Video Game Developer Toolbox—Software and Tools for Game Development

In 2024, consumer spending on video games reached $58.7 billion, which is an increase of more than 106 percent over the previous decade. This rise in spending indicates that pursuing a role in video game development may be a lucrative career option [1]. If you’re interested in working in this field, you may want to learn about the software and tools commonly used by video game developers. These tools include game engines, such as Unity, programming languages, such as C++, and collaboration tools, such as Trello. Also, when considering this as a career, you might like to know that video game developers earn an average annual salary of $92,266 [2].

Discover more about the software and tools you might use as a video game developer, such as game engines, programming languages, art and design tools, and debugging tools.

Game engines

A game engine, also known as “game architecture,” is a software development environment designed with various settings and configurations meant to increase the efficiency of the game development process. A few popular gaming engines are Unity, Unreal Engine, and Godot. Learn more about each of these development environments.

Unity

Unity operates as a cross-platform game engine that provides a substantial environment for developing 2-D and 3-D interactive experiences. A few of the key features are:

• Cross-platform compatibility that allows deployment with iOS, Android, and Microsoft Windows

• Large ecosystem and community offering support in tutorials and forums

• Visual scripting, as well as fast prototyping

• Robust rendering engine that supports dynamic lighting, real-time shadows, and post-processing effects

The Unity game engine is a versatile piece of software favored by both indie and professional developers when creating their games.

Unreal engine

If you’re working as a video game developer, you want to be familiar with Unreal Engine, which is a gaming engine known for its ability to create high-fidelity graphics, as well as its extensive toolset for developing complex games. Some of its key features:

• It can connect to media production pipelines, and because of its universal scene description (USD) support capabilities, you can collaborate with team members.

• Its Unreal Editor allows artists, designers, and developers to adjust aspects of the project simultaneously.

• It offers a scalable foliage tool, which you can use to automatically layer your exterior environments with grass, rocks, flowers, and even different types of trees.

• Using Nanite and Virtual Shadow Maps features, you can render an enormous number of geometric details.

Fortnite, Fall Guy, Rocket League, Infinity Blade, and Shadow Complex are some of the games attributed to Unreal Engine.

Godot

You can not only build a variety of 2-D and 3-D games with the Godot engine but also use it as an open-source game engine. Godot tends to be user-friendly and has a flexible scene system. Consider some of the following advantages of using Godot to make 2-D and 3-D games:

• A dedicated 2-D pipeline allows you to streamline your game logic, which means you can work in game coordinates and pixels.

• Creating levels in your 2-D environment is more efficient with Godot’s tile map editor.

• You can develop 3-D games for desktop computers and a variety of mid-range Android devices.

• You can import 3-D models straight into the Godot editor.

Another feature of Godot is that it has several platforms where you can connect with other developers and code contributors.

Programming languages

As a game developer, you also need to know how to use programming languages such as C++, C#, and Python. In order for the game to function and load properly, coding language needs to be applied correctly.

C++

This programming language works well in video game development due to its efficient memory management and compatibility with Unreal Engine and Unity gaming engines. C++ also updates often so that it remains in sync with modern gaming requirements. Finally, it provides better run-time performance when compared to other programming languages and offers a large number of libraries that support game development.

C#

The Unity game engine is constructed using C#, making it an ideal language for creating games. Because it built Unity, you can use C# to develop games for various platforms such as Xbox, Playstation, Nintendo, and mobile games. If you have some previous experience with coding, C# is a relatively easy-to-learn programming language.

Python

Because Python is an open-source scripting language, some game developers creating larger-scale games tend to use it for supporting code. For example, if you’re working with Unreal Engine, you can use Python for scripting tasks that you are manually conducting in the editor. 

Art and design tools

Whether you’re creating characters or designing environments, art and design tools, such as Blender and Adobe Creative Suite, are important components for developing your game’s aesthetic. You can review some of these tools in more detail here.

Blender

Blender is open-source software for creating 2-D and 3-D animated content. It allows you to rig characters, build detailed 3-D scenes, and devise accurate interactions between objects and characters. Since Blender is community-driven, users can alter the code, fix bugs, and add new features.

Adobe Creative Suite

Adobe Photoshop is an excellent program for creating detailed 2-D visuals due to its many tools, including layers, filters, and masks, which are capable of image alteration. Adobe Illustrator is a vector graphic editor that you can use to build concept art and logos for your game.

ZBrush

Within the real-time 3-D industry, ZBrush allows you to start with the high-resolution sculpting of your characters rather than wait and refine them after the animation stage. Essentially, you can sculpt and create your detailed character before building its animation mesh.

Audio tools

If you’ve ever played a video game, you know that the audio is an important part of the experience. Audio tools, such as FMOD and Audacity, layer the sound onto the visuals.

FMOD

If you’re looking for a comprehensive tool capable of designing sound and adapting music, this audio content creation program offers deep integration with game engines. Developers used FMOD to produce the sound in games such as Evil West, Alan Wake, War Robots, Hades, and Roblox.

Audacity

As an open-source audio editor, Audacity allows developers to record and modify sound effects and music in their games. It also provides equalization, noise reduction, and mixing capabilities.

Collaboration and project management tools

The ability to use collaboration tools such as Trello and Slack is critical in game development because it allows you to share ideas, play the game to test it, and manage the source code. Take a look at the following collaboration and project management tools for developing video games.

Trello

The Trello collaboration platform allows you to present some boards for public viewing so that the people backing your gaming project can follow your progress. You can also use the boards within this application to organize tasks.

GitHub

With GitHub, you can participate in the review process and receive feedback from others regarding your code, which can help you make necessary adjustments. For version control, GitHub uses Git, which allows developers to collaborate on a project and monitor adjustments to the digital asset. Team members can talk about revisions to the code and suggest ways to improve it. 

Slack

Game development companies, such as Riot Games, employ Slack to inform colleagues when a game build begins. If a build is unsuccessful, an alert explaining what went wrong appears on Slack. Slack helps the company streamline game development while providing incident response, triaging, and problem-solving.

Testing and debugging tools

To make your game stable, perform well, and function without bugs, you need to use testing and debugging tools such as Unity Test Framework and Jenkins. Explore how these tools can help you prepare the game for public release.

Unity Test Framework

With the Unity Test Framework (UTF), you can write your own code for testing. You can then run this automated test within the Unity Editor whether you are in “play” or “edit” mode. UTF also supplies a Test Runner window in which you can view your tests and manage them.

Jenkins

Jenkins is written in Java and is an open-source automation server that contains a large plug-in ecosystem meant for Continuous Integration (CI). Because Jenkins allows for CI, developers can make changes to a source code within a shared space, which allows teams to identify and solve problems early in the development process. Another positive aspect of Jenkins is that the developers built the application with other developers in mind, which means it contains the features they need. Jenkins also supports cloud environments and has a community of users who manage it.

Who uses these tools?

Creating a video game requires a variety of roles with different skills. A few key positions include game designer, game programmer, game artist, and audio engineer. A game designer might use Unreal Engine to ensure that all the features and mechanics of the game function properly. If you’re writing code as a game programmer, you’ll likely need to learn how to use programming languages like C++ and Python. As a game artist, you will typically need to know the Adobe Creative Suite to design characters and environments. Finally, when creating sound effects and composing music as an audio engineer in game development, you’ll need to utilize an audio tool like FMOD.

Discover more about video game developer tools on Coursera

If you decide to pursue a career in video game development, you may want to explore the various video game developer tools and types of software necessary for your future job. To begin in this field, you might consider the Game Design and Development with Unity 2020 Specialization offered by Michigan State University. This Specialization covers product design, visual design, computer graphics, and more. Another possibility is the C# Programming for Unity Game Development Specialization offered by the University of Colorado Boulder. Both Specializations are available on Coursera.