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Defold game engine website: https://defold.com/
Price: Free!
Blurb: “Defold is a completely free-to-use game engine for development of console, desktop, mobile and web games. There are no up-front costs, no licensing fees, and no royalties. The source code is made available on GitHub with a developer-friendly license. The Defold editor runs on Windows, Linux and macOS, and includes a code editor, debugger, profiler, and advanced scene and UI editors. Game logic is written in Lua, with the option to use native code to extend the engine with additional functionality. Defold is used by a growing number of developers to create commercial hits, as well as games for game jams, and in schools to teach game development. Defold is known for its ease-of-use and it is praised for its technical documentation and friendly community of developers.“
I am using the Steam version. This way, I don’t have to worry about updating the package. (At the moment, the steam version is one version behind though.) If you don’t like Steam, you don’t have to use it; simply grab the package from the downloads page. Defold is a game engine that used to belong to KING, a mobile games developer and publisher, until they gave the engine to the Defold Foundation, to make it open-source and free-of-charge. We have reviewed a game made in Defold, Fates of Ort, in issue 161. There are some impressive examples in their showcase section, so be sure to have a look.
First Impressions:
It is slow. The application seems to be Java. If, like me, you have a potato laptop, I don’t recommend it. A frustrating experience waiting for things to respond, leaves a bitter taste in one’s mouth. When switching from “From Template” to “From Tutorial” and back, you can go and make a cuppa in between. If you are or were in the armed forces, you may be familiar with “Hurry up and wait”. You may even have been in and out of the DMV queues by the time the “Platformer game” template loads.
The IDE layout is a lot like that of Godot. I do not want to compare these two game engines, but it may be helpful to point out similarities. You have basically three vertical panes, with the main one in the middle. Each one of these is divided in two, horizontally.
Layout:
The first pane on your top-left, is your file-system hierarchy. Below that is the changed files pane. Top-centre, where you can see the readme.md file displayed, is your editor. Below that (bottom-centre) is a control pane with different tabs, like your console output. Top-right is marked outline, which is basically your inspector. The last pane, bottom-right is just properties, as marked.
Defold is based on the Lua language for programming your game. Lua is an easy-to-learn language with a simple syntax. If you have been following along with the Python tutorial in the magazine, you will find that you pick up Lua very easily. The templates can actually run, and if you “compile” a game it compiles and runs. Try this on one of the templates provided, like the “platformer” template.
If you have done that, click on one of the scripts, a file ending in ‘.script’ and you should see the source code for the game template.
The engine is not as well known as say Unity or Godot or Game Maker Studio, but it is getting there (maybe on par with Gdevelop?). In my opinion, the only thing holding it back is the lack of variety of tutorials. The website does cover some aspects and a few Youtube tutorials are available. If you are a game maker, why not post some video tutorials? You could be in on the ground floor, so-to-speak.
Let's quickly talk about Lua tutorials to get you going. LinuxLinks has some: https://www.linuxlinks.com/excellent-free-tutorials-learn-lua/. Then there’s: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NKMtazVNe8 and references: https://www.tutorialspoint.com/lua/index.htm
Running your project:
As slow as the Engine is, your game projects run fast and super smooth. This may be because it was originally intended to be for low-powered android platforms, like tablets. Yes, this is where the engine shines, where it counts the most. The second place I’d like to draw your attention to is how quick it is to get off the ground. If you paint tiles on screen, immediately the collision shapes and physics are taken care of for you. This kind of bonus means you can whip up a prototype of your game in a few hours, instead of a few days. This balances out any slowness you may experience getting started. If you have a beefy machine, this can probably be a no-brainer when it comes to picking an engine for your next game.
Did I make a mistake? Was I unfair? Let us know: misc@fullcirlemagazine.org