作者：Craig Chapple

市场上有许多有效但是价格也很昂贵的工具，但对于那些想要使用价格更划算的工具的人来说，存在一些方法能够帮助他们基于较低价格或无须花费一分钱去创造一款游戏。

以下我们将列出你们可以免费使用的16种开发工具（不过在某些情况下你可能也需要支付一点版税）。

从游戏引擎到音频，调试和分析工具等等，我们列出了各种不同的选择去帮助拥有少量游戏开发预算的人。

Unity 4

公司：Unity Technologies

平台：Android，黑莓，iOS，Linux，Mac，PS3，PS4，Windows 8(很快就有了），Windows Phone，Xbox 360，Xbox One

网站：www.unity3d.com

大多数开发领域中的人都很熟悉Unity，这是一种免费的工具。

面向OS X和Windows的免费版本Unity包括提供给iOS，Android，黑莓，Windows Phone，Windows Store，台式机和网页的发行支持。它同时还带有一个完整的30天试用版本Unity Pro。其引擎同样也是免费提供给Wii U和Xbox One开发者。

Unity 4.3让开发者们能够使用其全新的2D开发工具以及动画系统Mecanim。

MonoGame

公司：MonoGame

平台：Android，iOS，Linux，Mac，PS Mobile，Raspberry Pi，PS4（很快就有了），Windows 8，Windows Phone

网站：www.monogame.net

MonoGame引擎是基于微软XNA 4框架的开放源执行。像《Fez》和《Bastion》等游戏便使用了这一工具。

该工具在面向手机，Mac和Linux等平台是免费的，并且MonoGame的志愿开发者也将该工具免费带向了PS4。

MonoGame的项目总监Tom Spilman告诉我们，他们团队希望能够在年末将这一工具带向所有主机平台。

GameMaker：Studio（免费）

公司：YoYo Games

平台：Mac，Windows

网站：www.yoyogames.com

免费版本的GameMaker：Studio同时瞄准了刚入门的新人以及充满经验的开发者，让使用者能够将自己的游戏输出到Mac，Windows PC和Windows 8。

其试用版本的资源是有限的，并且使用者不能访问所有功能。

YoYo Games最近宣称该引擎将向所有正在为PS3，PS4和Vita创造游戏的授权PlayStation开发者开放。这一版本还会提供给PlayStation功能额外支持。

Turbulenz

公司：Turbulenz

平台：浏览器

网站：biz.turbulenz.com/developers

去年，当Turbulenz的创造者创造了游戏引擎开放源后，它便转向了免费。该工具能够用于HTML5游戏开发，使用者可以无需支付任何版税独立发行自己的游戏并从中获取赢利。不过他们官网上所出现的游戏则需要收取70/30的分红。

该引擎是在JavaScript上执行的，能够支持快速的代码和数据迭代，并且不仅能够提供各种物理，碰撞和动画工具，同时也能够支持7.1环绕音效。

Project Anarchy

公司：Havok

平台：Android，iOS，PC，Tizen

网站：www.projectanarchy.com

Project Anarchy是面向iOS，Android和Tizen等平台的游戏开发的一种免费手机游戏引擎。

现在更新到2014.0.5版本的该工具还包含了额外的全局照明解决方法Beast，还包含了Physics，Animation Studio以及AI等Havok自家的一些技术。

此外它还包含了像Autodesk UI工具Scaleform，音频工具FMOD和专业的手机水面渲染器与简单原型网格等功能。

Stencyl

公司：Stencyl

平台：浏览器

网站：www.stencyl.com

Stencyl是一种游戏创造工具，能够帮助开发者免费在Flash上发行游戏，尽管它要求在游戏开始前呈现一个关于Stencyl品牌的页面。

该工具使用了拖放界面去突显几百个现成的代码组块，并且这些代码也可以创造属于自己的组块。

Stencyl同时也允许游戏开发者能够在iOS，Android和台式机等付费平台上测试自己的游戏。

PlayCanvas

公司：PlayCanvas

平台：浏览器

网站：www.playcanvas.com

PlayCanvas是面向3D HTML5游戏的创造与发行而设计的基于云端的HTML5游戏开发平台。它不需要下载或安装，开发者可以随时使用该工具。

使用者可以在此免费开发商业游戏。两个合作者可以致力于同一个项目，并且能够使用多达200兆的磁盘空间。免费项目不能进行私自开发，但是公开创造的内容仍然可以被标记为私有物，如此其他使用者便不能去使用它们了。

Phaser

公司：Photon Storm

平台：浏览器

网站：www.photonstorm.com/phaser

Phaser是面向台式机和手机HTML5游戏开发的一个免费开放源。使用该工具的游戏能够基于JavaScript或TypeScripy进行创造，并利用Canvas和WebGL渲染器（游戏邦注：在浏览器的支持下能够在不同工具间自由切换）。

开发工具还包括其自身的Arcade Physics系统—-允许开发者能够控制速度且能够突出完整的碰撞和分离控制，还有动画，例子和摄像机系统。

Gamesalad

公司：GameSalad

平台：iOS，Mac，Windows

网站：www.gamesalad.com/creator

使用免费版本的开发平台GameSalad的开发者可以面向iOS，Mac以及该公司自身的GameSalad Arcade等平台发行自己的游戏。面向苹果的设备发行的游戏需要包含强制的试发行与间质性广告。

该引擎让新手和资深游戏开发者可以不用使用任何代码，只使用视觉性拖放界面去创造游戏，这是最理想的快速理念和原型迭代方法。

迄今为止已经有超过20万款使用GameSalad引擎而问世的游戏了。

Corona SDK

公司：Corona

平台：Android，iOS，Kindle，Nook

网站：www.coronalabs.com

尽管其基础版本与专业版本都要收费，但手机开发者却可以免费使用Corona SDK的入门套件。

该工具让开发者们可以无需支付任何费用而面向iOS，Android，Kindle和Nook等平台创造并发行游戏。在这个过程中开发者可以使用Starter SDK并不支持的一些插件（如广告盈利）作为应用内部购买方式。

新手包所提供的一些功能包括基本形状，线，文本，定制模块，定位点，群组和容器，同时还能让使用者创造属于自己的启动画面。

Renderdoc

公司：Crytek

平台：Windows

网站：www.cryengine.com/renderdoc

Renderdoc是来自Crytek的全新图像调试工具，可供免费下载，该工具是瞄准独立开发者与AAA级工作室，能够帮助他们使用Direct3D 11.0和11.1去捕捉并回放来自Windows应用的帧。

该程序还能够用于定位各种漏洞所需要的详细API检查并提供深入分析与图像检查所需要的工具。

在未来，Crytek计划为OpenGl等平台和API提供支持，并使用社区采购方法去推动工具的发展。

Wwise

公司：AudioKinetic

平台：Android，iOS，Linux，Mac，Windos，Windows Phone8

网站：www.audiokinetic.com

这是众多为了吸引独立游戏开发者而采取一种全新模式的游戏开发工具之一。现在Audiokinetic的音频工具Wwise已经可以让玩家无需花钱便获得一个全新但却有限的商业授权了。

在Wwise项目中，使用不到200个声音文件的游戏能够免费使用该工具，但它们却不能使用任何可行的第三方插件。这种服务只针对Windows，Mac，Linux，iOS，Android和Windows Phone8上的游戏，尽管Audiokinetic已经开始号召独立开发者和现有的Wwise使用者去瞄准主机。

FMOD

公司：Firelight Technologies

平台：Android，iOS，Linux，Mac，PS4，PS3，Vita，Wii U，Windows，Windows Phone 8，Xbox 360，Xbox One

网站：www.fmod.org

作为Firelight Technologies旗下大受欢迎的音频中间件，FMOD Studio工具套件从三月开始免费面向独立开发者开放。

拥有低于10万美元游戏预算的开发者们能够免费使用该中间件。而在以前，使用者如果要使用FMOD就需要每款游戏支付500美元。

用于Turn 10面向Xbox One发行的游戏《Forza Motorsport 5》上的最新版本的音频中间件添加了一个Unity整合插件以及一个插件SDK用于创造发生器和声效。

WebAnimate

公司：Ikinema

平台：Linux，Mac，Windows

网站：www.ikinema.com/webanimate

Ikinema的WebAnimate工具集是专门为独立开发者所设计的，希望使用者能够在他们的浏览器上使用一个具有完整功能的动画和重定向平台。

使用者可以将动作捕捉和模型导入FBX和BVH，重构并定制动画，确定框架，不断反复摆弄并最终重构2D模型。该工具也允许开发者使用本地驱动器，网络服务器和云端去控制资产储存，从而让美术师们可以在项目上展开全球化的合作并共享文件。

使用该工具的开发者也可以升级到另外三个订阅报，如此便能够打开成批处理以及RunTime Rig Export等更多功能。

Upsight

公司：Upsight

平台：Android，iOS

网站：www.upsight.com

Upsight是手机分析公司Kontagent和用户粘性与盈利工具公司PlayHaven合并的结果。

这个全新平台是两种服务的结合，并且能够提供给开发者通过追踪核心用户获取，用户粘性与收益等参数而追踪用户行为的能力。

该工具的免费版本让开发者每个月可以面向25万个用户发送推送通知并将玩家带到游戏内部的活动中或Upsight的内容单位，同时该工具还包含了一些应用内部市场营销工具，如让开发者能够基于特定标准去划分不同用户以进行不同的推广活动。

Haxe

公司：Haxe

平台：Android，黑莓，iOS，Windows

网站：www.haxe.org

Haxe是一种开放源多平台程序语言，能够用于包括JavaScript，Flash，C++，C#，PHP和Java在内的多个程序平台，让开发者可以在iOS，Android和黑莓等手机平台上发行游戏。

Haxe项目背后的理念是提供一个标准的程序语言以及一个程序库以作用于所有可兼容的平台。

该工具能够提供给代码快速编译程序和类型检查，让开发者能够在测试结果前便能够发现任何程序漏洞。

其它免费游戏开发工具

Construct 2（HTML5游戏创造者）—-www.scirra.com

Blender（开放源3D动画组合）—-www.blender.org

Libgdx（Java游戏开发框架）—-libgdx.badlogicgames.com

Monkey X（游戏程序语言）—-www.monkey-x.com

Cocos-2D（开放源跨平台框架）—-www.cocos2d-iphone.org

Audacity（免费音频编辑器和记录器）—-audacity.sourceforge.net

Allegro 5（开放源游戏程序库）—-alleg.sourceforge.net

（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，拒绝任何不保留版权的转发，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

16 ways to make your game for free

By Craig Chapple

There are a plethora of premium-priced tools available on the market, but for those looking for something more cost effective, there are a number of ways to make games on the cheap, or even for free.

Below we’ve put together a list of 16 game development tools that you can access for free – bar some royalty costs in some cases.

From game engines to audio, debugging and analytics tools, we’ve listed a variety of different options to help those of you on a budget develop your game.

Know a great free game development tool that isn’t on the list? Tell us your recommendations in the comments and we’ll add them to the list to create a more comprehensive one-stop guide.

Unity 4

Company: Unity Technologies
Platforms: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Linux, Mac, PS3, PS4, Windows 8 (coming soon), Windows Phone, Xbox 360, Xbox One
www.unity3d.com

Most people in development will be familiar with Unity, and it’s available for free.

The free version of Unity for OS X and Windows includes publishing support for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, Windows Store, desktop and web. It also comes with a 30-day trial of the full version, Unity Pro. The engine is also free for Wii U and Xbox One developers to boot.

Unity 4.3 offers access to its new 2D dev tools and animation tech Mecanim.

MonoGame

Company: MonoGame
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PS Mobile, Raspberry Pi, PS4 coming soon, Windows 8, Windows Phone
www.monogame.net

The MonoGame engine is an open source implementation of the Microsoft XNA 4 Framework. The toolset has been used for games including Fez and Bastion.

As well as being free for a number of platforms including mobile, Mac and Linux, the volunteer developers behind MonoGame are also bringing the tool to PS4, for free.

Project lead Tom Spilman recently told Develop the team hopes to bring it to all consoles by the year’s end.

GameMaker: Studio (Free)

Company: YoYo Games
Platforms: Mac, Windows
www.yoyogames.com

The free version of GameMaker: Studio, an engine aimed at both entry-level enthusiasts and experienced developers, and allows users to export titles to Mac, Windows PC and Windows 8.

The trial version is resource-limited however, and does not include access to all the features.

YoYo Games recently announced the engine would be free for all licensed PlayStation developers making games for the PS3, PS4 and Vita. This version includes extra support for PlayStation features.

Turbulenz

Company: Turbulenz
Platforms: Browser
biz.turbulenz.com/developers

Turbulenz made the move to free last year after its creators made the game engine open source. The toolset can be used for HTML5 game development, and users can self-publish and monetise their games online for free, without royalties. Titles hosted on its own website however are charged a 70/30 revenue split.

The engine is implemented in JavaScript to support rapid iteration of code and data, and features various physics, collision and animation tools as well as supporting up to 7.1 surround sound.

Project Anarchy

Company: Havok
Platforms: Android, iOS, PC, Tizen
www.projectanarchy.com

From the creators of the Havok Vision Engine is Project Anarchy, a free mobile game engine designed for the development of titles for platforms such as iOS, Android and Tizen.

Currently in version 2014.0.5, the tool currently includes the addition of global illumination lighting solution Beast and a host of Havok’s own tech such as Physics, Animation Studio and AI.

Other features include Autodesk UI tool Scaleform, audio toolset FMOD and a specialised mobile water shader and primitive meshes for easy prototyping.

Stencyl

Company: Stencyl
Platforms: Browser
www.stencyl.com

Stencyl is a games making toolset that allows developers to release games for free on the web in Flash, although this will also include Stencyl branding via a splash screen before the game starts.

The tool uses a drag-and-drop interface featuring hundreds of ready-to-use blocks of code that can be snapped into place, as well as create their own blocks.

Stencyl also allows games developers to test their titles on paid-for target platforms such as iOS, Android and desktop.

PlayCanvas

Company: PlayCanvas
Platforms: Browser
www.playcanvas.com

PlayCanvas is a cloud-based HTML5 games development platform designed for the creation and release of 3D HTML5 titles. No download or installation is required, and developers can collaborate in real-time using the tool.

Users can develop commercial games for free. Up to two collaborators can work on a project, and can use disk space up to 200MB. Free projects cannot be developed in private however, but content created publicly can still be marked as private and can’t be ripped by other users.

Phaser

Company: Photon Storm
Platforms: Browser
www.photonstorm.com/phaser

Phaser is a free open source game framework for the development of desktop and mobile HTML5 games.
Games using the tool can be made in JavaScript or TypeScript and features a Canvas and WebGL renderer that can automatically swap between the tools based on browser support.

The dev tool includes its own Arcade Physics system that allows developers to control velocity and acceleration and also features full collision and separation control, as well as its own animation, particle
and camera systems.

Gamesalad

Company: GameSalad
Platforms: iOS, Mac, Windows
www.gamesalad.com/creator

Developers using the free version of development platform GameSalad can publish their titles to platforms such as iOS, Mac and the firm’s own GameSalad Arcade service. Titles released for Apple’s devices however will include mandatory pre-launch and interstitial advertisements.

The engine allows both inexperienced and veteran games developers to create titles using a visual drag-and-drop interface without the need to use any code, which can be ideal for quick iteration on ideas and prototypes.

To date more than 200,000 games have been developed using the GameSalad engine.

Corona SDK

Company: Corona
Platforms: Android, iOS, Kindle, Nook
www.coronalabs.com

Although the Basic and Pro versions come with fees, mobile developers can use the Corona SDK starter kit completely free.

The tool lets developers create a game and publish it to iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook without paying anything. Through this, developers are allowed a limited number of plugins, such as for ad monetisation – as in-app purchases are not supported by the Starter SDK.

Features available in the starter pack include basic shapes, lines, text, custom polygons, anchor points and groups and containers, as well as the ability for users to create their own splash screens.

Renderdoc

Company: Crytek
Platforms: Windows
www.cryengine.com/renderdoc

Renderdoc is a new graphics debugging tool from Crytek made available to download for free.
The tool, targeted at both indie developers and triple-A studios, can be used to capture and replay frames from Windows applications using Direct3D 11.0 11.1.

The program can also be used for detailed examination of API usage to locate various bugs as well as providing tools for deep analysis and graphics inspection.

In future, Crytek plans to add support for platforms and APIs such as OpenGL, and is using a community sourcing approach to help drive the tool’s development.

Wwise

Company: Audiokinetic
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, Windows, Windows Phone 8
www.audiokinetic.com

One of a raft of game dev tools to adopt a new model in an effort to attract indies games developers, Audiokinetic’s audio toolset Wwise is now available at no cost through a new limited commercial licence.

Games that use fewer than 200 sound files in their Wwise project can use the tool for free, but they are not able to use any of the available third-party plugins. The offer is only open however for titles on Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8, although Audiokinetic has called on indies and existing Wwise users targeting consoles to get in touch for further details.

FMOD

Company: Firelight Technologies
Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, Mac, PS4, PS3, Vita, Wii U, Windows, Windows Phone 8, Xbox 360, Xbox One
www.fmod.org

Firelight Technologies’ popular audio middleware, the FMOD Studio tool suite, went free for indie developers in March.

The middleware is available at no cost to developers with game budgets equivalent to or under $100,000. Previously, users of the software had been required to pay $500 per title to use FMOD.

The latest version of the audio middleware, used in Turn 10’s Xbox One launch title Forza Motorsport 5, added a Unity integration plug-in and a plug-in SDK for creating sound generators and effects.

WebAnimate

Company: Ikinema
Platforms: Linux, Mac, Windows
www.ikinema.com/webanimate

Ikinema’s WebAnimate toolset is designed specifically for indies and lets users use a fully-featured animation and retargeting platform in their browser.

Users can import mo-cap and models in FBX and BVH, retarget and customise animation, rig skeletons, pose and animated and pose and retarget 2D models. It also allows the control of asset storage from local drives, network servers and the clouds so artists can collaborate on projects globally and share files.

Developers using the tool can also upgrade to three other subscription packages should they want to unlock more features such as batch processing and a RunTime Rig Export.

Upsight

Company: Upsight
Platforms: Android, iOS
www.upsight.com

Upsight is the result of the merger of mobile analytics firm Kontagent and engagement and monetisation tools company PlayHaven.

The new platform is a combination of the two services and gives devs the ability to track user behaviour by tracking core acquisition, engagement and revenue metrics.

The free version of the tool allows developers to send push notifications to 250,000 users per month to send players to an in-game event or Upsight content unit, and also includes a number of in-app marketing tools, such as allowing devs to segment users for specific promotions based on certain criteria

Haxe

Company: Haxe
Platforms: Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Windows
www.haxe.org

Haxe is an open source multi-platform programming language that can be compiled to a multitude of programming platforms including JavaScript, Flash, C++, C#, PHP and Java, enabling developers to release their titles on mobile platforms such as iOS, Android and BlackBerry.

The idea behind the Haxe project is to provide a standardised language for programming and a standard library that works the same on all compatible platforms.

The tool also offers a quick compiler and type checking for code, allowing developers to help catch programming errors before testing the results in the browser.

More free game development tools

Construct 2 (HTML5 game creator) – www.scirra.com
Blender (Open source 3D animation suite) – www.blender.org
Libgdx (Java game development framework) – libgdx.badlogicgames.com
Monkey X (Game programming language) – www.monkey-x.com
Cocos-2D (Open source cross-platform framework) – www.cocos2d-iphone.org
Audacity (Free audio editor and recorder) – audacity.sourceforge.net
Allegro 5 (Open source game programming library) – alleg.sourceforge.net
(source:develop-online)