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Free game engines for 3d games

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Started by emark.mark20 September 23, 2014 05:32 PM

11 comments, last by angutyo 9 years, 7 months ago

emark.mark20

201

Author

September 23, 2014 05:32 PM

Hi, I'm looking up what free game engines I can download by I am looking for one that allows me to create a 3d game either in first person or third person (Maybe both). I tried Game Maker but I found out that if I want to do something like this, I may have to pay for a premium version (Please correct me if I am wrong).

So far I am thinking of Unity and the Unreal Development Kit but I saw paid versions of both engines and I am not sure if any of those would give me the same issue. I am doing more research on them in the meantime.

Any help on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

HappyCoder

5,076

September 23, 2014 06:38 PM

Unity lets you do quite a bit using the free version. If you do make a something financially successful with unity, they require to buy a license, but at that point paying for a licence isn't such a big deal.

My current game project Platform RPG

Shane C

1,369

September 23, 2014 06:43 PM

Unity lets you do quite a bit using the free version. If you do make a something financially successful with unity, they require to buy a license, but at that point paying for a licence isn't such a big deal.

And to add to this, I believe Unreal has an inexpensive subscription model, which might make it cheaper overall than Unity. Both systems have their advantages and disadvantages, engines wise. But Unreal might have price going for it.

JTippetts

13,307

September 23, 2014 07:38 PM

There is also Urho3D which is fully open source, supports Win32/Win64/Linux/Mac/iOS/Android/Raspberry Pi, can be scripted in either Angelscript or Lua, includes 3D and 2D functionality, supports physics (Bullet for 3D, Box2D for 2D), navigation (Recast/Detour), sound, input/output, XML, JSON, etc, etc, etc... It's coming along rather nicely, even since I started using it.

Accidental Noise Library
The Adventures of Goblinson Crusoe
Terrain Editor

Gian-Reto

7,096

September 24, 2014 10:19 AM

If your requirement is just First Person view and 3D, pretty much any engine can do it.

Gamemaker might just have been a bad pick, its mostly being used for 2D Projects AFAIK.

Both Unity and UE4 will do what you want, Unity starts at 0$ with some limitations (none of which should affect you, if you are not aiming for cutting edge visual quality), Unreal 4 starts at 20$ without limitations. You can remove the limitations of Unity for 1500$, which will also allow you to make more than 10'000$ from your game.

Be aware that as long as you don't get a full commercial license (>100k$), you will have to pay 5% royalities for Unreal 4 for anything above 50k$ you make with your game. There will never be royalities for Unity, you just need to upgrade to Pro for 1500$ if you make more than 10k$.

Just download the free version of Unity and start playing around with it. If you find that you cannot live with the limitations of the free version (explained in details on the Unity page), get Unreal 4 by paying 20$ for a single month of subscription and cancel your subscription before the end of the month.

Capoeirista

3,266

September 24, 2014 11:41 AM

What's your target platform? Project Anarchy (http://www.projectanarchy.com/) is great for iOS/Android. It supports PC as well, but if you want to release you have to get their 'PC Exporter' which has a price tag of $499.

-- Olly
http://toronto.ubisoft.com/

http://farcry.ubi.com

http://tomclancy-thedivision.ubi.com

Tangletail

2,915

September 24, 2014 01:48 PM

With your limited specifications, it's really hard to list something that you'd want. For example.

If you want to make a game on ps4. Then you'd have no choice but to buy a game engine if you didn't want to bother with editing an engine yourself.

IOS, then you really are limited to a compatible engine.

Shane C

1,369

September 24, 2014 07:44 PM

With your limited specifications, it's really hard to list something that you'd want. For example.

If you want to make a game on ps4. Then you'd have no choice but to buy a game engine if you didn't want to bother with editing an engine yourself.
IOS, then you really are limited to a compatible engine.

Not to mention, both those platforms have considerable costs. Even with iOS, you have to pay $100 to get on the App store.

I'll probably get some heat for this but I will say, I think the general consensus is that while there are some very okay free engines, generally you have to spend money to get something good. And even if you spend no money on the engine, be prepared to still potentially spend something on the game, whether Google Play/iOS submissions fees, marketing, etc.

And to put my foot in my mouth again, choose an engine for the features. Budget is a consideration, but choosing a free engine because it is simply free, can sometimes be choosing it for the wrong reasons.