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cryengine, unreal engine, unity ? ! where do I start?

Started by jitterbug May 7, 2012 at 11:59 AM 1 replies 14.4k views

Original Post

May 7, 2012 at 11:59 AM

m new to game development. Like fresh out of the box.
 
 I wanted to create some 3D based games I have ideas for (nothing unique there),
 
 I found the 3 game engines which output to multiple platforms, unity, unreal engine, and cryengine.
 
 They all look about the same (???) does it matter which one I use, is the question like someone asking which 3D app should I use (it pretty much boils down to your knowledge of the software)..
 
 however is that the case with these 3 engines?
 
 I

d like to use the one that outputs to all platforms, xbox, sony, iphone, pc, android(?), online gaming, while only writing the code once.
(I think this is the case with the flash game development engine now?) http://gaming.adobe.com/

Anyone with experience know of any programming language difference requirements between these engines?
I see I can use C# and javascript with Unity, unreal engine mentions "unreal script", whats that?, I

d rather use a language I can use in other areas of programming rather than one that is only local to that software..
 
 basically I dont know where to start with these engines.
 
 I want to create 3D first person games, my character travels through a landscape and they interact with other characters on missions, I

d want to port it to an online platform over time...

any comments or feedback is good.

kind regards

Serapth

May 7, 2012 at 2:20 PM

As a new developer, CryEngine will spank you till you cry. It's primarily C++ based and really is not aimed towards beginners. The community and supporting materials are much smaller than the other two engines. To my knowledge there is a single book available, but that might have changed since.

Unity has easily the largest community built around it, both in terms of users, websites and published books. It is probably the most accessible of the three and the one I would most recommend to a new developer. It also supports the most platforms, but that should be of little importance for now. In addition to C# and Javascript there is also Boo, which is a Python inspired language.

UDK is closer to Unity than CryEngine on the difficulty curve, and is the second most supported in terms of resources available. There are a couple books available and a few resources. Unreal Script is the primary way to program, which is their own in house scripting language, heavily inspired by C++ with a splash of Javascript. In addition, there is also Kismet, a sort of visual drag and drop programming language. I, as an experienced programmer, actually find this less intuitive, but your mileage may vary.

Fortunately all 3 are free to download and play with, so other than time and bandwidth, you have very little to lose trying all 3.

Unity though is probably your best fit.

jitterbug

May 8, 2012 at 5:10 AM

Thankyou Serapth, your feedback has been clear and invaluable (!!!!!).

I really appreciate all that information. thats given me some focus and a great starting point.

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