Game Engines
Cross-platform, actively maintained engines proven on at least one commercial game shipped in the last five years
Selection and Classification Criteria
Inclusion Criteria
- Last updated within the past 5 years
- Used to ship at least one commercial game within the past 5 years
- Editor and/or development workflow usable on Linux, Mac, and Windows
- Can build for PC (Linux, Mac, Windows) and for browsers (HTML5)
Editorful Engines
Godot
✨ FeaturedFree and fully open-source (MIT) general-purpose engine with a native Linux/Mac/Windows editor, its own GDScript language, and built-in HTML5 export.
GDevelop
Free, open-source, no-code 2D engine with a cross-platform editor (also usable in-browser); shipped the commercial Steam release "This Is the Zodiac Speaking" (2022).
Defold
Free, open-source engine maintained by the Defold Foundation (originally King), with a native Linux/Mac/Windows editor and Lua scripting.
PlayCanvas
Fully open-sourced WebGL/WebGPU engine with a browser-based editor usable on any OS; used for commercial web experiences such as Call of Duty: Gunsmith.
Unity
✨ FeaturedThe most widely adopted commercial engine, free to start with paid tiers for teams above certain revenue, with a huge asset store and near-universal platform support.
Construct
Browser-based, no-code 2D engine with a permanent free tier and paid subscriptions for full feature access; exports to HTML5 and desktop via NW.js.
PICO-8 (Fantasy Console)
A one-time-purchase "fantasy console" with an all-in-one code/sprite/map/sound editor for Linux, Mac, and Windows; exports to HTML5 and native binaries, and its output may be sold commercially.
Editorless Engines
Bevy
Free, open-source, data-driven (ECS) Rust engine; commercial Steam titles built with it include Toroban and Long Story 2.
raylib
✨ FeaturedFree, open-source, minimalist C library for game programming with built-in HTML5 export; a growing catalog of commercial games has shipped on Steam with it.
LÖVE
Free, open-source (zlib) 2D Lua framework — the foundation behind Balatro, one of the biggest indie commercial hits of the past five years.
Phaser
Free, open-source (MIT) HTML5 2D framework in JavaScript/TypeScript, with widespread commercial use in browser and mobile web games; desktop builds are wrapped via Electron.