Hey guys,

at first: i'm new to this forum and if my question, or discussion, is off-topic, feel free to move it to the right place. I thought "Game Programming"/"APIs and Tools" is/are the best place(s), because i need the opinion of game developers, skilled or new to it doesn't matter.

second: a quick search in this forum (seriously, just 5 minutes or so) didn't gave me the answer I'm searching for, that's why i open this topic! So please don't comment with "google it" or anything like this. It's not target-aimed to my goal.

third: like i mentioned, i posted this in "Game Programming" too. I thought maybe both forums/sections are the right place, if one of the admins doesn't agree with me, feel free to delete one.

Now to my discussion point:
For my Bachelor Thesis I'm currently writing at, I need to find the communities favorites game engine. For that reason i ask you: What is your favorite Game Engine and why? I'm not necesseraly interested in which games are made with it. My interest in the developing part. But not only I'm interested in the engines you like, furthermore i would like to hear about your most hated engine and why you prefer the other one.

For example:

"I like the Unity Engine because the 'Just-Hit-Save' function is really easy and fast to work with. I don't like the Unreal Engine because of this scripting thingy, it's terrible. Also Unity offers more features than Unreal and it's easier/faster to work with them"

I would enjoy reading more complex and detailed answers, this example is ok, but quite short

That's it. Let the discussion begin

Greetz, Napp

FYI: english is (obviously) not my native language, please don't be a too big grammar nazi

Hi

Actually i don't have a favorite engine because it depends on the project and language i like.

Most of the Engines don't have the right tools you need to create the right game.

it should actually be what is your favorite language that makes sense. :D

the most things that i do is create a framework and every game that i make, i'll update my framework (not that everyone needs to create a framework)

because i'll learn more.

every engine has it's cons and pros.

sure i used some of the engines like (Delta Engine , Unity ,UDK , CryEngine)

that's it :D

regards,

HyperV

UDK is a monster and I wouldn't learn it unless I absolutely had to.

Unity is simple and awesome with a huge community of people helping and adding functionality. It has my highest recommendation for its intended scale (mobile or small PC or Web titles).

CryEngine is great if you have $$$ and you don't have to deal with their source code much.

I don't know the Delat Engine.

I've used a lot of engines, but I would often elect for Unreal 3 to get the job done, so long as there were no specific requirements that it would struggle to support out of the box (for example it does not use 64-bit coordinates, so lacks the kind of precision and world size you might want for a flight simulator).

I'm enjoying some of the tools in Unreal 4, but the renderer feels quite incomplete, and as a result, I'm finding it hard to work with for many situations that you'd hope would be simple.

I've spend some time learning the basics of a number of engines,specifically Cryengine,UDK,and Unity.

Cryengine's (Sandbox Editor) GUI and workflow was the easiest for me to adopt to,but eventually I ended up deciding on using Unity.

What I liked on Cryengine was that everything seemed self-explanatory to me. I got to the point of building levels with quite fast,and its Terrain tool is one of the most powerful yet easier to use. That was with the old SDK that came with Crysis and Crysis Warhead. (Cryengine 2)

The only thing that annoyed me back then was that it only accepted .tiff texture formats. Meaning I'd have to convert every single texture I had one by one. Aside from that, the Sandbox Editor for Cryengine 2 was perhaps the easiest Editor I've ever used on my life.

After making some maps for Crysis,I had a pause and when I touched Cryengine again it was on its 3rd version and on Windows 7.

And I just couldn't make the thing work. Just to make this run on my computer I had to download and install a bunch of individual software packages that weren't included on the installer,and even after doing all that,the engine often crashed because of bad memory management. It would eat all of my computer's RAM in just a few minutes,without even having finished sculpting the basic terrain layout. I didn't even had started to place props or something.

Just because of these technical issues I gave up with Cryengine.

The Unreal Engine was kind of harder for me to get into. I found out it has quite a nice set of features and effects,but for me it isn't as intuitive as Cryengine was,and with a search I did I didn't found as much information and tutorials about it as I found for Unity. The thing that Epic asks 25% royalties from the games you sell,is another negative factor IMO.

Last but not least,let's talk about Unity.

While the learning curve I had with Unity was also slower in comparison to Cryengine,the amount of information there is for Unity on the internet made me stick with it and start learning it. Add to that,that you can sell a game that you made with it without ever paying a single penny (With a Unity logo Splash Screen limitation),or that the price for the Pro version with full features is just 1500e,and from an economic standpoint you have the most value-for money engine licensing. It's also quite positive the fact that it's compatible with most file formats that exist. I can use jpg,png,tiff,wav,mp3,blend,3ds,max,fbx... I can just drag and drop most content files right into it without having to do any file conversions prior to it. And that is saving me a lot time.If what I already wrote isn't enough,consider its Asset Store. You can find from 3d models to shaders,gameplay scripts,sound effects,sub-systems,frameworks.... A large number of ready made tools or content that can save you quite some time and money.By downloading and using content and tools from the Asset Store,even a single person can make full sized 3d games.So it gives you a chance to outsource parts of your game,but because you can only buy things that already exist,you can have an exact idea of what you are getting with your money,and the amount of money paid is less than what it would be to hire someone specifically for making that something. For a single indie dev or a small team,that can be a game changer.

I would say to Stavros, when it comes to building shaders and getting the graphical eye candy and optimisation right that's where Unity will slow you down. Apart from that, I'm a massive fan of Unity, it can be used for AAA development no doubt.. But I'd never give the impression Unity is easy because it's not. The workflow and extensions on the asset store are what make Unity what it is.. Like Daikon Forge, it negates the need for larger teams as two people can achieve what a larger team can in a shorter space of time..

CryEngine and UDK are already game "ready" as so to speak with goodl looking inbuilt shaders, realtime GI, volumetric water just to name a few.. Unity is a flat plane in which you create the game as opposed to modifying it.