Defold is an open-source, cross-platform game engine originally developed for 2D games but also capable of 3D — intended to give developers a turnkey solution for building games for desktop, mobile, web, and even consoles. It ships as a full editor/IDE, combining scene editing, asset management, scripting, and build/export pipelines, so developers don’t need to assemble disparate tools themselves. Game logic is written in Lua (with optional native extensions in C/C++ when needed), and the engine uses a component-based system and a message-passing paradigm to manage object interactions — a design that promotes loosely-coupled, reactive game code rather than traditional heavy OOP. Defold is optimized for efficiency: exported games tend to have small binary size and low memory use, making it appealing for mobile, HTML5/web, and lightweight games.
Features
- Cross-platform export: desktop, mobile, web, and console targets from one codebase
- Built-in IDE/editor including scene editor, tilemap editor, particle editor, asset management, and build/export tools
- Lua scripting for gameplay logic, with optional native extensions for performance-critical modules
- Component-based architecture and message-passing system for modular, reactive game logic
- Support for 2D (sprites, tilemaps, GUI, particle effects) and basic 3D (models, meshes, custom shaders, 3D scene support)
- Lightweight builds with low memory and binary footprint, ideal for mobile and web games
Project Samples
