Hi, I am new here. I just made an account to ask this question. Sorry if this topic is in wrong section. Please feel free to move it where it would fit. Thanks.

I recently got interested in making my own game. But I am not a coder. So I discovered this free engine called GDevelop which doesn't require any coding knowledge. I am interested in making a Side Scroller Shooter game. But the few games which were made using this engine were all looking retro-ish. As if they were 20 years old. Is it possible to make a pretty and a modern looking game. An example would be the game called My Friend Pedro. Visually it looks pretty good.

Thanks before hand.
YogShakti

(Moving to the For Beginners section)

Generally speaking, the simpler engines like GDevelop are great for learning and for fun, but if you want top-level features you'll either have to opt for a more professional engine - or, build such an engine from the ground up, which is a daunting task.

Having said that, how the game looks is largely about the art rather than the programming. If you want things to look modern then that usually requires hiring some artists and giving them the tools to get the correct visuals into the game.

7 hours ago, Kylotan said:

(Moving to the For Beginners section)

Generally speaking, the simpler engines like GDevelop are great for learning and for fun, but if you want top-level features you'll either have to opt for a more professional engine - or, build such an engine from the ground up, which is a daunting task.

Having said that, how the game looks is largely about the art rather than the programming. If you want things to look modern then that usually requires hiring some artists and giving them the tools to get the correct visuals into the game.

Thank you for a reply. I understand.

I would say there's nothing holding you back from making a good looking game with that tool.

Probably the reason the games made so far don't look super-duper is less to do with what the tool is capable of and more a symptom of the kind of user this tool is aimed at: individuals who are less technical.

That being said, you mentioned My Friend Pedro, that would be a game you could not make using this engine because the game utilises 3D graphics and I don't see any evidence that this engine supports 3D, I believe it's a 2D-only engine.

What would be your best recommendation of a free engine to use to make a 2D or a 3D game without using any code. To make a finished game which can earn some decent bucks? Thanks

Most games don't make 'decent bucks', sorry. That is only for the extremely lucky or the relatively experienced. Your chances are even lower if you're not willing or able to write any custom code for it.

I expect that the number of released games in recent times that did not use any code can be counted on your hands - it's very hard to create a perfectly polished experience that way. That said, you can have a go using Unreal which allows you to do a lot with Blueprints alone. An interesting alternative is Godot, which more 'free' but has a much smaller community - it appears to have a visual scripting language but I know nothing about it.

dmatter wrote:

That being said, you mentioned My Friend Pedro, that would be a game you could not make using this engine because the game utilises 3D graphics and I don't see any evidence that this engine supports 3D, I believe it's a 2D-only engine.

I am starting with GDevelop 5 (and trying to learn Godot 3), and while I can't speak for how GDevelop 5 supports working with 3D (I was basically warned, wisely I think, that, until I am a complete master of 2D games, I shouldn't even think about 3D), there are tutorials for doing 3D games in GD5. And I know that you can do isometric games, too, as that's what I'm looking at for my first-ever game...if I can just decided on what type of game and what theme in that type of game to do. More on that in a later post on that subject.

For whatever that's worth....

(I was basically warned, wisely I think, that, until I am a complete master of 2D games, I shouldn't even think about 3D),

This is untrue. If you want to make 3d games make 3d games. Start with simple ones to improve your skills and go from there.

It is not like 2D is basic and 3D is advanced. I would bet that most guys that make 3D games only would have to learn a lot to shift to 2D and make something polished (and vice versa).