Top Unity Alternative
If you’ve remotely been online lately, you’ll have gotten wind of the fiasco currently going on in the gaming community with Unity’s recent pricing changes. If you haven’t, here’s a quick breakdown, the popular video game engine Unity has recently announced some massive changes to its pricing model. The company would be implementing a pay-per-download pricing scheme that would charge developers a flat fee anytime a game using Unity’s game engine is installed.
In a blog post, the company stated:
We are introducing a Unity Runtime Fee that is based upon each time a qualifying game is downloaded by an end user, We chose this because each time a game is downloaded, the Unity Runtime is also installed. Also, we believe that an initial install-based fee allows creators to keep the ongoing financial gains from player engagement, unlike a revenue share.
Rightfully so, a lot of gaming companies and developers have come out to voice their objections. Some developers have opted to port to alternatives and in this blog post, we’ll provide a list of top unity alternatives.
How to Choose the Best Unity Alternative Game Engine
The first step in choosing the right game engine is to understand your priorities. Do you want a game engine with out-of-the-box codes? Game mechanics? Great visuals? supported platforms? Documentation or general support? Once you know your priorities, you can select a game engine that best suits your needs or an alternative to Unity.
List of Unity Alternative Game Engines
Unreal Engine
Unreal Engine, made by one of the lagest gaming company, epic is a video game development tool used to build simulations, edit videos or sounds and render animation. It has been used to create some of the most popular games out there such as Final Fantasy, Fortnite, Batman Arkham Knight and much more. It’s one of our top unity alternatives because of its ability to create a hyper-realistic environment, versatility, increasing community sharing knowledge and experiences and pricing model. This engine faces its shortcomings in its steep learning curve.
- Pros: Platform support, hyperrealism and pricing.
- Cons: Steep learning curve.
- Platforms supported: iOS, Android, Windows, Playstation and Xbox.
- Pricing: Free to use till you reach $1M in revenue then a 5% royalty fee is applicable.
- Market segment: Medium to large companies.
Godot
The Godot engine is a free, all-in-one, cross-platform game engine that prides itself on making it easy for developers to create 2D and 3D games. Some of the notable games created using this engine include Lumencraft, Rogue State Revolution, Tail Quest and much more. This engine has been the go-to for most developers after Unity price updates due to it being open source, i.e., you can understand what is going on, write extensions and possibly modify its engine to suit your needs. Some of the other notable advantages include having an active and friendly community, its own dedicated 2D engine, lightweight executables and much more. Godot faces its shortcomings when dealing with 2D physics, inconsistent terminology and a lack of blockbuster games (this may change). A great unity alternative.
- Pros: Open source, community friend, lightweight and dedicated 2D engine.
- Cons: Poor 2D Physics and inconsistent terminology.
- Platforms supported: Windows, Linux, Mac, ios and Android
- Pricing: Free
- Market segment: Small to medium-sized companies.
CryEngine
CryEngine, designed by Crytek is a game engine that prides itself as the complete solution for next-generation game development. Some of the notable games created using this game engine include Far Cry, Hunt: Showdown, Ryse: Son of Rome and much more. Some of the reasons why CryEngine is a good unity alternative is that it comes with a lot of features right out of the box e..g, networking, game modes, character etc. The game engine also allows for a fast iteration process, and high-fidelity visuals, handles rich environments (open world, vegetation-rich environments) really well, is easy to learn and has good community support. This game engine faces shortcomings due to its financial woes, poor documentation, and not being artist-friendly. A good Unity alternative but a lot of its developers have moved to UE4.
- Pros: Comes with rich features out of the box, fast iteration and decent community.
- Cons: Financial woes putting the engine at risk, poor documentation and better alternatives.
- Platforms supported: Windows, Linux, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Oculus Rift, OSVR, PSVR, and HTC Vive
- Pricing: Use CRYENGINE for free. A 5% royalty applies when you ship your project. Your first $5K annual revenue per project is royalty-free.
- Market segment: Small to medium-sized companies.
