Once you enter the world of video game programming, you’ll quickly realize there’s a lot to learn. You will see that there’s a lot of stuff to take care of and worry about. To navigate this world — and create your own amazing 2D games — you should learn how to code, first and foremost.Once you know the basics of programming and how it all works, and answer to the question “Which language do I choose for my first coding experiences?”
So if you’re interested in programming games, keep reading for a complete rundown of the best languages to program games with!
ActionScript
The best programming language for games on the earlier flash-based systems like Blackberry, iPhone, and Adobe Air; ActionScript takes an object-oriented, imperative approach to game programming.
Macromedia delivered ActionScript based on JavaScript, and it was among the earliest implementations of out-of-the-box JavaScript supersets. It’s behind every other flash game you can remember from the time they were popular
Python
Python is one of the most commonly used programming languages today and is easy for beginners to learn because of its readability. It is a free, open-source programming language with extensive support modules and community development, easy integration with web services, user-friendly data structures, and GUI-based desktop applications. It is a popular programming language for machine learning and deep learning applications.
Python is used to develop 2D imaging and 3D animation packages like Blender, Inkscape, and Autodesk. It has also been used to create popular video games, including Civilization IV, Vegas Trike, and Toontown. Python is used for scientific and computational applications like FreeCAD and Abacus and also by popular websites like YouTube, Quora, Pinterest, and Instagram. Python developers earn average annual salaries of about $72,500.
| Level: | Beginner – Python enables a beginner to become productive quickly |
| Skills Needed: | Problem-solving, abstract thinking |
| Platform: | Web, Desktop |
| Popularity Among Programmers: | Becoming continuously more popular |
| Benefits: | FlexibleNaturally/Intuitively readableHighly regarded official tutorials and documentationScripted as opposed to compiled |
| Downsides: | Doesn’t start with programming basics (known to abstract too many important basic concepts) |
| Popularity: | Becoming continuously more popular both in technical education and business uses |
| Degree of Use: | Coding skills widely used; popular in both technical education and business use |
| Annual Salary Projection: | $72,500 |
Free Course: Programming with Python
C++
It should not come as surprising seeing C++ as the best programming language for games in almost every guide you read. The pioneer of modern game programming languages, C++, adds Object-Oriented Programming(OOP) onto its predecessor C. The ability to control very low-level system components has contributed to a very fast running time for C++ programs, a much-needed element in game programming.
Most high-end games that you play today depend on C++ codes in one way or the other. Popular gaming consoles such as the Xbox and PlayStation both utilize this game programming language heavily. C++ is the must-know language if you anticipate yourself developing futuristic games.
C#
One of the best video game programming languages, a thorough knowledge of C# is elemental to every game programmer. It’s often the first preference of many developers to learn C# over other game programming languages due to the high level of convenience. The Microsoft-borne language supports the infamous Unity3D, one of the best game engines currently used in the industry.
C# gives developers the ability to build games of any type for any architecture without extra hassles. The language is also far easier to learn than C++. So, C# is one of the best programming languages for games you’d want to learn.
Java
Java takes a prominent role in the industry and is one of the best programming languages for games and good reasons. It uses the same OOP principle utilized by C++ but offers a broader range of systems to play for. Java codes typically run on the Java Virtual Machine(JVM) and translate into generic bytecodes that can be executed on any system.
So, Java is one of those few game programming languages that gives developers the ability to develop games for any given system. It’s also one of the primary languages used for developing Android games, thanks to an increasing number of open source third-party modules like LWJGL.
Python
One of the most straightforward yet most versatile programming languages you can get your hands on today is Python. However, do not misinterpret its seemingly easy syntax and semantics inappropriate as a game programming language. Python offers full-fledged OOP(Object Oriented Programming) techniques to developers, just like C++ and Java.
The Pygame framework, based on this popular language, is increasing in momentum every day, thanks to its ability to let developers prototype their games insanely faster. Python is gaining its share of glory as one of the best video game programming languages for games, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt you to learn it right now.
Python is one of the most commonly used programming languages today and is easy for beginners to learn because of its readability. It is a free, open-source programming language with extensive support modules and community development, easy integration with web services, user-friendly data structures, and GUI-based desktop applications. It is a popular programming language for machine learning and deep learning applications.
Python is used to develop 2D imaging and 3D animation packages like Blender, Inkscape, and Autodesk. It has also been used to create popular video games, including Civilization IV, Vegas Trike, and Toontown. Python is used for scientific and computational applications like FreeCAD and Abacus and also by popular websites like YouTube, Quora, Pinterest, and Instagram. Python developers earn average annual salaries of about $72,500.
| Level: | Beginner – Python enables a beginner to become productive quickly |
| Skills Needed: | Problem-solving, abstract thinking |
| Platform: | Web, Desktop |
| Popularity Among Programmers: | Becoming continuously more popular |
| Benefits: | FlexibleNaturally/Intuitively readableHighly regarded official tutorials and documentationScripted as opposed to compiled |
| Downsides: | Doesn’t start with programming basics (known to abstract too many important basic concepts) |
| Popularity: | Becoming continuously more popular both in technical education and business uses |
| Degree of Use: | Coding skills widely used; popular in both technical education and business use |
| Annual Salary Projection: | $72,500 |
Lua
A lightweight and multi-platform scripting language, Lua is continuing to gain momentum in the game industry. It has risen as one of the best programming languages for games thanks to its simple language structure and syntax.
A vast number of modern game engines utilize Lua as their primary game design programming language, which includes but is not limited to CryEngine, Corona SDK, and Gideros Mobile. If you’re a hard gamer like me, chances are you’ve already played games built on CryEngine. It’s the engine used by the famous German company Crytek and has produced games like Farcry and Enemy Front.
Objective C
This is the best programming language for games on the iOS platform. Objective C blends the syntax of Smalltalk and C and offers convenient solutions for building iOS games. It also comes with the ability to program in an Object-Oriented approach, much required for faster rendering time.
It powers game engines like Core3D, Cocos2D and enables C developers to develop their games in an OOP style. Although not suitable for the most futuristic games, Objective C is a pretty viable choice if you want to get your hands dirty with an easy-to-grasp game design programming language.
JavaScript
Although it was not meant for developing large-scale games, JavaScript is turning the convention as days pass. It’s one of the most-used languages of the web and integrates pretty easily with any web application. As we continue to progress more and more towards a web-based industry, online games are becoming familiar every day.
JavaScript is definitely the best video game programming language for games for building interactive online games. The ability to integrate JavaScript codes easily with conventional web technologies like HTML and CSS also contributes rapidly to an increasing number of cross-platform mobile games.
HTML5
Despite your struggle to believe, HTML5 has become one of the most common game programming languages for the web. A vast majority of mobile games that you play today utilize this markup language. You can easily create a highly sophisticated web-based game blending HTML5 with JavaScript for interactivity and WebGL for graphical components.
HTML5 games are also increasing exponentially as developers don’t require complex theoretical knowledge of advanced data structure and algorithms. As things are going pretty smoothly for HTML5, we can easily anticipate it to become one of the best programming languages for games shortly.
Papyrus
One of the newest game programming languages, Papyrus, was developed by Bethesda Studios for use with their Creation Engine. It powers games like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and Fallout 4. Papyrus is a scripting system that utilizes advanced programming techniques such as functions, objects, events, and variables.
A Papyrus script usually revolves around events and calls pre-specified functions whenever a particular event is triggered. If you want to utilize the mighty Creation Engine for developing your next game, Papyrus could be one of the best choices for you.
Cg
Short for C for Graphics, Cg is a high-level shading language developed by famous GPU manufacturer Nvidia with collaboration from Microsoft. It’s based on the C programming language and shares many similar syntactical components. The language is now deprecated, meaning no additional updates will come.
However, you shouldn’t leave this language unexplored if you want to tackle complex problems associated with GPU programming. Cg has fueled many famous games such as Farcry, Hitman, Battlefield 2, and Doom 3. Sony used this language for developing different graphical components of the PS3.
Conclusion
The gaming industry is rapidly growing and therefore there are higher demands for game developers. If you are very passionate about gaming then it is important to be familiar with the common programming languages used in game development to become a game developer.