How can you choose between a popular or custom game engine?

Both Unity and Unreal are great game engines to learn and add to your portfolio while applying for gaming jobs. Unity engine is used more in Mobile development games and Unreal is used more in PC & Console. Keep in mind, most AAA companies also have their own proprietary game engines so focus on the closest platform that aligns with what type of company you are applying for.

It depends on the resources you have, and the project you are working on. Resources: - Do you already have a team, and that team knows C#? Go with Unity. Team knows C++? Go with Unreal - Do you have a tight budget? Go with Unity Project: - Is it mobile? Unity - Are you looking for outstanding graphics? Unreal - Is it a prototype? Either would work - Is it a small or mid-size project? Either would work - Is it a large project? Go with Unreal (unless conflicting with your resources) - Are you looking to learn to work in the industry? Both would work. Unreal is more professional, but with C++, not just Blueprints. The list is not comprehensive. And you should probably evaluate all options and find the best fit.

If you’re out to learn, I’d stick with available engines like unity and unreal. Alone for the reason that there’s a huge community online to ask questions if you get stuck. And you have a lot of tools, plug-ins and asset packs that help you learn what you actually want to learn. In General I don’t think it matters which engine you use as long as you use an engine. I think you’ll start to notice that all engines have similar underlying principles, so choose whatever makes it easiest for you. Beyond that. Some personal insights I do have that may put value to custom engines: personally I think 9/10 times I can tell if a game is made by unreal, and the overwhelming plugin marketplace often leads to bugs in and post production in my opinion

Engines like Unity and Unreal have dominated the scene due to their robustness, extensive libraries, and large communities. Unity's vast Asset Store and Unreal's lifelike graphics make them unparalleled contenders. Yet, Godot with its open-source spirit, offering both 2D and 3D game development without hefty fees, it’s a treasure for indie developers. For web game enthusiasts, Unity and Godot again come into the limelight with HTML5 export options. However, Construct 3 simplifies the journey even more. It offers a no-code gateway into game creation, making it a favorite among designers or coding novices alike. In the end, it depends on your game's vision, technical demands, and personal preferences.

Custom engines require in-house expertise that is of little use to employees for possible later jobs. It can lock folks in, but it can also turn people away: people like to learn transferable skills.

In my honest opinion the only real benefits of having a custom game engine are; not needing to pay a royalty fee and/or building unique tech that sets the project apart (for example a game with 1000 players in a match). Other than that I've not experienced a case where I want to say "I'd prefer to have my own tools for this" because popular engines let you build on top of them anyway, and have created good workflows for technical and creative usage which is constantly refined by the large communities around them. Documentation is also a constant lifesaver.

I think there are only three scenarios when you should use a custom engine: - You really want to learn how engines work and you might want to work developing engines; - You really need a very specific feature that no other engine can provide OR is prohibited (like gambling games); - You just like learning new stuff;

Despite the level of control you have, it adds unavoidable friction when you are seeking contractor or vendor assistance. The value of readily accessible and experienced freelancers gets demolished when you start working with bespoke tools like this. That's not even mentioning if necessary functionality wasn't scoped as part of the engine, you now have additional strain on the engineering team to get it implemented. It's incredibly flexible in some important directions, and incredibly brittle in others. If you're really looking at a custom engine, you need to talk with all members of the team (including marketing, brand, bizdev, events, pr) to make sure you won't spend valuable time filling gaps later.

[Disclaimer: these are my tips but I don't think my view alone would mean anything] Should I seem like so taxative here, I wouldn't care: you unlikely want to create a custom game engine to make your first game as a team. Possibly you won't ever. Somehow it's not seen the same, but for me, they are exactly mirror examples: to go with your custom engine in a gamedev-related professional environment is not different than to develop your own programming language in a software one. And I'm sure you would consider ridiculous the lattermost. :) Only a gargantuan budget would take advantage of a custom engine over submitting to a mainstream option. That's because of the wherewithal to develop the engine itself.

I agree, to most of the people, the biggest complexity of game engines in the creative process ks if your developers always discover something new unexpected that was yesterday possible but now is not. From a creative standpoint i think you should reduce complexity as much as possible to give room for creativity and an engine always behind schedule and covered with lots of bugs and restrictions that is the recipe to block the creative process over and over again

If you are a small team or one-person, and you are not Jonathan Blow, wanting to actually finish and publish the game don't dive into custom engines from the very beginning. It may be a huge learning opportunity but it consumes a lot of time and effort so think twice if it fits your production timeline (if you have any) and if you have a mental space for that. Staff and financial costs of creating and maintaining a decent in-house technology are often enormous and sometimes it is better to adjust existing engines to your needs via editing open engine source code (which is available out of the box with Unreal Engine) or using custom plugins, rendering pipelines etc. Of course it depends on the games you are making. Choose wisely friend.

Understanding if you'll need to create a custom engine or not will come from a deep dive into the tech you want to use/create. Or if you're starting your own company it's a question about the finances - are you happy with losing a percentage (~5%) of your sales? Platform/store costs also factor into that, so it's a case-by-case basis really. For the popular engines you could create the same game in both Unity and Unreal for example, but the dev process and performance impact would be the deciding factor. Both are good options but in my opinion Unreal has a much lower barrier to entry, simple workflows for complex features and allows a lot more creativity. Definitely get proficient with both though.

[Disclaimer: these are my tips but I don't think my view alone would mean anything] I would always choose by my restrictions, not those of the technologies I will choose from. I mean, the limiting agent of any software-intensive company is rarely the engine, programming language and the whatnot, but the team, human communication and business processes. Like elsewhere! Thus, if your team would fit better in Unity (for example, it could be because the people are inexperienced or, quite the contrary, they may have too much experience but only in Unity) then don't even hesitate to go with Unity. The same in any other false dichotomy and no matter what you're choosing between.

When choosing between a popular or custom game engine, consider whether you have the resources and time to build and maintain your own engine. Can you keep it updated as technology and player expectations evolve? Older games can start to look dated after a few years, which is why styles like cartoony graphics are popular since they age more gracefully. Another thing to think about is if your custom engine will be flexible enough for future projects. For instance, Mass Effect Andromeda faced challenges adapting an FPS engine for an RPG. It's not just about creating the game, but also thinking long-term.

Really big worlds but a limited amount of time? Unreal. Large and complex worlds inside Unity are possible but you will be going for a wild ride that I would prefer to avoid if your time and resources are limited. For mobile games, it is Unity no question asked. Graphicly (realism, stylized, or anything else), both engines can pull off some of the latest and hottest techniques that will scream next-gen and easily melt any 4090. But for a big dynamic world with such next-gen reality, go Unreal (it will still melt 4090). It's not worth our time to discuss why bare Unity, is not a viable option for large open-world games. Both Unreal and Unity can do awesome stylized graphics. One awesome example is Hi-Fi RUSH (Unreal)

If I can suggest anything, then it is to not stress about making everything perfect or by yourself just for the sake of making it by yourself. If possible, always try to rely on the built-in engine features (or store) and follow its design concepts as much as possible. Every attempt to make something 'custom' or different is always dangerous as it adds complexity that was never there before. It needs to be documented for your co-workers, and you're the one maintaining this custom system to work properly. It is really easy to quickly add custom solutions one after another, and later in the development, get yourself stranded in the sea of issues you might no longer have time to fix in time because of the deadlines.

electing a game engine is a common trap for beginners. True understanding of game development comes from studying materials or courses and then implementing what you've learned. It's essential to choose an engine that has comprehensive educational resources. Just then, with time, you will gain an understanding of which engine suits your needs the most. Until then, just pick one and begin.