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[Question} Suggestions on Game Engine

A topic by Anu created Apr 20, 2020 Views: 505 Replies: 5
Viewing posts 1 to 6
(1 edit) (+1)

Hello, I'm here to ask the community their suggestions on what engine I should use to create this particular game template.

Right now, I'm working on a bigger game project but for the demo version, I wanted to set it up as a 'Lost Phone' voyeur styled template. I am a beginner when it comes to game developing and so I'm not really sure which would be the best for me utilize. 

It wouldn't necessarily be based around a lost phone, I guess another good example would be Mystic Messenger

Of course I understand, no game engine will be 'easy' and I am willing to learn. I just want to make sure I beginning learning with a engine that will be able to give me the outcome I'm looking for.

Lost/Usable phone game examples:
- Sara is Missing
- Mystic Messenger
- A Normal Lost Phone Story

Moderator moved this topic to General Development

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(+1)

Hello there :D

Here are a few of my suggestions. (And no Unity and Unreal will not be on here  due to my #### P/C not being able to run it so I have not tested them for a LONG time -_-)

My preferred engine is Clickteam Fusion with the XLua Extension and DLL Extension (Most extensions are free, including this one). Its one of those drag-and-drop engines though there are extensions that add Lua, Python and I think C#. It's not all that good with 3D though and its expensive as #### (100$ for Standard. 400$ for Professional) Not including the exports (You need to buy those too). Personally, I quite like it. It's decently fast and quite customization though don't expect to make 'AAA' graphics.  

There is also Construct(The first one), which is like Clickteam's Fusion but its free and it comes with Python as well. Plus, the source code has been released so if you don't like it, you can just mod it. By the way, Construct is not all that good with 3D either.

Ever heard of SCP-Containment Breach? Well, that is written in Blitz3D. Which is free and open source. Don't want 3D? BlitzMAX is pretty good. Though there are a ton of functions to learn, its programming is a lot of fun and can be used to make both 2D and 3D. Also I think its Multi-Platform so you could export to Windows, Mac and Linux. 

And for Text based games. Use Batch Compiler. Easy and kinda cool, though it only supports Windows.

So there you have it. A few engines I would (at least) try out. Most of these engines are either free or have a free trial.

and in case you want to know even more, check the link bellow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_game_engines

I hope the rest of your day is nice :D


~Star


 

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As far as I know (!), the games you describe are so simple that I wouldn’t use a pre-built engine for them at all.

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It's good that you list specific game references. Two of them were made with Unity, but I don't know about Sara is Missing. Besides the tools, I'd also try to find out how many people worked for the project and how long, which is why the first thing I do when I play a game is check the credits, and I like reading the postmortem articles on gamasutra (I guess I should read the ones on itch.io too!) This way you can get some realistic expectations on the resources needed and whether you need to adjust the scope.

Back to game engines, you probably won't go wrong with Unity since it's so popular, general purpose, and cross-platform, and there are a lot of free and paid addons. But by the same token there's a lot to learn. If you're new to gamedev and especially programming and you're interested in visual novels, for example, then I'd suggest starting with something like ren'py which will let you concentrate more on content and get in the gamedev flow more quickly, and then you can work your way around to other engines for other projects as appropriate. I haven't used ren'py for anything but I recently saw a game here, I think it was Distortion Nation, which had some nice animation and graphics (including UI) which I didn't know was feasible in ren'py.

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Thank you so much for the suggestion!

I figured adding some game references would help others understand what I was trying to work towards! I don't mind learning and since I know Unity is popular, I would like to learn there! Most of the game ideas I have are actually for Visual Novels so I do have some experience with Ren'Py, though beginner! I didn't realize either that elements like that could be produced using Ren'Py, so I will definitely play that game and check it out! 

I will also try to look into the information you recommended. (credits, etc.) 

Your reply was very helpful to me and I appreciate it a lot!

I think for the most part, I will stick to being a writer, but I'm doing this to branch out and learn programming as well so I can have more of a skill set! My hope is to formulate an idea I have and this is a part of it!