?Hello, I am a beginning game developer and was looking for some opinions and help on my long journey... I am unsure wether to use unity 5 or UE4... they are both free to download and work with, but as far as getting decent (nothing extreme, but still nice) graphics, platform support for pc or mac, and a next gen console, are definite needs... If anyone has experience working with these, that will be a great help... And, how do objects get added into the engine general, not step by step, but do you typically make all elements on a 3d design software, go to a specific website of models, or have a directory from someplace? Also... this may be the by far silliest question you will hear on a site of this kind... but what level of C++ understanding is necessary for producing a game on a pc or mac. (ready) Is it even necessary... because most tutorials on UE4 show flowchart diagrams as well as a 3d editing window, action edit window, sound booth... and more, but it seems as if the "flowcharts are used for the main portion of the project... I apologize for my very low level of understanding in this field, but I do understand a lot about computers, I code in HTML, CSS and some Javascript... so do not feel as if you are talking to one who does not understand anything... Thank you!
I'm a beginner as well (2 months in, so take my advice for what it's worth),
I definitely agree with everything that was posted earlier, it's a combination of your goals (short term AND long term), what kind of game, etc. I have attempted to use both UE and Unity, and was able to put together some basic games, such as flappy bird, pong, etc. All the basics. Relatively easily at that. These engines do make producing games a breeze, though at the same time I personally felt that the engine itself was doing 90% of the heavy lifting.
Don't get me wrong I don't want this to sound like "Don't use an engine because you're not accomplishing anything on your own" because to a degree you could theoretically say the same thing about using things like SDL/SFML, and say Why don't you go the Handmade Hero route you'll learn more...
I feel like if you can accomplish what you need in Unity/UE in a shorter time, and it works the way you want it to, why not. If you need more flexibility than what's provided by those engines then pick a language, and learn it.
The main reason I went the C++ and NOT using UE/Unity is to get a better understanding of how everything works underneath, because those engines do a VERY good job of hiding it. Think about it this way, how can you optimize/do something innovative with something that you don't know how it actually works to begin with? You have more creative freedom if you're not limited to a set tools.
Don't worry about silly questions, I've asked some stupid ones on this site, and posted things that when I looked back at I feel retarded for, and everyone on here has been helpful, even if they come off as aggravated *cough* W *cough* lol. I love you.
Regarding the flow chart blueprint system in UE, yeah you can make a game entirely in blueprints really fast, but it's not the only way, you can use C++ as well. There's a lot of tutorials flying around right now for blueprints because it is still "fairly" new, and it can push out games in suprisingly short amount of time so that's why there's a lot of hype around it.
Whichever you choose check out the official tutorials on their respective site, and remember all of the above is a valid option.
TLDR: Choose something, attempt to make a game, don't get overly ambitious/set realistic short term goals, don't get frustrated from mistakes learn from them. Though like you mentioned you have coded before so it's really no different.
