Engine for creating Horror game. Any suggestion

Any first or third person engine should be fine for that -- the horror setting and atmosphere will be created by the graphical and audio assets and potentially a few special effects you might implement rather than being a result of the engine itself. As such, any engine you might choose to use for a regular shooter game should be appropriate.

Unity3d or UDK would probably make good choices, although without knowing your existing experience and language preference (if any) it's hard to make a good recommendation.


Hope that's helpful!

Thank you very much!!!

I usually used JAVA in my work but I think that I could adapt to C++ or C# as well.
I have created a game using Unity in my class about 2~3 years ago but it's really simple.

I've never tried UDK before but my friend said that documents were bad a year ago. Right now I'm also looking at Source engine and CryENGINE.

Maybe I should try to look at Unity again. Thank you anyway

If you are willing to release you game under the GNU GPL license I recommend the Doom3 (id tech 4) engine (https://github.com/TTimo/doom3.gpl). The id tech 4 engine was designed for dark, indoor games (like DOOM 3) but will also render very well in outside areas with the use of megatextures. If you are going for proprietary games your best bet would be UDK (http://www.udk.com/). Also if you decide to go with the Doom3 engine, I recommend you know your C++ cause it does include some confusing code and will require some adjustments before it is ready for release.

Oh, btw, you can sell your game if its licensed under the GNU GPL, but once a customer purchases a copy, they must be able to download the binaries and the source code (without having to buy a separate "package").

If you want to stick with Java you could try jMonkeyEngine, but it's a general-purpose engine rather than being specially built for first/third person shooters.

Otherwise if you have previous experience with Unity it would probably make a good choice for you.


id Tech 4 is also a valid choice given your requirements, but you may find it harder to get into and work with compared to some of the other options.

If you want to stick with Java you could try jMonkeyEngine, but it's a general-purpose engine rather than being specially built for first/third person shooters.

Otherwise if you have previous experience with Unity it would probably make a good choice for you.


id Tech 4 is also a valid choice given your requirements, but you may find it harder to get into and work with compared to some of the other options.

LWJGL (Lightweight Java Game Library) is also a good one that I have used. Though not technically an "engine" it does provide bindings for such things as OpenGL, OpenAL, and OpenCL as well as its own input system. Licensed under the BSD license, it is available for use in both proprietary and open-source games. Actually, the in-house engine created for Minecraft is built atop LWJGL. The only problem is that though it has a lot of documentation, much of it is about how to get started with LWJGL. Thus, creating a complex game is more of a hit-and-miss scenario than knowing exactly what you are doing (unless you do really know a lot about java).

Personally I, being the C++ kid that I am, would prefer to go with an engine such as the doom 3 engine (id tech 4) which was specifically designed for dark, indoor areas (as seen in the Doom 3 game).

i just built a horror style first person horror game in UDK. I highly recommend using UDK as it is extremely robust. I was able to have high fidelity sound that was randomized and had directionality, without having to touch a line of code. This made implementation and placing sounds extremely easy. I am unsure of the difficulty and ease of implementation of sound in unity. It really created the atmosphere and allowed for immersion which i feel is key to the horror. As well UDK's matinee is extremely useful when it comes to animating and creating dynamic sequence of action.

I feel it is also useful that UDK comes with a fair number of pre-built assets. This allows you to build the game quite quickly without needing external art assets.

I hope that helped.

Please feel free to ask me further questions. I can be contacted through my email at contact at brandondolinski.com

You can check what i created in UDK here, feedback is always welcome ;)

Thank you everyone!!!
Right now I decided to try Unity, ID Tech 4 and UDK to see which one I want to use most