UDK or Unity? The best game engine for beginners?
Use whatever modeller you find best for you. Unity supports maya models more than any other format I think but I don't think it really matters.
Use whatever modeller you find best for you. Unity supports maya models more than any other format I think but I don't think it really matters.
Unity primarily uses FBX which is an interchange format, pretty much all modern modelling tools will export to it without any issues.
Maya is fairly expensive so it is probably a good idea to go with something else, (Blender is free and there are alot of tutorials both for it and for using it with Unity)
Judging by the way you phrased that last question, I'm assuming you aren't fully aware of what Maya is, so I'll go into a bit of detail about it:
Maya is a 3D modeling program. In other words, it's used to make models and animate them so you can import them into your game and put them into the game world.
Blender is another 3D modeling program. It's free to install the full version. I use it and I think it has a genius design, though I'm not very talented with 3D modeling.
Now, with 3D modeling programs, you can make crates and characters and creatures...whatever you might need in your game, with enough skill, you can make it with 3D modeling. However, you should remember that 3D modeling is it's own thing, an entirely new practice compared to programming/scripting. It takes artistic skill and lots of practice before you'll start making the amazing graphics you see in AAA games. Also, 3D modeling only makes the mesh and the animations and such. You'd still have to add textures/UV maps to your models to make them not just gray figures with no color. Skyrim and games with high-quality, realistic graphics usually use bump maps (in short, they make textures look less flat) and other special techniques to make things look even better/more realistic.
When I got into Unity at the start, I was only interested in learning how to script with it, so I didn't get into 3D modeling and texturing right away. I got into it later, though, and picked up Blender for 3D modeling and GIMP for the textures (both free).
Now, I don't mean to try and totally discourage you from art if you want to try it. I'm just saying this because I wanted to make sure you knew what it was and that it's kind of its own thing. If you want to do it the way I did and focus on scripting for a while before getting into art, that's fine. If you want to learn 3D modeling and texturing while learning how to script, that's fine too. Really, it's all about what you're interested in. You don't even have to know how to do both unless you absolutely must make games all by yourself. If you don't like 3D modeling, you can wait until later when you're good enough at scripting to get a team to help you with the art.
Anyway, now that I've rambled on forever, here are some links and tuts for Blender and UnityScript:
Here's a link to the official Blender website
Here's a link to forums for Blender (if you have questions about Blender in the future, they might be better fit there than they would be here at GameDev)
Here's a tutorial to Unity's basics
and here's a tutorial to complete beginner's programming with UnityScript
That tutorial supposedly "assumes no prior programming experience", which I believe is what you're looking for.
Good luck and have fun!
Maya is a 3D modeling program. In other words, it's used to make models and animate them so you can import them into your game and put them into the game world.
Blender is another 3D modeling program. It's free to install the full version. I use it and I think it has a genius design, though I'm not very talented with 3D modeling.
Now, with 3D modeling programs, you can make crates and characters and creatures...whatever you might need in your game, with enough skill, you can make it with 3D modeling. However, you should remember that 3D modeling is it's own thing, an entirely new practice compared to programming/scripting. It takes artistic skill and lots of practice before you'll start making the amazing graphics you see in AAA games. Also, 3D modeling only makes the mesh and the animations and such. You'd still have to add textures/UV maps to your models to make them not just gray figures with no color. Skyrim and games with high-quality, realistic graphics usually use bump maps (in short, they make textures look less flat) and other special techniques to make things look even better/more realistic.
When I got into Unity at the start, I was only interested in learning how to script with it, so I didn't get into 3D modeling and texturing right away. I got into it later, though, and picked up Blender for 3D modeling and GIMP for the textures (both free).
Now, I don't mean to try and totally discourage you from art if you want to try it. I'm just saying this because I wanted to make sure you knew what it was and that it's kind of its own thing. If you want to do it the way I did and focus on scripting for a while before getting into art, that's fine. If you want to learn 3D modeling and texturing while learning how to script, that's fine too. Really, it's all about what you're interested in. You don't even have to know how to do both unless you absolutely must make games all by yourself. If you don't like 3D modeling, you can wait until later when you're good enough at scripting to get a team to help you with the art.
Anyway, now that I've rambled on forever, here are some links and tuts for Blender and UnityScript:
Here's a link to the official Blender website
Here's a link to forums for Blender (if you have questions about Blender in the future, they might be better fit there than they would be here at GameDev)
Here's a tutorial to Unity's basics
and here's a tutorial to complete beginner's programming with UnityScript
That tutorial supposedly "assumes no prior programming experience", which I believe is what you're looking for.
Good luck and have fun!
Author
Judging by the way you phrased that last question, I'm assuming you aren't fully aware of what Maya is, so I'll go into a bit of detail about it:
Maya is a 3D modeling program. In other words, it's used to make models and animate them so you can import them into your game and put them into the game world.
Blender is another 3D modeling program. It's free to install the full version. I use it and I think it has a genius design, though I'm not very talented with 3D modeling.
Now, with 3D modeling programs, you can make crates and characters and creatures...whatever you might need in your game, with enough skill, you can make it with 3D modeling. However, you should remember that 3D modeling is it's own thing, an entirely new practice compared to programming/scripting. It takes artistic skill and lots of practice before you'll start making the amazing graphics you see in AAA games. Also, 3D modeling only makes the mesh and the animations and such. You'd still have to add textures/UV maps to your models to make them not just gray figures with no color. Skyrim and games with high-quality, realistic graphics usually use bump maps (in short, they make textures look less flat) and other special techniques to make things look even better/more realistic.
When I got into Unity at the start, I was only interested in learning how to script with it, so I didn't get into 3D modeling and texturing right away. I got into it later, though, and picked up Blender for 3D modeling and GIMP for the textures (both free).
Now, I don't mean to try and totally discourage you from art if you want to try it. I'm just saying this because I wanted to make sure you knew what it was and that it's kind of its own thing. If you want to do it the way I did and focus on scripting for a while before getting into art, that's fine. If you want to learn 3D modeling and texturing while learning how to script, that's fine too. Really, it's all about what you're interested in. You don't even have to know how to do both unless you absolutely must make games all by yourself. If you don't like 3D modeling, you can wait until later when you're good enough at scripting to get a team to help you with the art.
Anyway, now that I've rambled on forever, here are some links and tuts for Blender and UnityScript:
Here's a link to the official Blender website
Here's a link to forums for Blender (if you have questions about Blender in the future, they might be better fit there than they would be here at GameDev)
Here's a tutorial to Unity's basics
and here's a tutorial to complete beginner's programming with UnityScript
That tutorial supposedly "assumes no prior programming experience", which I believe is what you're looking for.
Good luck and have fun!
I can get maya free, but Im not sure if I'll be going with it. I'll have to download blender and maya and see which one I think is better and check out the community! Arts really no problem for me, but we'll see later on! Thanks for the answer! And the links!
Chris
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!
I'll throw in a little pointer that helps me a lot. The best way to see results is to make incremental small changes. Make a goal that you can accomplish quickly. For me, this is usually a target of 1 hour or so. I like to accomplish a few of these small task, and that is very rewarding. It will make you happy to see how quickly you are achieving things. If you bite off too much in one go, it can be frustrating. Here are some examples of incremental changes in what you mentioned:
Get a catapult on the screen
Get the castle on the screen
Add a button to fire the catapult which pops up a message saying the catapult has been fired
Make the catapult fire a projectile
Add a buttons to spin the catapult left / right (projectile is possibly unaffected depending on how you coded it)
Make projectile fire based off of direction catapult is facing
After a bunch of these small items, you will eventually get to a point you will want to call done. I hope this helps.
Hi all!
I just started out in my indie game dev. Adventure and downloaded Unity, but the thought came in mind: which engine is better?
I read a comment that, and I quote "if you're new to the industry, the cryengine will bend you over and smack you till you cry" sounds hard!
But then I saw the Unreal Development Kit, and since Literal Epic Games have been created on it, and with some awesome lookin features, how does this compare to Unity?
I really want to test out the Unreal Development kit but I just downloaded Unity, so I want to know exactly which one will be better for me, as a complete beginner, and which one is easier!
From my hard experience with UDK, it is a very nice tool set with all of the industry standard middleware packages you could want, Speed Tree, Physx, Scaleform and the list goes on. Another great part of UDK is UnrealScript. Not only can you call directly into C++ functions with it, you can also invoke ActionScript directly too. This means you can for example, create fully working flash games and use UnrealScript to interface with them and then render to texture on an arcade machine (If you want to see a video of it I can post a link). You can also fully implement a database connection library in C++ and then use UnrealScript to post to a SQL database through the library (DLLBind). Don't even get me started on Kismet, Unreal Cascade, and the Material editor or I'll be here all night. All of this is available for free non commercially and if you want to sell a game it costs 99 USD for a UDK license and your sales are royalty free until you make 50,000 USD, at which point Epic claims 25% of your quarterly sales. Did I also mention that it is multi platform (everything except for the Wii).
The obvious downside to UDK is that UnrealScript is a pain in the ass to learn. Even though it is similar to C# and Java, there are some very powerful language features that take a bit of mental muscle to get under your belt (like how state programming is integrated into the language itself, or the configuration file system). Also, 75% of learning UnrealScript comes from learning the API that they provide (how Actors work, the Actor Component system etc) and it is a real pain because a lot of the code base isn't commented, though this gets better with each release.
As for Unity, I don't know because I've never used it, and probably never will because of the license fees. Why pay thousands of dollars for Unity when I can get Unreal Engine 3 for free, with all of the AAA middleware like SpeedTree, Physx, FaceFx etc. Plus if I decide to ship a title it only costs 99 dollars until I'm essentially loaded with money. If Unity offered a free version that doesn't have a trial period (if they do then I will surely try it out) then I would love to give it a second look.
Maya is fairly expensive so it is probably a good idea to go with something else, (Blender is free and there are alot of tutorials both for it and for using it with Unity)
You can get any autodesk product for free from here (legally): students.autodesk.com
You can get any autodesk product for free from here (legally): students.autodesk.com
Assuming you're a student or faculty member at some school or a participant in the autodesk assistance program.
You also aren't allowed to use the educational versions commercially (Which means that you're not allowed to put your game on portals such as kongregate etc (something alot of amateur gamedevs do to get a bit of extra income)
Very true, but I like to assume that since we're in the beginner's forum that most folks here aren't going to go out and sell their very first "game" and that people here are likely students of some sort. I would also like to very much believe that I am subconsciously encouraging the younger people to go to college 
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Author
[quote name='Chris941' timestamp='1339934197' post='4950000']
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!
I'll throw in a little pointer that helps me a lot. The best way to see results is to make incremental small changes. Make a goal that you can accomplish quickly. For me, this is usually a target of 1 hour or so. I like to accomplish a few of these small task, and that is very rewarding. It will make you happy to see how quickly you are achieving things. If you bite off too much in one go, it can be frustrating. Here are some examples of incremental changes in what you mentioned:
Get a catapult on the screen
Get the castle on the screen
Add a button to fire the catapult which pops up a message saying the catapult has been fired
Make the catapult fire a projectile
Add a buttons to spin the catapult left / right (projectile is possibly unaffected depending on how you coded it)
Make projectile fire based off of direction catapult is facing
After a bunch of these small items, you will eventually get to a point you will want to call done. I hope this helps.
[/quote]
That's a good tip thanks! I will def. use it to start creating! Right now I'm trying to learn code. Now, what kind of stumps me is how is customization worked in? I'll have to find that out when the point comes. Again, very helpful tip, thanks!
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