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for a University project we need to develop a prototype for a Survival Horror game using an engine of our own choice. We are currently preparing the project and wondering which engine to use. Maybe your experience could be useful to us. The main aspects are:

  • Ease of use. We are a team of 5 people with very little experience and have to finish the project in a short time. A flat learning curve and fast results are very important for us.
  • Dynamic lights and shadows. The protagonist will carry a candle, which is one of the major gameplay elements. We need a system for dynamic lights and shadows.
  • Good sound system. A lot of the horror will come from 3D sound effects, which the engine should support natively.
  • Free for personal / educational use. Poor students living off packet soup already, you know :)

Unity was our first choice, but doesn't support dynamic shadows in the free version. We're just trying UDK, but are still looking for other possible solutions.

What engine do you think would be best suited for the task? Any hints are welcome!

Thanks, Daerst

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    \$\begingroup\$ Getting started questions are considered to be offtopic here, so this question might be closed. The FAQ tells of other places where such a question would be more appropriate though. \$\endgroup\$
    – user15805
    Apr 22, 2013 at 12:20
  • \$\begingroup\$ Thanks for your comment. Let's hope it's specific enough :-) \$\endgroup\$
    – Daerst
    Apr 22, 2013 at 12:29
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    \$\begingroup\$ "which tech to use" questions are explicitly called out in the faq as a kind of question that's not a good fit for the site. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tetrad
    Apr 22, 2013 at 17:33

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you should probably check out an engine like the half life engine, it is easy to use and some of the most fun horor games come from it, if you had good experience with game design then i would have suggested the havok engine if possible, its a go to for good game design, and great games use it because of how flexible it is for devs but again i suggest you use the half life engine unless you want to start from the ground up with havok(which is a more complicated engine, but allows for more manipulation)if you dont know how to start i cant tell you, or the question will probably close. please note im not a professional but i have some experience with this (i work mainly with more complicated engines) i dont know much about simple engines but havok, half life, Skyrim and portal engines are the engines i started out with. (disregard Skyrim and portal engines for a horror game)anyway, good luck

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Agreed. Just create a mod for an existing game engine like Valve's Half-Life 2 (Source) engine. It's free, no limitations (beyond you can't sell it), and a lot of documentation and tools available. \$\endgroup\$
    – Tim Holt
    Apr 22, 2013 at 16:03

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