Free Open Source Game Engine (Unity Alternative)

[Tutorial Doctor]

I was looking at a Unity 3d tutorial on youtube and stumbled saw another video in the play list. I checked it out and found MARATIS3D!!!

 

http://www.maratis3d.org/

 

I did not like Unity. It had a bad interface and too much for a novice (I am a novice game designer). Coding was too complicated for a beginner. But ever since I have started using this software, I have been non-stop making things. I made a showcase:

 

http://forum.maratis3d.com/viewtopic.php?id=738

 

And I even wrote a template for a customizable game script:

 

http://forum.maratis3d.com/viewtopic.php?id=744

 

(Novice indeed, but Maratis is not intimidating)

 

Maratis uses the LUA programming language as scripting language. The language behind the Engine is C++

 

This is BY FAR the best game engine for beginners. A more skilled programmer was able to make a chess game:

 

http://forum.maratis3d.com/viewtopic.php?id=750

 

And I have made a few levels myself:

 

http://forum.maratis3d.com/viewtopic.php?id=775

 

The API is VERY EASY TO UNDERSTAND although the community needs some action. 

 

It has BLENDER support as it stands, and an asset import. It looked sort of empty at first, but I know I can make something marketable with it. 

 

I am here to get ideas for my own games, and tips on how to make good games and levels. 

 

The game can be compiled for windows or Mac OSX, and with a little work, it can be used for IOS also.

 

 

[gamedevcaj]

HM, while I don't usually comment on 3d app of choice, I must say I can't stand blender ( tried it, nasty, never again), thus I use maya only and could not be more thrilled . I don't believe Open source software, imho,  very capable of producing high quality apps of that type, and apparently the 'business' community agrees with that , as max/maya most certainly by a long shot,is the default in a huge majority of studios, and universitities. There is just zero comparison to be made on that level 'Im afraid. That this engine focuses a great deal on blender, is a total non starter for me, because I feel that would lock people in to using a  3d app,  that for many is terribly unintuitive.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more saying its the easiest engine for beginners, as I've seen other 'editors' that while having more /less features than Maratis, allow you to do a lot out of the box with a fairly complete editor , which itself also now supports loading a  new level using various triggers.

 

I only use UDK and cryengine 3 atm, but if I had to choose free based, I'd go with http://irrrpgbuilder.sourceforge.net/, because I like that it uses irrlicht, whicih I  think is a wonderful engine, and has some very high quality images/games done by its userbase. At the moment, I'm seeing zero of that, with Maratis. What is there seem very superficial and simplistic by comparison. The forum isn't very active, but judging by Maratis, it's not doing much better, compared to other Open source free MIT based engines like Ogre3d. Ogre3d has been used by big studios and commercial entities, like for example Torchlight 2.

 

Thx for post.

caj

Edited September 27, 2013 by gamedevcaj

[Tutorial Doctor]

HM, while I don't usually comment on 3d app of choice, I must say I can't stand blender ( tried it, nasty, never again), thus I use maya only and could not be more thrilled . I don't believe Open source software, imho,  very capable of producing high quality apps of that type, and apparently the 'business' community agrees with that , as max/maya most certainly by a long shot,is the default in a huge majority of studios, and universitities. There is just zero comparison to be made on that level 'Im afraid. That this engine focuses a great deal on blender, is a total non starter for me, because I feel that would lock people in to using a  3d app,  that for many is terribly unintuitive.

 

I couldn't disagree with you more saying its the easiest engine for beginners, as I've seen other 'editors' that while having more /less features than Maratis, allow you to do a lot out of the box with a fairly complete editor , which itself also now supports loading a  new level using various triggers.

 

I only use UDK and cryengine 3 atm, but if I had to choose free based, I'd go with irrrpg.sourceforge.net, because I like that it uses irrlicht, whicih I  think is a wonderful engine, and has some very high quality images done by its userbase.

 

Thx for post.

caj

 

Thanks for your comment. I just posted on the Maratis site how annoying Blender is to use. hehe. I like Max more, but I am going to learn Blender anyhow (Can't fork out the 3k)

 

The asset import allows you to import obj and collada files also. I didn't know lua before trying this engine, but I learned it in no time because the API was good.

 

I am going to be learning from this site, so that I can make better levels, because I really see the potential of this software.

 

Look forward to more comments.  

[Kedhrin]

Cool for intro to game dev, sure, the lua front is a plus too.  

 

thanks for the tip on this... it could be great for newbs.