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 [1]. This rise in spending indicates that pursuing a role in video game development may be a lucrative career option. 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.

Video game development can also be financially rewarding, with an average annual salary of $74,142 [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 2D and 3D interactive experiences. A few of the key features are:

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

• A 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

As a video game developer, you'll want to become familiar with Unreal Engine, a gaming engine known for its ability to create high-fidelity graphics and its extensive toolset for developing complex games. Some of its key features include:

• 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 simultaneously adjust aspects of the project.

• 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 Guys, Rocket League, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Street Fighter V are some of the games attributed to Unreal Engine.

Godot

You can build various 2D and 3D games with the Godot engine and 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 2D and 3D games:

• A dedicated 2D pipeline to streamline your game logic and work in game coordinates and pixels.

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

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

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

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

Programming languages

Programming languages are a central part of a game developer's career. These include C#, C++, and Python. For the game to function and load properly, the 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++ is frequently updated to adapt to current gaming requirements. Finally, it provides better run-time performance when compared to other programming languages and offers many libraries that support game development.

C#

The Unity game engine is built using C#, making it a popular language for game development for various platforms, including Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, and mobile devices. If you have some coding experience, C# is also considered relatively easy to learn.

Python

Because Python is an open-source scripting language, some game developers use it to support larger-scale projects. For instance, in Unreal Engine, Python can help automate tasks you would otherwise perform manually 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 crucial components for developing your game’s aesthetic. Review some of these tools in more detail below.

Blender

Blender is open-source software for creating 2D and 3D animated content. It allows you to rig characters, build detailed 3D 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 2D 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 3D industry, ZBrush allows you to start with the high-resolution sculpting of your characters rather than wait and refine them after the animation stage. 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 how essential audio is to the experience. Tools like FMOD and Audacity help layer sound onto the visuals, bringing the game world to life.

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 Hades, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Untitled Goose Game, Forza Horizon 5, and Roblox.

Audacity

Audacity is an open-source audio editor allowing 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

Collaboration tools such as Trello and Slack are critical in game development because they allow you to share ideas, play the game to test it, and manage the source code. Explore the following collaboration and project management tools for developing video games.

Trello

With the Trello collaboration platform, you can prepare public boards so your project team 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 discuss revisions to the code and suggest ways to improve it. 

Slack

Game development companies like 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

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

Unity Test Framework

You can write your code for testing with the Unity Test Framework (UTF). You can run automated tests within the Unity Editor in “play” or “edit” mode. UTF also supplies a Test Runner window to view and manage your tests.

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 modify source code within a shared space, allowing teams to identify and solve problems early in development.

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 and 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 to use programming languages like C++ and Python. Game artists must typically 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

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 working in the game development industry, 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 option is the C# Programming for Unity Game Development Specialization offered by the University of Colorado Boulder. Both Specializations are available on Coursera.