Selecting the most suitable mobile game engine is one of the crucial decisions that must be taken. The engine will greatly affect the design, performance and overall quality of your game. Various gaming engines are out there, so picking the right one could be challenging.

In this blog, you'll discover the essential factors to consider when choosing the optimal mobile game engine for your project. You'll learn:

1. How to evaluate the engine's performance
2. Assess its learning curve, gauge the strength of its community, review its licensing options.
3. And align the engine's capabilities with your specific game development needs.

Identify Your Game's Requirements

Understanding the game’s needs is crucial before selecting a game engine. This includes the game’s genre, platform, audio, graphics and other features.

For instance, a 2D game engine such as Godot or GameMaker Studio could be appropriate if the game is a platformer. However, Unity or Unreal Engine can be more suitable for 3D game creation if the game has realistic, beautiful graphics and an open environment.

In addition to the genre, you must consider the platform the game is intended to be played on. Mobile, desktop and console platforms all have their distinct types of engines. 

Unity and Unreal Engine, for instance, are both versatile engines that can run on multiple platforms, like PC, mobile devices, and consoles. SpriteKit and Buildbox, on the other hand, are particularly developed for mobile game development. So, they are the top choice for game developers creating mobile games. 

When deciding on a gaming engine, it is crucial to take into account the visual and sound aspects.

If you want your game to have top-notch visuals and realistic sound effects, you must consider graphics and an audio-optimized engine. Famous game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine have powerful graphics and audio capabilities and are excellent choices for game development.

Assess the Performance of the Engine

The performance of the game engine is vital for the development of a high-quality game. You need an engine that can handle the physics, graphics as well as other components of your game without crashing or slowing down.

Benchmark scores are an effective way to assess the engine's performance. These scores can be used to compare the performance of the game engine, as well as to evaluate the overall quality of the engine.

Several of the best online resources for mobile game engines provide easy access to benchmark scores and performance comparisons. 

Reading reviews from other developers is another valuable method to assess the engine's performance. You can acquire a sense of the engine’s potential pitfalls and limitations by reading about other developers’ experiences with it. In addition, you may also learn the advantages and disadvantages of the engine and get a feel for how it performs in different situations.

Finally, testing the engine yourself is one of the effective methods for determining its performance. You may use the engine to build a basic app and test its performance by running it on various devices. This can help you determine whether or not the engine can meet the needs of your game under different conditions.

Consider the Learning Curve

The game’s engine learning curve is another critical factor to consider.

If you are starting, it is best to use an engine with lots of online resources, such as tutorials and documentation available. However, if you have expertise in creating games, select an engine that gives you greater flexibility and customization choices.

Armory, Buildbox, and Construct 2 are some of the best mobile game engines that only require a little prior programming experience.

Evaluate the Engine's Community

The success of your game may depend heavily on the game engine’s community. 

You will benefit significantly from a large community because of a lot of resources, tutorials, and support from other developers. The larger the community, the more plugins, assets and extensions you can use to enhance your game.

Among gaming engines, Unreal Engine has one of the largest game development communities, followed by Unity and Cocos2d-x. 

Consider the Engine's Licensing

Finally, you should think about licensing the best mobile game engine.

While some engines can be used for free, some have licensing fees. Furthermore, some engines include revenue-sharing models that require you to pay a percentage of your game’s profit to the engine’s developers.

Make sure you fully understand the licensing terms before descending on a game engine, as this can significantly impact your game’s budget.

Unity (Personal Edition), Unreal Engine 4, and Godot are just a few examples of the best and most popular free mobile game engines.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the success of your game development project depends on your choice of which mobile gaming engine. You can choose the best engine for your game by considering the needs of your game and evaluating the engine's performance, learning curve, community and licensing. In order to select the finest game engine for your project with various game engines available, it is important to do extensive research, consider other developers' experiences and test the engine to ensure you select the best fit for your project.

By selecting the right engine, you can create a successful mobile game that engages players and stands out in the competitive app store market. When it comes to creating innovative, engaging and immersive games, Logic Simplified, a leading game development company in India, has a  pool of professional game developers who utilize the industry’s top game development engines. To know more about us, contact us or drop us an email at enquiry@logicsimplified.com.

According to the recent KPMG report, the online gaming segment in the country is projected to grow at a CAGR of 21% over FY21-FY25 to reach a size of Rs 29,000 crore. (Source: ThePrint)

The pace at which the gaming industry is growing is unbelievable. The massive surge in use of smartphone, internet and digital payments in recent times have taken off. Game development engines are a software-development environment designed for developers to create video games for different platforms. There are various factors that are considered when choosing the right gaming engine for your star game ide like the programming language, compatibility with operating systems, cross-platform support, and many others. Further, we have explained the rationale behind choosing one from the best game development engines to help build your first game.

UNITY Game development engine

Unity is one of the best game development engines and the most popular one among the other gaming engines. It has an imperative 45 percent share of the global game engine market which is nearly three times its size of its nearest competitor. (Source: The Next Web) 

Community 

It is the largest community where Unity users and creators connect and learn plenty from each other. There is a Unity Forum where the Unity users interact and share a lot of information about the software, its updates, challenges, suggestions, latest developments, and so much more. This archive of knowledge about the Unity system is available on the platform for all. Unity blogs give the latest information and news on all things Unity. Then there is Unity 1:1 guidance from its verified community expert that the brand offers and along with that there are one-on-one lessons with certified Unity community experts that are available on its portal. Its issue tracker gives information about the bugs they have reproduced. Documentation 

Unity Asset store

It is a growing library of 2D and 3D assets that include sprites, fonts, textures, characters, environments, materials, UI elements, amongst others. Its section of 3D assets offers characters, vehicles, trees, bushes, animation, and other props. Unity and its community members create these assets for their use and also make it available for others to use by publishing them to the store. There are a range of assets available out of which some are free and others can be accessed at affordable prices. These assets are way more valuable than they seem. They save the developers time and effort that can be put into use to a task that demands it. 

Other than 2D and 3D assets, there are other categories of assets like Add-ons, audio, essentials, templates, tools, and VFX. The Add-ons provide more improved features for the project. The website or the Unity game framework mentions top-rated assets that are ranked by the users for better choice.

Game development with visual scripting

Visual scripting streamlines the game development process and helps in creating compelling designs, gameplay, and interactions for their games using node-based graphs. This can be used by coders of course but by non-coders as well. The non-coders can carry out complex tasks using this functionality and not just that, they are also use visual scripting to learn and understand C-Sharp (C# scripts). This tool also gives the users the freedom to create tools and templates that can be shared with other Unity users in the Unity community. It allows seamless interactions and collaborations between programmers, designers, and artists. It lets them test ideas, make iterations, and have control over their work. 

Bolt and Playmaker are the two tools that help you with visual scripting. While Bolt is a visual programming language, Playmaker is a finite state machine. The major difference between the two is that one requires the knowledge of coding (Bolt) whereas the other doesn’t (Playmaker). 

AR and VR in Unity

Unity is a real-time platform that is used by artists around the world to create AR and VR content. Its real-time tools provide considerable creative possibilities, the Unity platform offers flexibility and is highly capable of catering to the rising needs of the developers with its robust C# scripting system and a comprehensive API. Unity provides a High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), XR interaction toolkit, particle system, spatial tool, stereo stancing, with a whole lot of other features to give the user a  life-like experience. 

Built-in Analytics

The Unity gaming engine has an in-built cloud-based analytics tool that provides features and functionalities to understand your audience and their gameplay metrics so that you can use the insights and information to give the players the best gaming experience. This in turn will hike up retention, improve engagement and monetization.

You may also read: Unity or unreal game engine

Phaser Game development framework

Phaser engine is an open source HTML5 game development framework that lets developers create 2D games. It was developed by Photon Storm, a gaming studio in the UK that uses the framework for all their games and ensures regular updates and testing. It supports WebGL, HTML Canvas, desktop, and mobile game development and according to the user’s convenience and platform support, it also allows shifting between Canvas and WebGL. Furthermore, it also supports four core physics engines - Arcade Physics, P2, Ninja Physics and Box2D and is considered the second best game development engines among others.

An independent and lightweight game engine

It is easy to use and unlike other frameworks, Phaser engine does not require external device libraries for math and calculations or a time management engine. It is said to be one of the best user-friendly game development engines that is quick to use, easy to learn, with its seamless and interactive framework. Unlike other game engines, it is independent of any additional dependencies like there is no need to download asset packs, install plugins, or import other dependencies. 

Phaser Community and other resources

Phaser’s large community includes dedicated chat rooms, forums, and weekly newsletter. It gives its users a platform to interact and collaborate, share helpful experiences, feedback, exciting code examples, and more. Phaser’s Twitter account also shares tonnes of information about game development links, web development, retro gaming and other tech content with its followers.  

You may also read: 5 best html5 game engines

Construct 3 Gaming engine

Construct 3 is the latest version of Construct game engine which was announced on January 27, 2015 with several new features. The features included multi-language support, Linux and Mac support. It has a built-in programming interface and it runs wholly in the web browser without having the need to download or install anything. It is considered a fast html5 2D game development tool with a 3D based framework which allows to integrate external libraries in construct 2 without external support. It requires no programming knowledge so this is among the best game development engines that can be used by anyone from a beginner to a professional. In addition, there are some specific updates that make this version greater than all.

C3 runtime

At first, the new version gives the users the comfort to import the Construct.capx files to Construct 3 and use all the new features and functionalities for their project. The new update hadan improved runtime rewritten which enhanced the overall performance of the gaming engine and offered an array of new features. It is designed in close compatibility with the C2 runtime but has some intentional changes for better features and design. Unlike C2, C3 supports major new platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux, Chrome OS and is also an Android game development engine and iOS game engine. There are several other changes like optimised effects rendering, faster startup loading and layout switching, faster Physics, reduced memory usage, and more for substantial performance improvements.

Javascript coding

Construct 3 gives the users the comfort to use Javascript coding. It allows users to use convenient snippets of Javascript code in event sheets which makes writing the first line of code easy. This new version also provides an option of writing the entire game in javascript. This is a big step up from the usual scripting feature in Construct game engine and probably that is the reason for it being sold separately.

An upgraded editor

Construct 3 doesn’t require the user to download anything as it runs in the browser from any device just by logging into the account. The saved work is safe in Cloud Save and is again accessible on any device to provide ease of working. The new editor also offers Remote and Real-time previews. While the former lets the users run the game by scanning a QR code, share the game with anyone via a link, the latter provides real-time previews of particles, behaviours, and more with quick feedback to make improvements in the game. Also, the editor is available in various languages like French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and so on. Moreover, Construct 3 supports improved Search, Layout, Properties bar, Project bar, Tilemap, and so many other graded features.    

Babylon Game engine

Babylon.js is a simple and powerful web rendering engine for developers and artists to bring their ideas to life. It offers tools, features, and workflows that make the user’s development process easier and faster with tonnes of features, which is why it stands on the list of best game development engines in 2021.

Powerful New Particle System

Babylon.js has a rich particle editor built into the Inspector that makes creating particle systems easy just with the click of a mouse. Its impressive properties and features allow you to create the flawless particle effect. The particle system can be edited and shaped as per preference with direct UI access and without requiring any knowledge of coding.

An Impressive Sprite Editor 

Sprites are 2D images that are rendered on the screen to display animations, particles, and to emulate 3D objects. Babylon’s updated Sprite Editor which is again built directly into the Inspector makes it easy to control, manage, and create sprite systems. When we say easy, it means you can use this editor without knowing how to code.

WebXR

Babylon supports WebXR which means it allows developers to create persuasive AR and VR web experiences. The support is backed by hand tracking, hit-testing, controller support,advanced teleportation, and so much more. WebXR Emulator is also available for Chrome and Firefox for developers who do not want to develop and test on an actual device.

Supportive 3D rendering engine

3D objects make a game more engaging and interactive. However, Babylon.js ensures smooth 3D modelling and animations by making sure the 3D objects render exactly how one would expect them to. It supports 3D objects rendering consistency  across the web.

Unity, Phaser, Construct 3 and Babylon.js are hands down the best game development engines of 2021. Their respective features and functionalities make them simple to use and yet give great results to make a user experience that’s worthwhile. Logic Simplified is one game development company in Dehradun that has an experienced team of game developers that work with the best game development engines for their clients to create games and experiences that are exciting, immersive and entertaining. To know more about us, just drop us an email at enquiry@logicsimplified.com

There are many game development companies that are not using Javascript anymore but have understood the enhanced graphic capabilities that come with WebGL, which is a Javascript API. An API that renders 2D and 3D graphics within any compatible web browser without the use of plugins. This lets developers create games that deliver engagement and entertainment and having said that, gamers play HTML5 for immersive gaming experiences. Thus, under-mentioned are 5 best HTML5 game development frameworks for every game app developer to score an ace at game development and understand why html5 is the future of global gaming business.

Phaser 2D game framework

Phaser is a free open source HTML5 game development frameworks created by Photon Storm in 2013 for developers to build interactive and entertaining video games. The good thing about this HTML5 game engine was that it worked well on both desktop and mobile browsers. This let people create games that were multiple platform friendly. It works on two technologies that is Canvas and WebGL, the former supporting multiple browsers allowing it to create in-browser graphics and when paired with WebGL (a Javascript API) one is able to create visually appealing and immersive environments for players. Why Phaser?

• • Phaser lets you build all sorts of games, even complex games and this well-designed HTML5 game engine gives the developers the access to a great library and also the code behind it.

• • Phaser’s built-in asset loader has the capability to support spritesheets, sprites loading used for animation, etc. and load images, audio files, data files, tiled maps, and javascript files. These assets are used by users to develop operational games. 

• • Phaser goes back and forth between Canvas and WebGL for fast rendering based on browser support and uses PIXI.js library for internal rendering.

• • Phaser supports the Web Audio API and other than that, it already uses Web audio and HTML5 audio and allows node-based audio support and automatically takes care of audio sprite creation, mobile device locking, looping, streaming, detuning, and more.

• • Phaser supports touch inputs that include single touch as well as multiple touch and it also supports non-touch inputs like keyboard, mouse, touch and their combinations as used on window surface devices.

• Matter.js (a system with springs, constraints, and polygon support), Arcade Physics (a light weight AABB library for less powerful devices), and Impact Physics (a system that provides advanced title support) are the three powerful physics engines that Phaser supports. For managing everything, Phaser has a smart plugins system that allows users to perform all kinds of tasks. One can also create their own plugin and can share it with others if they like to.

Babylon.js 3D game development framework

This real-time 3D HTML5 game engine was developed by two Microsoft employees, David Catuhe and David Rousset in 2013 and later in 2015, it was finally introduced to everyone at a WebGL conference in Paris. It came to be as a simple yet powerful open game and a web rendering engine packed with countless features. Playground is one of its tools whose code is used to start the whole process. It uses a javascript library to display 3D graphics in a web browser through HTML5 and is free and completely open to all. Its source code is available on GitHub and is distributed under the Apache License 2.0.    

• • Babylon.js 4.2, the newest version brought a load of new tools and features for improved workflows and experience with its code-first approach.

• • Babylon Native is a system that is used to  build native applications while the Babylon React Native in Babylon.js 4.2 has a React Native framework that comes with the power and simplicity of Babylon.js.

• • There are many new features added to the Inspector to improve the Node Material editor which saves the developers time. Its particle editor lets you create and configure particle systems and render scenes with Physically Based Rendering (PBR) support. Other than photo realism, there is ShaderMaterial that lets developers write their own shader giving them the ability to display creativity.      

• The newest version of Babylon.js comes with advanced reflection and refraction, real-time PBR filtering, and pre-filtering .hdr files support. Also, the render soft transparent shadows for transparent objects optimizes environment lighting and the shadows.

Kiwi.js 2D game engine

Kiwi.js was created by Chris Colbert and then was later redesigned to make it fast and easy to maintain. It is considered one of the easiest to use HTML5 game engines or game development frameworks for developing mobile and desktop games. It’s WebGL rendering and complementary game development tools work great to create interesting and entertaining games. Kiwi.js uses CocoonJS to create fast native apps and deploy games to mobile devices as native game apps on AppStore. CocoonJS and Chrome Webstore are great platforms that are used to make games for iOS, Android and Chrome apps.

• • 2D Canvas for older browsers and WebGL rendering for the latest browsers helps build fast native games.

• • It’s touch device is capable of letting developers build single touch as well as multitouch games.

• The template of the game comprises of Kiwi.Game object and multiple states that perform different functions like preloading the assets, transformation, animation, and updating the canvas with new information.

CreateJS game framework

CreateJS is another HTML5 game development frameworks that has a suite of libraries or tools that are used to create valuable and bilateral content on the web, interactive mobile and web games using HTML5. It was created by gskinner and officially sponsored by Adobe, Microsoft, AOL, and Mozilla. There are several javascript libraries that are part of the CreateJS’s suite that are used individually or as a suite by creators, some of which are mentioned below. 

• • EaselJS for easily working and drawing on a canvas by providing an HTML5 Canvas that is rich in media and other application solutions.

• • TweenJS for animating and tweening HTML5 properties.

• • SoundJS with a simple API for working with audio on the web.

• • PreloadJS for managing and coordinating the loading of assets such as sound files, bitmaps, and more and data.

• It allows developers to add sound, motion, asset loading, and 2D graphics to their work.

Quintus game development framework

Quintus, a course created by Pablo Farias Navarro, the founder of ZENVA. It is a modular, lean and powerful HTML5 game engine that works on desktops and various HTML5 compatible devices. It is easy to use and it has a modular engine from which a developer can pull in a module that they need to use and set up an engine.

• • It supports an event-based, component-based approach, and also an object-oriented approach.

• • Quintus provides plugins, events and also has a concise javascript-friendly syntax.

• It has a flexible component model that makes it easier for developers to distribute its functionality into the games.

Wrap up

HTML5 Game development frameworks allow you to produce games with high-level functionality and added features. All things considered, Logic Simplified is a game development company in Dehradun that provides game development services in HTML5 and uses HTML5 game engine as per game’s and client’s requirements to create advanced games that are immersive for the players and fun too.

Epic has filed a motion for an injunction against Apple in the US District Court for California’s Northern District, alleging Apple of attacking Epic’s entire business in unrelated areas. A federal judge on August 24 gave a temporary restraining order and ruled that Apple can't terminate Epic’s access to Unreal Engine development tools on Apple platforms, but let the Fortnite ban stand. A short-lived restraining order addressed the most pressing concern of Epic as it meant that Epic will be able to keep growing Unreal Engine for iOS operating systems, but the game is not over yet and the threat still looms.

Apple and Epic's Battle: Unreal Engine Games for iOS in Jeopardy? 

If Epic ends up losing access to iOS development tools, Unreal Engine game developers will have no other choice than using another game engine to build games for Apple platforms. It’s also a big worry for developers that have already launched Unreal-powered games for iOS and MacOS because an update from Apple that renders older games unplayable can result in huge revenue losses. Apple has also taken some such recent decisions like to reduce compatibility for 32-bit apps on iOS and on MacOS.

What Unreal Engine Users Will Lose

I have prepared a list of programs, technologies, and capabilities that Unreal Engine users will lose access to if the court upheld Apple’s revocation of Epic's dev tools.

• • All Apple software, SDKs, APIs, and developer tools

• • Pre-release versions of iOS, iPad OS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS

• • Pre-release versions of beta tools such as Reality Composer, Create ML, Apple Configurator, etc.

• • Notarization service for macOS apps

• • App Store Connect platform and support which assist in account transition, password reset, app name issues. etc.

• • TestFlight.

• • Access to provisioning portal for certificate generation, and provisioning profile generation.

• • Ability to enable in-app Apple services, including Apple Pay, CloudKit, PassKit, Music Kit, HomeKit, Push Notifications, Siri Shortcuts, Sign in with Apple, kernel extensions, FairPlay Streaming.

• • Access to Apple-issued keys for connecting to services such as MusicKit, DeviceCheck, APNs, CloudKit, Wallet.

• • Access to Developer ID signing certificates and Kernel Extension signing certificates.

• • Developer Technical Support.

• • Participation in Universal App Quick Start Program, including the right to use the Developer Transition Kit (which must be returned to Apple).

• • Ability to improve hardware and software performance of Unreal Engine on Mac and iOS hardware and optimize Unreal Engine on the Mac for creative workflows, virtual sets and their CI/Build Systems.

• Adoption and support of ARKit features and future VR features into Unreal Engine.

If Epic lost access to all the above development tools necessary to build game apps for Apple Platforms, Unity may get a big competitive edge. It’s highly likely that many Unreal developers will turn to Unity, which is currently the most used game engine for building cross-platform mobile games. Yes, Unreal Engine scores higher when it comes to creating heavy graphics games, but Unity is quickly inching closer to level the playing field for Unity game development companies. So, Apple’s  revocation of Epic's dev tools could mean more Unity game developers building games for Apple platforms.

Alternatives to Unreal Engine

There are other alternatives to Unreal Engine as well, such as Construct 2, GameMaker Studio,  CocoonJS, MonoGame, Amazon Lumberyard and more. Game app developers will have to see which game engine will suit their game requirements the best if Apple won and rendered Unreal Engine unusable to build iOS and MacOS games. Game engines play a big role in the mobile game development process and that’s why Apple’s battle with Epic has a lot do with the developers who use Unreal for creating iOS and MacOS games. We all hope things between Apple and Epic get back to normal as before, and Unreal Engine developers keep making games for Apple platforms in the future too.

You can get in touch with us if you have a game idea and are looking for a game development studio for hire. Logic Simplified, a top game development company, is in the game development space for almost a decade now and has hands-on experience of using several cutting edge tools, such as Unity, Unreal Engine, Construct 2, Maya, Blender and many more, to create highly engaging video games. Outsourcing is already a very popular practice and it’s gaining even more steam as more and more gaming businesses are now looking to hire game designers and developers due to the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic. There are several things that come to the mind before making a decision whether or not to go for offshore game design and development services. And that’s perfectly alright! We are all ears to hear your concerns and explain to you how our game experts can help you build a quality video game with reduced time to market, engaging game elements, and low cost. We have seen both successes and failures, and thus our hard-earned knowledge of what exactly works in the gaming industry and what doesn’t could greatly help turn your game idea into a revenue generator machine. Share your requirements by writing to us at enquiry@logicsimplfied.com, and we will get back to you shortly to provide you with gaming solutions we are proud of.

Launched in 2006 by Unity Technologies, Unity has so far been the most popular game engine for building cross-platform mobile games both in 2D and 3D. For its ease of use, a huge asset store, capability to import from many 3D applications ( like Maya or Blender), great community support and a lot more, Unity is likely to remain the top choice of video game companies in 2020 too. Unity game developers can reach out to their target audience to the hilt as Unity supports a wide range of mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Tizen OS and Fire OS. It also offers Unity Ads to advertise and monetize users.

Unity often turns out to be a very good choice for startups to build mobile games as it suits their requirements pretty well. You can easily begin with a small team (even freshers) and budget too to build nothing less than modern mobile games of today. Unity also helps AR game developers build highly interactive and immersive mobile games. Some head-turning examples of Unity mobile games are Temple Run, Angry Birds Epic, Angry Birds 2, Pokemon GO, Monument Valley 2, Lara Croft Go and Hearthstone. As far as Unity pricing is concerned, Personal Edition comes for free, the only catch is until you start making $100K USD in annual revenue. If you want to use more advanced features like asset bundle creation, advanced cloud diagnostics, splash screen customization, core analytics etc., you can go for Unity Pro and Unity Plus that now come with the price tag of $40 per month and $150 per month respectively.

You can compare the pricing and offerings of all the Unity subscriptions here. 

Construct 2 is an HTML5 software for building 2D games. The reason why it’s in the list is the freedom it offers to quickly create 2D mobile games without any coding. Many mobile game studios are likely to pick it in 2020 to build visually appealing 2D mobile games for its ease of use, fast development, a plethora of features and multi-platform support (iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry).

Using Construct 2, developers can easily bring things alive as all they need is to place some objects and add some behaviour. Construct 2 proves to be a big time-saver here by allowing to add flexible behaviours, which are a set of properties of an object, such as movement in 8 directions. The interface is also simple and opens a wide range of toolset, which also does a good job in building a working prototype ready in no time for sharing and testing. Construct 2 also supports extensibility by allowing developers to use built-in or self-created plugins. For example, Particles plugin helps create smoke, water and other interesting effects. To write and customize plugins, Construct 2 helps developers by offering a vital piece of advice based on their specific game requirements. For multiplatform export, the game engine supports CocoonJS, PhoneGap and Crosswalk. Some notable games built with Construct 2 are The Next Penelope, Airscape: The Fall of Gravity and Cosmochoria. There’s no monthly fee for using Construct 2 as you need to pay just once and use it for life.

You can check the licensing fee and offerings here.

Cocos2D is an open-source game engine for building interactive 2D games for Android and iOS. Cocos comes for free and offers a gamut of features like Graphical User Interface (GUI), scripting, animation, flow control between different scenes and many more. Using Cocos, you can build very light mobile games (like of 1.5 MB) by leveraging the support from physics engines like Box2D and Chipmunk. Cocos2D has light libraries and allows to view the entire code and make edits to customize as per your needs. Cocos2D lets developers use independent editors for managing scenes using CCDirector class and CCTransition class, creating animations via CCAnimation class, performing actions using CCAction class, creating particle effects with CCParticleSystem, and tilemap editing with CCTiledMap class. Using Cocos2D, game app developers can build cost-effective cross-platform gaming apps that are feature-rich and have good graphics. Cocos2D also offers various products to suit different cross-platform game development needs such as Cocos2D Family, Cocos2d-objc, Cocos2d-x, Cocos2d-html5 and Cocos2d-XNA. Some games built using Cocos2D are Clash of Kings,  Angry Birds Fight,  and Brave Frontier.

There are some other popular game engines as well like Unreal and Godot, but I am going to talk about game art software now as they also play a vital role in game development and we are covering the list of only 5 best software for mobile game development. So, don’t mind if I have missed out on your favourite game engine. Anyhow, choosing the best game engine ultimately comes down to assessing the game requirements and doing an in-depth research of what different game engines have on offer and then making the best best. 

Blender is a very popular and free software for creating 3D art work and 3D animation. Many game artists use Blender for creating 3D characters, 3D environments, and objects (like buildings, weapons and vehicles) as it offers numerous brushes for sculpting. Game artists can also use a node editor to do advanced manipulation of videos and motion tracker. Any 3D model created in Blender and can be imported in Unity, which makes the job much easier for game artists working with Unity developers. In addition, Blender cloud library offers thousands of textures from animals, humans, eyes to clouds, rocks, trees or even wood. Blender also offers a great community support and numerous tutorials to make it much easier for rookies to start using it for creating some amazing 3D art work. In all, Blender is a great alternative to some expensive 3D game art software like Maya and 3D Max. It also provides training to game artists on  character modeling, 3D printing, VFX, rigging and even advanced digital painting.

Spine is a powerful software for creating 2D animations for games. 2D animators have to first attach images to bones and then animate the bones. Since Spine animations only store bone data, the size becomes very low and doesn’t occupy much memory. Any image you attach to bones can be used with different items and effects and those animations can also be reused for characters that look different, which saves a lot of time. While playing in slow motion, the quality is controlled by the Interpolation feature. Spine also allows animators to blend two animations, such as shooting and running, and smoothly move from one animation to another. Using the Dopesheet feature, animators get a detailed view of all the timelines that make up an animation, which helps them fine tune the animation’s timing. Another exciting feature is Meshes which allows to specify a polygon inside an image rather than drawing rectangles. This results in improved fill rate as pixels outside the polygon won't be drawn, which is important for making animation for mobile games. Talking about Spine pricing, it offers three paid versions: Essential, Professional and Enterprise.

You can check the licensing fees and features of all the three Spine versions here.

With this, I have covered 5 best software for mobile game studios to use in 2020. The choice, though, finally comes down to assessing your requirements, like game type, budget, target platforms, 2D or 3D, monetization strategies, etc. Now, if you are looking for a mobile game studio for your mobile game development project, but not able to get started for any reason, you can rely on Logic Simplified to do the heavy lifting for you. Logic Simplified has been providing game development services for almost a decade now, and has learnt from both its successess and failures what exactly works in the gaming industry and what doesn't. You can also hire game designers from us to build AR/VR and AI-powered mobile games to meet the requirements of modern gamers.  As games are what we do all day, we can help you quickly build a mobile game and market it fast, which also helps in getting feedback and quickly building on that for improved user experience. Also, when your game is on schedule, you don’t miss deadlines and save a lot of unnecessary costs. However, if you’re still stuck somewhere, contact us to hire a game development company or write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com, our experts will get back to you shortly to get you across the fence and shape your mobile game idea into a reality.

You must watch the video if you haven’t already and be a part of this exciting discussion over Epic’s solid attempt to make it so easy and fast for developers to build heavy hitting titles like never before. 

Link to the video: Unreal Engine 5 Revealed! | Next-Gen Real-Time Demo Running on PlayStation 5

Let’s first talk about the two key technologies that will be coming loaded with Unreal Engine when it fully launches in 2021.

Lumen - A global illumination system

Lumen is the technology that will allow developers to create fully dynamic lighting in real-time, much similar to graphics generated by advanced computers for high-quality animation and film production. Lumen will also save a lot of time that goes in light-adjustment and iteration. Unlike current game engines, game app developers will no longer be required to design lightmaps by hand and wait for lightmap bakes to finish. Instead, artists will be able to simply place a light source with the engine and move it inside the Unreal Editor to immediately see how the lighting will look when the game is run on console.

The ability to use dynamic lighting will make it easy for developers to move light sources around during the gameplay and see the light bending around obstructions, which is quite a task to perform with the static light sources found in current engines. Lumen-powered games will immediately react to scene and light changes and we have already got a glimpse of that in the video. The gaming space is not completely new to those kinds of effects, though, as Nvidia has continuously advanced with its  real-time ray-tracing capabilities of its PC graphics card line for years now. You would agree if you have played Minecraft with the right PC hardware. However, what’s new is using those effects on console hardware which Epic said is “diffuse interreflection with infinite bounces and indirect specular reflections in huge, detailed environments, at scales ranging from kilometers to millimeters.”

With Lumen, it will be really quick to set up lighting and limit its behaviour to precisely match your game. Real-time lighting could also lead to new gameplay ideas like a player holding a candle turning around a corner to reveal an enemy. With global illumination, game makers can expect to build all sorts of games, including  physics puzzlers, dynamic action games, sandboxes of user-generated content, and many more.

Nanite - virtualized micropolygon geometry

Nanite is the most unique offering of UE 5, allowing game developers to automatically and massively scale in-game art assets. With Nanite’s virtualized micropolygon geometry, artists get full freedom to create as much geometric details as the eye can see. Currently, what game artists often do is they reduce different levels of detail (LODs) for in-game 3D models, each having fewer polygons and smaller textures than the last. You can notice those low-poly models when an object is at a good distance from the in-game camera. This practice is currently being followed to save memory space and rendering time in complex scenes, without compromising much on frame quality. But, Nanite will change this drastically by allowing artists to import movie-quality models comprising hundreds of millions and even billions of polygons from a library like Quixel Megascans, ZBrush sculpts, CAD data and photogrammetry scans directly into the game engine. As Nanite scales LODs in real time, there will be no need for polygon count budgets, polygon memory budgets and draw count budgets. UE5 will itself do the job of creating LOD models to match the scene on the target hardware without dropping the quality.

Nanite will prove to be a game changer by allowing developers to have as many number of objects they want in a scene, an ability that is greatly limited by current game engines. For instance, the scenes in the demo (which ran on next-gen Playstation 5 hardware) have more than a billion objects. As  Epic VP of Engineering Nick Penwarden puts it, “As you're laying out and building your scene you can kinda just build it out organically, the way that feels right, the way that you want to, and you don't have to go through this complex optimization pass of optimizing the scene to try and get under a draw call budget of a couple thousand.” UE5 will make the use of ultra-fast bulk storage SSDs for next-gen consoles to put tens of billions of polygons for even a moderately complex scene without having to worry about overloading the system memory and overwhelming the "draw count" budget needed to render the scene in time for the next frame. So, with Nanite technology, Epic is trying to make it easier for game developers to build higher-quality, higher-fidelity environments with less work and budget.

Animation System to Adapt Complex Physics

Epic is also providing UE5 the ability to make characters interact more realistically with complex environments. The demo shows how well the animation system adapted productive footsteps and motion warping to dynamically modify inverse kinematics (IK) and body position. The character so realistically interacts with the environment whether it’s climbing or touching the door, everything looks natural. This will surely inspire game developers to bring movies-like qualities in video games of tomorrow.

Cross Generational  

This is interesting as some of us might have thought after watching the video that UE5 is only a next-gen exclusive proposition. But that’s not completely true as Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said that the aim is to build the highest-quality content possible and let UE5 scale down to every platform automatically. However, there will be more traditional rendering pipeline for the platforms that don’t have next-gen capabilities like Playstation 5. For such platforms, the assets you have built will be rendered after scaling them down to more traditional LODs. “So there’ll be a version of this demo that you could run on Android devices from three years ago. It will have a much lower polygon detail, but it will be the same scene and you could develop the same game,” said Sweeney. 

For developers using the current version (4.25) of UE4, Epic has promised that they will be able to port their games to UE5 and next-gen hardware in the future. And Epic is going to prove this by moving Fortnite this year to UE5 over the course of next year. “With us migrating Fortnite to UE5, we will be supporting all of the platforms we currently support as wells as next-gen platforms on UE4 and UE5. So we will be shipping our own game across all at that point 9 platforms on UE5, early on in UE5's lifetime,” said Penwarden. By removing the content scalability problem, any game that looks fantastic on a high-end console can also work on a smartphone. These are big possibilities that UE5 promises to bring to help the gaming industry expand its reach from just the hardcore gaming audience. With UE5, developers will be able to build any content or asset once and run everywhere. Epic said to The Verge in an interview that UE5 will support next-generation consoles, current-generation consoles, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

Conclusion

With UE5 set to release in the mid of 2021, Epic has nicely set the tone to build next-gen games for next-gen hardware without having a 1,000-person team. Nanite and Lumen are revolutionary technologies aimed at building dynamic lighting and high count poly assets without being too slow, labour intensive and costly. UE5 features will also include Niagara VFX to allow particles to talk to each other to create effects that look real (remember the character moving on water and insects flocking in the demo video). With UE5, Epic wants developers to think of games as holistic products that can work on both smartphones and high-end devices. Well, it remains to be seen how exactly things will pan out after the release of UE5, but we can expect that it will make it much easier for game developers to build next-gen titles. To encourage developers to use UE all the more, Epic has also revised its royalty fee policy. Now, UE, which already comes for free, will charge nothing until you make whooping $1mn in game revenue, which was $3,000 per quarter earlier. The big change in the pricing policy can give Unity a tough run for their money by letting developers embrace UE5 for a radical change in how they built video games so far that looked AAA.  

Like you, we at Logic Simplified are also excited about how UE5 will change the future of game development. We have already used previous versions of UE to help various clients shape their gaming idea into a reality and now eagerly look forward to using UE5 when it comes out to create some highly immersive next-gen titles that would look like movies. If you want to start now, the good news is you can with UE4 as the game can later be easily ported to UE5. We are a team passionate about gaming and committed to help game visionaries build their dream games even from scratch. To find out if it will be yours, please write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com, and we will get back to you shortly with our game development services we are proud of.

That said, I am going to discuss the features and capabilities of both Unity and Unreal Engine, along with factors to consider to make the best bet.

But first,

Unity was introduced to the world of game app developers as a cross-platform game engine by Unity Technologies in 2005. The game engine, which has immensely evolved in six versions so far, is popularly used for 2D and 3D game development world over.

Epic Games, which was behind Unreal Tournament, debuted Unreal Engine in 1998. Unreal Engine quickly became a popular choice to build first-person shooter (FPS) games, but is now also widely used for building many different genre games like side-scrollers, MMORPGs, RPGs, etc.

I am comparing below the features and what the both game engines are capable of:

Based on the features and capabilities of the two game engine powerhouses, the decision comes down to answering four major questions.

What type of game do you want to build?

The type of game you want to build is an easy way to solve a good part of the puzzle. For example, if you’re planning to build the next Gears of War and visuals are more important for you (sometimes even more important than gameplay), Unreal Engine should ideally be your bet for next-gen physics and graphics. Blueprint does wonders for such games. But if your game is a simple puzzle game like Braid, 3D platformers, logic games, and even first-person shooter games, Unity is the best game engine to go for. We can put it as Unreal for heavy-hitting genre titles such as Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and Unity for games like Temple Run and Cuphead. 

What type of device do you want to build the game for?

If your game’s target devices are mobile phones, using Unreal Engine’s high processing power is unnecessary. Unity works the best for lower-powered devices as it allows to create complex games without requiring a powerful setup as of a PC. But if you want to create an immersive and magical experience for high-end devices, Unreal is a good choice but that is also subject to if you can’t do that with Unity. The key here is if you’re looking at your game as a visual artist or as a game developer because the former would more likely go for Unreal and the latter for Unity.

What’s Your Team Size?

If your team size is small, you will be very unlikely to finish a quality game on time using Unreal Engine. To make the best of Unreal Engine, you need a big team where different roles can be distributed to different individuals, like someone just working on getting the particles right and someone only doing the shaders. Unity’s Asset Store and community support makes it way easier for smaller teams to build fast without compromising on what was actually desired. The beauty of Unity game development services is that smaller teams can also create an effective experience by building AR and VR for their games. Triple A studios with bigger teams usually use Unreal Engine for better horsepower for development and more polishing, 

What’s your budget?

If it’s the first time you’re building a game, you have a limited budget and can only afford a small team, go for Unity. Unity 3D is also free until you earn $100K USD in annual revenue. You only pay when you upgrade to Unity Plus or Unity Pro for things like Asset Bundle, etc. Unreal is also free to use except for the first $3,000 per quarter and then 5% royalty on gross revenues per quarter. But that price doesn’t bother much after the game hits the game charts and turns into a revenue generator machine.

I hope that this blog has answered all it takes to decide on choosing the best game engine among Unity and Unreal. But, if there's still something I missed out on in this blog, please feel free to get in touch with us, and I will be more than happy to answer that particular query of yours. Now, I would like to introduce you to Logic Simplified, an India-based game development company with more than six years of hands-on experience of building video games using both Unity and Unreal. At Logic Simplified, we shape video games ideas into a reality. It’s not just our expertise in using the power of tech, but our overall passion for games to imagine the concept and create a game design & architecture that a specific target audience craves for in a particular genre of video games. Working on a game idea from scratch is not an easy task for its own challenges, however, our expert game designers and developers are committed to help game visionaries who dare to dream and this is what we are really proud of. We also very well understand the changing requirements of modern games and level them up by leveraging the power of AR/VR, AI and IoT as well. For any query that would help you make a decision to start building the next gaming mania, please write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com. We will be obliged to help you with gaming solutions that we take great pride  in.

Top Eight Unity-Powered Video Games

Alto’s Adventure

Alto’s Adventure – an endless-runner mobile game, made with Unity, by Snowman, and distributed by Noodlecake Studio. The game was an instant hit due to its stunning visuals and was purely developed for mobile devices. It later captured the attention of Linux and Windows audiences.  This game is all about snowboarding and requires players to jump, slide, and jump again while collecting llamas. The goal is to keep going as long as possible without hitting a rock, falling off a cliff, or getting caught by the elder. Additionally, in Alto's Adventure, six characters can be unlocked by reaching levels 1-51. Before a run, players have the option to purchase various perks that enhance each character's abilities for that specific run.

Among Us

Available for both Android and iOS, Among Us is a 2018 online multiplayer game developed by American game studio Innersloth and inspired by the party game “Mafia”. Using Unity’s multi-platform publishing capabilities, the game even supports cross-platform play! Among Us became a popular game during the pandemic, and continues to be so, offering a fun and engaging social experience for people to enjoy, both in person and remotely.

Monument Valley 2

Monument Valley 2, made by mobile game studio “Ustwo Games”, is a sequel to the critically acclaimed puzzle game built entirely on Unity for mobile. Just like MV1, it has stunning isometric visuals and great music that makes it highly engaging and worth every minute. Monument Valley 2 follows the same style as its predecessor and includes new gameplay features, making it a fantastic standalone game. Its visual style draws inspiration from Japanese prints and minimalist sculpture. Critics have compared it to M.C. Escher's drawings. Its atmosphere and puzzles offer a quiet, contemplative experience.

Crossy Road

Crossy Road is a fun and free arcade game developed and published by Hipster Whale. The classic Frogger game by Konami, which requires players to take their character across a busy road, has been recreated in a cartoonish pixelated style using the Unity game engine. The objective of the game is quite simple - cross the road! However, it's not as easy as it sounds. The road goes on endlessly, and the longer you play, the more challenging and risky it becomes. 

Reigns

Reigns is a card strategy game created by Nerial and published by Devolver Digital. It's a one-of-a-kind experience where players interact with various cards that represent characters. You respond to their questions with either a "yes" or "no," or choose from other pre-set responses based on the situation. Reigns provides a combination of randomness, complexity, and strategy, which makes it addictive and fun to play. When making decisions in the game, it's important to consider the church, military, wealth, and people. Once a decision is made, the game will reveal the consequences of those decisions.

Hitman Sniper

Hitman Sniper is a great example of an Android game developed using Unity game development services. Among the games listed here, only Hitman Sniper has a price tag of $0.99 with over 10 million downloads, making it a remarkable success. The objective of the game is to shoot enemies, which can be done in various modes for different purposes. The game offers many modes such as missions, tactical, and survivor (where you battle zombies), along with a variety of weapons to help you complete your mission. Additionally, the game includes in-app purchases and advertisements to generate revenue. 

Hearthstone

Hearthstone is a multiplayer digital collectible card game (DCCG) developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment. It uses the popular Warcraft universe and transforms it into a captivating card battle game that is easy to learn. It sets the standard for collectible card battle games due to its remarkable gameplay, thanks to the Unity game engine.

While regular play involves 30 cards, there are actually over 2500 playable cards in the game. Additionally, there are 9 distinct classes, each with its own set of cards and abilities that can be used based on available mana points during each turn of the game. For a free game, it offers an enormous amount of content, including a variety of characters, cards, music, sounds, animations, and visual effects. 

Axie Infinity

The modern gaming industry is incomplete without NFT video games and NFT game development services. Axie Infinity is a highly popular NFT game available on Android. This is a battle Pay-to-Win and Play-to-Earn game, in which players own fantastical creatures called Axies. Axies are fierce pets that can be battled & collected. Every Axie possesses distinctive strengths and weaknesses determined by its genes. With billions of genetic combinations available, the potential outcomes are infinite! NFT assets, such as battle axes, can be bought and earned in the game, as well as tokens for each victory.

Make your games with Unity

Several other popular games are made using Unity since it is one of the best game development technologies available today. You can create some outstanding and money-minting games with Unity, that run flawlessly on every mobile platform. Are you looking for game artists and game developers to develop your game using Unity? 

Logic Simplified, a Unity game development company, has an expert team of Unity 3D game developers who have been successfully delivering exemplary Unity game development services to varied industry verticals. For any query related to Unity game development, write to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com. We will help you with your dream project.

A game engine basically provides elements to draw 2D and 3D shapes, human-controlled character, computer-controlled character, objectives, levels, sound, scripting, animation, artificial intelligence, networking, streaming, memory management, etc.

However, choosing a game engine just because some publisher or developer of a successful game used it could prove precarious for your game. Before you choose a game engine, it’s paramount to be fully aware of the functionalities the game engine possesses and how they suit your specific game requirements. That said, we are going to a Unity vs Unreal Engine comparison to help you figure out which of the both could be the best fit for your game based on Usability, Functionality and Price Point.

Unity Vs Unreal Engine

Unity3D

Unity, created by Unity Technologies and first announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference in 2005, has become a very popular cross-platform game engine among game developers world over. Six major versions of Unity have been released as of now, and it offer supports for languages, including C#, JavaScript and Boo.

Pros:

• Unity game developers can build both 2D and 3D games. Pokemon Go, Angry Birds Epic, Assassin’s Creed: Identity and Battlestar Galactica Online are some of the world-famous games that were built using Unity.
• Unity offers support for multiple platforms, including PC, mobile and major consoles showed below.

With Unity, you just need to complete a one-click process in order to publish to multiple platforms with ease. When it comes to cross-platform support, Unity tops Unreal Engine.

• Unity’s robust Asset Store offers numerous useful add ons, content characters, props and even things like sounds and particle effects. Unity’s app store is very big and has everything that your game requires. Unlike Unreal Engine, Unity provides access to a lot more additional stuff, like software for motion capture and tools for intuitive animation (at GUI level).
• Unity is free, which makes it a good choice for developers who just want to get started. The free version is capable of building excellent games, though you can get access to additional features by upgrading to Unity Pro or Unity Plus, but they come with a license fee attached to them.

You can purchase Unity Plus for $35 per month and Unity Pro for $125 per month. Upgrading to advanced versions of Unity is little expensive, but Unity does not charge any royalty fee from developers and publishers. You can check Unity’s website for different rate plans.

• As far as ease of use is concerned, Unity is generally seen as an easier and more intuitive choice to learn game engine. So, you will not face much hassles using Unity if you choose it for your game.
• Graphical capabilities of Unity are good, but can’t beat that of Unreal Engine, which is actually a next-generation game engine used by many AAA publishers. But, it doesn’t mean that you can’t develop a good 3D game with Unity.

Unity 5.6 brings support for Vulkan, a low-overhead, cross-platform 3D graphics and compute API, taking graphical performance to the next level. Unity also has a multi-featured tool for 3D development. It’s just that UE 4 has higher-level cutting-edge graphics suitable for intricate 3D mobile game development. Unity is more of the go-to-tool for building 2D games.

• Unity 5.6 also brings developers Facebook Gameroom, which allows to build and export your projects to Facebook using either WebGL or the Facebook Gameroom Windows app.
• New Light Modes in Unity replace Mixed mode lighting, which paves the way for users to combine baked lighting with real time lighting. Progressive Lightmapper enables proper handling of baked and real-time shadows.
• Unity has also announced the Timeline feature, a visual tool that allows to create cinematic content, cut scenes, complex particle systems, gameplay sequences, etc.
• Cinemachine is another amazing addition to Unity’s features list. It empowers a Unity game development company to use a virtual camera system in order to give the camera simple directions. And, the best part is that you can use the camera system to track and compose richly complex shots without even having to go through the hassles of coding.
• Unity also has a brilliant community support and offers an exhaustive documentation . Besides, it provides many learning opportunities through training sessions and live seminars.

Cons:

• Unity is expensive for those who want to access all its features. So, if you want to use Profiler as to unveil the areas that are making your game slow, you need to upgrade to a paid version of Unity. Same is the case for other features, like render textures, stencil support, buffer support, and many more.
• Although Unity’s code is stable, no access to the source code makes it difficult for developers to find, address and fix performance issues.
• Developers face performance issues with Unity’s built-in support for the PhysX physics engine. There’s a need to add some important functionalities in the PhysX physics engine to help developers craft the excellent game app.
• Unity games consume more memory, which often brings up OOM error and debugging issues.
• Unity lags when it comes to graphical performance, and requires a lot of optimizations if you wish to use Unity for creating a large AAA game title.
• Selecting object levels inside a level often turns out to be a very confusing and frustrating task as sub-objects have to be managed and attached to everything in the in-game object hierarchy.
• Unity’s animation controller system has some flexibility issues and causes more errors than Unreal Engine.

Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine was first brought to the attention of gaming world in 1998 with a first-person shooter game called Unreal. The engine, which was developed by Epic Games, got its name Unreal Engine from the game. The game engine was initially thought to be used only for first-person shooters, but it transcend its boundaries after being used for various other genres, including Stealth, MMORPGs, and other RPGs. Unreal engine only supports C++, but it offers an alternative discussed below for those who find coding difficult.

Pros:

• Unreal Engine is used for creating top-notch graphics for some of the highest quality AAA games on the market. Be it particles or lighting/shadows or process effects or terrain, Unreal engine brings them to life and makes them more interactive. Some of the games that were developed using Unreal Engine are: “Batman Arkham”, “Gears of War”, “Daylight”, and Fortnite.

So, if you are looking forward to create graphics for your game on a par with games you see being released on next-gen game consoles, Unreal Engine could fit your choice.

• Unreal Engine offers support for cross platforms showed below
• Unreal Engine is open source and free. So, you don’t have to pay anything for using Unreal Engine to develop your game, and you can still use everything that the game engine has to offer. There are no Pro or Plus with Unreal. However, you will have to pay 5% royalty fee after your game makes over $12000 annually (or, $3000 per quarter). The 5% royalty is to be paid after the first 3K quarterly.
• For API support, Unreal works with DirectX 10, DirectX 11, Vulkan (SM5) and OpenGL.
• Blueprint, a visual scripting editor, is one the best features of Unreal as it enables developers to build a game without even writing a single line of code. So, if you are not really good at programming, Unreal could be the engine of your choice for visualizations and architectural walk-throughs without having to worrying about writing code. Without a doubt, Unreal is a great engine for prototyping, but you need to have some C++ programming knowledge to complete serious tasks.
• Unreal Engine’s also has a brilliant asset store, allowing you to use a varied range of custom props, particle effects and characters. However, Unreal Engine’s asset store lag behind Unity when it comes to the size and price.
• Unreal Engine’s rendering technology is quite good and makes post processing really fast. The engine’s particle editor is much better than Unity's Shuriken system. Besides, Unreal has its own animation editor which includes separate tabs for skeleton, animation state machine, etc.
• Unreal Engine uses less memory and resources compared to Unity.
• Compared to Unity, Unreal has better access to visual debugging. So, you can test what, when and how is being drawn with ease. With Unreal, you also get complete control over the whole process and have clarity over how much time a certain element has taken.
• Unreal makes the entire source code available to community, therefore you can use the source code to figure out how certain functions and features work at lower level, and make the best use of them.
• Baking lighting is significantly faster in Unreal Engine
• As far as ease-of-use is concerned, it takes a bit of time to grasp Unreal Engine before you become familiar with it. But, it’s not that Unreal is not making efforts to address the ease-of-use issue. The user interface in the latest edition of the game engine was built to makes it easier and comfortable for users to learn and run the engine. However, Unreal is still not as easy to use as Unity is.

Cons:

• Although Unreal Engine is available for free to use, you will have to pay 5% royalty after the first $3000 per game per calendar quarter.
• Since Unreal Engine supports C++, Unreal has a bigger learning curve than Unity.
• Unreal Engine is not considered to be a good fit for small games and is often used for big projects that involve high costs and long duration. Most tools that Unreal provide are apt for building AAA games and much more. Unreal’s 2D is also lackluster compared to Unity.
• Unreal Engine offers limited support for older devices. The engine requires an updated, 64-bit Windows 7 system for optimal performance. It’s been learnt after conducting recent tests that UE4 drops to as low as 5 fps on older machines.
• Unreal Engine requires manual optimization for games.
• Unreal’s documentation is sparse and there is a lack of tutorials to help beginners quickly learn the technical know-how of the engine. So, Unity clearly gets an edge over Unreal here.

Both Unity3D and Unreal Engine are cutting-edge game engines, and like everything in the world they have their own pros and cons. Saying that “A sledgehammer is better than a clawhammer” will be wrong, as they both are tools and are not meant to be used for the same job. So, having clarity over what you want to achieve in your game makes  the choice between Unity vs Unreal engine much easier. 

We hope the Unity vs Unreal engine comparison helps you choose the right tool. Do you have a game idea and want to convert it into a reality but lack of tech know-how is holding you back? Don't worry! Logic Simplified can help you shape your dream game idea into a reality. Logic Simplified is a game development company and has hands-on experience of using various game engines, including Unity and Unreal, to build several highly engaging and interactive games. Please share your idea or game requirements by writing to us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com, and we will get back to you shortly to get you started outright.

4 Simple Game Engines for Beginners to Build Video Games with Ease

1) Unity

Source: gamespark.com

Unity, developed by Unity Technologies, is the most popular cross-platform game engine for creating 2D & 3D games with consistent graphics, amazing layout, intuitive design and engaging game play. According to Unity, the platform is now being used world over by more than 6 million registered users to develop video games for PC, consoles, mobile devices and websites.

Unity is a nice game engine for beginners since it gives rise to less efforts, high productivity and rapid development. A low learning curve and abundant documentation also make Unity a good choice for beginners. Unity’s graphical editor lets beginners to easily design, layout unity scenes, insert objects, scripts, light effects, etc.

The game engine supports two common programming languages: C# and Javascript (aka UnityScript). C# is a managed language and easier to learn than C++. The benefit of a managed language is that it automates the memory management for you. With Unity, it becomes possible to build a game first and deal with the more advanced aspects of programming later. Unity also has an  active ecosystem of asset and plugin creators, and its cross-platform integration supports 25 platforms.

Unity features an Asset Store, offering a wide range of free and paid assets that can be easily added to your game. For example, PlayMaker, a visual scripting tool, is a good choice for game app developers who don’t have technical know-how. So, you can easily create your own scripts and apply them to any game object as a component. And, if you are unable to handle scripts, you could seek help from Unity’s scripting reference, which is a library of scripts for various gameplay mechanics (both in C# and UnityScript). As far as publish of your game on various online stores, like Steam or the iOS app store, is concerned, a few buttons click is all that you require.

2) Game Maker

Source: slideshare

Game Maker, a proprietary game creation system created by Mark Overmars in the Delphi programming language, is a cross-platform game engine. Game Maker was designed keeping in mind novice developers, so that developers without technical know-how can also build video games.

The game engine allows creation of video games by using either drag-and-drop interface or its own language, knows as Game Maker Language. The drag-and-drop system obviates the need of learning complex programming language, like C++ or Java. If you want to use coding, then you can go for the platform’s primary interpreted scripting language. The language is easy to learn, but is slower than  compiled languages such as C++ or Delphi.
Game Maker is a good game engine for beginners since it’s designed as a teaching tool. Besides being easy to grasp, the game engine offers flexibility in syntax rules. Several documentation and tutorials are also available to help game developers create their first video game with ease.

You can also use free and paid assets available from the game engine’s recently-opened Marketplace. The popularity of YoYO games has led to the improvement of Game Maker’s Helpdesk system. So, if you are stuck anywhere or have any issues, you can seek help from the Helpdesk which has now started sending good, helpful replies to queries or issues raised.

3) Unreal Engine 4

Source: Tower Up Studios

Developed by Epic Games, Unreal Engine 4 is also a good pick for developers who are not well acquainted with coding. UE4 is built upon the proven structure of many AAA games, which is why it’s easy to use and learn. Blueprints visual scripting makes Unreal Engine 4 a good choice for beginners. It paves the way for rapid game development services without using C++. Therefore, even non-programmers can access gameplay elements including camera control, player input, items and triggers, and more.

You can think of UE4’s Blueprint scripts as flowcharts where each box represents a function or value, whereas program flow is represented by connections between them. As a result, developers get a better at-a-glance indication of game logic than a simple list of events, and perform complex behaviors with ease.

A lot of video tutorials, free example projects and content are also available for learning purpose. If you want to learn how to use its latest features, you can try extensive wiki and regular streams.

When we talk about Unity vs Unreal Engine 4, the latter has features that reduce iteration time and makes it possible to update C++ code while the engine is running. Live debugging is also one of the popular features of UE4. The game engine offers support for Steam and other similar ecosystems. UE4’s graphic capabilities are decent, and its robust asset store offers many useful add ons and content.

4) Construct 2

Source: store.steampowered.com

Construct 2, an HTML5-based 2D game engine, allows non-programmers to create games through a drag-and-drop system using a visual editor and a behavior-based logic system. The user interface of the game engine is based on Microsoft's UI design patterns, which is why Windows and office users feel comfortable and familiar using it. A functional preview of nearly all engine features is available from Construct 2 Free.

The powerful physics engine Box2D, enables developers to build physics games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope. The engine’s built-in tools allows to create basic sprites and tiles of 2D game. For multiplayer functionality, developers can use WebRTC technology, which enables peer-to-peer connection, without requiring you to create server side architecture.

Similar to source files used in programming languages, “event sheets” is the primary method to program games and applications in Construct. Event system actually allows easier scripting without typing. Construct 2 also provides regular updates on new features, bug fixes and HTML5 optimizations. The game engine is very fast and quicker to pick up when compared to Unity. However, Unity is mainly used for 3D, whereas Construct 2 enables the creation of 2D games only.

These 4 game engines are simple to use, and developers without technical know-how can use any of them to build a video game. Apart from these 4, there are some other game development engines as well that non-programmers can use for creation of a video game. So, don’t feel offended, if your favorite game engine is not in the list.

Have you ever used a game engine before? Do you want to add more to what’s already being discussed? Please get in touch with us at enquiry@logicsimplified.com or share your views in the comment box below.