What is a Game Engine?

A game engine is software designed to make game development easier. Game engines usually contain an entire game development environment, including features for graphics rendering, sound effects, and realistic movement. They also include built-in logic, reducing the amount of code the developers write.

When you download Godot, you install everything needed to make your game, except the creative assets such as artwork and gameplay algorithms.

Compatibility

The Godot software works on Linux, Windows, MacOS and even has a server version! It takes minimal resources to run the Godot Game Engine, so you don't need to invest a lot of money on hardware. PCGameBenchmark has an article on specific Godot System Requirements.

Multi-platform

The main reason I chose Godot for my Battlecard Game is Godot makes multi-platform game development so easy!

Being a Linux user, it is important to me that my games are playable to other Linux gamers. Game engines such as Unity make this very difficult. Linux isn't just one Operating System; it is a type of operating system. Unity requires the programmer to compile separate executable files for each operating system, making Linux game development very difficult.

Godot makes it easy to deploy your games on Linux, iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, UWP, BSD, Haiku, and the web!

Monolith Runtime

The programmer does not compile games created with Godot. Instead, Godot uses monolith runtime containing all the code you need to make your game work on all the Operating Systems listed above. Godot does all the hard work for you!

In other words, one codebase provides everything you need to run your game on different Operating Systems. Your code and assets are bundled together with the runtime, creating the proper executables.

Versatility

Godot Engine is also very versatile. It is a light-weight engine that includes many great art tools for both 2D and 3D games. Godot works with several programming languages and has its own built-in visual scripting tools. There is official support for C++, C#, and GDScript, but community support allows you to use Godot with many more popular languages.

Godot is open-source. That means the code is out there for other programmers to review, edit, and improve. There is an active community of open-source developers supporting Godot. This community creates many useful community-built tools.

Download Godot

Godot is straightforward to install. You can install it directly from the website by clicking here and finding the download for your operating system. You can also get Godot via Steam or Itch.io. If you install Godot via Steam or Itch, the platforms will help you keep Godot's software up-to-date.