Indie-Resource.com

Hi guys,

I'm a full stack web developer that mainly works on LAMP stack, Javascript, AngularJS, Laravel, Bootstrap, Ruby, Rails etc. You know, typical web development stuff. I also used to develop some flash games in the past using actionscript3/flash (basic shooter games) and I have some C++ knowledge. (Mostly for writing bots for my personal gaming use, nothing too complex, mostly newb stuff.)

I want to learn more about game development, especially need help on picking the correct game engine.

First of all, let me tell you what I plan to develop: my games will be 2D (just like hallsofvalhalla's ImpactJS game), HTML5 and mobile friendly, ARPG/JRPG/turn based RPG/strategy or tower defense. At best, camera will be 2.5D (Isometric look). Those are my favorite games and I'll more likely develop something like those: FF Tactics, Vanguard Bandits, Gemcraft, Kingdom Rush, Clash of Clans, Social Empire, Diablo.

My target devices are: modern browsers, smartphones. I'll most likely allow some Facebook API integration.

I've been doing research for a long time and there are many options out there. Unity, Unreal, ImpactJS, RpgJS, Mightyengine, Isogenic Engine etc. I seriously don't know what would be the best choice for us.

Right now my criterias for picking a game are:

- Popularity of the engine. I should be able to find people on Q/A website easily.
- Employment possibility. I want to work as a game developer, not a web dev.
- No dependency on external plugins. Application shouldn't require different runtimes/plugins to be installed.
- Portability. I need my game to run on mobile and browsers.
- Javascript (prefered) or C++. I don't want to learn Java or C# as I'm already overwhelmed with different programming languages.
- Shouldn't be too complex to use, but should be powerful enough.
- Assets should be easy to find.
- Should be suitable for commercial use. I'm extremely poor so I can't pay 3-4 digits to purchase a license. However, giving commission to the engine when my game sells is a suitable option.
- Should be documented well.
- Should be industry standard. I don't want to use something that only 20 people on earth is using.

I'm open to any kind of suggestions.

Thank you!

Ps. I've previously used ImpactJS for a while, liked it, but isometric camera was a real problem. For example, you couldn't go "behind" objects. Your entity character's foot were colliding with the top level of object.

I used Unity too, and I actually liked it too, but it looked unnecessarily complex for what I'm doing and required C# knowledge if I don't want to use modified Javascript they call as Unityscript.

Unity has JavaScript and is one of the most popular engines.

Xaos wrote:Unity has JavaScript and is one of the most popular engines.

I've been told that Unity's Javascript sucks and I have to learn C# to use be able to use it.

i cannot stand unity. Yes it is a good engine but IT IS NOT A web development engine. It has a plugin that allows web development.

I love ImpactJs. Best HTML5 engine out there. There is also Crafty, Melonjs, and a few others. Isogenic is very awesome.

So my recommendations is to look at Isogenic and Impact first.

I did not know Mighty Engine, by Mighty Fingers (an important distinction, because, confusingly, there is a Ruby cloud service called "Mighty Engine") had been released. I have been following their site for years, and had just figured it was vaporware and stopped checking on it about a year ago. It looks very promising, so I honestly can't recommend an engine at this point, since the best choice could possibly be Mighty Engine.

hallsofvallhalla wrote:i cannot stand unity. Yes it is a good engine but IT IS NOT A web development engine. It has a plugin that allows web development.

I love ImpactJs. Best HTML5 engine out there. There is also Crafty, Melonjs, and a few others. Isogenic is very awesome.

So my recommendations is to look at Isogenic and Impact first.

I met with ImpactJS by your youtube series like a 1.5 years ago, but I was a crappy JS dev back then so I gave up quickly. 2 days ago I decided to toy with ImpactJS. (sadly, no license yet, but I plan on getting it with a sponsorship)

Dude, ImpactJS is awesome. I feel like I have the full control in my game. Everything is pure javascript so I can literally do anything I can imagine without limitations.

This is my game after 2 days of work with zero ImpactJS knowledge at the start: http://oyun.eu1.frbit.net/ Looks playable already but only contains 2 map and some features are not developed yet. (e.g adding cooldown to projectiles or monster damages)

I'm using your assets. (I hope it's not a problem for you!) Going to turn this into a mini ARPG game inspired by Diablo and Path of Exile. It will contain RPG elements, stats, skills, shrines, and item bonusses like Path of Exile. (e.g Boots of Valhalla: *Equip bonus: Your projectiles will spawn 4 smaller projectiles upon impact.* or Wings of Angel: Equip bonus: *Give permanently %20 movement speed*, *Unable to gain bonusses from shrines*) and I want to keep the content small (3 acts) but add Normal/Hard/Hell modes so it will give players lots of replayability. I'll also plan on adding an online save feature so everything will get saved on my server.

Jackolantern wrote:I did not know Mighty Engine, by Mighty Fingers (an important distinction, because, confusingly, there is a Ruby cloud service called "Mighty Engine") had been released. I have been following their site for years, and had just figured it was vaporware and stopped checking on it about a year ago. It looks very promising, so I honestly can't recommend an engine at this point, since the best choice could possibly be Mighty Engine.

I found it pretty undocumented. (Half of the links I clicked in their website had no information) Their demo games are awesome though. I will probably keep an eye on it but so far I'm really enjoying Impact.