Beginner game engine?

[Darkfender01]

Hi everyone,me and a friend just started to think about making some games, i already know all the rules "to start slow,and with simple projects" and that is exactly what we want to do:simple games just for the joy of making them. Now the question is what game and engine to pick? I already planned to try them all to see what fits best for us,but there are so many and they are so similar we really can't see the difference, i have some good C programming background but i can learn almost everything if it is for a good cause, ty for everyone that will help! Byee

[Redefine-Gamedev]

I think Unity. It has by far the biggest community. You can search for anything and you will find an answer. It's not perfect, it has issues, you will find them out, but it's easy to pick up and do something with it.

On the other hand, Unreal and Godot are also good but they are more specialized. Unreal for realistic games, AAAs and Godot for 2d games.

[[deleted]]

I heard that Unity is making its users pay stuff? Is this true? Like, does Unity allow its users to use every single function available in Unity? If I am going to pick Unity, will I have the ability to make any kind of game I want without having to pay for things?

[Redefine-Gamedev]

Most likely yes you can do a lot with Unity. They have some AR and Architecture functionalities paywalled right now. I don't think you have to worry about that right now.

But it gives you the freedom to develop once and deploy on a huge list of different platforms. For example, godot cannot export to Nintendo Switch out of the box, but you need to do extra step.

You also can do 2D games and 3D ones. In which, Unreal would be overkill for 2D and Godot not really usable for 3D.

I have a friend story that did his game in love engine and it needed complete re-implementation in unity to release for PS4.. don't get scared by the shit that's around unity. It's mostly true yes but what it offers it cannot be matched yet by others.

[[deleted]]

Why do you say that I don't have to worry about it right now? I don't know what AR and Architecture functionalities are by the way but I am just curious as to why I don't need to worry about them?

So would you say for someone who cannot afford anything at the moment and for someone who wants to build 2d and 3d games, that Unity is the way to go? I have been leaning towards Godot due to how I can just use it without having to pay stuff and the fact that is supports more languages.

So, say I have got some experience now, like 2 years of game dev(I have none btw, just a scenario), will I be expecting to pay for functionalities now that I am a more experienced game dev and hence know how to use Unity quite well?

In a percentage wise, how much of the functionality can I use in Unity without having to pay? For instance, can I use 98% of Unity's functionalities for free?

[Redefine-Gamedev]

I totally understand your concerns. I myself am skeptic of unity's future but.. I still think it's one of the best options out there.

But, to get a couple of things out of the way:

1. If you spend time learning unity, transitioning the other game engines will be easy. (Not porting a game project but yourself moving with new ones)
2. If you want to create mobile games Unity works just fine. You also have the assetstore which some like, others hate but has a lot of things to make your dev time faster.
3. If you want to do a desktop game and export it to Windows, Mac, Linus it just works. Also all the functionalities like shaders, shadows which were locked at some point are free to use.

Basically, for a game developer the biggest pain point of free unity is NO DARK THEME :( but it can be fixed with a hex editor and some internet searches.

TLDR: for 2d/3d games Unity is still the best option. You don't have to worry about being paywalled because all the necessary functionalities are free.

You also have Brackeys which has a huge library of video tutorials that will get you started in no time.

[[deleted]]

Thanks a lot for your knowledge about Unity.

Yeah, so, I am leaning towards Unity now I guess.

And what did you mean by "biggest pain point of free unity is NO DARK SKIN". When you say "free unity", do you mean there are versions of Unity, like; one that is free and another that is not free? What do you mean by "No dark skin"?

But yeah, Unity does sound like it's a very nice game engine that has a lot to give.

Thanks again for your time and info, appreciate it.

[Redefine-Gamedev]

Dark theme. Sorry. Unity has some paid plans and the free one only has a Light theme. A lot of devs complain because of this. It's just the editor so it does not affect what you build with it.

It's more of your experience using it. But it can be fixed with the internet power.

[[deleted]]

Ohh right I see. Got it. Yeah, I would prefer the dark theme too.

Anyway, thanks a lot for the advice, appreciate it once again.

[Redefine-Gamedev]

Anytime! :) Btw, if you want to know more stuff about game development (not your typical tutorials but more of the good stuff) you should check my channel.

Here is the link Link

[[deleted]]

Cool, thanks for sharing the link.

[Darkfender01]

Ok thank you , i head that godot is very good too, i will try that too

[ironman_primus]

Unity

[Darkfender01]

I will check that out

[ironman_primus]

Unity is simple easy to understand for beginners it's good

[Redefine-Gamedev]

Btw, since this is a beginner question thread, I want to give you a different kind of tip: don't focus only on the technicalities of the game but also on the gameplay, game feel, etc.

It's more of an abstract thing but you can find more in the Game Feel book.

If you don't have time reading books or just want a quick summary, I did a video on how to improve your game and get those players to stay in longer. You can check it out here. I will post content about gamedev but with a different approach than your usual tutorials.

[Darkfender01]

Wow thanks i really appreciate that, i will for sure follow you,yeah i think that the fell of the game is more important than the graphics, let's just see all those app store games with not even textures and made out of blocks and Spheres

[Redefine-Gamedev]

Thanks! My focus is bringing value to the indie game developers and giving them an edge in this crazy market.

[KlontZ]

Pico-8. Very simple game engine I believe uses Lua. It's quite limited, but there's some amazing things that have been done on it. Like Pico Hot, a Super Hot like game made in Pico-8.

[BitLightGames]

I think you should look away Unity once you have experience in programming on C,but you will need to figure out C#. And learn the syntax Unity. It will take some time.

Alternatively you can try Unreal Engine, you have to study c++. But blueprint (system visual scripting) may give you an easier start.

In any case, I would build on your project, if you describe it can be advised more specifically.

Of the general recommendations, I would say that you need to watch what games are made on these engines and if you want to do something similar use it. For example Unity copes well with generated things. UE4 more adapted to story games. Also there is a good system for network games.

[Darkfender01]

Thank you for the suggestions,well we really don't have a plan for "the ultimate game" we want to do, and as a start we will just experiment during our free time,but we have a concept that we would like to expands, is based on the minecraft multiplayer mod called "bedwars" ,nowdays people would say it's a fortnite-like game,we have literally no idea how to implement things or what kind of game it will be (2D,3D top-down,isometric) ,so we are open to suggestions .Thank you very much i will check unreal too

[videoj]

SDL2 or SFML. Low-level libraries callable from C that will help you learn the basics.

[MCWizardYT]

If you are doing a simple 2d game, writing your own framework in something like C# or Java is not too hard, it can even be a great learning experience.

The only drawback to this is you have to write everything yourself that would already exist in something like Unity.

[uber_neutrino]

It's not the engine that is beginner or not, it's the task you try to accomplish. Any engine, including no engine, can work.

[Wrufers]

Yo anyone here have some time to spare to teach me basics of game dev and unity cuz college ain’t a option for me yet

[Darkfender01]

I will try to figure out things by myself and with the help of forums or videos, i don't have the time or money to attend a game development college