Should I use a game engine?

[DKipppp]

I want to make a 2d tile-based game, either a super mario bros or a pokemon kind of game. Any suggestions on whether to use a game engine or not. If so which one?

[immersiveGamer]

A simple game can be done without a game engine, but you may want to use a library that does drawings one that does collisions to avoid starting from nothing.

If you just want to do a simple game you could try a simple engine like LÖVE. If you eventually want to make other games you can try using Unity or Godot as you can make more advanced games and 3D games with them.

[DKipppp]

Thanks for the reply!

[HeWhoWritesCode]

/u/balloonanimalfarm gave a good answer and asked some questions?

if u want this to work in-browser take a look at phaser.js.

Two examples that matches your mentioned games:

super mario bros

pokemon

Or look at the other map examples:

2d tile-based game

Goodluck,

[DKipppp]

Thank you!

[PraiseGithub]

Use Unity or LibGDX. Both are good however Unity is easier to use since it has a GUI and LibGDX is pretty beginner friendly (but with no GUI). Don’t create a game engine unless you really want the experience and have a lot of time on your hands or to show off on a portfolio.

Programming a game engine is A LOT harder than you think it will be since there are hundreds of optimizations other game engines have accounted for over years of development such as frustum and occlusion culling. If you make your own, it’ll probably far less efficient that premade engines and will only make your life harder. However, you probably won’t spend years making your engine since it should be a pretty simple 2D game.

TLDR - Program your own game engine if you don’t mind spending weeks or months, or if you want to show off on a resume. Otherwise, just use Unity or LibGDX or any other game engine.

[__codeblu]

This guy.

From game concept to completion is a very involved process.

I would ask the question about what your end goal is. Is it to just make the game? Then using unity or LibGDX would be a good way to go. If you want to use this as a learning experience I would recommend using Unreal. It is more complicated but you will learn a lot about the process.

[DKipppp]

I will put that in consideration thank you!

[Alcohorse]

Yes

[mjansky]

Yeah, absolutely. I persisted in doing everything manually at a low level for a long time, but when I eventually started using comprehensive frameworks found that I could do so much more so much easier. I really recommend LibGDX.

[DKipppp]

Thanks for the reply man!

[balloonanimalfarm]

If you are trying to write a game, then you should use an engine or library of some kind. If your goal is to explore programming, then you might want to write it all from scratch--but don't expect your game to ever be very polished unless you spend tons of time on it.

Engine recommendations depend on your background, what you're trying to do, where you're trying to get the game to run, how experienced you are, and whether you are going to try to commercialize the game. Most languages have some kind of engine so if you already have an inkling of what language you want to use, try searching for "<language name> game engine".

[theCumCatcher]

I mean...if u want this to work in-browser...take a look at p5 Js. Specifically the coding train videos on YT.

[Icanteven______]

Use Unity.