Category
Engines, level and sprite tools and the software used to build 2D and 3D games.
Game engines differ most in the language you write in, whether they suit 2D or 3D work, and how their licenses take a share of revenue. This ranking weighs licensing and platform reach first, then tooling and maintenance.
Godot Engine94.0
Unity92.5
Unreal Engine91.5Pixel art editors differ most in whether they draw single sprites or tilesets, whether they run in a browser or on a tablet, and how their licenses treat the code. This ranking weighs sprite and animation tools first, then platform reach, license and price.
Aseprite92.5
Pixelorama90.0
LibreSprite85.0