Game Development
Indie game dev tools for 2D Metroidvania (Hollow Knight-like) development. All tools are free / open-source, zero-cost startup.
Digital Painting — Krita
Practice: UI, brush engine, layer/mask, animation timeline.
- Krita Official - Open-source digital painting, alternative to Photoshop
- Krita Docs: Getting Started
- Krita Docs: Tutorials
- Krita YouTube
- Krita Artists Community
Game Engine — Godot
The standard open-source 2D/3D engine, with native TileMap, Parallax, 2D skeletal system.
- Godot Engine
- Godot Docs
- Your first 2D game (Dodge the Creeps)
- 2D Tutorials
- GitHub: godotengine/godot
Learning path:
- Step by Step → 2. Your first 2D game → 3. 2D专题: TileMap, Parallax, 2D lighting, animation
2D Skeletal Animation — Blender (Grease Pencil) / DragonBones
- Blender - Grease Pencil for 2D skeletal animation
- Blender Manual
- Grease Pencil: Create 2D Character (Blender Artists)
- Blender 2D Animation Basics (Tuts+)
Alternative
- DragonBones - Lighter-weight 2D animation tool
- GitHub: DragonBones
Level Editor — LDTK
Created by the Dead Cells team; the go-to modern level designer.
Tile Map Editor — Tiled
Industry standard 2D map editor.