Game development is advancing at a serious pace. Just 10 years back only gaming companies used game engine. Indie developers had very few options to choose from. Even in the limited options only a few were free to use and had restrictions on the game engine’s capability. The scenario has changed now. Game engines are available for free and with full functionality. You are having the power to build what you want with much ease. Unreal and Lumberyard are some game Engines that offer free source code. In this post we will compare Unreal vs Lumberyard and clear out many doubts.
The most crucial requirement for a new developer is the support community and learning curve. If a game engine has a good support community, then it makes the learning more fun and interesting. Choosing an engine with a steep learning curve might lead you to lose interest in game development. There are many online courses to help you learn both the game engines. So, no matter which game engine you choose learning them shouldn’t be difficult.
We have listed some key points on Unreal and lumberyard game engine. Unreal being a more matured game engine is the clear winner but lumberyard also has many features to offer and can be good for a new developer.
Unreal vs Lumberyard Main points to consider
| Features | Unreal Engine | Lumberyard |
|---|---|---|
| System requirement | Mac or Windows with Graphics card and 8GB RAM | Windows with 8GB RAM and Compatible graphics card. Does not support MAC |
| Learning curve | Little difficult to learn for beginners. Well documented | Many tutorials available. But, not much support for troubleshooting problems |
| Platforms Supported | All Known gaming platforms | Supports most of the major platforms |
| Source code access | Full source code access for free | Full source code access for free |
| Game quality | Best quality among game engines | Quality is good in 3D, but not in all game formats |
| Languages | C++, visual scripting with blueprint | C++, Lua and visual scripting with script canvas |
| Asset store | Unreal marketplace is very resourceful. | No asset store available |
| Best Course | Learn Unreal, Hire Unreal Engine tutor | Learn Lumberyard |
| Cost | Free till you earn $3000 with your game. 5% royalty after that. | Totally free |
Unreal vs Lumberyard Detailed Comparison
UNREAL Game engine
Epic Games developed Unreal engine under a man known as Tim Sweeney in 1998. For the past two decades, Unreal has been used to develop games from all genres. Worldwide popular games such as Splinter Cell have been developed using Unreal. Newer games such as Final Fantasy 7 have also been developed using this game engine.
The latest version of Unreal is version 4.21 and was released on November 2018. Like previous versions, the latest was also created with a 3D game in mind, and this is why Unreal is great for 3D titles. It is important to note that is also supports 2d game development. It is also the game engine with one of the best dynamic lightings that will fully immerse you into a virtual gaming world. However, one of its stands out features is that you do not need to have any coding knowledge to create a game using Unreal. This is because Unreal come with a Blueprint. The Blueprint is a group of tools and features that you can use to create all aspects of the game without having to write a single line of code. This is what makes it so great for beginners.
With all these great features of this engine, it is surprising that Unreal is free. They give you the full game engine package with all features for free. They did this to encourage software and game development in schools. To make money however, they have a fair system. Unreal takes 5% of your total revenue when you ship your game. They take this cut forever. This rule though only applies after you have made game sales worth over $3000, which is a fair deal.
Supports both 2D and 3D development
Many games today are in 3D. However, for Indie developers, 2D game development is essential. Unreal game engine provides a smooth and great workflow for these game models and this is why almost all Indie game developers use it. Moreover, it is often that, games made with unreal look really cool. No matter 2D or 3D, all games made with unreal look a class apart.
Unreal uses WYSIWYG editor
It has a ‘what you see is what you get’ (WYSIWYG) editor which is very convenient and efficient for game developers since testing during development is made very easy.
Supports both programming language and visual scripting
As we know by now, to use a game engine, you have to have some bit of coding knowledge. The problem comes in when you know a language that is not supported by your game engine. Unreal ensures that even if you are not well versed with C++, you can make a game with the visual scripting tool. Blueprint is the name of the visual scripting tool of Unreal and is well documented for new beginners.
LUMBERYARD GAME ENGINE
Lumberyard engine is a cross platform engine that was developed by Amazon. The main and most obvious difference between the two is that Lumberyard integrates Amazon Web Services that allow developers to build their games on Amazon’s servers. It also supports the live streaming platform known as Twitch. Like Lumberyard, the source code is made available to the developers although with a bit of limitations. These limitations include: user cannot publicly release the source code or incorporate it in their own game.
Lumberyard was released in 2016 together with a multiplayer hosting service known as Gamelift. This was done to attract as many gaming fans as possible to the system. Since this game engine is so recent and not fully developed, a beta version was released in 2018 to support multiple platforms such as Windows, PS4 and Xbox One. Linux and Mac are partially supported and full versions are currently in the workings. Virtual reality support is also in its beta stages and allows the game developer to build games supporting unique devices such as HTC Vive. Since the Lumberyard game engine is new, not many games have been created using it. The following are the games built by this game engine: The Grand Tour Game (2019) and Coffence (2018). The rest of the games have not been officially released yet.
Lumberyard is a cross platform
Lumberyard supports all major operating systems in the world today. This list includes Windows, Mac and Linux among others. It can also be supported by either 32- or 64-bit machines which makes it every convenient for many. The only problem is that many alternative tools in Lumberyard are tailored with only one OS in mind: Windows. This means that when using another operating system with such tools will cause problems.
It has a server for Multiplayer
Lumberyard game engine has an inbuilt server to support multiplayer game development. The server also allows games made by Lumberyard to be suitable for multiple game environments such as Android, PS3, HTML5, PS Vita and even the less popular Windows Phone. They are currently working on a Raspberry Pi version.
Supports multiplayer gaming
Due to Lumberyard’s versatile features, creating multiplayer games has been made quite easy. Lumberyard game engine has an inbuilt server to support multiplayer game development. The server also allows games made by Lumberyard to be suitable for multiple game environments such as Android, PS3, HTML5, PS Vita and even the less popular Windows Phone.
Lumberyard is free you only pay for AWS
Lumberyard is total free, there is no revenue limit or royalty to be paid when you publish your game. You can make any game you want and publish them free if cost. There is one catch that lumberyard uses Amazon AWS services for many in-game features and AWS is not free. You have to pay for any AWS service you use.
Lumberyard has a rich documentation
Even though Lumberyard is a variation of Cryengine. Amazon has made sure anybody who uses lumberyard shouldn’t face any difficulty. Lumberyard documentation is well arranged and easy to read. You must be able to get the any of it with regular use.
Lumberyard supports facial animation editing
When it comes to designing games, a lot of facial expressions are needed for the game characters. This game engine comes with a new powerful facial animation editor. This editor allows the developer to input real life expressions on their characters’ faces. This makes the game more realistic and more enjoyable.
Conclusion: Unreal vs Lumberyard
There is no reason to choose Lumberyard over Unreal. Unreal is the best Game engine for any level of developers. Also, Unreal and Unity are the industry standards when it comes to game development. So, if you are looking for a job, then Unreal or Unity your best option. There is no point in thinking further. Start learning Unreal now.
Did you seriously just say “This is a key feature since not many game engines have this option. In fact, only a few high end game engines have this feature. Offline rendering means that rendering can continue even when there is no internet connection. This is convenient as it protects the developer from losing progress in development.” Please tell me your joking.
You can check online for the list of game engines that allow you to create games without downloading them. You may think Unity, unreal, Godot, lumberyard are the only game engines but there are hundreds out there.
Actually I was more confused about the gaming engines.The information you provided is more than sufficient to clear my doubts.You are a genius sir💯🙌
Glad the article was useful to you
Ehm.
The line “Offline rendering means that rendering can continue even when there is no internet connection” really. Brings the point across about the amount of research that went into the article.
Thanks for pointing that out. The article has been updated now.