What other, Unity-like editors do you know about?

By Unity-like I mean easy to use editor (with interface somewhat similar to Unity's) and not having to code in C/C++ if you don't want to (too easy to make accidental memory leaks and segfaults. It means also shenanigans-free license, no things like profit shares). I already know about following:
Shiva3D - from what I've seen almost 100% Unity clone except it uses Lua for scripting
Godot Engine - Open Source (MIT license from what I gathered) engine with scripting language similar to Python (although few keywords are different). Bonus: Has visual, Delphi-like GUI/HUD designer. Also Godot's project manager looks IMO better than Unity's.

There's also Polycode (open source and I think uses Lua for scripting as well although allows for usage with C++), but I am not sure if it is maintained anymore.

 

jMonkeyEngine, while having Unity-like API, lacks easy scene editor (unless it changed recently), that's why it wasn't included. Ogrekit lacks easy, unity-like editor as well AFAIK and as far as I realize, it forces you to use c++ (re-read OP to see why it doesn't sit well with me).

 

Hate to say it but you can use Mono with CryEngine..

 

Yeah, but CryEngine requires you to pay percentage of your game's earnings back to Crytek (don't remember which one) and I want engines with shenanigans-free license, either flat price or free (even if as in beer).

//edit: And I've used JME like year or so ago so they probably added this feature in the meantime - last time I used this, it wasn't there.

 

I had a look on Polycode and it seems to be alive (posts from this month on forum that aren't spambot-generated, active Twitter feed (last post is from 18 feb, I think)) so we can add this to the mix. I am currently making game in Unity that I hope to sell, but after it's done I probably will be making full switch either to Polycode or Godot, or anything new that seems to be worthwhile.

 

So why are you making this thread? Is Unity not satisfying your needs?

If not would love to hear why.

 

Haven't tried either of these yet, but they might be worth checking out:

http://www.godotengine.org/wp/ (just released in beta)

http://www.shivaengine.com/

Edit: Duh, didn't read your original post just replied to the thread title. I see you already listed them.

 

Two words: Linux Editor. I'm looking for an alternative that is close enough to Unity in terms of features and user friendliness, but with Linux editor. as I said, project I am making currently I'll finish on Unity, because porting to different engine would be loss of time, but after that probably full switch.

 

Of course. Wanting everything without the effort.

 

This sounds like you need the Make my Game button. It's coming in Unity 4.6. Enter genre, hit create and boom.

 

No, I don't need make the game button. I need engine with editor that works on Linux without using VMs or wine. And no, it is not "too much work", but I'd lose time by switching engine mid-project. And switching engines generally doesn't end well for the game as Daikatana and Duke Nukem Whenever has proven. So I want to finish this project before I ditch Windows partition completely (in meantime I am learning my ropes in Godot).

 

No, time spent on learning new engine, new api, new workflow would kill this project (or at least put it along the "hits" like Daikatana, Castlevania 64 or Duke Nukem Forever, i.e. crap because I had to port from unity every single script and probably would do this badly), so I'll be better off with finishing it on Unity, then making a switch. It would be better for the project.

I also kindly ask to stop this offtopic, as this thread is for suggesting viable Unity alternatives, not discussing if Christmas is better than an Easter.

 

What about BGE the blender game engine, but it dont have a mobile port?

 

My info may be bit outdated, but last time I checked it had TERRIBLE performance with more complicated scenes.

 

Yes the shaders was making it slow. The Maratis engine looks nice, but it looks like the development have stopped. So far i would say, that unity is the most easy to develop games.

 

But not for linux, and the best way to vote for support is with your wallet.

 

If im going to vote with my wallet then a kickstarter could make a Linux version.

 

How? I doubt Unity the company that was offered a 1 BILLION dollar buyout would be douchebaggy enough to start a kickstarter... Jeeze they aren't Warner Brothers.

 

Or that new built in function "doMyShit();"
Works like a charm and was introduced in the last unity update. I've made 37 game yesterday with that function. Anyways, stop bashing the dude. (Ik I'm bashing him too but this function actually works)

 

Has anyone looked at leadwerks? Apparently they have linux support coming soon - looks like they support desktop only though, so no mobile.. But looks interesting anyway

 

They might use Kickstarter as a way not to get Linux support though. I bet if they set a goal anywhere near the amount the feature would cost them (including QA), then I expect they would be lucky to get 10% of it. Then they could say people wanting linux obviously didn't want it enough

 

Please move this talk to the Linux thread. This topic is about something else.

 

Unity would raise $20 000 for a Liinux Kickstarter. No more.

In fact it would be interesting if they added a 'Pro Tier', for $1500, and see how many actually purchased that.

 

http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/183616-Linux-client

 

Hey, thanks darkhog to start the thread, it's always good to know that there are alternatives. Godot looks really good, and lightweight < 50mb to download, and the scene seems to be serialize in text (XML) which is good, didn't know about Godot before, so thank you. Linux editor is cool, too, still not sure if it's running on Ubuntu or not, I'm not a linux user, only know a bit on Ubuntu.

There is another important thing is the toolset, does Godot has a Profiler ? a decent code Editor ? Is it easy to create our own tool (extensions) like in Unity ? If anyone know about other alternatives, raise your voice, don't just do off-topic discussions, please !

 

Leadwerks? Did you travel back in time. lol Leadwerks used to be an engine that had potential years ago, but it fell short in many aspects and was left in the dust once UDK and Unity became more popular.

Last I heard (which was a while back, a loooong while back) not a single finished game has been made with Leadwerks. I dont know if thats still the case, if it is, then that should tell you whether or not you should use it.

http://www.godotengine.org/wp/

Now that is one interesting game engine.

If they ramp up their development and features set, they can easily wreck UDK and Unity quite rapidly.

Its definitely one to watch, for sure.

 

Yeah, it is good, but docs is pretty lacking ATM, although one of devs said they are pausing internal dev to improve docs. They'll accept pull requests if they'll be worthy inclusion though.

IMO what Godot needs the most now (aside of better docs) is some good 3D map editor and streamlined import. I mean current level editing capabilities ("3D map" based on concept of 3D tiles) is good, but there is problem of making said tiles. I'm thinking about something more like Cube/Sauerbraten's level editor. Also there should be some streamlined import pipeline, so engine would detect automatically files in project directory and subdirectories and possibly import Blender files directly like Unity does.

I'd probably implement it myself (I mean import part), but I was scarred by C++ too much. Whenever I do something more advanced in it than hello world I inadvertently get into null pointer/segfault territory without even meaning more. I guess I just can't C well, even though I can C#...

 

Non coding engine for 2d mobile games is game salad lol http://gamesalad.com/creator/featured-games

They claim 70 of the top 100 games in the US app stores are made with it.

 

Ive developed in both Shiva and Unity and must say that there are no similarities other than both being a 3D engine

 

And, the elephant in the room is... Game Maker Studio

It's really the only other engine that even comes close. Sure, it's 2D only (the 3D functionality is incomplete, lacking any native ability to load 3D models thus you have to code your own triangle un-wrapper) but it has a powerful user interface, and the "actors" are actually quite a lot like Unity prefabs. You can even create re-usable parts and glue them together, similar to Unity.

It's even viable as an alternative for 2D games because it deploys to HTML5 and includes the ability to create extensions to the engine and integrate them (pro version only)

Finally, the scripting language GML is actually quite good. It's a concise, dynamically-typed language that includes a ton of built-in game functionality like A* pathfinding and lots of sprite blending modes. The visual editor it comes with is nice for very simple things as well, and can be extended in a similar way as the engine by using extension packages.

But, if you're looking for cutting-edge graphics and physics, and want to have a nice, robust editor, you can't beat Unity

I used Game Maker for 3 years before finding Unity and I made a ton of fun prototypes with it. And, at the end of my experience with it, I did find the feature set and performance to be good enough for professional development. I switched because of Unity's graphics and physics engine, primarily.

 

Here's a list:

Shiva3D - http://www.stonetrip.com/

Esenthel - http://esenthel.com/

Torque3D - http://www.garagegames.com/products/torque-3d now free with source code under MIT

Leadwerks - http://www.leadwerks.com/

C4 - http://www.terathon.com/

Godot - http://www.godotengine.org/wp/

Maratis - http://www.maratis3d.org/

Urho3D - http://urho3d.github.io/

 

There is no Linux Editor for GM:S; but that's where ENIGMA - http://enigma-dev.org/ - can come into play. It's not necessarily very stable right now, however, and (perhaps more importantly) suffering from serious licensing issues that make it currently unsuitable for commercial game dev.

 

I'm surprised no one mentioned NeoAxis - http://www.neoaxis.com/
has Ogre3D renderer, C#/C++, editors similar to Unity

 

There's also Panda 3D which I can't see anyone has mentioned

 

Well instead of pasting them here, I can prompt you to my blog where I have exactly such a post. A bit old, but hey

http://nuverian.net/2011/01/17/the-best-game-engines-for-indie-game-developers/

 

Panda3D is an engine framework, it doesn't come with a visual editor.