There are a plethora of Game engines out there for new Indies and hobbyists to choose from. To save you time, I got a list of which one is right for you. Let’s begin with the RPG Maker Series of game engines.
RPGMaker MV
The RPG Maker series of Game Engines have been around a long time. Each one has a similar workflow. They are not the most robust engine out of the box, but the plugins created by users can help you create your dream RPG. One thing to note is that you have to pay just to use the engine, but you are paying for all the assets and other conveniences.
Now, note I said RPG, the game engine focuses on RPG mechanics, so choose this engine if you want to create 2D RPGs.
The latest version of the engine, RPGMaker MV, supports exporting to Desktop, Web, Android, and iOS. JavaScript is the scripting language, giving you tons of flexibility in terms of features. I personally have helped people work on their RPG Maker games, and many of them are beautifully designed. The engine has a bad reputation for default assets, but just like any media with many producers, eventually, the good media rises to the top. This is honestly a great game engine for starting out and understanding how RPGs are made in the old days.
Now, let’s continue with Game Maker.
Game Maker
The Game Nlaker engine has been around about as long as the RPG Maker engines. The engine is Currently On Game Maker Studio 2. This engine is great for a couple reasons.
The engine has a free license for learning the software. This allows you to try making your first game and getting excellent susport through a fairly large community,
The engine also has it’s own scripting language. The language was designed to be simple and easy to understand. This gives you the power to script as you see fit, but since it’s not a real programming language, you can’t import packages and code outside of the Game Maker Studio olatform in an easy way.
In terms of what kind of games to expect from this engine, expect a lot of 2D games. I would say this is the engine’s strong suit. If you want to pay for the license later on, this is the engine for you.
Let’s move on to the Juggernaut Unity.
Unity
The Unity game engine is probably the most popular game engine now. It has a huge community with tons of games released with the game engine. You might ask why that is?
Unity has a great programming language with a huge ecosystem C#. It also supports many platforms. The Unity game engine exports games to just about any platform you can think of, including your toaster. There is a community edition and you can publish your game with very few limitations. However, if you’re a larger studio, prepare to pay royalties to Unity from your bottom line. With that said, what kind of games is Unity good for?
Unity is great for 3D games and okay for 2D games. You can do both if you’re comfortable with the engine, but there are better 2D Engines. Now, let’s move on to the other elephant in the room.
Unreal Engine
If you want the best performance ever, this engine is the one for you. Unreal has been around forever. It uses C++ as the programming language; the C++ is the language of choice for any extremely performance-based applications. Unity is written in C++ to maximize performance. Unreal also has support for non-programmers with their flow chart diagram solution for scripting your game. But to maximize what you’d get out of the engine, you would need to learn C++ and that is a huge undertaking in and of itself.
The engine is also free to use until you publish your game. They ask for 5% of whatever you make. Similarly to Unity, the game engine exports to a plethora of Platforms, but Unity still has them beat I would say.
In terms of when you would use this engine, it’s best used if you are creating performance heavy 3D games. Unreal does not have great 2D support; don’t even try it.
Now, there is one more engine on the list.
Godot
Godot is a weird little engine, and I’ve grown to love it.
The engine is open source and completely free. You can also modify or extend the editor at your leisure, allowing you to customize your experience if you’re
The engine itself is written in C++ and has support for other languages if you’re willing to write ports for a language of your choice. The official programming language is GDScript, which is essentially Python.
In terms of where this engine is best used, it’s best for 2D game development. The 3D is good but Unreal and Unity
If you want a free open source engine that has a built-in editor, Godot is definitely for you. Any game you create, the money you make is completely yours, which is something I definitely enjoy. But all these game engines aside, I have some final thoughts for you.
Final Thoughts
Regardless of what engine you choose, stick with it. Every tool and game engine has a learning curve. Instead of trying to flee from it, embrace it. Once you finally are comfortable, the engine will be your goto for creating the project of your dreams.
Stay tuned for more posts on all things Game Development and entrepreneurship.