Hi there. I'm a senior in high school and I'm competing in a competition for the best 1980 style arcade type game. I've got plenty of ideas, but not as much skill to back them up. I have basic knowledge in Java (I can make a simple Rock Paper Scissors game) but when it comes to special methods like in OpenGL it can become a little overwhelming. My question is what would be the best Java based engine to run a 2d game for beginners. I know of ones like Game Maker, but I'd rather actually learn the code rather than use an editor type engine. ANY feedback or opinions will be greatly appreciated!

For Java 2D I can only recommend libGDX. I don't have much experience with it, but it's nice to use and has quite a big community.

For Java 2D I can only recommend libGDX. I don't have much experience with it, but it's nice to use and has quite a big community.

Definitely a good suggestion.

Also I would avoid using pure OpenGL like the plague if you're just trying to make a simple game. Writing all that rendering code yourself is not trivial, and that'd leave you having to implement horrible things like font rendering. Use a library like libGDX that does it for you.

For Java 2D I can only recommend libGDX. I don't have much experience with it, but it's nice to use and has quite a big community.

My weapon of choice! Well documented and great community! Only for 2D though, I find 3D really needs an engine to visualize things and get going faster.

Yeah, unless you got a couple months to get the OpenGL basics and then a couple months more to actually do anything with them, go for libGDX.