Doing some research among major game engines to find what fits our requirements best for creating a cross platform 2D mobile game.
- 2D (doubt I will ever want to do 3D work)
- dev software available on linux/windows/mac
- cost: free or no upfront costs at least
- language: any OO language really, scripting engine could be nice? Don't know how those play in to game engines
- compiles to: android, ios, web (optional but desired)
Boiled down from /r/gamedev engine FAQ page:
| Engine Name | Platforms (dev) | Platforms(deploy) | 2D/3D | Language | Cost | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unreal Engine 4 | Win, Mac, Linux | Win, iOS,Mac, PS4, XB1, HTML 5, Android, Linux, SteamOS | 3D & 2D | C++, Blueprint Visual Scripting | 5% of profits from sales | Good documentation, Powerful tools/editor, active community, Does not require active subscription to release a game, Oculus/Morpheus VR Support | Not beginner friendly |
| Unity | Win/Mac | Win, Mac, Linux, Web, iOS, Android, Flash, PS3, Xbox360, Wii | 2D/3D | C#, Boo, UnityScript | Free for commercial basic on Win/Mac, $$$ for other platforms, pro license | Great Asset Pipeline, 1-Click deploy to different platforms, Large, Active community, good documentation | Messy with version control, not as graphically capable as AAA engines |
| Cocos2D | Win, Mac, Linux (some platforms need cocos2d-x) | Pc, Mac, Linux, iPhone, Windows Phone, Android in development | 2D | Depending on platform, C++, C# or Objective C | Free | Large number of resources online, very powerful for 2D games, widely used for commercial ios development | not as active a community |
| Allegro | ??? | Linux, Win, Mac, iOS, Android | 2D | C, C++ | Free | low-level functionality, good documentation, active community | new version may be lacking in some documentation, low-level |
Notes/Follow ups:
- I think ill need to do some extra hacking to get android working
- do I need to be on a mac to build for iOS?
Notes/Follow ups:
- confirm linux support - "experimental"
- potential cost, make sure out use case wont cost $$$ (licenses in the thousands of dollars potentially)
Notes/Follow ups:
- Follow up on "android in development" - seems to be supported
- cocos2d vs cocos2d-x - x is the platform Cocos2D extension (initially oriented for iphone)
- Cocos Studio for integrated design environment (much less powerful than unity or unreal)
- no web deployment support, is this a problem?
- C++, learning curve
Seems to be very popular but a lot of literature is saying a more full fledged engine like Unity or Unreal would be better if you can use them.
Notes/Follow ups:
- follow up on development platforms