Best Free Game Engine

[DGB]

My friend and I want to make an open world game but we are kind of broke. We are looking for a really good free game engine that will do 3d rendering. We are noobs at game creation so if you have a good game engine, please provide links (if you can) to tutorials on how to work with it. All help is appreciated. 

Thanks!

[Starelementpoke]

1 minute ago, DGB said:

My friend and I want to make an open world game but we are kind of broke. We are looking for a really good free game engine that will do 3d rendering. We are noobs at game creation so if you have a good game engine, please provide links (if you can) to tutorials on how to work with it. All help is appreciated. 

Thanks!

The unreal engine? I think that's free.

https://www.unrealengine.com/what-is-unreal-engine-4

You can google guides and stuff for it.

[Techicolors]

i hope you know what you're getting into in game creation/design.. 

[Nineshadow]

Most game engines are "free" nowadays. They are free to use, but take royalties once you sell your game.

 

Anyway, Unreal and Unity are the big guys. I don't think Unity is really made for open world, so I'd recommend Unreal.

[minibois]

Can you give some more details on your project? Like the platforms you want to release it on, the scale of the world, what kind of hardware you want to play it on (like how strong the hardware is), if the game will be released for money, if it's actually 2D or 3D etc. etc.

 

I'm gonna guess you're thinking of a No Man's Sky-like open world game for PC and console platforms now. The Unreal Engine and Unity3D are ones to look into. They both are free for personal use, but if you make money of your project you have to pay. They both have a website with many tutorials as well as YouTube has many tutorials.

I personally have more experience with Unity3D and can say it's pretty darn good. If your game will also be multiplayer, you're probably gonna want to get something like PhotonUnity. A multiplayer Unity plugin which is free (and a small server space is too, but you can also use your own server). I used it a bit and it's difficult to use, but what you can do with it is endless.

[DGB]

9 minutes ago, Minibois said:

Can you give some more details on your project? Like the platforms you want to release it on, the scale of the world, what kind of hardware you want to play it on (like how strong the hardware is), if the game will be released for money, if it's actually 2D or 3D etc. etc.

 

I'm gonna guess you're thinking of a No Man's Sky-like open world game for PC and console platforms now. The Unreal Engine and Unity3D are ones to look into. They both are free for personal use, but if you make money of your project you have to pay. They both have a website with many tutorials as well as YouTube has many tutorials.

I personally have more experience with Unity3D and can say it's pretty darn good. If your game will also be multiplayer, you're probably gonna want to get something like PhotonUnity. A multiplayer Unity plugin which is free (and a small server space is too, but you can also use your own server). I used it a bit and it's difficult to use, but what you can do with it is endless.

Platform: PC (Windows)

World Scale: Pretty Sizeable (GTA V City) 

Hardware: Lowest-i3/fx 4300 Highest-I5/Fx 8350

Free Game

3D

[minibois]

9 minutes ago, DGB said:

Platform: PC 

World Scale: Pretty Sizeable (GTA V City) 

Hardware: Lowest-i3/fx 4300 Highest-I5/Fx 8350

Free Game

3D

Yeah, that's what I basically guessed. Unity3D should be fine. It can handle big worlds pretty well, thanks to how it handles big plains of land. 

[MaxBunny]

6 minutes ago, DGB said:

Platform: PC 

World Scale: Pretty Sizeable (GTA V City) 

Hardware: Lowest-i3/fx 4300 Highest-I5/Fx 8350

Free Game

3D

Unreal. Everything made in Unity feels like it's made of plastic. The wrapper of Unity is just horrible, even for quality games like Wasteland 2. That's assuming you even buy the pro version. The free one has some watermark logo and limited features, along with lots of stuff to buy.

 

Cryengine would be nice if it wasn't so convoluted. It's not a great first time engine. There's also Torque and maybe Ogre as more open source/license-free options, but they're not as well supported and easy to learn as Unreal.

 

So you only have one option really. Unless you want to use the somewhat outdated Source engine.

[MrWarren]

Open world games are abit of a stretch. Especially if it's your first project, not trying to assume anything here.

I too want to make a game but theirs ALOT to first grasp:
you need Programming, 3D artists, 3D Rigging & Animators (to make things movable, and to have movement) as well as 2D artists for the visuals like Textures and other stuff. It's a massive time consuming process that will take more than a week, however pace yourself and you can go far. I don't believe theirs any engines out there that offer all this outright. Try remembering these keywords- Free Source, Open Source, royalty free. you can find stuff without needing all the additional skill-sets.

Here's a podcast you and your friend should listen to, while learning different tasks.
http://www.goodgamesbydesign.com/2015/08/gdz-001-how-much-is-enough-the-paradox-of-choice-for-game-design/
he's got some nice points.

But as for some tools, I can recommend
3D modelling, rigging & animation:
Maya 2016 / Maya 2017 (signup for a free 3 year student license, it's free. Say your self-taught they dont care)
2D Art:
Gimp2 or Paint.net

Game engine:
Unity3D, check the forum. Don't let people discourage you, but keep an understanding open mind.

Programming:
Might have to check youtube there. that's got me stumped

[daniellearmouth]

I don't mean to sound like I'm crapping on your dreams or anything, but as someone who is currently developing a game right now (though I'm keeping it as tightly wrapped up for now)...

 

Go smaller scale. An open-world game for guys like you is quite simply infeasible without proper experience. After all, most developers start off somewhere simpler first.

What I would recommend you do is try to make something smaller first. Don't go open-world for your first project as it will be a total nightmare to work with if you don't keep a very VERY close eye on stuff.

 

But yeah, what engine? I'm very much an advocate for Unreal Engine. It's very well documented, you'll get assistance on anything that you need, and the development environment is one of the most pleasant I've used in years.

CRYENGINE is also a viable alternative, but not as easy to work with. It'll take a little more wrangling to work with.

 

Whilst people will suggest Unity Engine here, I advise strongly against using it for open-world games. As someone who had to work with a bunch of others to make a game with a sizable environment it was just hell to work with. And hell, Unity in itself is very barebones. As in, you don't even get proper geometry tools as standard unlike the other two engines I mentioned.

 

If you do decide to go ahead with the game, just be mindful that you will have a number of mountains to climb.

That said, I'm not willing to let someone just hang in the wind like that. If in the event you need any help, consult the forums for which engine you want to use, and consult us here if there's something you're stuck on. Someone will help you.

[DGB]

Thank You guys for all the quick replies and help. Also, i am working with @DiegoTorrealba here on the forum

[DiegoTorrealba]

You guys have been truly helpful with our question! I am the the topic maker's friend that he describe btw lol! (/^▽^)/ I know that it will be a truly rigorous and hard thing to accomplish. But, we will keep what you guys said in mind and try to start with something easier, then go from there. We have decided to use unreal engine and we are going to continue from there! Thanks for the help! (/^▽^)/

[Nineshadow]

6 minutes ago, MaxBunny said:

Unreal. Everything made in Unity feels like it's made of plastic. The wrapper of Unity is just horrible, even for quality games like Wasteland 2. That's assuming you even buy the pro version. The free one has some watermark logo and limited features, along with lots of stuff to buy.

Not really. It's all about the art direction.

Unity is great at what it does. It's a really great engine for indie devs. Unreal, on the other hand, is a lot more professional.

 

And there's little to no difference in different tiers of the Unity engine nowadays. The engine, in-editor features are all the same. The free version does have a splash screen before the game launches., but that's about it. You'll miss out on performance reporting, some team admin tools, source code access and other stuff you're never going to use as a beginner.