"We are game developers ourselves, and we built everything we need for our games. We share everything we built, including our game engine."
Tim Sweeney - CEO of Epic Games
Game Engines
Game Engines for Starting Developers
In this lesson, we'll go over some good (and free to use) game engines and tools that are commonly used by starting, and sometimes even by experienced developers. There are many other engines that you could try, but these are some of the most commonly used among beginner developers today, and each of them is constantly being updated and improved.
For many starting game developers, Unity will be the first game engine they'll use. Many popular titles of recent years have been made with Unity, and the engine is constantly being improved. Unity can be used to create 3D, 2D, virtual reality, and augmented reality games, as well as simulations for all kinds of different platforms. It offers a primary scripting API in C#, for both the Unity Editor in the form of plugins and games themselves.
The Unity website offers you free guides and tutorials for free, that cover basically anything that you might need during your first game project. Due to the popularity of the engine, you can also find a practically infinite number of guides all over the internet. The student and personal use licenses for Unity are both free and offer most of the features that a beginner might need.
Unity is one of the most popular game engines.
Godot is a great engine for making both 2D and 3D games. It's completely free and open-source under the very permissive MIT license, so you don't even need to pay any royalties - the game you make with Godot is 100% yours. It allows developers to create a game from scratch, needing no other tools beyond those used for content creation. Godot can create games for PC, mobile, and web platforms.
As far as popularity goes, Godot isn't nearly as common as Unity, but it has been gaining a lot of new users over the past few years and the community is very active and ready to help out if you encounter issues.
Godot has a very active community.
Another one of the most popular and widely used game engines in the world is the Unreal Engine by Epic Games. Many of the largest games in the world have been made with this engine. The strength of the Unreal Engine is its ability to be modified enough that games can be finetuned into highly unique experiences. It's completely free to download, but Epic Games allows for its use through a royalty-based model and typically ask developers for a 5% revenue share from game sales.
In terms of its potential, Unreal Engine can be the most expansive and high-quality engine listed here, but it's also the trickiest to use, especially for beginners. It is mainly used for high fidelity 3D games, which makes it more suitable for AAA game development and not so much for small 2D games. The latest version, Unreal Engine 5 is scheduled for release by late 2021.
Unreal Engine is one of the most capable game engines.
Unlike most other game engines, GameMaker: Studio doesn't require any programming knowledge to use. This is the main selling point for many developers. For those who have programming experience, GameMaker allows the ability to make a game better and faster. GameMaker is mostly used by indie developers, and many adored indie classics have been made using it.
The main issue with this engine is that, due to its "point-and-click" nature, it's far more limited compared to most other engines, so it doesn't offer much when it comes to bigger game projects. While using this engine is free, getting the most out of it requires a paid subscription. However, if you've never looked into game development before, this may be a good starting point.
Gamemaker doesn’t require any programming skills.
Games engines are not the only useful tool for game developers. Even simple things like Office programs and Google Drive tools can prove helpful with game production and design. Making balance sheets and schedules, for example, is very easy with common tools like this. If you're interested in working with sounds and audio, Fmod and Wwise are both free and approachable options for beginners.
However, there are many programs, especially for artists, that can really make a difference. We'll go into further details regarding those in the following lesson.
Exercise: Engines
Exercise: Engines
Answer the following question about the material you just learned.