A list of game development resources to make magic happen. Created by awesome people for awesome people. This awesome collection is also available on Game-Development.ZEEF.com
Great graphics placeholders and tools to turn that squared game into a picasso painting
- 2D Cartoon Mobile Game UI Pack - cartoon user interface asset pack. It comes as a layered psd file.
- 420 Pixel Art Icons for RPGs - Set of 420 RPG icons, free for commercial use.
- CGTextures - A large collection of textures.
- GameDev Market - a community-driven marketplace that connects indie game developers with talented asset creators.
- Games-Icons Set - free icons for your games.
- Gunpoint-3D - specialized resource dedicated to armored military weapons, the modern and used in world wars.
- Iconmonstr - Another free icons resource for your games.
- OpenClipart - Collection of free cliparts.
- OpenGameArt - a media repository intended for use with free software game projects.
- Openstock Project - Modern 2D vector style game assets for indie developers, students, hobbyists & professionals – free personal & commercial licences.
- PlainTextures
- Reiner's Tilesets - A blog with free 2D and 3D graphics.
- Sketchfab - Publish & embed interactive 3D models.
- SpriteLib - a collection of static and animated graphic objects (also commonly known as sprites).
- TextureKing
- Tree Generator - An Online tree generator.
- Upando - Marketplace with lots of resources for game developers.
- Vecteezy - Free Vector Art.
- Yobi3D - Free 3D model search engine.
- Aseprite - animated sprite editor & pixel art tool.
- GraphicsGale - Animation graphic editor easy to use.
- PiskelApp - Free Online Pixel Art and Animated Sprite Tool.
- PyxelEdit - Pixel art editor designed to make it fun and easy to make tilesets, levels and animations.
- ShoeBox - ShoeBox is a free Adobe Air based app for Windows and Mac OSX with game and ui related tools. Each tool uses a drag and drop - or clipbord interaction for a quick workflow.
- Spritesheet Preview - A simple and free tool to preview sprite sheets
- TexturePacker - Great spritesheet creation editor.
- ImageAlpha — Mac OS X GUI for pngquant and other tools
- Kraken.io - robust, ultra-fast image optimizer and compressor with best-in-class algorithms.
- PNGGauntlet - Smash PNGs for faster sites
- PNGoo - Windows GUI for batch conversion.
- Pngyu - simple PNG image file compression tool.
- SuperPNG Photoshop plug-in — Mac and Windows. Comparison with "Save for Web"
- TinyPNG - Advanced lossy compression for PNG images that preserves full alpha transparency.
- FilterForge - A plugin for Adobe Photoshop that allows you to build your own filters.
- PixPlant - PixPlant is a smart 3D texturing tool that creates high quality normal, displacement, specular maps and seamless textures from photos.
- STG - a tool for creating professional seamlessly-tileable textures from photographs quickly and easily.
- Charas - Charas is a charset generator for RPG Maker.
- Famistu Chibi Maker - A tool to make the famous chibi chars and use in your game.
- Loose Leaf
- ArrayPainter - Array Painter is the easiest and fastest way to make 2D arrays ready for copy pasting into your own program.
- AutoTileGen - AutoTileGen is an automatic tileset generator for 2D game terrains.
- OGMO Editor - generic level editor.
- Mappy - Free tilemap editor.
- Tiled - free, easy to use and flexible tile map editor.
- Fusion Character Animator - small tool for Clickteam Fusion 2.5 to facilitate the animation of 2D character sprites for developers.
- Spine - Spine is dedicated to 2D animation, providing an efficient workflow both for creating amazing animation and for integrating it into your games.
- Spriter - Modern tool for sprite animation.
- DragonBones - The Open Source 2D skeleton animation solution for Flash
- LWF - Lightweight SWF. LWF is an animation engine which can play animation data converted from FLASH contents in HTML5, Unity, Cocos2d-x, iOS UIKit, and more.
- Gimp - GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
- Inkscape - An open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X.
- Krita - Krita is a KDE program for sketching and painting, offering an end-to-end solution for creating digital painting files from scratch by masters.
- Ormr - Ormr is a fast, light-weight, cross-platform procedural graphics editor.
- Paint.NET - Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for PCs that run Windows.
- Pickle - Another Pixel art Editor.
- Pixelmator - Full-featured image editing app for the Mac
- Pixen - OpenSource Pixel Art Editor for OSX
Set of game frameworks, engines and platforms
- Agen - Cross-Platform framework for making 2D games with Lua, compatible iOS, Mac and Windows devices.
- Allegro - Allegro 4 & 5 are cross-platform, open source, game programming libraries, primarily for C and C++ developers.
- AndEngine - 2D Android Game Engine
- Bacon2D - A framework to ease 2D game development, providing ready-to-use QML elements representing basic game entities needed by most of games.
- Box2D - A 2D Physics Engine for Games.
- Chipmunk C# - C# implementation of the Chipmunk2D lib.
- Chipmunk2D - A fast and lightweight 2D game physics library.
- Cocos2D - graphic library for games and multimedia, for python language
- Cocos2d-x - a C++ OpenGL 2D and 3D game engine. Uses C++ but has JS and Lua bindings. Target all the major mobile platforms and operating systems. Additional tools CocoStudio and Cocos Code IDE.
- Construct 2 - an HTML5 game maker, meaning you are not actually writing JavaScript. Instead, you use actions, events and conditions to do the heavy lifting.
- Corona SDK - A Cross-Platform Mobile App Development for iOS and Android.
- CutJS - Lightweight, fast, interactable 2D HTML5 rendering engine for cross-platform game development.
- Duality - C# / OpenGL 2D Game Engine that comes with visual editor.
- Ejecta - A Fast, Open Source JavaScript, Canvas & Audio Implementation for iOS.
- EnchantJS - A simple JavaScript framework for creating games and apps.
- ENGi - A multi-platform 2D game library for Go.
- Farseer - a collision detection system with realistic physics responses.
- FlashPunk - free ActionScript 3 library designed for developing 2D Flash games.
- Flixel - an open source game-making written in ActionScript3.
- GameMaker - GameMaker accommodates the creation of cross-platform video games using drag and drop or a scripting language known as Game Maker Language, which can be used to develop more advanced games that could not be created just by using the drag and drop features.
- GameSalad - Game Creation Engine for Mac and Windows.
- Gideros - A Cross-Platform framework to create Mobile Apps and games for iOS, Android using Lua programming language.
- HaxeFlixel - Create cross-platform games easier and free.
- ImpactJS - Impact is a JavaScript Game Engine that allows you to develop stunning HTML5 Games for desktop and mobile browsers.
- Jitter - a fast and lightweight physics engine written in C#.
- Kivy - Cross platform Python framework for creating apps and games for Linux, Windows, OS X, Android and iOS
- Kivent - A 2D game framwework for Kivy.
- KiwiJS - a fun and friendly Open Source HTML5 Game Engine. Some people call it the WordPress of HTML5 game engines
- LibGDX - Powerful (totally free) library for Java, code once and run the game on desktop, Android, Web, and iOS.
- LimeJS - HTML5 game framework for building fast, native-experience games for all modern touchscreens and
- Loom SDK - 2D mobile app and game framework with live reload of code and assets, AS3/JS/C#-like scripting language, and powerful 2D rendering and UI framework. Open source with paid "Turbo" service.
- Lycheejs - JavaScript Game library that offers a complete solution for prototyping and deployment of HTML5 Canvas, WebGL or native OpenGL(ES) based games inside the Web Browser or native environments.
- LÖVE - Lua 2D Game Engine.
- Matter.js - a 2D physics engine for the web.
- MINX - Open Source 2D game framework written in C++ (to the style of XNA)
- MOAI - Cross-Platform framework designed for pro game developers to create iOS, Android, Windows, Linux, Chrome and OSX games using C++, OpenGL and Lua scripting.
- MelonJS - open source light-weight HTML5 game engine.
- Monkey X - Multi-platform programming language and cross-compiler, aimed at fast game programming.
- Monogame - Open Source implementation of the Microsoft XNA 4 Framework.
- NodeBox - a family of Python tools to create generative design.
- PandaJS - Open Source HTML5 Engine.
- Phaser - free and fast 2D game framework for making HTML5 games for desktop and mobile web browsers, supporting Canvas and WebGL rendering.
- PixiJS - is a newcomer HTML5 game renderer - first released in early 2013. A main appeal of the engine is its use of WebGL for faster performance. If WebGL isn't supported, the engine falls back to standard canvas.
- Processing - Processing is a programming language, development environment for artists, designers, researchers.
- PyDark - 2d game framework written in Python.
- PyGame - a 2D game engine in Python.
- Ren'Py - a open-source visual novel engine using the Python language in simplified form. It supports Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Android.
- Rpgboss - A 2d rpg game engine and editor based on scala and libgdx. Ease of use, with no programming knowledge.
- RPGMaker - series of programs for the development of role-playing games.
- SDL - SDL is a cross-platform library designed to provide low level access to audio, keyboard, mouse, joystick, and graphics hardware via OpenGL and Direct3D.
- SFML - Simple and Fast Multimedia Library.
- SpriteKit - iOS/Mac 2D Game Engine.
- Starling - The GPU powered 2D Flash API
- Stencyl - a game creation platform that allows users to create 2D video games for computers, mobile devices, and the web.
- XNA - Microsoft's game development framework.
- p2.js - JavaScript 2D physics library
- Blitz3D 3D basic-like programming language for fast 3D desktop games.
- Bullet - Real-time physics simulation.
- Cinder - Cinder is a community-developed, free and open source library for professional-quality creative coding in C++.
- Dash - A free and open 3D game engine written in D.
- Godot - Open source game engine with rich API.
- Havok Vision - a cross-platform game engine that provides a powerful and versatile multi-platform runtime technology.
- Haxor - Combine the power of HaXe language and HTML5+WebGL to easily develop powerful applications that can run in any modern browser.
- Hive3D - Real Time Collaboration 3D engine.
- Horde3D - small open source 3D rendering engine.
- Irrlicht - open source high performance realtime 3D engine written in C++.
- JPCT - jPCT is a 3D engine for desktop Java and Google's Android.
- ODE - ODE is an open source, high performance library for simulating rigid body dynamics.
- Ogre3D - is a scene-oriented, real-time, flexible 3D rendering engine (as opposed to a game engine) written in C++.
- Panda3D - a framework for 3D rendering and game development for Python and C++ programs.
- PlayCanvas - A WebGL Game Engine.
- Polycode - Open-Source Framework for creating games in C++ (with Lua bindings).
- Spring - A powerful free cross-platform RTS engine.
- Three.js - Javascript 3D Library.
- Turbulenz - Turbulenz offers the ability to build, publish, iterate and monetise high-quality games that react like no others, with immersive 3D effects and real-time physics that open up a whole new world of unprecedented and extraordinary web content.
- UDK - the game engine technology developed by Epic Games.
- Unity 3D - A development engine for the creation of 2D and 3D games and interactive content.
- Urho3D - Cross-platform rendering and game engine.
- Wave - Cross-platform engine written in C#
- jMonkeyEngine 3 - a 3D open-source game engine for adventurous Java developers.
- voxel.js - voxel.js is a collection of projects that make it easier than ever to create 3D voxel games like Minecraft all in the browser.
Audio editors, sounds collections and more.
- Freesound - collaborative database of Creative Commons Licensed sounds.
- Musopen - Royalty free music.
- Octave - free library of UI sounds.
- PacDV - royalty free sounds collection.
- SoundBible.com - Royalty-free, searchable archive of sound effects under various licenses.
- LaptopNoise - Large collection of random 'glitchy' computer effects free for use.
- Audacity - open source, cross-platform software for recording and editing sounds.
- Audiosauna - transforms your web browser into a fast and flexible music production studio with built in synthesizers and live effects.
- Audiotool - Online music producer.
- Bfxr - A tool to make make sound effects for computer games.
- FamiTracker - free windows tracker for producing music for the NES/Famicom-systems.
- MadTracker - a powerful and efficient approach to making music. Versatility and compatibility are guaranteed due to full VST™, ASIO™ and ReWire™ support.
- MilkyTracker - open source, multi-platform music application for creating .MOD and .XM module files.
- Soundation - Online Professional music studio.
- iNudge - Create sound patterns online.
- jfxr - A JavaScript port of the Bfxr sound effect generator.
- musagi - open source, fairly large and sophisticated music editor and synthesizer
Tools for making board games
- Boardgamizer - Board Game Design Idea Generator.
- RPTools - a brand of open-source programs designed to enhance traditional pen-and-paper role playing games.
Blogs, portals, magazines and more
- Amit's Game Programming
- BigSushi
- Designer Notes
- Emanuele Feronato's Blog
- Extraguy
- Gamasutra
- Game Development on StackExchange
- GameDev
- GameDevs.org
- GameJolt
- Greenlit Gaming
- HTML5 Game Devs Forum
- HobbyGameDev
- Html5 Game Development
- IndieDB
- IndieGamesHQ
- Indius
- Java Gaming
- Lost Garden
- Polygon
- Real-Time Rendering
- Superlevel
- TIGSource
- TruePCGaming
- WhatGamesAre
- iforce2d
- indiegames
- indiestatik
- indievault
- Artificial Intelligence for Games
- Flow
- Game Coding Complete
- Game Development Essentials: Game Level Design
- Game Engine Architecture
- Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design
- Game Programming Gems
- Game Programming Patterns
- Game Scripting Mastery
- Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with Shader-Based OpenGL, 6/E
- Level Up!
- 3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development
- Mathematics For 3D Game Programming And Computer Graphics
- Essential Mathematics for Games and Interactive Applications: A Programmer's Guide
- Nature of Code
- Physics for Game Developers
- Programming Game AI by Example
- Real-Time Rendering
- Rules of Play
- The Art of Game Design
- The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design
- The Visual Story
- Theory of Fun
- Tricks of the Windows Game Programming Gurus
- CompoHub - A compilation site of many game jams in a timeline.
- Doom 3
- Doom
- Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
- Prince of Persia
- Quake 2
- Quake III Arena
- Quake
- SimCity
- Wolfenstein 3D
Online courses, tutorials, screencasts
- Coursera: Beginning Game Programming with C#
- Khan Academy: Advanced JS: Games & Visualizations
- TheChernoProject
- Udacity: HTML5 Game Development
- Coursera: Intoduction to interactive Python programming
- HandmadeHero: making 2D game from scratch
Other amazingly awesome lists can be found in the awesome-awesomeness list.