In this post i'll explore and talk about the leading game engines in the industry at the minute, and compare their faults and advantages.
UDK:
Visual effects trailer for UnrealEngine4
UDK is one of the two major game engines running the industry at the moment, but why? From what i understand or have researched one of UDK's major talking points is the fact that it can run on a variety of computers, where as its leading competitor CRYengine3 can only run on computers built to take over the world, well that's an exaggeration, it runs on a smaller variety of systems. Another big talking point for UDK is that it can run on a variety of platforms all the way from the Xbox one to the I-phone or android.
UDK also comes with a powerful scripting tool called Kismet. Kismet is a much simpler visual way of scripting games rather than your bog standard code and the more that i think about it, what a brilliant idea it is. Most artists pick up things easier if they are relayed visually, where as your common programmer being competent and amazing at maths probably could pick apart all the mind boggling text that was thrown at them. UDK does however have its cons, here they are:
Lack of documentation. The auto-generated source code documentation is most often of little or no help. Most often you will find yourself browsing the source code instead – with the risk that you hit a native c++ code block (meaning no source code available). In that case your only change is browsing Internet forums for answers – or try to figure out the problem yourself.
Lack of support for modern file formats. UDK does not understand formats like PNG, JPEG, MP3. FBX.
Slow work-flow. UDK does not support hot-swap of UnrealScript code. This means after a code change you have to restart UDK. Which CryEngine3 does quite smoothly.
Poor debugging support. Debugging is often limited to writing to a log file or in worst case not available at all.
It's sometimes a bit wobbly if you mess around with a lot of assets at the same time, and has been known to crash a lot, remember to save often.
-No project folder. Creating a new UDK installation. There is no clear separation between your files and the UDK example files.
-You have to Exit the editor and Recompile the code every time something is change in the Unreal code,
-Not very good at outdoor environments and only allows 4 Dynamic lights.
-UDK is also aimed towards the creation of 3rd and 1st person shooters, but it has spawned its fair share on non shooters one specifically being Batman Arkham Asylum and City.
CryEngine 3:
CryEngine4 is soon to come into fruition, However Cryengine3 is still marjorly in use for this and next gen consoles.
Cry Engine 3 is the second of the two most used games engines in the industry to date. Cry Engine is such a brilliant engine because not only does it allow you to jump straight into your game in real time without the need to update code or lighting, but it also has a considerably cleaner and easier work flow, not to mention how beautiful it makes anything look.
Within the engine there’s also dedicated road and river builders. They have included an automatic navmesh system. To have an engine that does it for you relatively well to a certain extent is brilliant. If that wasn’t enough they also have an integrated physics engine and an entire set of performance checking tools.
Another big plus point from what i can work out is that CryEngine crashes significantly less than UDK. This is a big plus point from the speed at which you can get things done, nobody wants to be restarting things over and over. Cry Engine does have its flaws though and here are a few;
-You have to be online to use the editor, loose your connection and you cant even save.
-Its FPS run considerably low because of its real-time editor.
-Another low point is that it does not create interior spaces as well as its amazing outdoor spaces.
-Cry Engine has significantly less titles to its name having only being released recently (Not that that matters)
Unity:
Unity is used significantly less than the previous two engines but it does however own a large chunk of the Android and Iphone market. Unity is a pretty simple Engine but sports a very like-able interface and workflow that is useful for beginners a like. Unity is also incredibly fast and has a large amount of sectors built in to increase developments speed.
Having being only available on the Mac for a large chunk of time Unity has only recently found a larger level of success after its port to windows. It does however have a few downsides;
-It is a harder to make 2D games with compared to other engines.
-It does not support high end graphical features like Global illumination and real time shadows that sets its competitors ahead. It is said to be in the roll out of future additions though.
-Unity's built in rendering and lighting tools are not on par with UDK or Cry Engine.
Links:
http://www.moddb.com/engines/
http://unity3d.com/
http://www.unrealengine.com/udk/
http://mycryengine.com/
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