What engine to choose?

[Xaleph]

Hi folks,

I am beginning a new semester at school and this time, i`m the only programmer on the project. Henceforth, it is up to me to decide what engine to use for our project.

A little bit about the project, it`s a top down 2D game with rpg elements ( details not yet decided yet ) and it should support ads and/or ingame store to buy new items online. It also has a lot of management options, but those are mostly menu views I suppose..

The most important platform is going to be Android ( both smarthphone and tablet ) but we should retain the possibility to deploy as well on iOs and perhaps even the browser. So my first guess was html5 canvas + javascript, however, the game itself should support the ingame store and/or ads, so that`s going to be tough using canvas.

I have no clue what to chose, i looked at a lot of resources, here`s the list:

mobilegameengines.com ( complete overview of all kinds of game engines )
madewithmarmalade.com ( peeked my interest)
andengine.com ( looks promising for java deployment)
Pretty straightforward choices; Unity, Cocos2D-x ( + marmalade )

However, licenses are quite expensive, so that`s probably not going to happen.

The environment is important as well, to me that is. I prefer high level languages like Java or C# over C or C++, however if there`s no other option, i`m OK with C++. Environments I prefer; Visual Studio (10 or 12) and for Mac xCode ( or Eclipse clones for java and the likes)

Like I said, it`s quite daunting at the moment and I have no clue what to choose. What`s the best option for me to choose?

[hallsofvallhalla]

Why will canvas make the in game ads difficult?

[srachit]

I assure you HTML5 can fullfill all of those needs

[Xaleph]

Excellent, in more then 1 way. First of, we just had contact with the clients and we explained that creating a fully deployed game in under 13 weeks is gonna be tough on more then 1 platform, so they (actually me) chose a browser game. Mostly since it`s easiest to develop quickly on and is still deployable on other platforms with wrappers for Android and iOS.

So, this limits the number of engines, what to choose?

[srachit]

My personal choice for HTML5 has been enchantjs for a few weeks now, although I just got my hands on impactjs and I am loving it, so my preference might change but for now its enchantjs still.

So in short,
Dont want to spend a dime: Enchantjs

Got $100 to spend: Impactjs

You mentioned this was a school project in your first post and now you mention it is for a client, has your school hooked you up with a client who wants a game? Because thats pretty cool
If this is not a paid project and just as a school project, you can get your hands on impactjs by joining the clay.io competition and getting a student license for the engine.

[Xaleph]

Actualiteit yes, all projects are managed, So to speak by our school, however the projects themselves are for clients. So we do work on actual client projects , pretty cool. Anyway thanks for the advice, ill start looking into impactjs!

Any other recommendations are welcome als well!

[srachit]

Actualiteit yes, all projects are managed, So to speak by our school, however the projects themselves are for clients. So we do work on actual client projects , pretty cool. Anyway thanks for the advice, ill start looking into impactjs!

Any other recommendations are welcome als well!

Which school is this?

[Xaleph]

NHL Leeuwarden, it`s Dutch actually. By the way, the projects themselves are all relatively small, so to speak. Most students have very limited experience and skill to work on high level AAA titles ( truth be told, we only have 1 major studio in the Netherlands anyway) however, some students who show exceptional skill, do get a chance to work for these studios, some go to Germany to work with Crytek etc.

And another thing, our major ( communication & multimedia design, in short: CMD ) is kind of a weird school, I guess? We don`t have colleges, we don`t have exams, all we do is work on projects, we have to figure out most of the stuff we learn, ourselves, so there`s no way to really cheat either. Projects fail and well, that`s tough luck, it happens even when you try hard, but you can tell when someone`s slacking which, in return, will not grant you any points ( we need 30 each semester).

[srachit]

Wow I actually love that concept of learning!
I keep hearing stories about how universities teach outdated methods these days and curriculum has not caught up with the advances in computers yet, so a university where you learn everything as and when it is released is pretty sweet!
I also love the concept of projects for clients, it is giving real world experience which I'm sure will look impressive on a CV!
Dam that university sounds nice

[hallsofvallhalla]

I Love impact and recently learning melon. Both pretty good. To be honest all of the HTML5 engines talked about on here are pretty good.