Get Into Basic Game Creation With Humble Bundle

At some point, most gamers have the urge to make their own video game, but to do that they need to have the right tools and skills, although that software can be expensive. Humble Bundle's Game Making Bundle is filled with software and materials to get you started developing your own game.

The first tier of the Humble Game Making Bundle features three programs for creating your own game: Stencyl, AGFPRO V3.0 and Game Guru.

Stencyl is more for simpler 16-bit games, and it offers a complete solution for making games from start to finish.

For more complex 3D games, you're better off using the other two programs in conjunction with each other. AGFPRO v3.0 is capable of generating realistic maps and landscapes. You can then export them to other programs such as Game Guru, or the free Unity3d software, which handles basically everything else. Game Guru is included in this bundle and is capable of creating the characters and objects inside of the game, in addition to generating the coding, which governs the interactions between objects.

Using Game Guru, you could probably make the entire game from start to finish, but AGFPRO v3.0 gives you a more specialized tool set and greater control over the atmosphere, lighting and ground quality.

Humble Bundle throws several extras into the pile, too. If you would like different game creation software, you can get 90 percent off coupons for RPG Maker 2000, 2003 and XP, along with some 16-bit texture packs and two games. The games serve as examples of what you could make using the available software and to help inspire you by showing how much fun a 16-bit game can be.

The second tier in the bundle is unlocked whenever someone pays more than the average user, which is currently $10.64. In this tier, there are two more game creation programs for you to take advantage of. RPG Maker VX Ace Deluxe Edition is the latest and greatest in the RPG Maker series of programs, and if you get this one, you probably don't want the older RPG Maker programs. Just like the previous RPG Maker programs, however, it creates 16-bit 2D games.

Also included is an application called Game Character Hub, which was designed to be compatible with RPG Maker programs. It does just as you would suspect and creates the animations and various stances for characters in your game. The rest of tier 2 is currently loaded with more textures, sprites and other materials for game making, plus a few extra games to inspire you. More content will be added to this tier next Tuesday.

The third and final tier of this bundle includes three more programs for creating video games. One of them, App Game Kit 2, is focused on making the coding side of video games a simpler experience for beginners. The other two programs, Spriter Pro and Sprite Lamp, are similar to the Game Character Hub and are used to generate characters and various objects for your games with a wide range of tools.

Also included in this tier is an additional set of textures and game creating resource materials, as well as one more game. This tier is unlocked for $12.

You may be looking at this bundle and asking yourself "Do I really need this many programs for creating games," and the answer is obvious. No, you don't need all of these programs, but game development is a creative process. Different people will prefer to use different tools, and Humble Bundle wants to give you plenty of options.

The Humble Bundle sale will end in two weeks, so if you are interested in trying to develop a game of your own, now might be your chance to get the tools you need at a relatively low cost.

Follow Michael Justin Allen Sexton @LordLao74. Follow us @tomshardware, on Facebook and on Google+.