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Godot Engine VS JMonkeyEngine

Compare Godot Engine VS JMonkeyEngine and see what are their differences

Godot Engine logo Godot Engine

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

JMonkeyEngine logo JMonkeyEngine

What is jMonkeyEngine? It's a free, open source game engine, made especially for Java game developers who want to create 3D games using modern technology.
  • 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.

  • JMonkeyEngine Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-20

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.

JMonkeyEngine features and specs

  • Open Source
    JMonkeyEngine is open-source, which means it's free to use and has a wide community of developers who contribute to its development and offer support.
  • Java-based
    It is built using Java, which makes it accessible to a large number of developers familiar with the language and benefits from Java's portability across different platforms.
  • Cross-platform
    JMonkeyEngine supports multiple platforms including Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, enabling developers to create games that run on various devices.
  • Rich Feature Set
    The engine comes with a comprehensive set of features such as advanced 3D graphics, physics integration, terrain generation, and a user-friendly scene graph.
  • Active Community
    An active and responsive community provides forums, tutorials, and additional resources, helping both new and experienced developers.
  • Integrated Development Environment
    It includes its own SDK with an integrated development environment, which simplifies the process of game development by providing tools such as scene composer, model importer, and debugging tools.

Possible disadvantages of JMonkeyEngine

  • Java Performance
    Java generally has performance overhead compared to languages like C++ often used in other game engines. This can be a downside for performance-critical applications.
  • Limited Mobile Support
    While it supports Android, the engine's capabilities and performance on mobile platforms are not as robust as on desktops, and iOS support is limited.
  • Less Mature Asset Pipeline
    The asset pipeline of JMonkeyEngine is not as mature or comprehensive as those found in more established engines like Unity or Unreal, which may require additional effort for asset management.
  • Smaller Ecosystem
    Compared to mainstream engines, JMonkeyEngine has a smaller ecosystem. This means fewer third-party integrations, add-ons, and professional-grade assets available for immediate use.
  • Steeper Learning Curve for Java
    For developers not familiar with Java, there might be a steeper learning curve to become proficient with the language and its associated tools compared to more widely-used game development languages.
  • Less Commercial Support
    Being open-source and community-driven, JMonkeyEngine lacks the commercial support that some other engines offer. This can be a disadvantage for large-scale projects requiring professional backing.

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

JMonkeyEngine videos

A Closer Look at the jMonkeyEngine

More videos:

  • Review - jMonkeyEngine -- The Others Game Engine Series
  • Review - jMonkeyEngine3 Engine Showcase

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Godot Engine and JMonkeyEngine)
Game Development
94 94%
6% 6
Game Engine
93 93%
7% 7
3D Game Engine
92 92%
8% 8
Gaming
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Godot Engine and JMonkeyEngine. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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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 JMonkeyEngine

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.

JMonkeyEngine Reviews

The Top 10 Video Game Engines
Right off the bat, the team boldly claims that using their engine will be easier than utilization and outright learning C++, which is true. C++ can be a hang-up for many not familiar with programming, and jMonkeyEngine can be a great option for those who want to create games without really breaking your back trying to learn a whole new language.

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Godot Engine seems to be a lot more popular than JMonkeyEngine. While we know about 460 links to Godot Engine, we've tracked only 23 mentions of JMonkeyEngine. 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 / 9 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 / 10 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
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JMonkeyEngine mentions (23)

  • Unity's Licensing Changes: Discover Stride a Community-Driven Open-Source Engine
    > Unfortunately, this is yet another open source game engine with too small a user base. I wonder why some engines are seemingly destined for success and others... aren't. Godot got really big, despite a somewhat similar feature set: https://godotengine.org/ (really nice 2D support, 3D rendering was worse until version 4, GDScript has both a nice iteration speed but also has gotten some criticism, while C# was a... - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • My recommendation on which language and libraries to use for the engine.
    There more `bare-metal` engines like https://jmonkeyengine.org/ (well it is not C++, it is Java based)... Source: about 2 years ago
  • [Hobby] Need help implement Continuous Collision Detection in a classic top-down multiplayer space shooter
    This project develops a cross-platform Subspace client and server written in Java. It was developed from scratch on the idea of extensibility and modularity. The server is based on modules/frameworks highly optimized for scaled, networked, grid-based, infinite world physics. The client is based on the JMonkeyEngine, a minimalistic modern developer friendly, open source, game engine. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Godot 4.0 Stable
    > Godot is one of those pinnacle FOSS projects that just totally impresses me, especially given the state its in now, with 4.0. It is definitely one of the success stories, at least so far. For example, there are projects like jMonkeyEngine (a game engine in Java, on top of LWJGL) that don't get as much attention and their movement forwards is way slower: https://jmonkeyengine.org/ There's also Stride 3D, which is... - Source: Hacker News / about 2 years ago
  • I can't think about another video game using Java. I mean, there WILL be more but i haven't saw them.
    It is, or at least was, efficient. Java has a great game engine called https://jmonkeyengine.org/ that at the time could compete with Unity, not sure the status now. And LWJGL, the lower layer for ooengl, was quite nice to use and it is efficient to go that low level if you plan to do a game that does not fit the stereotypes in such game engines, as you will find yourself fighting the engine more than the actual... Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Godot Engine and JMonkeyEngine, 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.

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

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

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

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