@Chris: I think you might be suffering from a bit of "decision paralysis": you're finding lots of different options, finding lots of information about them and spending a lot of time trying to correctly choose between them. Really, all of the options you've encountered are good, and without any experience you're not yet well equipped to decide on any of them as "best" for your needs.

I would suggest you pick any one of the options you've been considering and just get started with it. Jump in to the provided tutorials and start learning how to actually make games, not just by asking questions and reading information, but by actually going through the process. Your experience with any one of these engines as well as with game-making in general will still apply if you later decide to try another option, but you're unlikely to get very far unless you actually start using one of them.

Personally, I would suggest you get started with Unity, because:

1. You already have it downloaded and installed,
   
2. It's very beginner friendly (perhaps more-so than the other options),
   
3. It has LOTS of tutorials and sample projects available, as well as a very active community to help you get started.
   

I hope that's helpful, and good luck!

It does help, and all the other comments help also! its just the question: how would i create this? but i'll learn that eventually i guess. Thanks!

[quote name='jbadams' timestamp='1339809209' post='4949694']
[quote name='riverreal' timestamp='1339784052' post='4949619']
Just for curiosity, which games are made without programming and has AAA quality?

I'd guess there are none (other than perhaps the rather dated example of Myst, which was developed with the Hypercard authorware system), but we're not talking about AAA development here: the OP is a beginner and is getting into indie development. As such, the methods and requirements of AAA development don't really apply.
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Allthough strictly speaking scripting is also programming, so pretty much all games made with Unity, UDK, etc involve quite a bit of programming. (Not as much as if you write everything from scratch ofcourse but still quite alot (Especially for larger games as the engine only really handles the basics for you)).

a better question might be: How many AAA games are made without the use of any middleware(I'd be surprised if you need more than one hand to count those), If you want to make a good game you'll benefit greatly by taking advantage of the tools that are available to you, rejecting a tool because it is easy to use is fairly silly (The easier a tool is to use the better), Just look at the number of AAA games using ScaleForm for example.

The only questions you should ask are:
1) Does the tools support my target platform(s) ? (With Unity the major non supported platforms would be Linux, Blackberry, Symbian and Windows Phone, none of which is all that important)
2) Are there any unacceptable limitations ? (Unity free has a bunch which may be an issue, the pro version is pretty darn flexible)
3) Does the timesavings/productivity gains justify the licensing cost ? (You shouldn't buy Unity pro if you're only going to make a wordfeud clone)
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Thanks for commenting Simon! What exactly is middleware?

Anyway the game what I planned on doing is makin a few games for launch with my game studio for windows, then when i raise the 1,500 I'll go on to the Pro feature! I have no plan on making a clone, and especially of wordfeud! All original ideas! I may not know how I get these original ideas in game form, but they're original! Haha.

So 1) yes, going for windows then platforms
2) for the time, no because I have no idea what tey really are for the game, but later, yes

3) yes, no plans on making clones of games, they don't sell we'll I can tell! Especially when it's a rip of a popular game like angry birds, fruit ninja, or even....wordfeud!

Here are my two cents about Unity vs. UDK:

I only used UDK for a tiny bit and never got into scripting with it, but it seems less beginner-friendly than Unity3D. I believe it comes with a bit more capability of "graphical finesse" and customizable materials (which alter how things look). However, Unity Pro (which costs $1,500 at the moment, I believe) is always an option if you need fancy graphical tools somewhere along the road when/if your game is nearing finished.

I've used Unity for a while now, and I have to say it's wonderful. The scripting is very intuitive in the way that you can reuse your scripts on various objects in a hassle-free way. Unity also supports multiple languages: C#, UnityScript, and Boo. UnityScript is called JavaScript by the engine, but it's pretty much a totally different thing, so people call it UnityScript sometimes to avoid confusion with JavaScript, which is for web development.

Also, in my opinion, scripting with Unity is still very similar to programming and won't be neglecting you of "proper programming skills" as much as some might think.

If you're getting into Unity, here are some tips, just from my personal opinion as a user of Unity and with some experience using Visual Studio and C#:

• If you need help with Unity or scripting something in Unity, you can ask for help on answers.unity3d.com. The community there is active and helpful. Remember to actually try and script something before you ask a question, otherwise you're just asking people to script your game for you!
  
• Bookmark Unity's scripting reference. It has lots of examples for you to look at, and you can change them to show UnityScript, C#, or Boo.
  
• You may have an easier time using UnityScript instead of C#. The reason is that UnityScript is more dynamic and might not bother you as much in some situations.
  
• Don't worry too much about which language you start with. Switching from using UnityScript with Unity3D to using C# with Visual Studio took about a week for me to get comfortable. It's mostly just syntax stuff that you shouldn't have too much trouble with. The largest part is just getting the concepts of programming down.
  

GHMP,
Your two cents are worth two dollars to me! Thank you for the comment! Many people are saying what tou said, UDK is less beginner friendly, but of course it has better graphics! I think i will stick with unity until I release a game or a few that help me make money for something else (or unity pro)

And i guess ill have to start learning unityscript, and exactly how to program, but the biggest mind boggle that no one is telling me the answer for is How to create stuff or it! For example, menus, customization, and so much more! I can't even picture what it would be like....en Fin.

Anyway, thank you and thank you for the suggestion of unityscript and the basics of programming, along with Unity over UDK! You answered a lot of my wonders in that post alone!!!!!

Chris941

@SimonForsman, thanks for the answer! i've uploaded a comment via iphone but i guess it never really posted! Anyway, i'm starting to learn the basics and details of Unity, now i need to learn how to program O_o....

[quote name='Chris941' timestamp='1339983580' post='4950117']
but the biggest mind boggle that no one is telling me the answer for is How to create stuff or it! For example, menus, customization, and so much more!

Have you started to try working through the tutorials and resources you've been linked to, such as the detailed user manual? Most of these things are covered somewhere in the documentation; people aren't providing a more detailed explanation of these things because they would just be repeating material that already exists.

To take your own example of menus, you would work through the provided material on "game interface elements" (this is a section from the above linked user manual). You'll probably find that too hard to follow if you try to jump straight into it, but if you work through the basic introductory materials first you should then be able to work through these guides to figure out anything you need -- or if you do still get stuck, you'll have more specific questions or problems we can help you with rather than wanting us to essentially repeat the entire manual.


"Unity Basics" is a good landing page to get you off and running.
The recommended starting point is with the GUI essentials tutorial (pdf) or Learning The Interface, both of which will walk you through the layout and explain some of the different functionality the editor provides. I'd highly recommend the GUI essentials tutorial -- you can even print it off if you want to go through it without switching back and forth to a browser window. They also provide a set of video tutorials covering this material.
The might then continue with the "Unity Basics" and learn about "Asset Workflow" (how to add graphics and stuff to your game), or if you wanted to learn a bit more about scripting you could work through the Introduction to Scripting with Unity (pdf).


Once you've worked through the basics, look for other tutorials or examples that match up with whatever you want to learn. You might work through the "Creating Gameplay" section of the manual (I'd recommend at least reading through it), or have a go at building a menu using the "game interface elements" section I linked to above, or you might work through this 2d gameplay tutorial. From there most of your basic questions should already be answered, and we'll be happy to help you (don't forget you can also try the Unity community for additional/alternative help!) with any more specific problems you're having.


Really, if you haven't done so yet, just start working through the basics tutorials.

Good luck!
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Thank you for the long, linked reply back I will read through the manual and provided links a few times, and with any specific questions I will take to here!

Should I be using a different program to go along with Unity? Many people and the manual is giving an example to use Maya.... Or is there a better one?