Creating Ipod touch/iphone game - need engine!

gilesruscoe

Ok, so me and my friend are two modellers and we are working on our own Ipod game. However, neither of us can code/program which leads me to my main question: Which engine should we use?

UDK looks promising and has a node based events system to aid our lack of coding, however it might be a bit too much for a game that has no lighting and very little particle effects?

Unity looked very promising but it doesnt have any node system.. so we should need to use code /

Any other suggestions would be great.

Our game is a 3rd person shooter/adventure and will need a Day/night system, resource gathering, weather (maybe?), chopping/removing jungle type vines....

Recon we will be alright without a coder and some long nights with a node editor? or should we seek a 3rd person to code?

Cheers in advance!

keres

Don't be scared off by having to "program" stuff like materials; it's hardly programming at all (much like HTML isn't programming.)

Right now I'm using UDK for a game. It's okay if you want to model everything (I personally think the CSG editing is horrid) and you're fine with a four player matchmaking limit on multiplayer.

I can't comprehend Unity, or rather haven't had the chance or motivation. My personal opinion is that if you can't fire up a program such as that and make a brush/cube/whatever and orbit around it within 15 minutes of messing around, it's nowhere near intuitive enough. UnityScript seems like a piece of garbage, but that's just my opinion

You will probably need a person to code just to get game logic out of the way, unless you're all wanting to learn. UnrealScript makes for a terrible first language, and it's hard enough to get used to anyway.

Ben Apuna

Along with Kismet in UDK I've heard tell of something called "logic blocks" in Blender's game engine which sound pretty easy to use. You might want to check it out, you could just use it for the engine if you want to author your content in another app.

As for Unity the programming side can be pretty simple depending on what you want to do. There are quite a few tutorials out there to help you get started. Just keep in mind you won't have any dynamic shadows or fancy effects like bloom etc... unless you fork out the cash for Unity Pro.

gilesruscoe

Thanks for the replys,

ive been using blender on the side for a while now and i must say, the game engine is shockingly bad, it would be easier to learn another program and script language then to struggle along with the technical issues of blender.

our scene will be very flat lighting, so we're not after lens flares and blooms etc, we just need a sky light that can emulate night/day and light coming from camp fires/torches (much like minecraft lighting effects).

UDK sounds like an ok idea, but how would one go about making npc's work and make the player able to chop through vines... gain pick ups etc, any tutorials around?

cheers

Arcanox

You need to get a coder, or learn how to code. I honestly don't think you can draw or node your way out of this one.

gilesruscoe

Thanks for responces...
We now have a coder as part of our team who i've worked with on previous games, should make things easier!