Stencyl is a comprehensive piece of game-making software that’s a bit more accessible than something like Unity or Unreal, though it works in a similar way. Inspired by Scratch, Stencyl supports drag-and-drop gameplay design (aka ‘visual scripting’) so you don’t need to be able to code to make games with it. The built-in scene editor is also quite easy to get to grips with. It might be a good place to start if you’re looking to make games to sell, or a good stepping stone to a more ‘professional’ game engine.

Stencyl is particularly popular for making 2D platformers and simple RPGs (like the retro Super Mario or Pokémon games).The free ‘starter’ account lets you publish games to web with Flash but you’ll need a paid account to publish to desktop or mobile.

• Check out the Stencyl crash course 1 for beginners
• Get the tool here.