Hi everyone,

Me and my friends are planning to make a game, but we just can’t decide what engine/program use to create it. I figured maybe some of you could have some ideas or experience with other programs, so all suggestions are welcome.

I’ll list some features the game should have, the complexity (or variety) is what makes the selection of an engine problematic:

- Essentialy it will be a 2D pixel game

- Story-driven gameplay – adventure with some RPG elements

- During the story the player will be going through levels of memories, dream, and present

- The present will be represented by just one room where will always be the player and some characters (who may change during the gameplay) – here we want a lot of conversations to happen – at first without any interaction of the player, later on with some conversation trees (choosing the answer, different answers leading into different parts of the story)

- The levels of dream and memories will be with the movement of the player (still not sure whether a classic 2D platformer or isometric) with some possible interaction (here though rather simple actions)

- Also, not to make it too simple , we would like to implement some minigames from time to time to any part of the game

To tell you something about our experience with engines, I have done some work in Unreal Engine 4 (though only 3D work), while my colleague has some experience in Unity and Game Maker.

Naturaly, we did some research and talked to some friends but, as usual, most engines have pros and cons, so what would be your suggestion?

Thanks in advance

Hello!

In general the best engine is the one you are most familiar with. It's not easy to give you any advice at least from my perspective as it may hurt your productivity and fun from making the game. I'm working with both Unity and Unreal (more) and I would have similar problem with the decision as I like both of them.

Maybe the question is if you target mobile market too? I heard (maybe it's not true) about that Unreal is less 'mobile' friendly than Unity so maybe that will be the deciding factor?

Remember to choose the tool you enjoy using the most.

Have fun!
Eryk

Hi,

thanks for your input!

Making it for mobiles is not our priority. What you say about Unity is correct.

The thing is we both have experience with 3D stuff, not 2D and from what I read about Unity and 2D it seems like it could be a pain in the a** because it scales the sprites wrongly or some problem like that.

I have read about a lot of 2D software/engines I have never heard about, so I'm really curious... and afraid those programs wouldn't live up to our expectations.

Pick a gameplay element and prototype it in both Unreal and Unity, go with the engine you prefer working with.

Both engines are excellent and will likely do everything you need, so comparing spec sheets and getting third party advice will only get you so far.

Thanks for you reply, Orangeatang!

We are just trying to get as much info as we can before we start the hard work. We wouldn't like to work on it for a long time just to find out there is something important impossible to do in that one particular engine. :)

We wouldn't like to work on it for a long time just to find out there is something important impossible to do in that one particular engine

Absolutely - it's important to research which engine you want to work with, all I'm saying is don't let that be the only factor.

Just from what I know, I don't think Unreal would fit your project at all. Unity is always solid! Gamemaker is also probably one of you're best bets. :)

You said it's 2D, but are you planning it to be top-down 2D, or more side-scroller 2D?

If top down, there are a couple other engines that you could check out:

RPG maker: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/

And here's another one that's similar, but a little different (not sure if it's better or worse though lol)
http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/Main_Page

Just from what I know, I don't think Unreal would fit your project at all. Unity is always solid! Gamemaker is also probably one of you're best bets. :)

You said it's 2D, but are you planning it to be top-down 2D, or more side-scroller 2D?

If top down, there are a couple other engines that you could check out:

RPG maker: http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/

And here's another one that's similar, but a little different (not sure if it's better or worse though lol)
http://rpg.hamsterrepublic.com/ohrrpgce/Main_Page

Hi, thanks for your opinion!

About unity, is it true that for 2D it has some sort of bad scaling? Do you have any personal experience with it?

I looked at the RPG maker and it seems like not exactly right for our purpose, thanks for the suggestion, though, we will keep it in mind. The same goes for the other one too.

About the 2D specifics, as I mentioned, we are not completely sure yet, there will some some important locations definitely from the side view perspective, but in other parts of the game may other perspectives appear (max 2 though, we don't want to overcomplicate things)

Thanks for your input :)

no problem! :) Wish I could've been more helpful.

I don't have a lot of experience with the 2D side of Unity, but from what I've heard around the grapevine yeah, it has a few quirks and 2D is not it's strength (I have no sources and no firsthand knowledge to back that up...just repeating hearsay, so take it for whatever it's worth :P)

if you just want 2d, I'm quite fond of a game engine called flat red ball. http://flatredball.com/