There are huge gaming fans passionate about gaming and always exploring the marketplace to find visually aesthetic and strategic games. To create visually aesthetic games that offer an immersive experience to gamers, game developers need to embrace the best game development tools.
The gaming industry is flourishing exponentially and has become one of the most lucrative industries compared to the others. All the resources involved in the gaming industry need to be highly skilled and are one of the highest-paid workers.
According to a report by Ernst and Young (EY) titled “The state of the gaming industry,” approximately 2.9 billion people, nearly one out of every three, played a video game in 2021. The report also highlights that the global revenue size of the gaming industry was more than USD 193 billion in 2021.
Furthermore, the report also predicts that the revenue size of this industry is expected to grow to USD 211 billion, with mobile gaming contributing USD 116 billion.
If you are a game developer or aspiring to become one, you need hands-on experience with the top game development tools to be a highly paid professional.
Here’s a list of the best video game development tools that will help to create the next game hit:
1. Houdini FX
Houdini FX is one of the most effective tools for procedural generation and simulations. This game development tool offers developers a broad suite of products and a large community to create team-based projects, including complex visual effects, a breeze. Artists that work to create feature films or video games can use Houdini because it is one of the most versatile gaming development platforms available in the market.
Houdini Core provides a unique 3D animation experience to all the artists that work to develop a game. This application works on a node-based approach which helps the game development teams to organize node networks into custom nodes that they can share.
In today’s marketplace, most game development tools offer programs with visual node systems. But why Houdini is one of the best game development tools because it is built on a concept that makes projects more compact and structured. This application offers developers an easy and quick solution to procedural simulations from smoke to developing generators.
2. Unreal Engine
Epic Games-backed Unreal Engine is a popular game engine around the world. Regardless of the size of the development teams, whether big or small, you can integrate the Unreal engine to develop 2D or 3D games that are highly entertaining, customizable, visually aesthetic, and scalable.
Unreal Engine offers game developers a wide range of customization capabilities that help the game development teams to bring their ideas into reality and deliver visually stunning and playable content.
3. Unity
A lot bigger gaming development teams have leveraged Unity to design various games. However, the tool is also effective for smaller teams as well. Unity is a multi-platform game engine with the best features for developers to develop high-quality interactive 3D content without any friction or need for extensive onboarding.
This game engine is compatible with iOS, Android, PlayStation, Mac, Linux, Xbox, Windows, or other platforms. Moreover, it’s user-friendly interface makes 2D and 3D game development as easy as possible.
4. Amazon Lumberyard
Game development teams can leverage Amazon Lumberyard to develop games, create fan communities, and more. Amazon Lumberyard is an effective 3D game engine that simplifies the process of building titles for online play.
This game engine has built-in visual scripting tools that support C++, client topology, P2P, and Adobe Photoshop. Moreover, it also offers support for Twitch integration, Autodesk Maya, and a VR preview mode.
5. Blender
Another one of the best gaming development tools that developers can leverage is Blender. It is a robust video game development tool that game developers can use for rendering entire scenes, editing current files, and more.
Blender is an open-source suite that offers user animation and 3D modeling functionalities. Developers can join the Blenders free community to get the additional benefits of multiple plugins to streamline the development process, like presets, face rigs, etc.
6. CryEngine
Game development teams looking for an intuitive interface, effective VR support, and stunning visuals can opt for CryEngine. This free software offers programmers an entire set of functionalities and its engine source code without licensing costs.
Moreover, they also have their own CryEngine Marketplace for developers to sell in-game assets, reducing the time to market.
7. Mixamo
Adobe-backed Mixamo tool provides thousands of characters and animations that game developers can download for free. Developers can use their browsers to host the program; hence, downloading it will not be necessary.
Users can use their Adobe account and Mixamo to choose and animate a character. The owners can download the saved animated character within minutes.
Also Read: 5 Best Game Engines in 2023
8. Character Creator Pipeline
This game development tool streamlines the entire building of realistic characters to help bring your stories to reality. Character Creator Pipeline allows developers to get complete control of character creation. CC pipeline enables you to customize each detail of characteristics like age, weight, body type, and others. Developers can also benefit from a community market to buy custom sliders. Once the developers design the characters, you can export the new character creations into your desired game engine or rendering tool.
These are the best game development tools that artists in the animation sector can consider to develop top-notch gaming characters and environments.
