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h0ds/awesome-gamedev

A collection of free software and free culture resources for making amazing games. (mirror)

Awesome Gamedev

A curated list of good stuff related to the development of games. This list
contains only free software for code, sellers who aren't evil for
physical resources, and free cultural works for assets.

I have also provided a list of resources which are not free, and the reasons
why, in the associated Wall of Shame file.

This is released under a Creative Commons-Attribution-ShareAlike license,
version 4.0. You can find its text in the LICENSE.md file.

This project is part of Peers - a community for growing freedom. Support
us today!

Table of Contents

Assorted Assets

This contains collections of miscellaneous assets of different kinds.

  • Openclipart - A giant collection of clip art. CC0.
  • OpenGameArt.org - A large collection of art intended for game
    development. Various licenses, including free ones.
  • Wikimedia Commons - A collection of various assets of all kinds. Various
    licenses, all CC or free-er.
  • Open Source Game Clones - A collection of open source videogames that
    are clones of old games.

Audio

Editors

General

  • GameSounds.xyz - Royalty free music and sounds. Various licenses,
    including free ones.
  • Musical Artifacts - A collection of music-related everything. Various
    licenses, all CC.

Music

Sound Effects

Communities

Gamedev can be a lonely job, and it also can have a steep learning curve. These
communities are designed to assist you in terms of camaraderie, expert knowledge
and resources.

  • /r/freeculture - Part of the Free Culture Reddit Community. A general
    free-culture-focused community.
  • /r/FreeGaming - Part of the Free Culture Reddit Community. Designed
    specifically for discussion of free culture games.
  • /r/freesoftware - A general free-software-focused community.
  • /r/godot - A community for discussion and support in development with
    the Godot game engine.
  • FreeGameDev Forums - A forum community for all things free-game-development-related.
  • FreeGaming - A freepo.st community dedicated to free gaming.
  • Libregamewiki - The free gaming encyclopedia.

Engines

These are full-blown game engines.

General

HTML5

Unless stated otherwise, these engines are implemented in ECMAScript.

Physics

  • ammo.js - Implemented in ECMAScript. A port of Bullet. 3-clause BSD.
  • Box2D - Implemented in C++. Designed to simulate rigid body physics. zlib.
  • Bullet - Implemented in C++. General physics engine. zlib.
  • LiquidFun - LiquidFun is a 2D rigid-body and fluid simulation C++ library for games based upon Box2D. zlib.
  • Matter.js - Implemented in ECMAScript. Physics engine for HTML5. Expat.
  • ODE - Open Dynamics Engine; implemented in C++. Designed to simulate
    rigid body dynamics. Original BSD.
  • Oimo.js - Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.
  • Physics.js - Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.

Fonts

Games

These are meant to serve as examples for your own work, or foundations to built upon.

I have endeavoured to provide both code and asset licenses here - if no asset
license is listed, assume it to be non-free or questionably-free. These entries
may be removed upon clarification.

C

C++

CoffeeScript

  • coffee-snake - A version of Snake. GNU GPLv3 or later (code),
    no significant assets.
  • Zop - A 'connect the dots' game. Expat (code), no significant assets.

Dart

ECMAScript

Java

Other/Multiple

Python

Graphics

Assorted

This is a section for everything else that doesn't fit in some other graphics category.

  • Blender 3D Model Repository - User-submitted 3D models made with
    Blender. Various licenses, including free ones.
  • Blend Swap - A community of Blender artists and their work. Various
    licenses, all CC.
  • CanTree - Free online tree generator. Generates PNG files. Expat.
  • Kator Legaz 3D Models - 3D Models by of various
    subjects. CC-BY-3.0.
  • mocapdata.com - A library of motion capture data. Various licenses,
    including free ones.
  • Yobi3D - A search engine for 3D models that aims to display license
    information when possible. Various licenses, including free ones.

Collections

This category contains any 'grab-bags' of different kinds of art assets.

Icons

Sprites

Graphics Tools

Animation

Bitmap Compression

  • FLIF - Reference implementation of the Free Lossless Image
    Format. Comes with additional tools. GNU GPLv3 only.
  • pngquant - A command-line utility for lossy compression of PNG
    images. Has various front-ends available. FreeBSD.
  • Trimage - A cross-platform tool for losslessly optimizing PNG and JPG
    files. Expat.

Editors

Mesh Tools

  • MeshLabs - A portable system for the processing and editing of
    unstructured 3D triangular meshes. GNU GPLv2 or later.
  • Dilay - A 3D sculpting application that provides an intuitive workflow
    using a number of powerful modelling tools. GNU GPLv3 or later.

Procedural Generators

  • SpaceshipGenerator - A Blender script allowing generation of spaceships
    from a random seed and some parameters. Expat.

Spritesheet Tools

Texture Tools

Voxel Editors

  • Sproxel - A 3D interface for quickly editing and creating voxel-based 3D
    models. 3-clause BSD.

Learning Resources

These are all collections of information to help you learn about things that
might be necessary for developing games.

We aim for complete and current resources here whenever possible.

Game Design

Graphics

Beginner

Reference

Music

Programming

Beginner

Intermediate

Reference

Talks

These are collections of game development-related talks, podcasts etc. that
might be interesting or informative to people seeking to design games.

  • GameDevRadio (podcast) - A series of online radio shows devoted to
    entertaining and educating whoever is interested in game
    development. CC-BY-SA-4.0.
  • Indievelopment talks (video) - A collection of talks about various
    aspects of game development. CC0.

Programming Frameworks and Libraries

These are programming libraries or low-level code-based tools which are designed
to support game programming, but do not provide as much structure or support as
an engine would.

  • ActionKid - A simple video game framework. Implemented in
    Haskell. 3-clause BSD.
  • Allegro 5 - A cross-platform library for low-level tasks, like creating
    windows, accepting user input and so forth. Implemented in C and
    C++. 3-clause BSD.
  • Bacon2D - A framework to ease 2D game development, providing QML
    elements representing basic game entities. Implemented in C++. Expat.
  • bgfx - A 'build-your-own-engine' rendering library. FreeBSD.
  • Chipmunk2D - A fast and lightweight 2D game physics library. Implemented
    in C. Expat.
  • ChipmunkSharp - Advanced physics engine library based on
    Chipmunk. Implemented in C#. Expat.
  • Cinder - A community-developed library for creative
    coding. Implemented in C++. FreeBSD.
  • ClanLib - A cross-platform toolkit with a primary focus on game
    creation. Implemented in C++. ClanLib license.
  • CutJS - A lightweight and fast 2D HTML5 rendering engine for
    cross-platform game development. Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.
  • Dear ImGui - An Immediate Mode Graphical User interface for C++ with minimal dependencies. zlib
  • enchant.js - A framework for developing simple HTML5 + ECMAScript
    games. Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.
  • EndGate - A framework for building HTML5 games. Implemented in
    TypeScript. Expat.
  • Epoxy - A library for handling OpenGL function pointer
    management. Implemented in C. Expat.
  • GameJs - A thin library on top of the Canvas API, including some
    helpful game development modules. Expat.
  • Gideros - A cross-platform game development framework in Lua. Various
    licenses, all free.
  • Gladiator3D - A raycasting engine. Implemented in
    ECMAScript. Expat.
  • GLFW - A multi-platform library for OpenGL, OpenGL ES and Vulkan development on the desktop. zlib
  • HaxeFlixel - A cross-platform development framework, supporting many
    targets. Implemented in Haxe. Expat.
  • HaxePunk - A development framework designed to let you build games on
    any platform. Expat.
  • ImGuizmo - An immediate mode 3D gizmo for scene editing and other controls based on Dear ImGui. MIT
  • Kivy - Rapid-development library for multi-touch and visual apps on many
    platforms. Implemented in Python. Expat.
  • Kuko - A cross-platform development library, designed for mobile
    devices. Implemented in C++ and Lua. Expat.
  • libGDX - Cross-platform game development framework. Implemented in
    Java. Apache 2.0.
  • libRocket - An HTML/CSS-based UI library. Implemented in
    C++. Expat.
  • libSDL2pp - A set of C++11 bindings for SDL2. Implemented in
    C++. zlib.
  • LimeJS - A framework for building fast HTML5 games. Implemented in
    ECMAScript. Apache 2.0.
  • LoomSDK - A very large and powerful framework for cross-platform 2D
    game development. Implemented in C++. Apache 2.0.
  • LÖVE - A framework for making 2D games. Implemented in Lua. zlib
    .
  • MINX - MINX Is Not XNA; a framework resembling XNA. Implemented in
    C++. 3-clause BSD.
  • p2.js - 2D physics library. Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.
  • pixi.js - A 2D rendering engine. Implemented in
    ECMAScript. Expat.
  • Polycode - Framework for games and interactive
    applications. Implemented in C++. Has Lua bindings. Expat.
  • PyDark - Game framework on top of PyGame; designed to be easy to pick
    up. Implemented in Python. Expat.
  • PyGame - A set of modules designed for writing games. Implemented in
    Python. GNU LGPLv2 or later.
  • Quasi-Engine - A set of Qt-based tools for game
    development. Implemented in C++. GNU LGPLv2 or later.
  • raylib - Low-level library designed to learn videogames programming.
    Implemented in C, but has Lua and Go bindings. zlib
  • SDL - Another cross-platform library for low-level tasks, like creating
    windows, accepting user input, and so forth. Implemented in C. zlib.
  • SFML - Simple and Fast Multimedia Library; a multi-platform,
    multi-language, multimedia interface to various computer hardware. Implemented
    in C++. Has a range of bindings. 3-clause BSD.
  • Slick2D - A set of tools to make 2D game development
    easier. Implemented in Java. 3-clause BSD.
  • Three.js - A library that makes WebGL easy to use. Implemented in
    ECMAScript. Expat.
  • voxel.js - A multi-component framework for bulding voxel games for
    modern browsers. Implemented in ECMAScript. 3-clause BSD.
  • ZenGL - A cross-platform game development library designed to provide
    necessary functionality for rendering 2D-graphics, handling input, sound output,
    etc. Implemented in Pascal. zlib.

Utilities

This is a catch-all category for things that don't fit anywhere else.

  • Assimp - Open Asset Import Library; a portable way to import various
    well-known 3D model formats in a uniform manner. Implemented in C++, with a
    range of bindings. 3-clause BSD.
  • Easel.js - Provides a range of tools to make working with the HTML5
    Canvas API easier. Implemented in ECMAScript. Expat.
  • Gmsh - A 3D finite-element grid generator with a built-in CAD engine
    and post-processor. GNU GPLv2 or later.
  • libcaca - An ASCII graphics rendering library for terminal-based
    interfaces. WTFPLv2.
  • libnoise - A portable coherent noise-generation library. Implemented
    in C++. GNU LGPLv2 or later.
  • PhysicsFS - A library to provide abstract access to various
    archives. zlib.
  • ScummVM - A program which allows you to run certain classic graphical
    point-and-click adventure games, provided you already have their data
    files. GNU GPLv2 or later.
  • Torsion - A TorqueScript IDE. Expat.
  • TrenchBroom - A cross-platform level editor for Quake-engine-based
    games. Currently supports Quake, Quake 2 and Hexen 2 engine-based
    games. GNU GPLv3 or later.
  • WorldForge - Provides everything needed to create your own free
    software MMORPG. GNU GPLv3 or later (or a compatible license).