I would Like to make a glow effect on cycles without having to compost, I know Volumetric Lighting can create a similar effect, but it would require (from what I know) multiples of the same object at different scales and intensities, I want to be able to put this into a game, that’s why I prefer to not compost, because I would like to have the same glow in the game as well.
Don’t add mulch, table scraps, and loose leaf litter. 
No compositing… Erm… You could try baking an emission map. However some games do support their own post effects, but that requires specific knowledge of the game engine. Somethng like this may be of interest if using Blender’s own game engine: https://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?284591-bloom-filter