has a great amount of tutorials and guides. Of course from the other side, not everyone enjoys Programming, Mathematics and Geometry so if you are more on the artistic side of things you should probably consider trying out Graphics Design which is the second most Major profession for a game to be created.

Mistergeorge wrote: Don't worry about not being able to learn programming at the beginning. It took my a long time and I still believe I don't know half the things I should. Don't go to C# directly, it is pretty straightforward but yet not a very easy language to learn as your first one. My first engine was Engine001 and I am so lucky I found it. Engine001 has a great system of algorithms that gets you directly in the logic of them. Also when you are in the Scripting Interface there is a mode option, if you press "Textual' then it will convert your Graphical algorithm to a VB code. (I am 90% sure about that but don't take my word for it) That way it may be really helpful to make it easier for you to learn VB as your first programming language. And yes VB was the first coding language I learned, it is pretty easy and it has a great amount of tutorials and guides. Of course from the other side, not everyone enjoys Programming, Mathematics and Geometry so if you are more on the artistic side of things you should probably consider trying out Graphics Design which is the second most Major profession for a game to be created.

Fortunately at college they did teach me abit of VB then in the next year C#. Top of the class in VB, yayyy. Yes you can code your game with VB. What engine did you do next after 001? I assume the next one you were using VB?

Yes after Engine001 I used VB for a while and after that I learned Python and C# (I wouldn't say I am an expert in C# so if somebody asks me if I want to be the lead programmer in a C# project probably I will deny it and I will take care of some more minor game features.) I am really enjoying Python and currently I build my games in my own engine which is programmed with Python, it is not something special and it needs improvements but it comes in handy multiple times.
VB is great to start but of course it doesn't have the features and the power of more advanced engines and languages.
Best of luck and feel free to ask any questions if you have.

Finding options that are well documented, well designed and well supported with an absolute free model is kind of tricky. A few good suggestions have been made here, and it has been mentioned that taking Game Maker out of the running as an easy object oriented option limits the choices even further.

While not entirely free, might I suggest Construct 2. It is an HTML5 driven, object oriented software that is very friendly for beginners. Their paid version is not too overpriced for the personal edition, which you can utilize so long as you do not exceed $5000 revenue from the product you create (at which time you need simply to upgrade to their Business Edition license).

The free version does have the limitations in scene content and total objects, and is clearly more intended to help demonstrate what the engine can accomplish with the provided resources.

Not exactly what you were looking for, but perhaps that can get you searching in some new places. Good luck!

To support object orientated programming (No programming knowledge/language required)

As a C++ programmer, this statement makes me kind of laugh, no offense intended. OOP is a programming style that simply means you use objects (members of classes/structs) in your code (70% of C++ is this way). I think maybe what you mean is having a high level 4th generation programming language that allows you to use menus/diagrams/dialogs to program instead of with code. If the industry is calling that "OOP" now, they're going to confuse everyone.

I dunno if you've ever tried RPG Maker? I've never tried it, but it may have what you want.

I'm not sure how much i'd recommend these "Makers Engines" They all tend to be fairly limiting. However I did use one a couple of years back before I became more serious about game design. Gamesalad is a pretty good tool that uses a lot of drag n drop as well as a small bit of maths, completely free, with a premium version but additions very little and shouldn't prevent you from making something decent.

If i'm honest i'd spend a little time out and learn some programming techniques and languages, I recommend javascript as there are literally hundreds of courses on youtube on it, I know one or two people who learnt that way, how proficient they have become is questionable, but better a place to start than none at all. If you have any previous programming experience and want to learn more, syncfusion.com has a tonne of free ebooks.

If you are ever interested in going the paid route UE4 seems to have spent so much time on making it as friendly as possible to artists and non coders as possible I believe you can do a lot of scripting through flow diagrams and blueprints, definitely Check out the unreal engine youtube site, plenty of tuts, however I don't like the 15$ / month subscription.

At the moment I use unity and have found it very flexible, but I would recommend taking a course on how to use it first as it is complex and free with some premium features that don't really get in the way. It also require knowledge of either JS, Boo or c# for scripting.

While it is kinda limiting, I really enjoy working with RPG Maker VX Ace. Its GUI is easy and straight forward after spending a little time with it.

As for something involving more programming/coding. I'd highly suggest the Unity Engine. I've worked with several engines before, but Unity has got to be the best one I've worked with. C# or JavaScript will take some time to learn, but trust me. Its worth it.

godotengine - Godotengine.org it free and open source

Godot is an advanced, feature packed, multi-platform 2D and 3D game
engine. It provides a huge set of common tools, so you can just focus on
making your game without reinventing the wheel.

The problem about (No programming knowledge) engines is that they are really limited and you would need external assets so your game can get more individualism. There may be people who offer free assets and stuff like that, but relying your game on these things is not a good sign. I don`t say that it`s a must to know coding to make a good game, but it would definitely increase your possibilities.

I know how frustrating learning a language like c# can be at the beginning, but it`s normal and it needs time. One year ago i started learning Unity3d with c# and after the first 4 months of intense learning it became so much fun. Since you have some experience with Unity you could try the asset "Player Maker", i have never used it before, but it seems to really help people from newbies to pro.

Have you ever thought about working with others? There are many people in the forums who look for a partner to learn how to make games (:

You want a free product that requires little to no knowledge and skills and lets you create games without many limits but a lot of potential for creative expression.

The Unreal Development Kit is rather easy to use also. ( + Fully free and you can use a full preset of materials, textures and models )