Best 2D Shmup Creator Tool / Engine?

[hydropyr]

Good day to all Shooter lovers!

I decided to try and create an old-school 2D Horizontal Space Shooter with bit-map graphics like Gaiares, Thunder Force III, Axelay, Carrier Airwing, etc…on the PC.

I have very little basic knowledge on programming and honestly I don’t have the desire or the time to dedicate on mastering any specific programming language or creating a new engine to a high enough level in creating a good game, so I would rather be interested in using some ready dedicated powerful 2D engine (Preferably free) as I have plenty of cool ideas which I would like to implement into this project and create something epic and professional, but one that also supports coding for more complex stuff (Like using a sine to create the wavy effects of the scorching sand in Super Turrican II and the fiery backgrounds of Thunder force 3)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxPESQyOeEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n935jb-6xo

And to be able to export the source code in order to port it to various platforms if possible.

After searching around I found the following 3 tools / engines:

http://www.stencyl.com/
https://www.yoyogames.com/studio
http://www.clickteam.com/the-games-factory-2

So which would be the best for this endeavor?

Thanks!

[Squire Grooktook]

I recommend either Unity or Game Maker. I started out working on my shmup in Unity, but have now transferred over to Game Maker with BzpBanshee's GMOSSE template/engine.

About programming: You're not going to get a lot of mileage out of any of these tools if you use "drag and drop" style functionality. You don't have to be a whiz as far as I can tell, but you definitely want basic programming knowledge if you want to implement your ideas. For example, knowledge of variables, IF statements, loops, functions, arrays and lists, etc. will help you to script most any kind of enemy, pattern, or mechanic you want.

Luckily, I'd say that kind of basic knowledge is the kind of thing you could learn either from one beginning school course, or just by being self taught. You definitely have to be motivated for the latter route though.

Here's some stuff I made in Unity fresh out of my first C++ programming course, as an example. This is all just fueled by basic use of if statements and whatnot.
Example 1
Example 2

Overall, I'd say go for it and have fun. Nice to see someone taking inspiration from old Mega Drive/Genesis games too. Need more classic style shmups on the market IMO.

[hydropyr]

That's some fine work you did right there! Especially the explosions in the vertical shooter. What program did you use to draw the 2D art and sprites?

So Unity can also implement C++ programming routines?

So, the other tools I mentioned and Game Maker are only drag-n-drop based engines with no possibility of adding any C++ programming (Or other language) into them to spice up the result?

Only Unity has this possibility?

[BPzeBanshee]

So, the other tools I mentioned and Game Maker are only drag-n-drop based engines with no possibility of adding any C++ programming (Or other language) into them to spice up the result?

Game Maker has its own language aside from the Drag-n-Drop interface - the Game Maker Language, or GML. It's a pseudo-C++ kind of language and it's definitely more helpful to do advanced stuff with.

[Squire Grooktook]

That's some fine work you did right there! Especially the explosions in the vertical shooter. What program did you use to draw the 2D art and sprites?

I was using freeware sprites lol.

So Unity can also implement C++ programming routines?

So, the other tools I mentioned and Game Maker are only drag-n-drop based engines with no possibility of adding any C++ programming (Or other language) into them to spice up the result?

Only Unity has this possibility?

Unity allows you to script with C#, Java, or its own language.

And no, Game Maker allows you to script with its own language, gml. Most languages do allow you to do a lot with script, though there are exceptions.

That being said, I haven't seen many engines that use C++. There are many that use C# or there own languages. It doesn't really matter though, whether its gml or Unity Language or C# or C++, if you do a good job you should be able to get out whatever you want to.

It's also not too hard to use the other ones. I started using C# with Unity before I actually took a course on C# (only knew C++ at that point) and it didn't stop me from using it. Likewise, if you've used any c langauge or visual basic, you probably know what you're doing with GML already.

[Drake]

Unity has support for JS, not Java.

[mamboFoxtrot]

And it's technically not even real JavaScript. I think they refer to it sometimes as "UnityScript" or something.

That being said, I haven't seen many engines that use C++.

Unreal uses C++, and that's all I know.


I can recommend Game Maker, having used it personally. The help document is really thorough. I didn't know anything about programming, but I managed to learn the GML through the built-in documentation alone.

[Squire Grooktook]

And it's technically not even real JavaScript. I think they refer to it sometimes as "UnityScript" or something.

I believe that's the third possible scripting language for Unity. You get C#, Java Script, and Unity Script.