What game development tools would you recommend?

Nero707

Okay, so I've started work on my first game, and while I have messed about with various different game development tools (game maker, AGS, etc) I can't decide which one to use. Just wondering which one you guys would recommend and why?

Kilgore__Trout

Hi Nero707,

Might be able to give you a little more help if you tell us what languages you are familiar with and to what level, what platform(s) you hope to release on, and what type of game you'd like to work on?

Nero707

I mildly proficient in C++ and Java, learning Python, it's probably gonna PC only release. it's gonna be an adventure game with horror elements.

Torakx

Unity is C#, javascript(much like java) and I tihink Boo also.

Unreal engine 3 is unrealscript and visual scripting(python too??). Good tools there for an FPS but a little bit of a learnign curve compared to Unity.

Cryengine is C++ as far as I know. Very good dynamic lighting and physics. Again my be a bit more of a learnign curve, and I suspect a bit more greedy on the licencing for being better.

I'd say try Unity. It is very flexible, a bit like a blank slate, with lots of community support and tutorials. And has a well integrated system for plugins by the community.
Unreal is catching up in that respect too though, but not so good community support.

Check out the licensing and pros and cons online before choosing.

Kilgore__Trout

Can only really offer a partial answer, as I've more or less stuck to Unity for last 2 years. If you are familiar with Java, learning C# (one of Unity's languages) will be trivial.

There's a lot to like with Unity: has a free version that you can make an indie quality game from, is fairly easy to get to grips with, is fast for development work, allows porting to a large number of platforms, has a well developed community. Not sure it would be a good choice for an FPS, or a game that has very high end visuals, as it isn't the best performing engine out there. Also, the GUI system that ships with the engine is very basic. The full version of unity, which you have to buy if you make $100,000 (yeah, who'd be complaining) is around €1400, and you will need to buy addons for certain platforms.

UE4 has been released recently. It now uses C++ (they dropped UnrealScript) and also has a scripting interface (kismet afaik) which makes it accessible to people unfamiliar with programming. This is all second hand, but I understand it's a much better performer than Unity, easier to make highly polished games, but it's also slower to develop with, and seems to be heavily geared towards FPS. Cost is $20 per month + 5% royalty. You can actually get the engine for $20, but you don't get updates unless you pay monthly. It's likely the community will grow siginificantly with the new pricing, but might take some time before there's the same level of community support as with Unity.

Probably not a great choice if you're working solo, as honestly, if you're on your own you really need to pick the line of least resistance to completing a game. If you have a few people working with you and they know C++, and particularly if you're shooting for an FPS, might be a good one.

There are obviously loads of other choices out there, but these are the ones I've looked into the most. Was actually a little tempted to learn C++ and defect to Unreal, but give the sort of games I'm making, it probably doesn't make much sense yet.

Encrypted Pigeon

Just to add to the above, UE4 is royalty free for the first 3000 per quarter. Looking forward to getting an opportunity test this out once college wraps up. Although as mentioned above, the level of support isn't quite there yet but give it time.


From EULA

...

However, no royalty is owed on the following forms of revenue:

The first $3,000.00 in gross revenue for each Product per calendar quarter;

...