GDevelop

GDevelop's open-source, no-code approach distinguished it from code-first engines such as Unity and Unreal from the start: Florian Rival released the first version in 2008 under the name Game Develop, published the first public version on GitHub in 2014, and rebuilt the tool as the web-based GDevelop 5 in January 2018 around a visual event system.

The project's history of free access shaped its business model: when Rival formed a company around the engine in 2021, it raised $1.4 million led by Seedcamp to sell services around a core that stayed MIT-licensed, the engine gained 3D support in May 2023, and that open stance earned a Digital Public Good certification from the Digital Public Goods Alliance in 2026.