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Building great games has never been much easier, all thanks to the free game development software and open source game engines. There were days when you had to work for the game developers that had sophisticated tools, but now you can easily build a game of your own regardless of the budget.
While talking about game engines, there are plenty of game engine tools available in the market that help you in building a great game. Though the option is wide open, how do know which game engine suits you and your game best?
Well, there are few ways in which you have to choose the best-suited game development tool that is best for you and the game.
Ways to choose the best game development platform
Choosing a game development tool that is best for the game is not an easy task, you have to consider certain criteria while selecting the game engine.
Let us take a look at the logical step by step process before choosing the game.
Picture the big elements
Before you start with anything, you should understand the game. There is much more to know more than the storyline of the game. Understand the genre, what type of game are you planning to build? Is it a single-player or multiplayer game? What is the mood of the game? The kind of user experience. You have to consider these elements long before you step into choosing the best game engine.
Dimensions do matter
Planning out the dimension in which you are trying to create the game matters. Are you planning to build a 3D or 2D game? Because it is an obvious distinction and is a considerable factor while deciding the game engine.
Decide the platform
Is your game being played on PCs, mobile, Xbox, Playstation, etc? Are you building a multi-platform game? There are certain game engines that do not let you publish games on all platforms. Therefore, you have to decide this before choosing the game development tool.
Programming language
What is the scripting language you are going to use for your game? The programming language that you choose should likely be native for your platform because down the lane it makes your life easier. However, most of the game engines use a different variety of languages, however, you have to make sure that the chosen game engine supports the language of your choice.
Choose the controls
As soon as you decide the platform for the game, you will know whether the game will be controlled by a touchscreen or keyboard. Whether there are any special features required in the game control? Do you have any unique music or video inputs?
Colors for the game
Colors play a vital role in setting the mood of the game. So, you have to decide on the colors you will choose for the game, the style of the game. Find out if you require any specific graphical elements like particle effects or shaders.
Find the game plan
Let’s get started with the business. Do you plan to create a free HTML5 game? Or are you planning to sell the game to be played on any major gaming consoles? Whatever plans you have for the game, you have to decide through this, because many game development tools require royalties from the sales.
What is your budget?
Always stay with the business part of the game design and plan the budget for your game. Do you prefer a free and open-source game development engine or do you have the funds to pay the monthly fee? There are some game development tools that offer free packages with limited features, and feature-rich packages that come with a price tag. And this is the reason why you have to understand your game completely before selecting the game engine.
Be genuine about Game development experience
One of the things that is overlooked while choosing the game platform is the support and documentation that comes along with the game engine. If you have already worked on this particular game engine, then there is no issue. But, if you are new to the engine, you will be looking for live support, forums, and tutorials. You have to be sure whether you are comfortable with this support received from the development tool because you have to work on the entire project using this tool.
Updates are vital
This is one of the major elements, which is ignored by many developers while choosing the game engine. Better look for it. Look for the history, changelog file, or if it is an open-source platform, refer to its commit log.
If the game engine has not been updated for a year, or if they are not updating it frequently, then it will affect your game experience. Using software that isn’t updated will generate bugs in your game.
Selecting the best game engine for your game might be a hard task, because of the many options. All you have to do is take time and analyze what exactly is needed for your game and beyond. Make sure the game engine you choose satisfies all the criteria mentioned above. Consider this as a learning process and have fun in building an exciting game.
