Overview

Unreal Engine

Stacks376

Followers392

Votes34

pygame

Stacks117

Followers173

Votes5

GitHub Stars0

Forks0

Unreal Engine vs pygame: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this Markdown document, we will discuss the key differences between Unreal Engine and pygame. Both Unreal Engine and pygame are game development frameworks, but they have several distinctions that set them apart from each other.

Programming Language: Unreal Engine primarily utilizes C++ as its programming language, whereas pygame is based on Python. This difference in programming languages affects the coding style and syntax used in these frameworks. C++ is a lower-level language, offering more control and efficiency, while Python is known for its simplicity and ease of use.
Complexity and Scalability: Unreal Engine is a robust and feature-rich game engine designed for developing high-end, complex games with stunning graphics and physics simulations. It includes a wide range of built-in tools and functionalities, which make it suitable for creating large-scale projects. On the other hand, pygame is a lightweight library that focuses on simplicity and ease of use. It is ideal for small to medium-sized projects or beginner-level game development.
Visual Editor: Unreal Engine comes with a powerful visual editor called "Blueprints," which allows developers to create game logic and behaviors using a node-based interface. This visual scripting system enables designers and non-programmers to create complex interactions without writing code. pygame, on the other hand, does not provide a built-in visual editor and relies solely on coding to create game logic and behavior.
Platform Compatibility: Unreal Engine supports multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. It offers built-in cross-platform functionality, allowing developers to create games that can be deployed on various devices without significant modifications. On the contrary, pygame mainly focuses on desktop platforms and does not provide native support for mobile platforms like Android and iOS, although it can be ported to them with additional effort.
Community and Resources: Unreal Engine has a large and active community of developers, with extensive documentation, tutorials, and forums available. It also offers a marketplace where developers can buy and sell assets, plugins, and ready-to-use code snippets. pygame, although it has a supportive community, is comparatively smaller and may have limited resources and documentation available.
3D Capabilities: Unreal Engine is renowned for its advanced 3D rendering capabilities, providing realistic graphics, shaders, and lighting effects. It supports complex physics simulations, skeletal animation, and particle systems that can be used to create visually stunning games. pygame, however, is focused on 2D game development and lacks the advanced 3D rendering capabilities offered by Unreal Engine.

In summary, Unreal Engine is a feature-rich game development engine that excels in creating complex, visually stunning games with advanced 3D capabilities. It offers a visual editor, extensive platform compatibility, and a large community of developers. On the other hand, pygame is a lightweight library suitable for smaller projects or beginners, focusing on simplicity and ease of use with 2D game development in mind. It uses Python as its programming language and may have more limited resources and platform compatibility compared to Unreal Engine.

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Advice on Unreal Engine, pygame

Alexey

Software Engineer / Game Developer at Norlin Games

Jun 11, 2020

Decided

When I started to learn game development, I've tried to use Unity multiple times because it's the most popular option. But never get it worked because of the clunky UI which is very hard to understand for a new user. After some time, I've decided to try UE4 despite there was a lot of rumors that it's "heavy" or requires an AAA team. And suddenly it clicked, everything works as I expecting, UI is clear and much more powerfull, no need to build custom tools to work on the game itself. Blueprints are very helpful for beginners, C++ has a lot of "syntax-sugar" - macroses, a lot of convenient in-engine types for everything. Later while working with Unreal, I've realized it has very consistent roadmap with constant improvements and adding new features. At the same time, each major version update is painless so you can upgrade your project during development to get new features. UE4 is free to use with the full list of features and you only have to pay royalty after getting your first $1 million from the project (and that's just the default case, you can always discuss custom license with an upfront fee, if you want to).

92.3k views92.3k

Comments

Arthur

Software Engineer at Value Industry

Mar 1, 2020

Decided

I chose Unity over Unreal Engine because Unity has a more user friendly UI for beginners looking to learn game development. Additionally, as someone who uses a lot of online resources to learn new languages and tools, I found a lot of tutorials covering game development with Unity as the core engine. This doesn't mean Unreal is not a great choice for game development, I just personally found learning game development much smoother with the amount of resources available with Unity.

89.8k views89.8k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Unreal Engine	pygame
It is a game engine that helps you make games. It is made up of several components that work together to drive the game. Its massive system of tools and editors allows you to organize your assets and manipulate them to create the gameplay for your game.	It is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.
Photoreal Rendering in Real Time; Blueprints: Create without Coding	Highly portable; Runs on nearly every platform and operating system
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 0
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 0
Stacks 376	Stacks 117
Followers 392	Followers 173
Votes 34	Votes 5
Pros & Cons
Pros 11 C++ 6 Blueprints 5 PBR 4 Suitable for any projects 4 Source Available Cons 6 Heavy 1 A lot of "heaviness" myths around	Pros 3 Easy to install 1 Simple 1 Lightweigt by only being 12 mb Cons 2 Has only 2d 1 Slow
Integrations
Python C#	Python JetBrains Rider Ninject PlayFab TestFairy Vuforia

What are some alternatives to Unreal Engine, pygame?

Electron

With Electron, creating a desktop application for your company or idea is easy. Initially developed for GitHub's Atom editor, Electron has since been used to create applications by companies like Microsoft, Facebook, Slack, and Docker. The Electron framework lets you write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on io.js and Chromium and is used in the Atom editor.

Unity

Unity is the ultimate game development platform. Use Unity to build high-quality 3D and 2D games, deploy them across mobile, desktop, VR/AR, consoles or the Web, and connect with loyal and enthusiastic players and customers.

Godot

It is an advanced, feature-packed, multi-platform 2D and 3D open source game engine. It is developed by hundreds of contributors from all around the world.

Gamemaker Studio 2

It has everything you need to take your idea from concept to finished game. With no barriers to entry and powerful functionality.

Sciter

It brings a stack of web technologies to desktop UI development. Web designers, and developers, can reuse their experience and expertise in creating modern looking desktop applications.

wxWidgets

It is a C++ library that lets developers create applications for Windows, macOS, Linux and other platforms with a single code base. It has popular language bindings for Python, Perl, Ruby and many other languages, and unlike other cross-platform toolkits, it gives applications a truly native look and feel because it uses the platform's native API rather than emulating the GUI. It's also extensive, free, open-source and mature.

Qt5

It is a full development framework with tools designed to streamline the creation of applications and user interfaces for desktop, embedded, and mobile platforms.

JavaFX

It is a set of graphics and media packages that enables developers to design, create, test, debug, and deploy rich client applications that operate consistently across diverse platforms.

React Native Desktop

Build OS X desktop apps using React Native.

JUCE

It is a C++ framework for low-latency applications, with cross-platform GUI libraries to get your apps running on Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android.