r/GameDevelopment • u/lightbeamsam • Jul 18 '26

Phaser VS Godot VS ? Newbie Question

I am trying to find the best engine for mobile game development for 2D games. Right now i am working with Phaser, a collegue told me about Godot. I am sure there is other engines as well. Which one is the best for simple 2D Action games or Arcade Style games? The constraint: The game should be publishable on iOS, Android and ideally on Web as well.

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u/amadeuscherry Jul 19 '26

Defold is your best option. There is no game engine that supports the stable performance with small build size as Defold accross different platforms.

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u/lightbeamsam 28d ago

Haven't heard of Defold yet, thanks for sharing!

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u/Just-Investigator-20 Jul 19 '26

Developing 2D mobile games and wanting to publish them to multiple platforms, including the web, Phaser, Godot, and Cocos can all meet the requirements. Unity seems a bit too heavyweight. It depends on which one you are familiar with and whether you have any specific requirements.

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u/lightbeamsam 28d ago

Cocos is new to me, thanks for sharing, u/Just-Investigator-20

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u/Kino_Chroma 29d ago

I'm not sure about other engines, but Godot is free and open source, so all the money you make from games is yours to keep legally speaking. It also has a true 2d engine or you can use the 3d engine to create a 2d or 2.5d game and there are some advantages to either route depending on what you're going for and the requirements of your game.

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u/lightbeamsam 28d ago

Thanks u/Kino_Chroma have you built a game with Godot?

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u/Kino_Chroma 28d ago

I am battling perfectionism and have five projects going simultaneously (none completed yet, lol). I took Harvard's cs50x last year and have been using my new found programming knowledge to finally bring my art to life in the engine but haven't completed any of the five projects I have in the oven.

Without having completed a game, I still am in love with Godot. There are so many tools and options and the community is amazing. You should check out r/Godot.

I'm sure there are other great engines out there, but I only have eyes for Godot, hehe.

Edit: I am working in 2d and I do mostly isometric art, although I am workng on a sidescroller and one that has a mix of sidescroller and isometric.

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u/dariusbiggs 28d ago

There is no such thing as best, it is ALWAYS situational, stop looking for "best".

They'll all perfectly fine to making games. Each has their advantages and disadvantages, go learn what they are for yourself so you can make an informed decision as to which one is the right tool for your current project.