Game development is a very popular area of interest at present. It is catching everyone’s eye with time. Today, almost every child plays some video game on their handheld devices. Many youngsters are passionate about playing video games. Games like Call of Duty, PUBG, Fall Guys, and Among us have taken the world by storm. Today, the Esports industry is enormous. The International Olympic Committee has also included Esports in the 2023 Summer Olympics, to be hosted in Singapore. In this article, we will learn about game engines.

What are Game engines?

In simple terms, a game engine is just like an IDE to a programming language. It is a framework that provides an environment where game developers can develop their games based on their thoughts, ideas, and scripts. Game engines offer various features and options to choose from, such as the selection of the type of graphics, the type of sound, animations, etc.

Which are the best free game engines?

There are numerous game engines, each offering a different set of tools, features, and frameworks. In this article, we will find out the top five free game engines for making games.

Unity

Unity was developed in June 2005 by Nicholas Francis, Joachim Ante, and David Helgason, Nicholas Francis, and Joachim Ante. Its first official version was called Unity 1.0. This engine has been majorly written in C and C#. Unity is the first and the most popular choice of most game developers, given today’s time and age. Using this game engine, developers can create 3D and 2D animated games. A few games using Unity have also been developed using AR and VR features. It offers excellent graphics. Furthermore, Unity can be accessed over most Operating systems, and platforms like iOS, Android, and even gaming consoles. It also presents built-in analytics and play-mode options, which help generate insights and correct the glitches as the game is being built. Unity has an asset store that houses several different types of sounds, animations, structures, and whatnot. Using Unity is free, but it also has a pro version which can be accessed for more tools and features.

The Unity game engine also facilitates a great community of game developers. Furthermore, there are annual events wherein Unity game developers can interact with Unity engineers. It is also very easy to use Unity, and there are many online tutorials for the same. Many famous games which took the world by storm recently such as Among Us, Genshin Impact, Pokemon Go, and Fall Guys were developed using the Unity Game engine. Unity has been widely used not only by game developers but also in several other sectors including architecture, engineering, film, automotive, etc. Notably, it is also used by the Kill Chain Integration branch of the United States Air Force.

Unreal

The first version of Unreal was developed by Tim Sweeny and launched in 1998. It was released through a first-person shooter game called Unreal. It is mostly written using C++ and the Blueprint programming language. Presently, the latest version of the Unreal engine is Unreal 5.1, launched on 15 November 2022. It is generally recommended to learn C++ and Object Oriented Programming to ease the learning process for using the Unreal engine. It can be used to make 3D as well as 2D animated games. The unreal engine also offers stunning photorealistic graphics, which have only gotten better with the release of Unreal engine 5. At present, two of its outstanding features include the ‘Lumen’ which can be used for creating realistic lighting effects and ‘Nanite’ which adds high-quality textures to the gaming environment. Unreal is also highly accessible as one can simultaneously develop games for iOS, and Android. It can also be accessed through Xbox and PlayStation. Unreal also provides a plethora of tools and features for all niches of game development.

Many popular games, such as Street Fighter 5, Borderland 3, and the highly popular game Fortnite, are built using the Unreal game engine. It has also helped in several other fields, like exploring pharmaceutical drug molecules, many research tools for the US Army, etc. The Unreal engine is also a Guinness World Record holder for the most successful gaming engine.

Godot

Godot was officially released on 14 January 2014 under the MIT license on GitHub. It was developed by Ariel Manzur and Juan Linietsky. It is written using C#, C++, and GDScript, which is inspired by python. It can be used to create 2D as well as 3D games. This engine is also highly accessible. It efficiently runs on macOS, Windows, Linux, and other operating systems. It has a unique tool system using which developers can create the tools required for the game. It offers high-quality 3D graphics and animations. Along with offering various scenes, characters, etc., it also works in pixels, which gives leverage to the development of 2-dimensional games. It also has helper tools especially for animating the 2D rigs. It also provides an autosave feature when the engine is closed or gets shut down during game development. Games developed using the Godot game engine can also be played on Nintendo, Xbox, and Playstation.

Another beautiful feature of this game engine is its debugging feature. It has an in-built debugger that helps to edit and correct errors in real-time. It additionally houses a built-in editor and supports integrated documentation. Godot is also specially designed for smooth and interactive teamwork which supports the creation of games under team projects. Some of the famous games made using Godot include Hardcoded, Kingdoms of the Dump, Deponia, and Cruelty squad. This game engine is also completely free to download and use, but comes with certain licensing terms which come into effect once the published game starts generating revenue.

CryEngine/ CRYENGINE

The first version of CryEngine was launched on 2nd May 2002. This game engine has been developed by Crytek. It has been written in C++, C#, and another lightweight programming language, Lua. CryEngine can be used for making stunning 3D video games. It is accessible over multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, Playstation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox. The first game fully developed using CryEngine was Far Cry. This engine offers amazing visuals. It has area lights that support wonderful lighting in the game environment. It also has physically based rendering which replicates the actual behavior of light, which adds a more natural feel to the game. It also houses per-object shadow maps. This helps developers to change the densities of shadows of specific scenes or characters.

CryEngine offers a Sandbox, which contains numerous tools that help to create stunning in-game experiences. Using its wonderful Animations and AI features, characters can be detailed to an extent that one could even choose the skeletal structures and amount of hair and wrinkles on the character’s body. CryEngine also offers great audio features. Furthermore, it also has high-end physics-based simulations for water movements, bending of characters, rope movements, etc. It gives the feature of in-game profiling. This allows the game developer to identify and correct errors and glitches in the game at the instance of development. CryEngine is open-source and the source code is available on GitHub. This game engine is also completely free to use, and also comes with a pro subscription of about 9.90$ per month. Some notable games created using CryEngine include Crysis, Star Citizen, Evolve, Prey, and Hunt: Showdown. Overall, CryEngine is a great choice for video game development.

Defold

Defold, as a free game engine was officially launched at the Game developers conference in March 2016. It has been developed by Melsoft. At the time of launch, it was a closed source. Its source code is majorly written using the Lua programming language. Presently, it is open-source and completely free to use for game development. It does not require a setup and one can simply download and start using the editor straightaway. It is also highly accessible across multiple platforms, such as macOS, Linux, Windows, Steam, Nintendo Switch, Android, etc. It can be used to create 3D as well as high-quality 2D games. About its 2D features, one can use the various sprites available, along with map editors, spine models, etc.

It offers numerous 3D components as well, which include 3D models, geometry, shaders, particle emitters, effects, curve editors, and many more. It offers a stunning range of animations as well. This supports flipbook animations for 2D components, property animations supporting movements, and model animations. It also gives the developer access to high-end physics-based simulations, and powerful scene editors for building games using Defold. It additionally, has a rapid workflow system which ensures and increases productivity. Defold also offers several ready-to-use integrations and extensions. It is a great game engine that is free to use, with tons of features.

Conclusion

Several game engines offer great features for game development, but the best and the most popular ones out there are Unity, Unreal, Godot, CryEngine, and the Defold game engine. Some of these engines have royalty licenses that come into effect only when the game gets published and starts to generate money. Many of these engines also have a pro version with extra features. All of them are free to use and widely popular.

Game Development