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Godot Engine VS Cocos2d

Compare Godot Engine VS Cocos2d and see what are their differences

Godot Engine logo Godot Engine

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

Cocos2d logo Cocos2d

Cocos2d
  • Godot Engine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

The game engine you waited for... Godot provides a huge set of common tools, so you can just focus on making your game without reinventing the wheel.

Godot is completely free and open-source under the very permissive MIT license. No strings attached, no royalties, nothing. Your game is yours, down to the last line of engine code.

  • Cocos2d Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-11-08

Godot Engine features and specs

  • Open Source
    Godot Engine is open source under the MIT license, which means it's free to use, modify, and distribute. This greatly reduces development costs and provides the freedom to tailor the engine to specific needs.
  • Platform Support
    Godot supports a wide range of platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, and HTML5. This allows developers to target multiple platforms with a single codebase.
  • Scene System
    The engine's scene system, where everything is a scene or a node, allows for a highly modular workflow. This makes it easy to manage complex projects and reuse components.
  • GDScript
    GDScript is a Python-like scripting language that is easy to learn and designed specifically for the Godot engine, facilitating rapid development and iteration.
  • Active Community
    Godot has an active and growing community which means a wealth of tutorials, forums, and third-party resources are available, making it easier for newcomers to get started.
  • Lightweight and Efficient
    Godot is lightweight and efficient, which allows for faster load times and the ability to run on lower-end hardware without compromising performance.

Possible disadvantages of Godot Engine

  • Less Industry Adoption
    Compared to other engines like Unity or Unreal, Godot has less industry adoption, which might limit career opportunities and the availability of experienced developers.
  • Limited 3D Capabilities
    While Godot is powerful for 2D games, its 3D capabilities are still behind more established engines like Unity and Unreal, potentially limiting its use for high-end 3D game development.
  • Smaller Asset Marketplace
    Godot's asset marketplace is smaller compared to those of Unity or Unreal. This means fewer ready-made assets are available for purchase, which can slow down development.
  • Learning Curve for GDScript
    While GDScript is designed to be easy to use, developers already experienced with other scripting languages might face a learning curve when adapting to it.
  • Limited Official Documentation
    Though improving, the official documentation can sometimes be lacking in certain areas, which can make it challenging to find specific information or advanced techniques.
  • Experimental Features
    As a rapidly evolving engine, some of Godot's newer features may still be experimental and may not be fully stable, which can lead to potential issues during development.

Cocos2d features and specs

  • Open Source
    Cocos2d is open-source, which means developers can use it for free and contribute to its development. This fosters a large community and a wealth of shared resources.
  • Cross-Platform Development
    Cocos2d supports multiple platforms including iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, allowing developers to write code once and deploy it across different devices.
  • Ease of Use
    The framework offers an easy-to-learn API, which is beneficial for beginners as well as experienced developers who want to create games efficiently.
  • Rich Set of Features
    Cocos2d provides a comprehensive set of features such as physics engines, particle systems, and skeletal animation, which are essential for game development.
  • Community Support
    A large community of developers contributes to Cocos2d, providing tutorials, forums, and plugins that enhance the framework's capabilities.

Possible disadvantages of Cocos2d

  • Limited 3D Capabilities
    Cocos2d is primarily a 2D game engine, and while it has some 3D capabilities, it is not as robust as other dedicated 3D engines such as Unity or Unreal Engine.
  • Performance Limitations
    Games made with Cocos2d might face performance issues, particularly on older devices, when dealing with complex scenes or high-resolution graphics.
  • Learning Curve
    Though easier than some other engines, developers still need to invest time in learning Cocos2d's specific architecture and coding practices.
  • Less Polished Tools
    Compared to commercial game engines, Cocos2d's development tools might seem less polished or feature-rich.
  • Fragmentation
    The existence of multiple versions and forks (like Cocos2d-x, Cocos2d-ObjC) can sometimes lead to confusion and fragmentation, making it harder for developers to pick the right tool for their needs.

Godot Engine videos

Let's Try: Godot Engine - Is it good?

More videos:

  • Review - Godot Engine Review
  • Tutorial - GDScript (And Programming!) for Beginners in Godot 3.2

Cocos2d videos

Cocos2D-x 4.0 Released

More videos:

  • Review - Corona vs Cocos2d vs Unity

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Godot Engine and Cocos2d)
Game Development
92 92%
8% 8
Game Engine
92 92%
8% 8
3D Game Engine
89 89%
11% 11
Gaming
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Godot Engine and Cocos2d

Godot Engine Reviews

Godot Engine vs Unity: Which One Suits You Best in 2024
Choosing between Godot engine and Unity depends on your project needs and personal preferences. Godot engine is ideal for those looking for a free, open-source engine with a straightforward interface. If you’re wondering, is Godot easier than Unity? Yes, especially for beginners, thanks to its simplicity and GDScript.
Source: rocketbrush.com
Game Engines: A Comparative Analysis
Godot has gained traction for being an open-source game engine that offers a blend of simplicity and versatility. Supporting both 2D and 3D game development, Godot features a visual scripting system and encourages community collaboration. With no licensing fees and an active community, it has become an attractive choice for indie developers.
Source: medium.com
Best Game Engines for 2023 – Which Should You Use?
As for weaknesses, Godot does use its own personal language for scripting, called GDScript. While the language works fantastically and is reminiscent of Python (a favorite language for many developers), as it was specifically designed for Godot, experienced game developers may consider it tedious to adapt to yet another language. Additionally, as Godot is not as well known...
The Best Gaming Engines You Should Consider for 2023
Godot is free to use and it’s open-source through the MIT license. No royalties, no subscription fees, no hidden strings. The Godot engine is great for making both 2D and 3D games. The engine provides a huge set of common tools, so you can just focus on making your game without reinventing the wheel.
What Are the Best Game Engines?
Godot takes a unique approach with node and scene architecture to represent specific game functions, which some users find to be easier and more intuitive to use than some other game engines.

Cocos2d Reviews

The Best Gaming Engines You Should Consider for 2023
All versions of Cocos2d work using the basic primitive known as a sprite. A sprite can be thought of as a simple 2D image, but can also be a container for other sprites. Sprites are arranged together to form a scene, like a game level or a menu. Sprites are then code-manipulated as per events, actions, or animations.
Top 10 Mobile Game Development Tools For Intellectual Games
Like Corona SDK, Cocos2D also has OpenGL as a rendering engine that allows it to interact with graphic processing units. Cocos2D uses C++ to build games along with support for Lua and JavaScript. It is open-source and used to build cross-platform GUI based interactive games.
Source: unaryteam.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Godot Engine seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 460 times since March 2021. 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.

Godot Engine mentions (460)

  • Migrating Away from Rust
    > I failed to fairly evaluate my options at the start of the project. The more projects I do, the more time I find that I dedicate to just planning things up front. Sometimes it's fun to just open a game engine and start playing with it (I too have an unfair bias in this area, but towards Godot [https://godotengine.org/]), but if I ever want to build something to release, I start with a spreadsheet. - Source: Hacker News / 6 days ago
  • Presentation Slides with Markdown
    It’s definitely niche, but one of the best presentations I’ve ever seen was done in godot [0] One of my coworkers copied our PowerPoint theme, built a super basic presentation mode with transitions and used the engine for interactive demos live in the slides running the code. [0] https://godotengine.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 7 days ago
  • Leveraging Open Source: The Sandbox's Game-Changing Integration
    Historically, open-source software has played a critical role in democratizing the development process. Platforms like Blender for 3D modeling and Godot Engine for game creation have revolutionized the creative process, offering free and powerful alternatives to proprietary solutions. By integrating these tools, The Sandbox leverages the robustness of community-driven technology and innovative coding practices... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • EdgeDB is now Gel and Postgres is the Future
    > Godot is a game engine. https://godotengine.org Yeah, I knew that, and precisely because of that I assumed it's a typo :) We have a native Python client. We can take a look if it works from Godot. Do you know if this is a popular use case? - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
  • EdgeDB is now Gel and Postgres is the Future
    Https://godotengine.org Supabase has unofficial support. https://github.com/supabase-community/godot-engine.supabase/... Thanks for responding! I'm about 60% done with my current project so I don't think I'll be up to migrate( again, originally I started with Firebase), but I still definitely consider Gel for future projects. Or if... - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
View more

Cocos2d mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Cocos2d yet. Tracking of Cocos2d recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Godot Engine and Cocos2d, you can also consider the following products

Unity - The multiplatform game creation tools for everyone.

Unreal Engine - Unreal Engine 4 is a suite of integrated tools for game developers to design and build games, simulations, and visualizations.

Blender - Blender is the open source, cross platform suite of tools for 3D creation.

GDevelop - GDevelop is an open-source game making software designed to be used by everyone.

CryENGINE - The most powerful game development platform is now available to everyone. Full engine source code.

Amazon Lumberyard - Amazon Lumberyard is a free AAA game engine deeply integrated with AWS and Twitch – with full...