# defold/defold

Defold is a completely free to use game engine for development of desktop, mobile and web games.

Repository: https://github.com/defold/defold
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/defold
Homepage: https://www.defold.com
Language: C++
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Topics: defold, game-engine, c-plus-plus, clojure, game-development, multi-platform, gamedev, hacktoberfest, lua
Last push: 2026-08-26T20:09:01+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 99/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 98, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5225, "days_push": 7, "days_rel": 16, "gap_med": 27.5, "n_releases_24m": 25}
- flags: no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 6269, forks 450 (observed 2026-08-28T04:09:41.158238+00:00)

## What it is
Defold is a free, source-available, cross-platform game engine for building 2D and lightweight 3D games for desktop, mobile, web, and console targets. It bundles a visual editor, Lua scripting runtime, build pipeline, debugger, and profiler into a single turn-key toolchain with no royalties or licensing fees.

## Use cases
- build a 2d mobile game for ios and android
- make an html5 browser game
- create a cross-platform game with one codebase
- learn game development with lua
- ship a lightweight 3d game
- prototype a game quickly with hot reload
- publish a game to steam or consoles

## When to choose
- you want a free, production-ready engine with no royalties
- you target mobile or web games, especially 2D
- you prefer Lua scripting with an integrated editor and debugger
- you need a small engine footprint and fast builds

## When to avoid
- you need heavyweight AAA 3D tooling and pipelines
- you prefer C# or visual scripting over Lua
- you need a huge third-party asset/plugin ecosystem like Unity's

## Facets
- artifact type: framework
- maturity: active
- function: game-engine, gui, graphics, animation, cli, editor
- domain: cross-platform, gaming-tools
- platform: cross-platform, windows, cpp, lua
- tags: 2d-games, 3d-games, lua-scripting, html5-export, console-export, free-engine, hot-reload, visual-editor, particle-effects, tilemap-editor, game-development, desktop, mobile, web-server, macos, linux, android, ios

## Member repositories
- defold/defold (main) score 99

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:41.158238+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:46:29.667986+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/defold/defold (fetched 2026-08-28T04:09:41.158238+00:00, sha 5664cc938cb7)
  - homepage: https://www.defold.com (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.881583+00:00, sha f46dbc1762d0)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.893007+00:00, sha a367e2eb2fec)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/product (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.884419+00:00, sha a790f412723d)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/showcase (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.886811+00:00, sha c9f9a3a65e26)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/tutorials (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.889045+00:00, sha eaf90e4aef6f)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/2026/07/30/Creator-Spotlight-Felix-Weiler (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.890837+00:00, sha 09fcb19a8450)
  - site_page: https://defold.com/faq/faq (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.895074+00:00, sha 7b07bcc60988)
  - site_page: https://forum.defold.com/c/releasenotes (fetched 2026-08-29T08:43:13.897782+00:00, sha bdf9177ccf6e)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.