Three Best Game Engines for Newbies

Which game engine should you start out with?

Interested in a career making video games?  Not at all surprising, given the blistering growth and the state of the video game industry.  Speed dating, game dev style.  When it comes to making video games, picking the right game engine is a HUGE decision.  It can mean the difference between making or breaking the video game development experience. Like to work in the video game industry? Perhaps as a game developer?  Or a Level designer?   What about as a game concept artist?   Or even a game scriptwriter?  All look like compelling options. Alas you must choose ONE to start with.

When getting started, choosing the engine that will help you develop a specific skill set can go a long way.

Considering all these factors, I have selected three best game engines for beginners. These will, of course, help any beginner learn about game development.  Bear in mind the role you want to adopt. The engine you CHOOSE will help you hone your skill on that aspect of the development.  As opposed to giving you a simple generalized view of everything.  Shallowly spread on a piece of toast, just like creamy peanut butter.

Without further ado, let’s get to it.

Construct 3: Browser-based.  Ideal for the Design-focused and the Newbie

Construct 3, as a game engine, is more so focused on designing through visual programming. 

And not so much on hardcore, technical coding.   Translation:  newbie friendly.

It is a multi-platform game engine.  With one of the easiest animation editors that you can readily take advantage of as a new developer.

An interesting feature of Construct 3?  Well, you don’t actually need a PC to make games.

Running inside a browser, you can start video game development on your tablet, Macintosh, or even Linux for that matter.

What’s the verdict?  I would recommend Construct 3 to someone who has a knack for designing. Its simple video game development design makes it ideal for a visual artist.  Especially one who does not want to code, and just want to make a simple game. It also works out for scriptwriters or dialogue writers. Any video game writer can use Construct 3 to play out a script in an easy, fun game format.

Another thing, since Construct 3 runs inside a browser, many people might think for a minute…  Dare we say, weak?  Far from it!  What many don’t realize is that Construct 3 is actually one of the most powerful game engines out there.

Specifically built from the ground up for easy of use.  So that anyone with a working browser can make games on it. Period.

Construct 3 is constantly updated.  Its community of developers? Active and available to  help you out if you ever need advice with something.  On top of all that, there are a lot of Construct 3 tutorials available online.  All to assist you in getting started with the game engine, and make that first game.

But keep in mind that, Construct 3 is a subscription-based; you have to pay $4.89 a month if you want to keep using it on a monthly basis.

Godot:

Godot is an open source, cross-platform, 2D/3D game engine.  More importantly, it is taking everything by storm. Godot is a fairly new game engine.  Started out as a fun project between friends, it has since, has seen steady bursts of  growth ever so often.

It is a game engine that combines a lot of modern features. 

Features such as the scene and node system, which helps to optimize game development.  Add to that a built-in script editor, helping you sort through bugs and glitches faster.  Both making video game development a whole lot easier than traditional game engines. 

Although for Godot, you DO need to learn programming languages like C#, C++, and GD Script, a variant of Python. 

That’s the bad news.  But fret not.  You don’t have to learn all these languages, just the GD script. Godot’s own proprietary language is enough.

If you are just starting out and want to experience video game development first hand, take note. 

For future video game careers, especially in level or area design, or to create a complex game design without getting overwhelmed, check out Godot.

Godot’s GD script is easy enough and intuitive enough.  Anyone can quickly learn it with a few weeks of dedication.

While it supports 3D video game development, Godot truly shines in 2D games.

Its dedicated 2D engine has pixel coordination, which makes any 2D game a whole lot easier to develop.

And Godot supports extremely powerful animation tools too that can easily give any Indie that professional AAA look, making this free game engine all the more worth it.

Unity:

Last but certainly not least, we have the Unity game engine. If you ever type game engine in the google search bar, Unity is bound to pop up.

Among the most popular game engines in the industry, Unity can count healthy portfolio of AAA video games made on Unity.

The question remains.  Should a Beginner really start their game development journey with Unity?

The answer to that question is, of course, yes. One of the main reasons Unity is on this list is because it has massive community support.

Unity is the game engine that has the most tutorials and online courses that teach you how to make games using this engine.

Unity uses C#, a powerful programming language that teaches skills that, even outside Unity, are readily transferrable.

Making Unity a great Engine for anyone who is ready to invest time and is willing to learn professional video game development right off the bat.

Final Thoughts:

So, this is my list of top three game engines that you can easily learn. As an inspiring new developer, these should be on anyone’s short list. Depending on the video game careers that you want to opt for, and the extent you want to get involved in Video game development, I hope that you have a clearer view of what you want. And can now make an educated decision on which game engine to choose according to your needs.  

Please check out my review of the Manticore game creation engine.  Especially if you are a fan to multiplayer RPG, which appears to be its sweetspot.  Or for that matter, are looking for a game development engine with built-in discovery and video game publishing.