How to Create an Android/iOS Game Without Knowing How to Code
Did you know that you don’t need to know how to code to create amazing android and iOS games? In this review, I will show you software that makes it really easy to create simple and advanced games.
Plus I’ll show you some really cool games that were made using each program.
What You Will Learn
1. Which programs are available and how much they cost
2. What does the UI look like
3. How can I learn to make games
4. What are some popular games made using each software
5. Which one is the best program to make games
There are various programs to create games and covering all of them in this post would be impossible. Therefore, in this post I will show you the four most popular game creation programs. This is not supposed to be an extensive review, but a good comparison of each of them.
Stencyl vs GameSalad vs Construct 2 vs GameMaker
*Green indicates, the feature is included in the free and paid version. Blue means the function is only available in one of the paid plans.
| Name | Stencyl | GameSalad | Construct 2 | GameMaker |
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| OS | Mac, Windows, Linux | Mac, Windows | Windows | Mac, Windows |
| Free Version | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Publish game on website | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Android Games | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| iOS Games | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Windows Phone Games | no | no | yes | yes |
| Windows Games | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Mac Games | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Linux Games | yes | no | yes | yes |
| Facebook Games | no | no | yes | no |
| Chrome Games | no | no | yes | no |
| HTML5 Games | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Tizen Games | no | yes | yes | yes |
| Monetization | yes | yes | yes | yes |
| Pro Price | $99-$199/Year (depending on functions) | $299/year | ~$130-$430 | $100-$900 (depending on functions) |
| Download | here | here | here | here |
Next I’m going to show you what these programs look like.
Stencyl
GameSalad
Construct 2
GameMaker
I’m not going to lie, it definitely takes a while to learn each of the programs. I cannot say if one has a steeper learning curve than the others, but you should definitely check out some of these tutorials to get started.
All programs are documented really well, I could not make out a clear winner. Some tutorials are more up-to-date than others though.
Stencyl Tutorials
Stencyl Textbooks and Online Courses
GameSalad Tutorials
The Cookbook GameSalad Tutorials
Create a Brick Breaker Game in GameSalad
Create a Flappy Bird Game using GameSalad
Construct 2 Tutorials
The Official Construct 2 Manual
The Beginner’s Guide to Construct 2
A Huge List of Construct 2 Tutorials
Yoyogames GameMaker Tutorials
The Official Reference for GameMaker
Tutorials for an Adventure Game, Shooter and RPG
When I was looking for a software to create games, the first thing I was checking out were popular games made using the program. It is difficult to cherry pick some of the best games so please take my suggestion with a grain of salt.
Games made with Stencyl
Games made with GameSalad
Games made with Construct 2
Games made with GameMaker
So which one is the best program to make games?
I don’t really have the right answer for you. I tested out all four programs and there were some things I liked about each of them. Just from the standpoint of ease of use, community and documentation, I became a big fan of GameSalad and GameMaker by Yoyogames. The best thing is that each of them offers a free version so you definitely have time to test each of them.
So just choose one and get started. As always, please post any questions in the comments section and feel free to connect to me via Google+ or Facebook.
do you have a specific tutorial or a good link to point out on how to create live wallpapers for android power smartphones?
P.S.: Thank you very much for this post. I got here through a link posted by my buddy Jan Koch
Hey Chris,
I don’t have a good tutorial for you, but you have a couple of options to get started easily.
1. First, you could check out codecanyon and build on an already completed live wallpaper there. Here is a Link http://codecanyon.net/item/gif-live-wallpaper-with-admob/7484063?WT.ac=search_item&WT.oss_phrase=live%20wallpaper&WT.oss_rank=1&WT.z_author=vishalbodkhe
2. I have not tested this software, but this could also be interesting for you. You’ll probably find some good info in the thread http://forums.makingmoneywithandroid.com/android-development/10984-no-coding-appmaker-magicgenieapps-com-now-live-animated-gif-live-wallpapers.html
Hope this helps!
Tim
It does help. Thank you. Oh, and to publish I’d have to pay the developer’s fee of $25 at Google right?
Yes, but the $25 are only a one-time fee, it does not matter if you upload only 1 app or 100 apps.
Hey Tim,
Thanks a lot, it was really helpful your post 🙂
i need to make some kind of “match-three” game for IOS and Android in a very short time, don’t have coding experience (only the basics) and recently i discovered Stencyl that it seems really intuitive but now i’m having second thoughts about Stencyl or GameSalad which one of those do you recommend for my purpose? considering that i don’t need advanced graphics or something that fancy but quick results for a beginner.
Hey Martín,
Glad the post was helpful. I think you cannot go wrong with either of them, but I found a link for Stencyl that might help you get started.
http://community.stencyl.com/index.php?topic=7291.0
-tim
Which one would you recommend for kids around 10-12 years old?
It would need to be easy to get started and use, good amount of vid tutorials, has a good amount of pre made templates/sprites/background or whatever you want to call them, and good tutorial of creating a game from scratch such as how to create a sprite ( the baby steps ) etc..
Hey Tou,
Both GameMaker and GameSalad should be great choices. Especially, because both offer a free trial! 🙂
Either one has a huge communities with lots of video and text/image tutorials that should help kids get started right away.
-Tim