Byond

If you want to play something simple with your friends or you have a good idea for a simple game, then you should definitely look at what Byond has to offer. It puts you in touch with an online community, who play and create all sorts of 2D indie games. There are countless games available and you can play them for free. Additionally, you can create your own games, which is not too hard, thanks to Byond's its easy-to-learn language and all the tools and support the community can offer.

Byond is free, but you can become a paying member if you wish to support the project and enjoy certain benefits. Downloading and installing the client shouldn't take more than a minute, even on a slower computer. Furthermore, the software doesn't have any special requirements and you don't need powerful hardware to run it.

The Byond client lets you get started right away, if you want to play something. All the available games are listed on the left side of the user interface and, of course, you can search for a specific name or filter the games, to see popular, active, downloadable or installed ones. When you select a game, its page will be displayed in the larger area, on the left side of the window, on a new tab. You can find a brief description, related games, as well as options for downloading and playing the selected games on separate sub-tabs.

Games are loaded on a separate window, once you hit the Play button. Most of them have simple, 2D graphics, but they can be quite complex and, most important, they can be played online with other people. Besides downloading and playing games, you can also choose to host them on your computer, to allow other people to play them, if they are not currently active.

For regular users, who wish to play games, everything is pretty cut-and-dry. If you wish to create your own games, you can access various developer tools. What's more, Byond also comes with a good amount of documentation materials, as well as built-in support, so you can get reliable help if you are stuck.

Byond is definitely worth trying if you want to have fun with your friends or wish to bring your ideas to life.