Others Unity Unreal Engine New dev help and recommendations for game engine choices and animation software compatibility

[{Jeizaguretokanteishi01}]

does any one have experience with transitioning from story boarding and major story writing to actual coding and development work. i have work on a few non major games and mods for games as a story writer and have worked on a few projects as a dialogue writer and have very little experience in actual dev work like coding and the like. though i have work with a few modeling assets. im very curious as to what engine i should start with and as to what coding language would be the best to learn. i also would like to know if experience with animation software like clip studio paint would be helpful i know it is nothing like a game engine but could a animation made in said software be used in a game. ie animation is made in a program like clip studio paint then is put in game made with {insert game engine } as a cut scene or ero scene would something like this be possible.

 

[Winterfire]

I'd start with Ren'Py, Python, and play with it until you've a pretty good knowledge about it. This means you've mastered the "logic", which will make learning other languages easier.

Ren'Py is simple enough thanks to your background, and allows you to play with Python and see the effects of what you're learning right away.
Once you feel ready to switch to a more powerful game engine, I suggest Godot which will be useable with GDScript (easy now that you've learnt Python and more importantly the logic), but at that point I'd also suggest learning C# which widely common in Game Development.

-Edit-
Godot as of now allows you to use both GDScript and C# in the same project, which would be perfect to learn C# while having a good knowledge of how Python works.

 

[{Jeizaguretokanteishi01}]

I'd start with Ren'Py, Python, and play with it until you've a pretty good knowledge about it. This means you've mastered the "logic", which will make learning other languages easier.

Ren'Py is simple enough thanks to your background, and allows you to play with Python and see the effects of what you're learning right away.
Once you feel ready to switch to a more powerful game engine, I suggest Godot which will be useable with GDScript (easy now that you've learnt Python and more importantly the logic), but at that point I'd also suggest learning C# which widely common in Game Development.

-Edit-
Godot as of now allows you to use both GDScript and C# in the same project, which would be perfect to learn C# while having a good knowledge of how Python works.

thanks for the feed back i appreciate it i would like to ask if i wanted to to learn c++ as well would that help learn other engines as well i ask this because i eventually would like to develop a openish world style game with 3d graphics im unsure ren'py would work for that style of game if it does how in depth would i be able to make the mechanics and if ren'py doesn't work for that then should i start with a engine like unity or unreal or are there other engines im un aware of my end goal is to have a product similar to the game play of a turn based ff style rpg and the art style of a cel shaded anime game with a openish world im well aware i wouldn't do this as a first project or be able to do this out the gate but im curious what the best programs to learn to get to this end goal again thanks to the feed back i really appreciate it

 

[Winterfire]

thanks for the feed back i appreciate it i would like to ask if i wanted to to learn c++ as well would that help learn other engines as well i ask this because i eventually would like to develop a openish world style game with 3d graphics im unsure ren'py would work for that style of game if it does how in depth would i be able to make the mechanics and if ren'py doesn't work for that then should i start with a engine like unity or unreal or are there other engines im un aware of my end goal is to have a product similar to the game play of a turn based ff style rpg and the art style of a cel shaded anime game with a openish world im well aware i wouldn't do this as a first project or be able to do this out the gate but im curious what the best programs to learn to get to this end goal again thanks to the feed back i really appreciate it

C++ is used on Unreal, which also has blueprints. Very artist friendly, too. It has a lot of free sources, it's pretty good.
However, C++ is very hard... It's taught in University alongside C even if you're a beginner, but only because you also learn logic as a subject.
It's really hard to learn a language without knowing logic, and learning Ren'Py with Python would help a lot in this regard.

I'd avoid Unity and focus on Godot instead if you won't go for Unreal.

 

[AllNatural939]

No matter what, stay away from Unity... Is for your own good.

 

[{Jeizaguretokanteishi01}]

C++ is used on Unreal, which also has blueprints. Very artist friendly, too. It has a lot of free sources, it's pretty good.
However, C++ is very hard... It's taught in University alongside C even if you're a beginner, but only because you also learn logic as a subject.
It's really hard to learn a language without knowing logic, and learning Ren'Py with Python would help a lot in this regard.

I'd avoid Unity and focus on Godot instead if you won't go for Unreal.

thanks for the advice and information are there any good tutorials out there for godot and is it a good idea to use visual coding it seems to be easier then a lot of the stuff ive looked at also why is unity so hated when it is used for a lot of really good games ais it because its hard to use or does it have a really steep learning curve or something completely different like its just a bad program

 

[Winterfire]

thanks for the advice and information are there any good tutorials out there for godot and is it a good idea to use visual coding it seems to be easier then a lot of the stuff ive looked at also why is unity so hated when it is used for a lot of really good games ais it because its hard to use or does it have a really steep learning curve or something completely different like its just a bad program

Unity is amazing, I've been using it for almost a decade now. It has a learning curve, but so does Godot I assume... Although I'm not sure how forgiving Godot is when compared to Unity when you make mistakes. It's not perfect, but I love using it.

It's hated due to its administration, and also due to how it's managed, but the great majority of those things do not impact me or the great majority of users that are small devs.
It's hated and has been hated since forever because of two main reasons that I can think of:
1. A lot of beginners use it and make crappy games, so people automatically assume Unity makes crappy games (also true for RPGM, and a lot of low entry engines).
2. Last year they tried to be greedy and introduce a runtime fee.

There's no real reason to hate Unity, most of it is people surfing twitter and enjoying hopping on the daily ship of "Today we hate this thing because yes".
However, I still suggest to learn Godot instead of Unity due to the fact Godot is open source, and open source software is always superior. It's growing at a fast rate, and it's only a matter of time before Godot becomes as great and powerful as Blender (Another open source software, but for modelling among other things), plus it's fully free. You'd have to be insane to pick Unity over Godot if you're just starting out.

 

[{Jeizaguretokanteishi01}]

Unity is amazing, I've been using it for almost a decade now. It has a learning curve, but so does Godot I assume... Although I'm not sure how forgiving Godot is when compared to Unity when you make mistakes. It's not perfect, but I love using it.

It's hated due to its administration, and also due to how it's managed, but the great majority of those things do not impact me or the great majority of users that are small devs.
It's hated and has been hated since forever because of two main reasons that I can think of:
1. A lot of beginners use it and make crappy games, so people automatically assume Unity makes crappy games (also true for RPGM, and a lot of low entry engines).
2. Last year they tried to be greedy and introduce a runtime fee.

There's no real reason to hate Unity, most of it is people surfing twitter and enjoying hopping on the daily ship of "Today we hate this thing because yes".
However, I still suggest to learn Godot instead of Unity due to the fact Godot is open source, and open source software is always superior. It's growing at a fast rate, and it's only a matter of time before Godot becomes as great and powerful as Blender (Another open source software, but for modelling among other things), plus it's fully free. You'd have to be insane to pick Unity over Godot if you're just starting out.

thanks for the reply and info are there any good tutorials on godot out there

 

[Winterfire]

thanks for the reply and info are there any good tutorials on godot out there

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[aereton]

Due to your background, I'd agree with recommending you to start with Ren'Py.
Keep in mind that, with engines such as Unity and Godot, you will need to implement your own systems for pretty much anything. Saving/loading, menus, dialogue system, etc etc.
Sure, you can get existing solutions for most, especially in the Unity Asset Store, but cobbling them together might be a headache in itself too. Ren'Py already gives you a solid environment with most of these features out of the box, and you can concentrate on writing your game, learning a language, learning to deal with game logic and so on.

eventually would like to develop a openish world style game with 3d graphics

Keep to smaller goals, at least for the first few dozen experiments and projects. Jumping straight into "3d open world game" is a beginner mistake and unrealistic for even a seasoned solo developer.