These are the slides from Dames Making Games' "Introduction to Game-Making Tools" workshop. If you want to make a game, there are lots of tools available to help you -- even if you've never made one before, and even if you don't know how to code! This presentation provides an overview of the tools that are most popular with DMG members.

1. So You Want to Make a Game
A Short Introduction to Game-Making Tools

3. You can make a game
Even if you’ve never made
one before
Even if you don’t know how
to code
Even if you can’t draw

4. What to ask yourself
What kind of games am I
interested in?
What technical resources
are available to me?
What are my existing skills?
Writing, illustration, music,
3D modelling, programming,
design?
What skills do I want to
learn?

5. A note on coding
It’s not the only skill that
matters. Games need artists,
writers, designers,
composers, and musicians
too.
Best benefit/time ratio will
come from understanding
logic flow concepts rather
than “coding”

6. Tools that do one thing
Twine (interactive fiction)
iV (interactive art and video)
RPG Maker (RPGs)
Adventure Game Studio,
Ren’Py (visual novels)
Inform 7 (text adventures)

7. Tools that do many things
Stencyl
GameMaker
GameSalad
Unity
Construct 2

8. THE ESSENTIAL TRADEOFF:
Fast and easy vs. flexible and
powerful

9. A note on “free” tools
You can probably do this for
free:
Building your game and
exporting to a single
platform
This will probably cost money:
Multiple platforms
Putting your game on a
mobile device (especially
iOS)
Monetization

10. Twine

11. Twine in a nutshell
A free, very beginner-friendly
text-oriented tool for writing
interactive stories with
branching paths.

13. Twine Questions
Is it free? Yep.
Mac or PC? Both.
Coding needed? Nope,
although you
can make more complex games with a basic
knowledge of variables, “if” statements, and
HTML/CSS/javascript.
Where to get it? twinery.org
What does it export to? HTML.

14. Some games by our members
Penalties, Soha El-Sabaawi
Even Cowgirls Bleed,
Christine Love
Phone Home, Jen Costa,
Noreen Rana, Kaitlin Smith
I’m Fine, by Royel Edwards
There are Monsters Under Your B
, by Kaitlin Tremblay

15. Twine is worth trying if
You mostly want to write
You’re an absolute beginner
You’re short on time
You’re interested in nonlinear narratives
You’re savvy with HTML and
CSS

16. Avoid Twine if
You’re making a game with
avatars/movement/action
You hate writing

17. iV

18. iV in a nutshell
“Twine with video.” Create
branching
narratives/experiences with
images and video as well as
text. Developed by DMG as a
fork from ScreenPerfect!

19. An important note
iV is a fork from ScreenPerfect.
ScreenPerfect concept and
development by Alex Leitch with
the kind support of the OCADu
game::play lab.
Engine produced to drive Hannah
Epstein's synchronous multiscreen/device installation game
PsXXYborg and completed in
concert with Alex's thesis
"ScreenPerfect: Accessible web
tools for contemporary art."

21. iV Questions
Is it free? Yes.
Mac or PC? Both.
Coding needed? Nope.
Where to get it?
bentobx.github.io/iV/
What does it export to? Web.

22. Games to check out
PsXXYborg, Hannah Epstein,
Alex Leitch, Sagan Yee

23. iV is worth a try if
You want to focus on
making art/video/story
instead of the tech
You’re interested in nonlinear narratives
You want to help us out

24. Avoid iV if
You don’t like new things
(‘cause they’re still rough
around the edges)
You want a game with
action, physics, puzzles, etc.

25. RPG Maker

26. RPG Maker in a nutshell
A tool for making RPGs in the
style of early Final Fantasy
games. With some creativity,
adaptable to the “adventure”
genre.

28. RPG Maker Questions
Is it free? No.
But there’s a free, limited
“lite” version you can try out.
Mac or PC? PC only.
Coding needed? Nope.
But you can if
you want to.
Where to get it?
rpgmakerweb.com
What does it export to? PC
executable.

29. Some games From the community
Restless, Natalie Zed
The Doctor is Ready, Megan
Patterson, Kara Stone, Cecily
Carver
Actual Sunlight, Will O’Neill

30. RPG Maker is worth a try if...
You want to make an RPG
You want to make a game
that’s dialogue/story-heavy
You like world-building
You’re feeling nostalgic

31. Avoid RPG Maker if
You’re on a Mac
You don’t like the early 90’s
RPG “style”
You want to make
something that’s not an RPG
or an adventure game

32. Stencyl

33. Stencyl in a nutshell
A free tool for making Flash
games using Scratch (codelearning tool for beginners) and
ActionScript

35. Stencyl Questions
Is it free? Yep (mostly).
Mac or PC? Both (and Linux!)
Coding needed? Depends.
You can
get pretty far with no code, and even
complex/unusual games can be made mostly with
the built-in Scratch interface, which is a simplified
learn-to-code tool for children and beginners.
Where to get it? stencyl.com
What does it export to? Flash.

36. Some games by our members
Icarus, Sagan Yee
Having it All, Miriam
Verburg
Unicorn Justice Fighter/Unicorn R
, Una Lee

37. Stencyl is worth trying if...
You want to make a 2D
platformer, action, or
physics game
You want to learn to code,
or you’re a beginner coder
who wants to improve
You want to eventually
publish to mobile platforms

38. Avoid Stencyl if...
You want to display a lot of
text on the screen (i.e. a
point-and-click adventure)
You have no interest in
coding and are easily
frustrated by it

39. GameMaker

40. GameMaker in a nutshell
A widely-used, well-respected
beginner-friendly PC tool with
some powerful advanced
features.

42. GameMaker Questions
Is it free? Not really.
There’s a free
version, but it’s limited.
Mac or PC? PC (mostly)
There’s a
Mac version, but it’s limited.
Coding needed? Nope.
There’s a
drag-and-drop interface that covers most simple
actions. But you can code if you want using GML.
Where to get it?
yoyogames.com
What does it export to? .exe

43. Some games by our members
Cuddlegeddon, Gillian
Blekkenhorst
Seven Sins, Leisha-Marie
Riddel
Girl Sprout Camp, Carly
Beath
Golden Fall, Yuliya
Boublikova

44. GameMaker is worth trying if
You want to make a 2D
platformer, action, or
physics game
You like lots of tutorials and
online support
You’re on a PC

45. Avoid GameMaker if
You’re on a Mac
You want your games to be
playable in-browser
Story is your main focus
You hate ugly interfaces

46. GameSalad

47. GameSalad in a nutshell
A beginner-oriented tool for 2D
games with absolutely no
coding. Exports to iOS out-ofthe-box.

49. GameSalad Questions
Is it free? Yes.
There’s a free version, but
it’s limited.
Mac or PC? Mac (mostly).
There’s a
PC version, but it’s not very good.
Coding needed? Nope.
Everything is
drag-and-drop. Even if you want to code, you can’t!
Where to get it?
gamesalad.com
What does it export to? Mac
executable, web (in the
GameSalad arcade), iOS.

50. Some games by our members
MedicationMeditation, Kara
Stone
So You’ve Been Fridged,
Izzie Colpitts-Campbell, Kat
Verhoeven, Natalie Zed

51. GameSalad is worth a try if
You want to make a 2D
action, platformer, or
physics game
You don’t want to code
You’re on a Mac
You want to make an
iPhone/iPad game

52. Avoid GameSalad if
You’re on a PC
You want to learn to code
You want to focus on story

54. Unity in a nutshell
A free, widely used, very
powerful engine for creating 3D
games.

56. Unity Questions
Is it free? Yes.
Mac or PC? Both.
Coding needed? Yes.
Where to get it? unity3d.com
What does it export to? Pretty
much everything

57. Some games by our members
Countenance, Carly Beath,
Yuliya Boublikova, LeishaMarie Riddel, Pina Visconti,
and Alex Wong
Spy Jammer, Daniele
Hopkins

58. Unity is worth a try if
You want to make a 3D
game
You want a professionalgrade tool
You’re comfortable with
coding or want to learn how
to code
You’re interested in the
Oculus Rift, EEG headsets,
etc.

59. Avoid Unity if
You don’t want a steep
learning curve
You don’t want to code

60. Unsolicited Advice

61. Cecily Sez
Your first game is not your
magnum opus
Keep it as simple as possible
Try lots of things
Work in a spiral, not a
straight line
Back up your games

62. Programming Concepts to learn (If
you want)
Variables
If/else statements
Boolean logic
Loops