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One of the first steps in game development is to choose a game engine. Knowing which game engine game, your game will help you to better select the members of the game development team. In addition, if one wants to perform all the tasks of game development  as an independent game maker, one must choose one of the game engines, because he will not have the opportunity to learn everything, and by choosing the right engine. so we decided to  talk about game engines in this article and their importance and introduce you to popular and functional game engines. Stay with us.

What are the most popular game engines?

Many game engines have been built that have provided many possibilities for game developers. In the following, we will review the popular game engines.

Unreal Engine

One of the most well-known and advanced game engines is the Unreal Engine. Epic games made this game engine. The original version of Unreal came in 1998 and is one the most widely used game engines today.

Famous games made with Unreal engine include Mass Effect series, Gears of War series, Bioshock trilogy and Batman series.

The power of Unreal game engine is in its graphics system. Blueprint is an unreal visual coding system that allows the game developer to define the logic of different parts of the game without coding. Unreal can be enough to make games a very unique experience. The programming language of the game makers in this engine is C++. The latest version of Unreal Engine is version 4, which provides many useful tools for developers. However, there are other engines that are easier for novice game developers.

Unity

The most popular game engine for beginners is Unity. Unity is an advanced game engine with many features that you can use depending on the type of the game. In other words, the many features of unity do not complicate it and it is easy for game developers to learn. If you want to make games with programming, Unity is your first choice. The most popular standalone games made with Unity include Inside, Ori and the Blind Forest, Cuphead and Firewatch.

Some of the benefits of Unity are:

• With just a few clicks, Unity generates optimal output for different platforms (desktop, mobile, PlayStation, xbox, etc.).
• Allows the user to easily interact with 3D content.
• Gives the game developer the right to choose between C# and JavaScript and start coding.
• Because of its strong performance, many game developers, especially independent game developers, turn to it.
• It is easy to learn due to its many features.
• There are many resources for learning Unity and a vast game community to fix gameplay bugs with Unity.
• Unity is free and easy downloadable.
• You can install Unity on different platforms and you do not need to migrate to a specific operating system to work with it.

There are many useful packages built in Unity that are available through the Unity asset Store. In this store, developers share their built-in packages with others for free or for money, and you can find everything you need to build your game in this store.

Cry Engine

Cry Engine is also one of the free game engines that yo can access all its features without paying. The engine is a German company named Crytek and, like Unreal, has a very high graphics strength. The popular FarCry and Crysis series of games have been developed with the engine rental. Cry engine supports Oculus Rift virtual reality glasses and is also a great option for making virtual reality (VR) games.

There are many free training resources for engine rental on the internet. These resources include instructional videos, forums, documentaries, and articles, but because of the great details of this engine, it can be a difficult to learn. Like Unity, Cry Engine has a store for sharing free and paid packages called Cryengine Marketplace.

You need a strong processing system to use the engine rental. So be sure to check the minimum system required for the rental version of your engine. If your computer is not as powerful as it used to be, go for other game engines. Otherwise, Cry engine is one the best options for building games on PCs and game consoles with high graphic power.

Godot

The first version of Godot game engine came in 2014, and its popularity grew over , gradually providing a complete set of tools needed for game developers. Godot is suitable for making both 2D and 3D games.

Godot engine under MIT license is free and open source. In addition, many forums is for answering questions, fixing bugs, and developing new Godot features. So you will not to have a serious problem to learn Godot. These forums are very active at the moment and answer the most specific questions.

Game Maker

Most people who are novice in programming use this game engine. Because unlike other game engines, the popularity of Game Maker is due to the fact that you do not need programming knowledge to play with it. Instead of coding, the game maker has designed an event and action system that is much easier and faster than programming with different languages.Game maker has made Hotline Miami, Super Crate box.

If you are programmer, you probably know how easy coding is for different changes, and any logic can be with a little thought. Since the game maker does not have this feature, the game maker will face limitations when working with it to implement some of the game mechanics he wants. Of course, the gamer also has the ability to write scripts and uses a special language called GML. GML is an easy language and game developers can use it to overcome some of these imitations.

Game maker is used to make 2D games, and if you want to make 3D games, it is better to choose another game engine. Although there is a free version for Game Maker, you will need to purchase one of the professional or master versions to take advantage of more features.

Construct

In past, many game developers used Construct, Because Construct, like Game maker, is one of those game engines where you do not need to code. Construct is also for building 2D games, except that it is based on HTML. So if you are familiar with HTML5 and want to build a 2D game for the mobile platform, you can use Construct.

One of the strengths of Construct is its simplicity and abundant educational resources, Construct-enhanced games can be on a variety such as Android, iOS, Windows phone and web browsers.

Lesser known game engines

In the previous sections, we introduced the popular game engines, there are more options to choose from. Depending on your game, you may need a special feature and have go for lesser known game engines. Some of these engines are:

• AppGameKit
• Amazon Lumberyard
• RPG Maker
• LibGDX
• Urho3D
• Panda 3D
• Cocos 2d-x
• jMonkey

Which game engine should you choose?

Each of the introduced game engines has its advantages and disadvantages. Currently, Unity and Unreal are the most popular game engines. Because they support almost all types of 2D and 3D games, they are easier to learn. Some people think that the game engines that has the most features is a great game engine, which of these game engines you choose is in the following, which we will discuss below.

Computer system

Having a computer is the first step in building a game. However, not everyone can afford a computer with the minimum requirements. If your computer is weak, do not go for gaming. Because game engines need high processing power and graphics to be usable properly. The minimum system required to use game engine is a system that has a physics (such as Unity and Unreal) of ram 4 and a 5-core CPU.

Game genre

Depending on whether your game is a simple platform game or an online shooter, you may need features such as a first-person camera or networking. Not all game engines support these features, so be sure to specify your game type and then look for a game engine.

Game type

Whether the game is 2D or 3D has an effect on the choice of game engine, because some game engines offer their capabilities based on it. For example, Game maker hardly supports 3D games, but it has a lot of possibilities for making 2D games.

Artistic skills

You do not need to be aware of all aspects of art to make the graphics of a game. Although the more knowledge you have, the better the results, but game engines with their high graphics power help to execute graphic designs. As we have said, in many game engines, it is even possible to design characters in 2D and 3D, modeling, etc., which makes the work easier for you.

Target platform

Specify your platform. A game engine may be dedicated to one type of output (for example, a mobile phone). In addition, it is possible that a game engine is for platform (for example, Windows), and if you get Android output from the same project, you will encounter many problems due to the large volume and type of components.

Programming features

Each game engine supports a specific programming language. There are several programming languages that can be difficult or easy to learn and code. In addition, visual coding is a feature in game engines that allows developers to visually manipulate aspects of the game rather than tedious coding operations.

Project dimensions

The extent and complexity of a game depends on your style and expertise. Some may prefer to design everything scratch, but some may work in a better team. Most importantly, choosing a game engine that fits the dimensions of the game can greatly speed the design process.

Budget amount

Recruiting a game developer to master a game engine, depending on how complex the engine is, can be costly. So if you have limited budget, be sure to consider this.

Support for the game developer community

Many game engines have great associates and communities for information, advice, and bug fixes for their own projects. So if you are just starting out, it might be best to start with a game engines that has many questions and answers on the internet.

maintenance and updates

Is your game engine running slow? Do you need regular updates? An up-to-date game engine has fewer errors and is rewritten as new features expand. But the constant changes in the game engine environment may be annoying for some game developers and they prefer to use only one version of their game engines.

Conclusion

Just as programming environments are for easy and fast coding and easier debugging of programs, in game development, game-making engines are for to avoid rework in integrating different parts of the game. In this article, we tried to teach you all the things you need to know about game engines and introduce the most used and popular game engines of game makers.