5 Top Mobile Game Development Tools

Gaming is one of the biggest industries on earth. From 5-year-olds to Grannies & grandpas, at-home-mommies to young professionals everyone has fallen prey to this mobile trend. Everyone means everyone, in 2013, more than 1.2 billion people globally were playing games on their devices and this number is increasing leaps & bounds every day. The global market of the gaming sector crossed $134.9bn in 2018, mobile gaming is here to stay.

The increasing demand for gaming applications has opened a newer horizon for the world of mobile game development. Having a game idea is work half-done, but developing it into a real mobile game is the real deal. All thanks to the various mobile game development tools, making a game which used to take years can now be done in just months or days.

In order to simplify the whole mobile game development process for you, we have jotted down the best mobile game development tools which will help you take your on-paper game idea to the app store.  

Construct2

Looking for a tool to develop a 2D game which should work a variety of platforms? Construct 2 is your tool. It supports all the mobile platforms: Android, iOS, Windows, and Blackberry. The tool also lets you run the games on desktop operating systems and even on the web (via HTML5). The ability to making a game which runs on all the major platforms opens an opportunity to reach a wider audience.  
Super-easy to use for the beginners Construct 2’s drag and drop interface lets the developers place the objects anywhere they like and add interactions/behaviors which make the game even more interactive. The tool also gives the users the ability to check out the preview of the game in any browser without compiling, this will game you real-time feedback of the performance of the game and also provide you with the game insights before the final app rolls out.

• Tool Developer: Scirra Ltd.

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Blackberry.

• Games: Mortar Melon, Cosmochoria, The Next Penelope, CoinOp Story etc.

• Pricing: Free. Paid plans start at £79.99.

Corona SDK

Corona SDK, special cross-platform tool kit, has been used and appreciated by more than 300,000 game developers till date. Used commonly to create 2-D games for smartphones, Corona appears in most of the best Android and iOS game development tools lists. The toolkit comprises of more than 500 different APIs which can be used to carry forward endless functions from networking to animation.

Its a link to various other programs like OpenAL, OpenGL, Facebook, Box 2D, and SQLite. This tool also uses coding language LUA which is created specifically for software development.

• Developer: Corona Labs Inc.

• Platforms: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

• Games: Zip Zap, Gunman Taco Truck, PKTBALL, I Love Hue, and more.

• Pricing: Free.

BuildBox

This game development tool is a drag-and-drop game development software which is focused majorly on game creation without any coding, scripting or programming. The tools’ core users consist of designers, entrepreneurs and a large number of gaming enthusiasts who don’t have any prior coding or game development knowledge.

BuildBox is a cross-platform development software which can easily run on OSX and Windows Operating system. The most important features include image drop wheel, options bar, asset bar, scene editor, collision editor, changing sliders and monetization options.

• Developer: 8cell, Inc.

• Platforms: iOS, Android, and Amazon.

• Games: 360 Maze, Wall Switch, Spirit Line, and more.

• Pricing: Plans start at $15 per month

Fusion 2.5

This is the perfect tool for a beginner mobile game developer; it’s one of the most easy-to-use tools when it comes to developing an app idea into an actual gaming app with as minimal fuss as possible.

Fusion 2.5.

It’s a 2D game development platform which lets developers make event-based games in just an hour. Fusion 2.56 offers its users a library filled with ready-to-use graphics which can be inserted in the game at any point, thereby lessening the time used and relieving a lot of stress from technically heavy design processes.

• Developer: Clickteam.

• Platforms: iOS and Android.

• Games: Quadle, Diabolic Seasons, Bit Odyssey, Future Police, and more.

• Pricing: Free. Paid plan at 79,00 €. Extra bundles and DLC available at separate costs.

GameMaker Studio

GameMaker Studio is an amazing hybrid tool which will help you grow from a beginner to an expert game developer. This 2D gaming tool lets the developers to create a sturdy single and multi-player games. The tool gives the developers an ability to use drag and drop interface to create a game or code for the game from scratch using GameMaker’s C-based programming language.

The studio also gives mobile game developers a bag full of support features which help you whenever you are struck, including real-time analytics, in-app purchase support, and a lot more user-engagement attributes.

• Developer: YoYo Games

• Platforms: iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Tizen.

• Games: Crashlands, Psebay, Bluk, Feral Fury, and more.

• Pricing: Free trial. Paid plans start at $99.99. Mobile plan at $399.99.

Mobile games are topping the app store charts, with gaining popularity mobile games are the best choice when it comes to what kind of app will surely work. And with the above easy-to-use mobile game development tools, your app idea can take a step closer to being the next Candy Crush or Pokemon Go.