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It is well-known that video game engines allow the development of video games. This software is used to design video games from the ground up. It also allows developers to design every sequence, put together dialogs and levels, and ship the final product to the end user.
Most video game development companies write their own video game engine that allows engineers to exercise maximum creativity. However, there are several free video game development engines available for developers who do not want to walk the extra mile and/or do not have sufficient funds to develop a custom video game development engine.
Targeted in such a market, several companies have launched free-to-use video game development engines. Numerous high-quality free game engines can be used to create extremely polished and AAA-level video games. Several large development studios are using some of the industry's free game engines for their high-budget projects.
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A guide to choosing the best free video game engines
5) Godot
Godot is a widely used video game development engine and is considered to be one of the most beginner-friendly game engines. Users may be baffled by the technical complexity of other free engines such as Unity and Unreal Engine, an aspect that Godot picked up as a unique selling proposition.
In the eight years of its existence, the engine has been used in several high-quality cross-platform video games, including Until Then, Gravity Ace, Bendy Worm, and more.
4) CryEngine
CryEngine is one of the most technologically advanced video game development engines available on the market at the moment. Back in 2007, an older version of this engine was used to develop the iconic Crysis game, which amazed the gaming community with its technological achievements and incredible focus on realism.
Today, CryEngine is available for free to young and budding video game developers. To date, the latest Crysis games still utilize the engine's insane capabilities. Other prominent games that have been built on CryEngine include Kingdom Come: Deliverance.
Presently, all of CryEngine's features can be utilized for free. The game engine has a revenue sharing model, per which developers will be required to pay a 5% royalty to CryTek once their video game has surpassed $5,000 in revenue.
3) Unity 5
Unity 5 is one of the most widely used game engines within the industry. It boasts robust compatibility and has proven to be very potent for smartphone video game development.
Some of the most notable video games developed on this engine include Escape from Tarkov, Among Us, and Pokémon GO.
Unity has a revenue-sharing model for video games that performs particularly well in the market. Apart from this, professional developers can also apply for an enterprise version of the engine.
2) Armory3D
Armory3D is one of the most notable video game development engines. However, developers should note that it is certainly not the best. The main focus of Armory3D is its open-source nature and portability. Thus, several aspects have been inspired by other video game development engines like Unreal Engine and Unity3D.
However, the engine boasts some interesting features like Blender integration that will allow 3D modelers to work directly from within the development engine, saving time and effort. The engine also supports visual scripting for developers who are not well versed in writing code.
It is worth noting that Armory3D is completely open-source and has the full code running behind it available on GitHub. Furthermore, they do not charge users a single dime. Unlike most "free" video game development engines, the engine does not have any royalty-sharing programs, either.
1) Unreal Engine 5
Unreal Engine 5 is one of the most technologically advanced video game engines available on the market. The best part of the engine is that it is completely free to use. Users can develop video games for Android, iOS, PlayStation, Xbox, and/or PC using this particular engine.
Interestingly, various major video game development studios like Ninja Theory and CD Projekt Red (CDPR) are using Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) for their upcoming projects. In fact, the upcoming Hellblade game is being developed on this famed engine. CDPR has previously confirmed that the upcoming Witcher game is also being developed on UE5.
The game engine also comes with several world-class technologies, including support for the Quixel Megascans asset library and Megascans, a custom repository of high-quality character models to ease out the development process for small developers.
Apart from video game development, UE5 is also used in architectural visualization, movies, and the engineering industry to demonstrate complex models and mechanisms in action.
Epic Games, the developers of UE5 also do not levy any revenue on video games that make less than US$1 million in revenue. Games that make over the threshold in terms of lifetime gross revenue have to pay a 5% royalty to the company.
