I am looking at getting back into making a game. My first one was made in Stencyl. I would have continued with that considering how far I had gotten into making that game, but it was lost from a failed backup. Decided to try something else. Even though Stencyl was active and kept updating, it didn't really feel like it. Also found that a lot of assets would become unusable with updates. Still too bad it was lost.

What I chose next was Gdevelop. Seemed to look and feel okay and its open source. Decent enough forum and available resources. Made it a fair way into making a working game but choose the wrong one to make. It was a racing game instead of the one I had in Stencyl. Thus, I lost interest when I came into a problem I couldn't fix. Still have it and hoping to finish it someday. For now, it would be best to focus on the one that I REALLY want to make.

I had a look around at other apps but there sure is a lot to choose from these days.

What I have planned is a form of 2D class and team-based run-n-gun game with multiple options.

I am looking for:

-Free. I won't be selling my game. Doesn't necessarily need to be 100% free, as long as nothing necessary is behind a pay wall, such as exporting/publishing.

-"Block Programming" like in the apps that I have used. Sure, I still make my websites by typing HTML but never went any farther than that simple "programming".

-A good library of assets, behaviors, etc. (A good selection of "template" games would be a bonus.)

-An active and helpful community and forum.

-Obviously, it needs to be good for the type of game that will be made.

-Able to expand on adding features/modes/etc. to my game, instead of being very limited to one game type.

-Not sure about the OS. Have an old Win 7 tablet, newer Win 10 desktop, Android 11 phone and one of those cheap Fire 7 tablets. The desktop would probably be best but being able to work it on the go would also be great. Cross-platform would be even better.

Some other things that aren't necessary for me but would be nice bonuses:

-More options for animation. Like having bones and joints for the characters, instead of a new image for each animation and frames.

-Both physics and non-physics.

-Ability to add online multiplayer is already built-in or available.

There is probably more, but that is all I can think of for now and are probably the main points anyways.

So, should I stick with Gdevelop or is there a better option for my needs?

 GDevelop would be the best bet that I know of if you want it to be free and visual coding.

If you're pretty sure there will be a wall, either something that just can't be done in GDevelop or a practical wall of the game will become an unmanageable monstrosity if you were to try to implement everything you want in it, then you might need to learn some traditional programming and use Unity or Godot. I personally prefer Godot and feel it's better for NewGroundsy web games as far as being less bloated and simpler to use, but Unity has more resources and tutorials (although I did write this one for Godot which is of course utter brilliance cuz I wrote it).

If you don't have any programming experience at all, but you do have experience with writing HTML, then I might recommend starting to learn JavaScript through the MDN docs as a way of getting your feet wet with programming before diving into a game engine especially since it will also help with being able to make websites. JavaScript is dynamically typed like Python / GDScript in Godot and unlike C# in Unity, so Godot might be a more natural engine to pick up if you take that route.