Today, computer games are developing at an incredibly fast pace - this is largely due to the fact that the development process has become much more accessible. With the advent of the Steam platform, every person got the opportunity to create their own game and present it to the attention of a huge public, and before it was simply impossible to do this without the help of the publishing company. Therefore, many people who had ideas and abilities to create an excellent game simply did not have the opportunity - now everything has changed. And if you want to develop your own project, this will not be a problem for you, but first you need to pay attention to the physics engine. Of course, no one forbids you to write your game from scratch, programming your own unique engine. But it’s much easier to use the ready-made one, as it will be guaranteed to be debugged and will work without problems. The physical engine is the basis of any computer game, it is the base layer on which you will build up the content of your project. There are a large number of diverse engines, each of which has its pros and cons. In this article you will learn about several of the best engines that exist today.
Cry engine 3
First of all, pay attention to the fact that not every physical engine is accessible to all users. Some game developers create their own, for personal use, after which they do not give access to it to anyone else. Such engines will not be considered - here we will talk about what you can use to create the game, being the so-called third party. The first option that everyone will hear first of all is Cry Engine 3. This is a very powerful physics engine that will allow you to create an incredible game, but there are various use cases. If you do not want to spend money, then you can use the free version - all functions will be available in it, however, you will not be able to distribute or sell your game, that is, this option is suitable for home use. There are two paid options - one involves the issuance of twenty percent of the profit from games to the developers of the engine, and the second - the purchase of a license. And that is why this option is not as popular as many others - it is very expensive.
Unreal engine 3
If you don’t want to spend big money on the previous option, then you should pay attention to this one. Unreal Engine 3 is the best engine at the moment in terms of price and quality. You can acquire rights to use it relatively inexpensively, and with it you can create full-blown computer games, as do large development companies known throughout the world. This engine has a wide variety of advantages, such as multi-platform, excellent support, simplicity and clarity. Thus, each person who acquires this engine can easily develop an excellent game if he has the ability to do so. An excellent base for this will provide you with Unreal Engine 3.
Havok
If we talk about large projects, then you should definitely touch on Havok, an engine that, with its appearance, has greatly changed the gaming industry. Now it has already created about 200 computer games of large studios, and there were even more indie developments. This engine is most often used for first-person or third-person shooters, but sometimes you can see large projects of other genres, for example, Starcraft 2 among strategies, Super Smash Bros. among platformers and so on. Naturally, acquiring it will cost quite an impressive amount, but the opportunities that it opens before you are simply huge. So if you are not an independent developer with a low budget, then you can purchase this engine - it will make your game just great.
Unity 3D
Well, it's time to move from large engines to something not so massive. There are a large number of inexpensive solutions for two-dimensional games, but not everyone is in a hurry to add the third dimension at an affordable price. That is why the Unity 3D engine is extremely popular today, as it offers inexpensive access to the three-dimensional world. Since 2009, this project has been leading among those that were not developed by the largest corporations for such large projects. Therefore, you should definitely pay attention to this engine if you want to develop a three-dimensional project — buying a license will cost you inexpensively, and for this money you will get a huge amount of materials, easy access to publish finished projects and much more.
DMM
Modern engines very often pay serious attention to the realism of damage that is caused to the world, character, vehicle, and so on. However, if you are looking for an inexpensive solution for a game in which the dynamics of the deformable body will be the main component, then you should pay attention to this engine. It is called DMM, and with it you can reproduce an extremely realistic model of damage, no matter what their nature will be. The full name of the engine is Digital Molecular Matter, and from it people who know English can already understand what exactly deformations will be its main feature. If you do not have money for an extremely expensive modern engine that will offer you deformation as one of the many components, or if you want to create a project in which the main attention will be paid specifically to damage and their realism, then this engine is ideal for you.
Gamemaker
Well, in conclusion, it is worth paying attention to the engine, which is very different from all the others. The fact is that you will not need to program on it at all, since all the main commands here are replaced by specific predefined actions. Naturally, there are a limited number of these actions, but there are still quite a lot of them, so you can create games without thinking about what you should learn a programming language. You can do fine without it, and if you purchase a license, you can use more features, as well as publish your own games independently.