Inexpensive, relevant game development IDE for the classroom?

Brent Lehman · 2014-09-06T17:33:59

Sorry for asking yet another "what should I use" question, but there doesn't seem to be a treatment of my particular problem on the forum. I'm running a new class at the community college on game development, and we're choosing a game development environment. Our first consideration is Unity. The problem is, students would need to bring their own computers and download Unity themselves, because it's free only for independent developers. If we provide it in our labs, we need to pay for expensive licenses. The administration is trying to avoid requiring students to bring their own computers for this class. (The reasons for this are unclear.) Is there a game creation IDE like Unity that sees significant use in professional game studios, and has less expensive licensing for educational institutions? Unreal Engine looks pretty good, is that the only other one? What I do like about Unity is that much can be done without hardcore programming, because I will be teaching a very introductory course. How easily do students generally understand UE's Blueprints? Am I right in thinking that UE's overall ease of use is similar to that of Unity? One more question: If we go with UE, will students be underserved by learning UE's free version 3 rather than the $19/mo version 4?

Engines and Middleware Programming Unity

Started by MackTuesday August 11, 2014 09:15 PM

10 comments, last by The Gamemaster 9 years, 8 months ago

jbadams

26,386

September 05, 2014 11:29 AM

You may not still be looking in to this, but Unreal Engine 4 is now free for academic use.

- Jason Astle-Adams

The Gamemaster

152

September 06, 2014 05:33 PM

I'm surprised that people here don't even talk about CryEngine, as if it doesn't exist

CryEngine has a free version of SDK for non-commercial use: http://www.crydev.net/dm_eds/download_detail.php?id=4
It is not as easy as unity, but it is as powerful as UE4.

Inexpensive, relevant game development IDE for the classroom?

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