Choosing a Game Engine

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm going to create a clone of the Escape! game as a means to investigate the emotional effect of product placement (with a view to eventually using this in the context of nostalgia-themed games).

For any blog followers who are unfamiliar with the term game engine, I should probably explain what one is!

A computer game needs program code which draws the images on screen, and which calculates things (like how far an object has moved, or whether a missile has hit an alien).  This program code is a common feature of many games, so companies tend to lump this code together as an 'engine' which can be re-used again & again.

This approach also splits the majority of the programming work away from the design aspect, meaning that designers can focus on what they do best!  Game engines usually include extra facilities to make it easy to organise pictures, sounds, game rules, maps, etc.  Hence a game designer will tend to build their game around an existing engine.

My normal engine of choice is Unity.  However, Unity is a 3D engine and therefore adds extra complexity when building a 2D game.  There are many 2D engines available, so it makes sense to use one of those.

First thought was GameMaker, which I know well.  However, there's a new 2D engine on the block -- Construct 2 -- which is getting a lot of good buzz.  Even better, its free (so long as you're not using it on a large scale commercially) and will create games which can be converted for mobile phones & tablets.  So, I thought I'd use this project as an excuse to learn to use Construct 2.