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[BusyRobot]

I've been a Flash developer for many years (also released iOS games made with Adobe AIR) and for the past 2 years I've done iOS game development. However I want to make a game for Steam (PC and Mac release) and I'm not sure which way to go with what tools/platform to use. The criteria of the game will be...

 1. 2D
 2. Lots of particles effects
 3. Maybe physics (via Box2d would be useful as I know this API)
 4. Single player.

My options as far I know are...

 1. Adobe AIR.
 2. Unity
 3. GameMaker

Adobe AIR. Even though I'm comfortable with AIR ,and I could use Starling, part of me feels I should branch out and learn something new and I also want to use the "best" possible tool/platform to make this game and I'm not sure that's going to be AIR. In regards to integration with the Steam SDK, ports to other platforms (consoles eventually) etc.

I've been wanting to learn Unity for a while, but it looks like a steep learning curve. The upside is it has a huge community, and there's pretty no platforms you can't port your game too. But am I going to stuck just learning how to make things happen? also it costs a fair bit to remove that Unity Splash screen.

Lastly GameMaker, which Vlambeer are using for Nuclear Throne, but you can't help but feel it's not quite a mature game making tool. Maybe that's a completely wrong conclusion but that's how it seems.

So those are my options, but I just wondered what do most devs these days that are developing games for Steam us to make those games? and is anyone aware of any issues with using the above tools for developing games for Steam? (lack of DRM for AIR for example?)

[TheLastBanana]

I just abandoned Adobe AIR for my project because it was driving me insane, mostly because of performance issues and Adobe's dwindling support for it as a proper game platform. I was using Flashpunk, which is nice to work with, but the negatives were beginning to outweigh the benefits. Honestly, Flash and its related tools seem to me like a sinking ship, and if you're between projects, now is probably a good time to get out.

Unity is nice to work with, but the price is definitely a bit commitment. I didn't find it terribly difficult to learn, for what it's worth. That said, this was a few years ago (and before they had proper 2D support, which I assume you'll be using), so I can't really speak to that.

Game Maker is also a decent program. I don't think it's necessarily an "immature" game making tool -- plenty of games on Steam were made using it (Hotline Miami, Gunpoint, Cook, Serve, Delicious!, Super Crate Box, Stealth Bastard Deluxe, Nidhogg, Samurai Gunn, the list goes on). My experience with Game Maker is usually that it makes a few things super easy, especially at the prototype stage, at the expense of making more complicated things harder later on.

[TomHunt]

I use Unity, and I like it a lot (I do mainly 3D stuff). I would say that if you have the extra time and cash, then go for it.

That being said, GameMaker should work just fine for you, and would be way cheaper, and not have all this extra 3D stuff that you don't really need.

If you do plan on going 3D at some point, you may want to consider ramping up on Unity. Otherwise, def GM.

[mokesmoe]

I feel like GameMaker became a lot more "mature" with studio. (Games aren't super slow any more, support for shaders, etc.)
I've heard Unity's 2D support is pretty good now so both programs should be pretty good options for your game. They both have built in physics engines. (Gamemaker's is Box2d)
GameMaker has built-in Steam api support so there should be no problems there. (Although I haven't used it myself.)
Unity definitely has the biggest community for programming help, GameMaker's probably about average in that category.

Pretty much ditto to TomHunt.

I don't know anything about AIR personally; a friend of mine has a game on steam with it, and I don't remember him having any praise for it.

[oahda]

Could it be done with the new Godot engine?

Unity, like Blender, does come with a very frightening spaceship sort of interface, but the curve really isn't that steep. You just have to ignore 90 % of those scary buttons and only use what you need, which you will learn by checking out some tutorials and experimenting yourself. It's mostly visual editor placement and scripting, I'd say.

[BusyRobot]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I would say it's probably between Unity and GameMaker, with me learning towards Unity. The masses of buttons and stuff with Unity is what puts me off but I would prefer not to use them and just use scripting, maybe 1 big script. I want to procedurally create a lot of the graphics in the game anyway.

[Layl]

If you're interested in using Unity, one big script is not the way to do it. Unity has established a nice balance between visual editing and scripting. The best way to use Unity is to make reusable "MonoBehavior" scripts. You can attach those to objects and in the editor change the properties.

Don't worry about the amount of buttons and knobs on the interface, when you're working with Unity you'll mostly be working with only a few of them. The Unity site has some great tutorials on how to get started.

http://unity3d.com/learn/tutorials/modules

[MrBones]

As previously stated, Unity and Gamemaker are usually popular choices. While I understand your stance on GM, you'd be surprised at the quality of games that can be made with it when its used correctly. It's fairly easy to learn, and can be extended upon greatly with extensions and such. Unity has this same capability, but is harder to learn (in my opinion). Also, I'm not sure why, but some people have stigmas against games made in Unity for whatever reason.

Here's some examples off the top of my head:

Steam GM Games: Hotline Miami, Nuclear Throne, Gunpoint, Valdis, Cook Serve Delicious
Steam Unity Games: http://www.mrphilgames.com/what-unity-games-are-on-steam/ to name most of them, a LOT more were made and added in 2014 including Rust

[Boreal]

Risk of Rain and the Momodora games are also GM.  It's a pretty respectable platform for 2D games.  Typically I'd recommend GM for 2D and Unity for 3D.

[WildFactor]

All our game are made with Unity and are 2D.
I just finished porting our last on Linux and Mac, and it was pretty easy.
Our lastest game (Freaking Meatbags) are on Steam and we've also got another game Greenlight.

Steam accept any kind of engine. It's just when you want to link with their SDK, that you should ask yourself the question of the compatibility with Steam.

[BusyRobot]

All our game are made with Unity and are 2D.
I just finished porting our last on Linux and Mac, and it was pretty easy.
Our lastest game (Freaking Meatbags) are on Steam and we've also got another game Greenlight.

Steam accept any kind of engine. It's just when you want to link with their SDK, that you should ask yourself the question of the compatibility with Steam.

Steam works well with their SDK? are there any issues you had with integration?

[WildFactor]

All our game are made with Unity and are 2D.
I just finished porting our last on Linux and Mac, and it was pretty easy.
Our lastest game (Freaking Meatbags) are on Steam and we've also got another game Greenlight.

Steam accept any kind of engine. It's just when you want to link with their SDK, that you should ask yourself the question of the compatibility with Steam.

Steam works well with their SDK? are there any issues you had with integration?

I didn't integrate their SDK yet (you don't need to, but of course your game will be DRM free, without all the community function like cards, achievement etc...)

Their is a free plugin maintain by someone. Last time I checked the only problem was for a 64bits linux version.
And sometimes the plugin need sometimes to update to the latest version of steam SDK.

Maybe someone who has more experience with the SDK can answer this question better.

[Chaoseiro]

So, I still didn't launch a game on Steam using Unity, but one thing that I know is that Steamworks SDK uses C++, and to use it with Unity you will need a Plugin (the bridge between C#/UnityScript and anything else, in this case C++), that requires Unity Pro for PC versions (Win/Mac/Linux).

Another framework you might want to investigate is Cocos2D-X. I've already used it for two mobile games and it is really good for 2D mobile games. The v3, which I didn't test yet, was planned to make it easier to also develop for PC (the only problem with v2 was the Input for PC, since v2 assumed a touch interface, but v3 includes support for keyboard [and joystick afaik]).

About 2D/3D recommendation, although I'm building a 2D game for Unity, I know it is not the best solution for 2D games. I has become better (4.3+ with Sprite object and 4.6+ with the finally usable UI), but it is far from perfect. The reason I still use it (and like it) is the visual Editor, that helps a lot.

[BusyRobot]

I had a look at Cocos2D years back when I was learning native iOS game development, but it looked messy to me (I was coming from a Flash/As3 background) so I went with Sparrow instead which is a great choice for native iOS game development.

I've decided to go with Unity. I know GameMaker is great for 2D games, but I like knowing that if I do want to make a 3D game at any point I'll be experienced in the best tool to make it happen. Also the new Sprite tools and methods in Unity have made it a lot more friendly for 2D games, so on balance I think Unity is the best choice for me.

[Snowstorm]

I haven't published any games for Steam yet, but I'd have to say that GameMaker is a fantastic tool for quickly making 2D games and "getting it out there." In fact, I believe GameMaker finally has integrated support for the Steam API, so there should be no issues there!