Helpful Game Development Resources

Many students are often confused on how to get started in game development. Below are some helpful links to get started in using an engine, 3D modeling tools, 2D art tools, open assets, and more. Unless otherwise noted, all software is cross-platform and available on Windows, Mac, and Linux, or accessible online.

Note: Everything listed below is free for UNL students for a limited time, or free to the public indefinitely. There are options to pay for some parts of these resources (such as paid assets) but there is absolutely no requirement to do so.

Game Engines

There are several engines to help students get started, often with their own set of documentation or other resources.

Unity Engine

Unity is a popular game engine for both 2D and 3D game development. Due to its widespread popularity, there are lots of tutorials available for it. Unity is free for individuals and teams making less than $100K off of their games over the last 12 months. It is closed source.

Download and install from Unity's website.
View their documentation at the Unity Documentation website.

For video tutorials, check out Sebastian Lague and Brackeys.

Godot Engine

Godot is a free and open source game engine for 2D and 3D game development. It is intuitive and well-documented, although it does not have quite as many tutorials as Unity. It is free to use forever, with no royalties or paid licenses.

Download and install from Godot's website.
View their documentation at the Godot Documentation website.

For video tutorials, check out GDQuest and HeartBeast.

Unreal Engine

The Unreal game engine is often used by professionals in the game industry for creating high quality 3D games, but it has a significantly steeper learning curve than other engines listed here. Its source code is available only to subscribers.

Download and install from Unreal's website.
View their documentation at the Unreal Documentation website.

Art Tools - 2D

2D art tools can be helpful when creating custom sprites, backgrounds, and other assets for 2D games. It can also be helpful for creating textures to use in both 2D and 3D games.

Adobe Creative Cloud

Adobe's Creative Cloud Suite is free to UNL students for the duration of their time at the university. It can be downloaded from the UNL ITS website using their UNL credentials. It's a full suite of media creation tools to help people make and edit photos, videos, audio, and much more. It is only available natively on Windows and Mac.

Visit the ITS Help Guide for more information.

GIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) is an image editor typically used for creating or manipulating 2D images, such as photographs or textures, although it can also be used for digital art. It's very similar to Adobe Photoshop, but free and open source.

Download and install from GIMP's website.

Krita

Krita is a digital painting tool typically used for creating or manipulating 2D images and creations. It has very good touch and pen support. It is free and open source.

Download and install from Kritas's website.

Inkscape

Inkscape is a tool for creating vector images. It's very similar to Adobe Illustrator, but free and open source.

Download and install from Inkscape's website.

Libresprite

Libresprite is a pixel art editor with features intended to make creating pixel art sprites as convenient as possible. It is a free and open source fork of the popular Aseprite editor, which itself used to be free and open source, but now is paid and has a proprietary license.

Download and install from Libresprite's website.

Piskel

Piskel is an online pixel art editor similar to Aseprite. It is free and open source.

Visit Piskel's website to get started.

Art Tools - 3D

3D art tools can be helpful when creating 3D models of characters, levels, scene objects, and more. They can be used for creation, animation, and texturing of models.

Blender

Blender is a 3D modeling program used professionally for making 3D models of characters, assets, scenes, and animating these models. It is free and open source.

Download and install from Blender's website.

Houdini Apprentice

Houdini is a node-based program used professionally for creating procedural 3D assets and effects. Houdini Apprentice is a version that is free to students and hobbyists for creating non-commercial products.

Download and install from SideFX's website.

Google Sketchup & 3D Warehouse

Sketchup is a 3D modeling program used by hobbyists for making 3D models of characters and scenes. These models and scenes are posted on Sketchup's website for others to download and use.

Download and install from Sketchup's website.

Audio Tools

These audio tools can help anyone record and manipulate sound for games. This can be applicable for background music, sound effects, voiceovers, and more.

Audacity

Audacity is a tool for recording and editing any audio. It is helpful for recording live music, practical sound effects, and voiceovers. It is free and open source.

Download and install from Audacity's website.

BeepBox

BeepBox is an online tool for easily creating chiptune music. It is free and open source.

Visit BeepBox's website to get started.

LMMS

LMMS is a digital audio workstation (DAW), used for composing and producing digital music. It has a higher learning curve than tools like BeepBox, but it is more powerful. It is free and open source.

Download and install from LMMS's website.

REAPER

REAPER is another digital audio workstation (DAW), used for composing and producing digital music. It has a paid license with a one-time cost of $60 if you're earning less than $20,000 yearly, otherwise it costs $225. However, it offers a fully functional free trial with no registration required.

Download and install from REAPER's website.

MuseScore

MuseScore is a music notation program used for creating sheet music. It can be used for sketching musical ideas, giving performers sheet music to record, or simply exporting audio directly for use in games. It is free and open source.

Download and install from MuseScore's website.

FamiTracker

FamiTracker is an NES-style music composition program built around emulating older video game sound chips. It is closed source and only available natively on Windows, and must be emulated on Mac and Linux.

Visit FamiTracker's website for more information.

Online Resources

These online resources will help you find open-licensed assets such as 2D sprites, 3D models, music, sound effects, and more for any game.

OpenGameArt

OpenGameArt is a website that hosts Creative Commons art, models, textures, music, sound effects, and all manner of other assets for use in video games.

Visit OpenGameArt.org for more information.

Audio - FreeSound

FreeSound is a website that hosts Creative Commons sound effects, as well as some music and other audio clips for anyone to use.

Visit FreeSound.org for more information.

Audio - Incompetech

Incompetech is a website that hosts royalty-free music created by composer Kevin MacLeod.

Visit Incompetech.com for more information.

Art - TurboSquid

TurboSquid is a website that hosts royalty-free 3D models for anyone to use.

Visit TurboSquid.com for more information.

Art - 3D Warehouse

3D Warehouse is the online platform where anyone can host open-licensed art made in Google's 3D Sketchup.

Visit Sketchup's 3D Warehouse website for more information.

Other Online Resources

Lospec

Lospec is a website with lots of pixel art tutorials, palettes, and further resources. Visit lospec.com for more information.

Programming Guide for Video-Gamers

Read this article on IT Hare to learn about the stages of game development from an abstract standpoint. Good for those new to game development!

Coding and Design for Virtual Reality

If you're interested in VR, this article on vrspace lists some popular languages and tutorials to help you get started. If you're a UNL student, also check out the "Exploring Virtual Reality" special topics course taught by Dr. Chris Bourke.