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What is the best Game Engine in 2023 for new GameDevs?

"Godot, Unity, Unreal, Game Maker; Everyone's going crazy about game engines! I don't even know what an engine is !?"

For a GameDev beginning in 2023, a big problem shows up; What game engine do I use? Fear not! This article will summarise and answer that very question


Unity

So We've all heard about it, "Unity is awesome!", "It has amzing features!" and what-not. Though these are true, They come at a cost

Unity's Disadvantages

Unity is indeed a great place for GameDevs, but it isn't the beginner-friendly type of game engine newcomers want.
Straight up when you first open the engine, you are presented with so many objects, so many different types of nodes, that you find it hard to remember

The Languages it uses are no easy ones as well. C#, UnityScript, and Boo are some of the hardest languages in the programming world.

Unity isn't even free & Open-source!

...So, Now what?

Introducing .... Godot!

Godot is an alternative to Unity which makes up for Unity's disadvantages

  • For one, Godot is totally free & Open-Source
  • Godot's Main language is GDscript, which is build just for Godot. It is super easy to learn. Godot also supports C# (For Pros)
  • Godot also has a very basic scene structure, made up of nodes, and this makes it super beginner-friendly

But nothing is all rosy in programming... Godot also has it's disadvantages

  • Godot's 2D physics engine isn't exactly the best...
  • Godot's Community isn't exactly as big as Unity's, hence there are fewer tutorials & games made in it

Ok Ok, but what about Unreal? Their website looks cool...

The Reality Bending -- Unreal Engine

Unreal Engine is a pretty good 3D engine. It isn't easy, but it is somewhere to start. You can make pretty good 3D creations with this thing, however, as I said before, nothing is all rosy in programming...

  • First of all, Unreal is for big projects, not for small. Beginners will likely want to create some small, demo projects to learn, which isn't easy here.
  • Unreal isn't free! Publishing it on a 3rd Party Store requires you to pay 5% Royalty
  • Unreal's Main Language is C++, need I say more?

So now what? All these languages seem to have cons... Can I find something better?

Game Maker Studio (GMS)

Alright Alright, Game Maker Studio is an amazing 2D engine. It is super beginner friendly & has a simple main language that is built just for the engine. It is a pretty good place to start, and is better than Godot in terms of 2D performence and simplicity.

But remember what I said!

  • Unlike Godot, GMS needs payment for full features, and you dont want to know how much it costs
  • GMS is (mostly) unparalleled in 2D creation, though it isn't famous for 3D implementation

So ummm, im like at the end at the post but I still don't know what to choose...

So What do I choose??

Here is a list I made to help you choose, as there is no one "good" game engine. It all comes down to personal level.

  1. Unity is good for complex problems, and is somewhat in the middle of beginner and professional
  2. Godot is good for beginners learning to code, and it has great capabilities of complex games
  3. Unreal Engine is for higher complexity 3D games, and is not beginner friendly. It is for one who have more experience
  4. GMS is for simple, yet scalable 2D games. It is ideal for beginners, but you'll have to pay up...

Final Words

So it all comes down to an individuals own capabilities and choices. This article only aims to help you go in the general direction of a good language specifically for you

I hope you enjoyed this article

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