Choosing the right game engine is crucial for any game developer, whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting. With so many options available, each with its strengths and weaknesses, it's essential to understand what makes each engine unique. In this blog, we'll explore what is a game engine, the factors to consider when selecting your game, and then five popular game engines available to the public, highlighting their pros and cons to help you make an informed decision: Unreal Engine, Unity, Godot, and GameMaker Studio.
What is a Game Engine?
A game engine is a software framework to build and develop video games. It provides a suite of tools and libraries that handle common game development tasks, such as rendering graphics, simulating physics, managing audio, and more. By using a game engine, developers can focus on creating the unique aspects of their game rather than reinventing the wheel for these foundational elements.
Factors to Consider When Selecting a Game Engine
When choosing a game engine, it's important to consider several factors:
Game Engine Features: Does the game engine contain the features you need to bring your ideas to life?
Ease of Use: How easy is the engine to learn and use? Is it suitable for beginners or geared toward experienced developers?
Platform Support: Does the engine support the platforms you want to release your game on, such as PC, consoles, mobile devices, or web browsers?
Performance: How well does the engine perform, particularly for the type of game you're developing?
Community and Support: Is there an active community and good documentation to help you when you run into challenges?
Cost: What is the pricing model? Is it free, subscription-based, or royalty-based?
While some of these questions can’t be answered with a simple “yes” or “no” for your game, they can help guide you in the right direction. With these considerations in mind, let's take a closer look at some of the most popular game engines available today to see if they are a good fit for you.
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine (UE), developed by Epic Games, is one of the most powerful and widely used game engines in the industry. Known for its cutting-edge graphics and high-fidelity visuals, UE is often the go-to choice for AAA game developers and studios. It has been used to create games like Fortnite, Gears of War, and Street Fighter V.
Pros:
High-End Graphics: UE excels in delivering stunning visuals, making it ideal for games requiring high-quality graphics.
Blueprint Visual Scripting: Unreal's Blueprint system allows developers to create game logic without writing code, which is particularly useful for designers and non-programmers.
Primary Programming Language: Aside from Blueprint, C++ is the primary programming language for UE. C++ is a very powerful language that allows developers to fully take control of what is occurring in their game.
Robust Toolset: The engine comes with a comprehensive set of tools for everything from animation to physics simulation.
Large Community and Resources: With a vast community and extensive documentation, finding support and learning resources is easy.
Scalability and Performance: UE is highly scalable, meaning it can handle everything from small indie games to massive AAA projects.
Support for Next-Gen Technologies: UE is constantly evolving and supporting the latest technologies.
Cons:
Steeper Learning Curve: Due to its advanced features, Unreal Engine can be intimidating for beginners, including the difficulty of its primary programming language.
Resource-Intensive: Unreal Engine requires a powerful computer to run efficiently, particularly when working on large projects.
Slower Iteration Times: Projects developed in UE tend to have large file sizes, including final game builds. This can lead to longer load times and increased storage requirements.
Royalty Fees: Similar to Unity, UE is free to use until a certain amount, where they then must pay royalties based on the gross revenue of their game. Please check the latest guidelines for costs associated with Unreal Engine.
Less Flexible for 2D Games: While UE is capable of developing 2D games (and has been done so by other games such as Octopath Traveler), it is not as simple or optimized as some of the other engines on the list.
For developers looking to add real-time features like multiplayer chat, live leaderboards, or in-game alerts, Unreal Engine seamlessly integrates with PubNub’s real-time platform. The Unreal SDK and Unreal Chat SDK provide all the tools needed to create engaging interactive experiences, enhancing the power of Unreal with real-time capabilities.
Unity
Unity is a versatile and user-friendly game engine that is popular among both indie developers and large studios. It's known for its flexibility and ease of use, making it a great choice for creating 2D, 3D, AR, and VR games. Notable games developed with Unity include Cuphead, Pokemon Go, Beat Saber, Hearthstone, Escape from Tarkov, and Hollow Knight.
Pros:
Indies Galore: Over 50% of games on Steam are made with Unity.
User-Friendly: Unity's interface is intuitive, and its large asset store provides developers with a vast array of ready-to-use assets and tools.
Cross-Platform Support: Unity supports a wide range of platforms, from mobile to console to VR (and even web!), making it an excellent choice for multi-platform projects.
Programming Language: C# is the primary scripting language, which is typically regarded as user-friendly, modern, and easier to work with than C++.
Strong Community: With a massive user base, Unity has a wealth of tutorials, forums, and documentation available to help developers at every skill level.
Cons:
Graphics Limitations: While Unity is capable of producing beautiful games, it doesn't quite match the graphical fidelity of Unreal Engine, particularly for high-end AAA games.
Performance Issues: Some developers have reported performance bottlenecks, especially in complex 3D games. While its primary programming language C# is relatively easy to use, you cannot gain full control of your game’s performance.
Fragmentation across versions: Unity has a history of different versions of the engine introducing bugs that weren’t addressed immediately in new updates.
License Costs: Similar to UE, Unity offers a free version with access to the engine and certain features. However, there are different Unity plans to gain access to advanced features, as well as additional fees based on your license.
Unity’s flexibility extends to real-time features as well. By integrating PubNub’s Unity SDK and Unity Chat SDK, developers can easily add in-game chat, online/offline status, game lobbies, player trading, and much more.
Godot
Godot is an open-source, community-driven game engine that offers a comprehensive set of tools for 2D and 3D game development. It's known for its lightweight design and flexibility, making it an increasingly popular choice among indie developers. Godot has been used in games like Hob, Deponia, Brotato, Cassette Beasts, and Haiku the Robot.
Pros:
Open-Source and Free: Godot is completely free to use, with no royalties, licensing fees, or hidden costs, making it an attractive option for indie developers and small studios.
Versatile Scripting: Godot supports multiple programming languages, including its own GDScript, as well as C#, C++, and VisualScript.
Lightweight and Efficient: Godot is designed to be lightweight, making it suitable for lower-end hardware and smaller projects.
Dedicated 2D and 3D Engines: Godot has separate engines for both 2D and 3D game development, allowing developers to simply use the tools that they need for their game.
Active and Growing Community: While young, the Godot community is very active and passionate about the development of the engine, promoting newly created games, answering questions, and encouraging collaboration.
Cross-Platform Export: Godot supports exporting games to a wide variety of platforms, including desktop, console, mobile, and web.
Cons:
Smaller Community: While growing, Godot's passionate community is still smaller compared to Unity and Unreal, which can mean fewer resources and support options.
Less Feature-Rich: Godot may not have all the advanced features found in more established engines like Unreal and Unity, particularly for large-scale 3D projects.
Smaller Asset Marketplace: Unlike Unity and UE, Godot has a smaller selection of pre-made assets and tools available for purchase or download.
Less Industry Adoption: While the engine is gaining popularity, Godot is still relatively new and has not yet seen widespread adoption in the industry compared to other game engines.
Lack of Third-Party Services: Godot has fewer out-of-the-box services compared to Unity and UE, which means developers might need to do more work to integrate external services.
Godot’s open-source nature makes it highly adaptable, and integrating real-time features is no exception. Developers can use PubNub’s C# SDK or C++ SDK to bring real-time functionality into their games. For those using GDScript, PubNub’s REST API provides a reliable way to add features like in-game chat or real-time leaderboards, with full GDScript SDK support planned for the future.
GameMaker Studio
GameMaker Studio is a 2D-focused game engine that is known for its simplicity and ease of use. It’s particularly popular among indie developers and hobbyists for creating pixel art games and has been used to develop titles like Undertale, Spelunky, Hyper Light Drifter, Hotline Miami, and Katana ZERO.
Pros:
User-Friendly: GameMaker Studio is one of the most accessible engines for beginners, thanks to its drag-and-drop interface and intuitive design.
2D Specialization: The engine is optimized for 2D game development, making it an excellent choice for those focused on creating 2D titles.
Proprietary Language (GML): GameMaker Language (GML) is a simplified scripting language, designed specifically for ease of use in game development.
Active Community: GameMaker Studio has a dedicated and active community that contributes to a variety of resources.
Cross-Platform Export: GameMaker Studio supports exporting games to various platforms, including desktop, mobile, web, and console.
Resource Management: GameMaker Studio’s resource management system is straightforward, allowing developers to easily organize and manage game assets.
Cons:
Limited 3D Capabilities: GameMaker Studio is not well-suited for 3D game development, making it less versatile than other engines.
Proprietary Language: While GML is easy to learn, it is proprietary, which means skills may not be as transferable to other engines that use more standard programming languages. It also makes it difficult to be able to utilize other SDKs and APIs.
License Fees: While GameMaker is free to use for non-commercial use, it requires licenses with different costs associated with them in order to publish your game, as well as access advanced features like publishing to the console. Although more affordable than other game engine license fees, it’s advised you review the licensing information on their website to learn more.
Performance: GameMaker can encounter performance issues, especially when handling complex games, so you might need to invest in optimization to ensure smooth performance.
No native support for Advanced Multiplayer Networking: GameMaker Studio does not offer out-of-the-box support for advanced multiplayer networking features. It is possible to implement multiplayer, but can take more developer resources.
GameMaker’s simplicity extends to integrating real-time features as well. Using GML, developers can easily incorporate PubNub’s functionality via HTTP requests to help cover its weakness in multiplayer. This allows for seamless addition of in-game chat, multiplayer interactions, and more, leveraging PubNub’s REST API. More details on making HTTP requests in GameMaker can be found in the GML Reference.
What’s Next
Choosing the right game engine depends on your project’s needs, your team’s skills, and the experience you want to create for players. Unreal Engine offers unmatched graphical power for AAA titles, Unity provides versatility and ease of use, Godot stands out as a flexible and cost-effective solution, and GameMaker Studio is ideal for 2D game development.
No matter which engine you choose, PubNub can power the real-time features the engine lacks. You can utilize PubNub’s SDKs, including game-specific SDKs such as Unity, Unreal, Unreal Chat, and Unity Chat to build, manage, and optimize experiences that engage players and keep them coming back.
