Engines or Applications
Wednesday, September 16, 2015 - 07:11
I am curious.
Once you have created your game assets, what engines or applications, are you using to create your games?
Shall I open a can of worms and dare to ask which one is the best; the easiest to learn; and multi-platform?
j
As I'm primarily a developer, not artist, I actually start with the engine/functionality before procuring most of my assets. I deal mostly with Unity, although I have tried my hand at basic HTML5 games and CryEngine as well. Unity is a nice fit for me because 1.) lots of professional and community support 2.) choice of C#/Javascript/Boo as your scripting language 3.) Can easily port to all major mobile devices + PC/Mac (and consoles, but I believe it's a lot more paperwork/money for licenses) 4.) The Unity Asset Store lets you buy & sell assets/scripts/plugins that can sometimes help you shave off a few days/weeks of work or just to get a sample project to look at
CryEngine is actually fairly easy to get set up initially and incorporates a lot more already-built-in functionality, but has a much steeper learning curve than Unity. If you've got a decent understanding of C++, love working with Visual Studio, and want to get down and dirty with customizing the engine, go with CryEngine.
I also start with engine first then move to assets and the more engine and the more assets and so on. I prefer doing my own engines. Then you get total control over everything.
I'm a programmer, so I usually make my own engines. I like Java, but C++ surely is more popular if you look into the wild.
PS: Some people make good games quickly with GameMaker. Others hate the tool. Then there are mid-level engines like Irrlicht or the JMonkey engine. All require some learning. Which would be easiest, I can't say.
Thanks for replying so quickly.
I am NOT a programmer. I've dabbled in a few variations of Basic, back in the old days, but have never really gotten into some of the more popular "flavours". I do not have the skillset to create an engine or even begin to think of creating an engine. But, if the truth be known, I am envious of those that do...
I am interested in making simple platform type games for my grandkids. I can make my own assets and stuff, but putting them all together in a program is where I am somewhat lacking.
I am not a big Windows fan. My preferred OS is Linux. Finding engines and apps that are relatively easy to use, with a not so steep learning curve, are bit hard to find. I cannot spend years learning new languages to code. I would prefer to make something quickly while the grandkids still enjoy the simple games. They are all under 9 years of age.
I am open to suggestions.
J
ps: My internal caffeine systen reports that there is too much blood circulating throughout the old body. I need more coffee... *sigh*
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May your journey be free of incident.
Live long and prosper
Your best bet may be looking at something like GameMaker (of which I know nothing). Google suggests that it has a Linux version, otherwise you may be able to use it under Wine.
Should you wish to try some programming, I would probably suggest Python, which should be reasonably easy to get into and has game development toolkits. Again though, not something I've ever used myself (for game development)...
Evert,
Thank you for the sugestions. I've installed GameMaker on my wife's laptop (Win7) and I am hammering away at a bunch of tutorials that I printed many moons ago. GM seems to be quite easy to get the hang of. There is very little coding involved but it does have it's own scripting.
There is a similar application, Game Editor, that runs nativley on Linux. Navigation is almost painful, but is almost as easy as GM.
Python runs really well on Linux. I have tried some of the tutorials. Coding will take some getting used to, but once mastered, could produce some great games. I have also looked at Lua. A steepish learning curve, but produces some nice programs. I run Lua and Python through an IDE. Mind you, the stuff I create, doesn't stay on my machine for very long...
J
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
May your journey be free of incident.
Live long and prosper
In another forum I could watch the progress of someone using GameMaker. She made good games very quickly. Well, she did that for a living, so good tools and speed were important.
I just want to say, GameMaker, despite all the gossip that circulates in some forums about it, can be a very good tool. But there are limits what you can do with it.
For Python, my memory says, there is a thing called "PyGame", a set of libraries or even an engine to help game development with Python. I never really took a look at it, just googled this:
https://pygame.org/wiki/tutorials
Maybe it helps, if you got the Python way.
I think your approach is flawed. You should typically have all of your mechanics and core gameplay stuff figured out and working before gathering final assets. It's good to have an idea of what you want the end product to look like, but don't base a game just on some sprites that you found/made. The visuals should complement and enchance the gameplay, not the other way around.
For your criteria of easy to use and learn, to make simple games with minimal programming, GameMaker is what I would recommend. I used it for some stuff in school and am somewhat experienced with it. You can buy different modules that give you more platform export options.
I use Phaser, which is a Javascript game framework for HTML5. Works on anything that has a modern browser, but does require programming knowledge. If you are wanting to get more into the game development scene, being able to program to a decent standard is a must, but as far as just making a few little games for friends/family, GameMaker suits your needs.
Stay a while and listen.