Games for aspiring game developers

Imagine you never had to face the bittersweet feeling of completing the final level of a beloved game. That’s the case with these innovative platforms that encourage players to design and share their creations using built-in editing tools. Enjoy tons of user-generated levels and minigames made by fellow fans or harness your creativity to develop your own.

The brilliance of this charming arcade-style game is that everything you play has been built using its own creation tool. You can learn game development fundamentals in “Quest” mode, or explore “Battle” and “Arcade” modes, overflowing with games created by fellow players. There’s even a dedicated community for budding developers to share notes.

This cheeky platformer has over 90 levels in its campaign, but if that’s not enough, there’s an intuitive level editor to let your creativity shine. Levelhead’s premise is that you’re part of a futuristic delivery company, so you can share the levels you make on the business-themed leaderboards in the“Marketing Department.” The more people who play them, the higher you’ll rise in the ranks.

Minecraft is all about building your own world and, with a little creativity, you can build an entirely new experience or even recreate your favorite game in block format. Inspired by third party mods, Minecraft has added several customization tools over the years, including resource packs that alter game elements, command blocks for coding, and a marketplace for user-generated content.

Design your own battle royale map with PUBG Mobile’s new creative mode, World of Wonder. From islands to skyscrapers, you can fully define the setting, weapons, and rules for your winner-takes-all battle. Once you’re done, submit your creation for the chance to see it published on the WoW page for everyone to play.

Many aspiring game developers get their start building games for Roblox. Some user-generated games have even become more popular than AAA titles on other platforms. Although Roblox Studio, the game design app using its proprietary coding language Lua, is only available on a PC or Mac, you can still play a host of user-generated experiences on your preferred device.