A new page at Itch.io, the top platform for publishing and selling indie games, reveals the most popular game development engines and apps there.

Unity is way out in the lead, accounting for almost half the projects published at Itch. Construct, an app requiring no coding skills, and GameMaker, a general-purpose creative suite with powerful scripting tools and optional modules, together account for about a quarter of the projects.

Then come engines designed for specific genres: Twine, for interactive fiction, in fourth, and RPG Maker, for Japanese-style computer role playing games, in fifth. PICO-8, a "fantasy console" that imposes strict limitations on developers in imitation of a 1980s' 8-bit box, is in sixth. Bitsy and Puzzlescript, which produce simple tile-based games, are the seventh- and twelfth-most popular engines. Ren'Py, for making visual novels, is in ninth. Unreal Engine and the beloved free 2D engine Löve round out the top 10.

Of the rest, only the fast-growing Godot engine has more than 500 projects.

Note that software frameworks—HTML games—are excluded from the tally. Only Phaser, with 1,173 projects, would rank in the top 10, between Bitsy and Unreal Engine. Read the rest

In this excerpt from Dark Horse Comics's 40th Anniversary Ashcan issue of ElfQuest, available today in comic stores, Hannah Means-Shannon explains how Wendy and Richard Pini showed indies the way in an age before crowdfunding.

I ran into ComicMix's Glenn Haumann yesterday at Comic-Con and he told me about ComicMix Pro: a set of professional services for indie comics creators who want to focus on making comics. It sounds like a great idea -- the set of all people who make comics I want to read is bigger than the set of all people who make comics I want to read who know how to manage printing and distribution.

ComicMix Pro Services will advise you on how you can improve your efforts and secure the professional assistance you need. We cover every aspect of the creative and business process and customize our efforts and fees to meet your specific goals, including:

* Editorial Services * Production, Printing & Distribution * Marketing and Promotion * Intellectual Property Services * Funding Services * Custom Comics Creation

ComicMix Pro Services Read the rest

Jonathan Coulton and Greg Pak launch a crowdfunding campaign to create a series of comic books based on characters from Coulton's songs

So you've got a yearning to code games, you've got a killer idea, and you want to work for yourself. What next? [Derek Yu] Read the rest

At the E3 gaming trade show last week, IndieCade represented "an oasis of creativity and DIY innovation," writes Turnstyle's Noah Nelson.

IndieCade's presence at E3 is one of the fulcrum points where the large indie game scene connects with major publishers and platform holders. New studios like Haunted Temple Enterprises, who were at the booth showing off Skulls of the Shogun, benefited from expo buzz. The studio is comprised of industry professionals who've struck out on their own after years of toiling away at megapublishers like EA.

Diving Deep To The Edge Of Play: IndieCade @ E3 [Turnstyle] Read the rest