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Defold Engine VS Monkey 2

Compare Defold Engine VS Monkey 2 and see what are their differences

Defold Engine logo Defold Engine

Defold lets you quickly build high performing, cross-platform games together with your team.

Monkey 2 logo Monkey 2

An easy to use, cross platform, games oriented programming language
  • Defold Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-19
  • Monkey 2 Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-09

Defold Engine features and specs

  • Lightweight
    Defold is a highly lightweight engine, which makes it easy to download, install, and run on most systems without consuming significant resources.
  • Cross-Platform Development
    Defold supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and HTML5, enabling developers to create games that work across a wide range of devices and operating systems.
  • Performance
    The engine is optimized for high performance, which is crucial for creating responsive and smooth gaming experiences.
  • Easy to Learn
    Defold offers a user-friendly interface and good documentation, making it accessible for beginners and professionals alike.
  • Integrated Development Environment
    Defold comes with its own IDE, which includes features like a scene editor, code editor, and asset management, streamlining the development workflow.
  • Community and Support
    The Defold community is active and supportive, with forums, tutorials, and official documentation available to help new and experienced developers.
  • Lua Scripting
    Defold uses Lua, a lightweight scripting language, which is both powerful and relatively easy to learn, allowing for fast prototyping and development.
  • Free License
    Defold is available for free, making it a cost-effective option for indie developers and small studios.

Possible disadvantages of Defold Engine

  • Limited 3D Capabilities
    While Defold does support 3D development, its capabilities are limited compared to other engines like Unity or Unreal, which might not be suitable for complex 3D games.
  • Steep Learning Curve for Advanced Features
    While basics are easy to grasp, mastering advanced features requires a significant amount of time and effort due to a lack of extensive tutorials and examples.
  • Smaller Community
    The Defold community, although supportive, is smaller compared to communities for other game engines like Unity or Unreal, potentially limiting collaborative opportunities and third-party resources.
  • Editor Limitations
    Some developers find the Defold IDE lacking in advanced features that are available in other game development environments, which might hinder productivity.
  • Dependency on Lua
    The necessity to use Lua scripting can be a downside for developers who are not familiar with or do not wish to learn this language.
  • Less Asset Market Support
    Compared to other popular engines, there are fewer ready-made assets and plugins available for Defold, which can slow down the development process.

Monkey 2 features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Development
    Monkey 2 allows developers to write code once and deploy it across multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS, streamlining the development process and saving time.
  • Modern Language Features
    Monkey 2 supports modern programming language features such as type inference, generics, and lambda expressions, making it easier for developers to write clean and efficient code.
  • Active Community
    The Monkey 2 community is active and engaged, providing support, resources, and shared knowledge, which can be very helpful for both new and experienced developers.
  • Open Source
    Being open source, Monkey 2 allows developers to contribute to its improvement, ensuring that it can evolve according to the needs and desires of the community.

Possible disadvantages of Monkey 2

  • Limited Documentation
    Monkey 2's documentation can be sparse or outdated in some areas, which might pose challenges for new developers trying to learn the language or troubleshoot issues.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    Compared to more popular programming languages, Monkey 2 has a smaller ecosystem, which might limit the availability of libraries, tools, and third-party support.
  • Less Recognition
    Monkey 2 is not as widely recognized or adopted in the industry as some other programming languages, potentially impacting its perceived credibility and the availability of job opportunities.
  • Development Pace
    While being open source is an advantage, the development pace of Monkey 2 might be slower than that of proprietary or more commercially supported languages, potentially delaying updates and new features.

Analysis of Defold Engine

Overall verdict

  • Defold is a solid choice for 2D game developers who prioritize performance and a lightweight setup. While it may not be as feature-rich for 3D games compared to some other engines, it excels in its niche, providing an excellent development experience for those focused primarily on 2D games.

Why this product is good

  • Defold Engine is a cross-platform game engine known for its efficiency and ease of use. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for 2D game development, including a visual editor, scripting in Lua, and an integrated development environment. Defold is also lightweight, which means it runs well even on older hardware. The engine has a strong focus on performance and offers robust support for both web and mobile platforms. Additionally, being open source and supported by a dedicated community, it allows developers to contribute and customize the engine as needed.

Recommended for

    Defold Engine is recommended for indie developers, small teams, and hobbyists focusing on 2D game development. It's particularly suitable for those who appreciate an open-source platform with an active community, and who need support for web and mobile platforms out of the box.

Defold Engine videos

Defold Engine Open Sourced!

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Defold Engine and Monkey 2)
Game Development
87 87%
13% 13
Game Engine
83 83%
17% 17
3D Game Engine
94 94%
6% 6
Development
32 32%
68% 68

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Defold Engine and Monkey 2

Defold Engine Reviews

The Best Gaming Engines You Should Consider for 2023
Defold is a 2D game engine developed by the creators of Candy Crush, King. Itโ€™s designed to make 2D game development easier than ever, and compatible with many platforms, including mobile, desktop, and web.
Best Game Engines for Linux in 2021
Defold is the ultimate game engine for Web and Mobile. You create your game with Lua scripts in Defold.
Source: kerneltips.com

Monkey 2 Reviews

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Defold Engine seems to be a lot more popular than Monkey 2. While we know about 52 links to Defold Engine, we've tracked only 1 mention of Monkey 2. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Defold Engine mentions (52)

  • Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (August 2026)
    2. Trying to integrate ghosttyfx into the Defold editor (https://defold.com/) Turns out integrating into a bigger IDE is much harder than just implementing a JavaFX view using libghostty... - Source: Hacker News / 2 days ago
  • Toyota Fluorite: "console-grade" Flutter game engine
    I wonder if a slightly broader search for existing solutions - for instance, https://defold.com - would have shown that quick-startup, 3d-capable, c-integrable, low-end-hardware performant game engines could have been grabbed off the shelf. That said, this is cool and I would have probably celebrated a similarly fun project in their shoes. Perhaps the real accomplishment here is getting Toyota to employ you to... - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Building Game Prototypes with Lร–VE
    Defold is not as well-known as Lรถve, but it seems to fit your description: https://defold.com/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Ask HN: Platform for 11 year old to create video games?
    Humble Bundle has a Godot bundle is available for the next day or so. That might be a good one to look at if you're ok with leaning into code a bit (gdscript is very very similar to python). https://www.humblebundle.com/software/learn-godot-43-complete-course-bundle-software Also check out the RPG Maker bundle. That's pretty point-and-click. You can have something basic up and running in a couple minutes... - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • Rawdrawandroid โ€“ Build Android apps without any Java, in C and Make
    Defold is another great open source Lua-based cross-platform game engine, and has a healthy ecosystem. https://defold.com/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
View more

Monkey 2 mentions (1)

  • Wonkey: A cross-platform FOSS programming language by the creator of BlitzBasic
    On one hand, BlitzBasic and BlitzMax was a key moment for me, 15 years ago, of 'getting' programming - I clearly remember as a teenager when some basic concepts clicked together, and here I am many years later a full-time indie game developer. But on the other hand, I've watched from afar enough of the post-Blitz tool development to be skeptical of anything new. Monkey 2 and Monkey X really didn't flourish and a... - Source: Hacker News / about 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Defold Engine and Monkey 2, you can also consider the following products

Godot Engine - Feature-packed 2D and 3D open source game engine.

Blitz3D - Create 2D and 3D Games for Windows.

BYOND - BYOND is the premier community for making and playing online multiplayer games.

BlitzMax - With the developing version BlitzMax NG other 'targets' are available: ARM architecture, Raspberry, Android, HTML (Emscripten). RAPID DEVELOPMENT. Just open the IDE, write your code, hit F5 and see immediately the results!

Construct 2 - Scirra Construct is a 2D game development engine with a focus on building games visually.

Phaser - Desktop and Mobile HTML5 game framework. A fast, free and fun open source framework for Canvas and WebGL powered browser games.