UE4 or UDK?
Question in brief: Should I switch to UE4 now, or should I wait until I have a working prototype in UDK and then switch? I definitely plan to switch at some point, but it's unlikely I'll have anything ready to release until late next year and could potentially switch engines virtually any time before then.
Where I am: I have been learning UDK on-and-off alongside a bunch of 3D modelling and animation tools. Most of my past game dev experience is with 2D games, although I did some bits & pieces in 3D years and years ago. I'm a self-funding lone developer so trying to fit all this around other work to keep the bills paid. With DK2 hopefully arriving soon, I plan to make a fairly big push to make some more significant progress before I get forced on to other things again.
Pros for UDK: Stable. Complete tooling. Lots of tutorials and documentation. Completely free (during prototyping phase anyway).
Pros for UE4: I know C++ and don't especially want to learn UnrealScript ⁽¹⁾. Better engine, full source access. Definitely what I will be using for anything beyond a simple prototype.
Cons for UDK: Not everything can be transferred directly to UE4. Possibly a lot of un-learning / time wasted learning things that don't exist in UE4.
Cons for UE4: Fewer docs, tutorials, etc. Some of the tools are still incomplete/nonexistent (AFAIK, but I haven't kept up to date with this). Greater chance of bugs. Monthly cost (would rather defer as late as possible). Possibly slower workflow ⁽²⁾
Neutral: Can do a lot during prototyping in terms of testing out assets, animations, etc., which won't be particularly dependent on game logic anyway. UDK might be better due to the cost, unless transferring assets is a huge pain. Working out things like final lighting models can really only be done in the production engine, but is also likely to come fairly late in the production process, long after the main assets & prototyping are done.
Unsure: possibly more direct control of Oculus SDK in UE4? Any significant practical advantages to that?
⁽¹⁾ I might bring in Lua or AngelScript to help speed up prototyping. Is this what others normally do?
⁽²⁾ I'd very much like to hear how people's workflow has changed since moving to UE4. Is there a lot more time spent compiling? Does that slow things down? Are other things faster? What's the asset import workflow like compared to UDK? Obviously most people will have a slightly different experience based on their skills, development priorities, etc., so would be good to get a few different perspectives on this for comparison.
Where I am: I have been learning UDK on-and-off alongside a bunch of 3D modelling and animation tools. Most of my past game dev experience is with 2D games, although I did some bits & pieces in 3D years and years ago. I'm a self-funding lone developer so trying to fit all this around other work to keep the bills paid. With DK2 hopefully arriving soon, I plan to make a fairly big push to make some more significant progress before I get forced on to other things again.
Pros for UDK: Stable. Complete tooling. Lots of tutorials and documentation. Completely free (during prototyping phase anyway).
Pros for UE4: I know C++ and don't especially want to learn UnrealScript ⁽¹⁾. Better engine, full source access. Definitely what I will be using for anything beyond a simple prototype.
Cons for UDK: Not everything can be transferred directly to UE4. Possibly a lot of un-learning / time wasted learning things that don't exist in UE4.
Cons for UE4: Fewer docs, tutorials, etc. Some of the tools are still incomplete/nonexistent (AFAIK, but I haven't kept up to date with this). Greater chance of bugs. Monthly cost (would rather defer as late as possible). Possibly slower workflow ⁽²⁾
Neutral: Can do a lot during prototyping in terms of testing out assets, animations, etc., which won't be particularly dependent on game logic anyway. UDK might be better due to the cost, unless transferring assets is a huge pain. Working out things like final lighting models can really only be done in the production engine, but is also likely to come fairly late in the production process, long after the main assets & prototyping are done.
Unsure: possibly more direct control of Oculus SDK in UE4? Any significant practical advantages to that?
⁽¹⁾ I might bring in Lua or AngelScript to help speed up prototyping. Is this what others normally do?
⁽²⁾ I'd very much like to hear how people's workflow has changed since moving to UE4. Is there a lot more time spent compiling? Does that slow things down? Are other things faster? What's the asset import workflow like compared to UDK? Obviously most people will have a slightly different experience based on their skills, development priorities, etc., so would be good to get a few different perspectives on this for comparison.