With all that said let me get back to my point, here are some of the top ‘Indie friendly’ game engines out there; Unity 3D vs Shiva vs Torque. Now my first initial thought will of course be that Unity 3D is the best, as previously stated, however this is a very biased statement. Not because I’m on the developmental team, but because I’m now invested into it { don’t forget to download Feed Meh!! }, so it better be the best for good while. Nevertheless, after actually reviewing the other competition out there I’m sure you’ll be agreeing alongside with me too.

Below are a few pro’s & con’s for each engine:

Unity 3D

http://unity3d.com/unity/features/iphone-publishing

Pros:

• Feature Packed!
• Full support for native Objective C (for whatever reason if you needed/wanted it)
• 3 scripting language options: JavaScript, C#, and a dialect of Python called Boo
• Scripts are compiled to native ARM assembler code during build
• I already have a license

Cons:

• Price! Indie+ iPhone: $600 |  Pro + iPhone: $3,000
• Forced splash screens for Indie licenses
• No 2d platform

Thoughts: The price and the forced splash screen almost insticivly makes me want to say no, however when you dig deeper you’ll see a solid engine that’s only getting better & better. In addition, it’s more approachable, and has an easier learning curve because of the 3 separate language options they allow you to use.

Shiva

http://www.stonetrip.com/

Pros:

• iPhone publishing for FREE!
• Price; Indie: $250 |  Pro: $720
• No forced splash screens

Cons:

• Works on Mac OS under parallels
• Lua scripting language, which (most likely) wont be used anywhere else
• Language is interpreted
• small(er) userbase and still a bit rough around the edges

Thoughts: Shiva isn’t even available for the mac yet. So although its really enticing with its price, it’s not really meant for the iPhone. You’ll pay for it with the longer development time unless you buy or already own both a PC & mac, to switch back-and-forth.

Torque

http://www.garagegames.com/products/consoles

Pros:

• Both 2D & 3D platform
• Developer store; buy source code and/or game assets
• Feature Packed!

Cons:

• Price! Indie 3D: $900 Indie 2D: $1,000 | Pro 3D: $2,750/ $4,750 Pro 2D: $2,750/ $3,500
• Individual prices for 3D & 2D engines
• TorqueScript is a C++ like scripting language

Thoughts: 1st the price is just outrageous. It seems as it it just keeps on climbing. 2nd, although Torque does have plenty of features, it’s not really a ‘pro’ for me simply because it’s written using a language similar to C++ which doesn’t make for smooth learning curve.

Conclusion

So there you have it, the Top 3 iPhone gaming engines compared to each other. You can make up your own mind, and every situation is different, but I’d still have to say that Unity 3D is still above the rest. If your already knee deep with C++ & or Objective C, and you don’t mind loosing $900-$4,740 ( I say loosing because, as any investment is made there is always that chance of not breaking even, and loosing your investment ) then Torque may be for you. It has plenty of features, and a pretty solid community. However if your not familiar or fluent with an Object Oriented Language already, and maybe you know a few scripting languages and you want to develop something for the iPhone but Shiva’s low price is calling to you, I say don’t do it yet. If your targeting the iPhone, why would you develop on a PC? And if your crazy enough to run it through an emulator, than you have every right to lose your investment. Nothing against them, the upgrades are looking great as I’ve been following them since I started researching for an engine to use before I bought into Unity 3D ; but it’s still a bit too rough. With all that said, go check out Unity’s demo & I’m sure you’ll love it. Oh, and did I mention that I made a game using Unity 3D, Feed Meh!! Ah, I did actually. Silly me.

Let me know what you think? Love Unity too? Hate it? Think Shiva is going to tear the market right open? Let me know and sound-off.

Lyrics
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i’ll tell you whats happening/
its easy for you to see/
hearing me remix this hit first done by him the kid kudi/
no prablemo, i know javascript, but no Objective-C/
i got the answers, give em’ frameworks & then they come ask for me/

my mental capacity/
is why these devs hatin’ me/
my game Feed Meh!!, overshaddow & beat super teams/
not one line of C/
scripted in Unity/
nothings free, 100 cents i charge, pocket & give to my mrs. B/

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**This is part 3 of 3**
This is my 2nd video for my bi-weekly video blog. There are 3 topics in which I talk about, #1. being my first iPhone/ iPod Touch game Feed Meh!! v1.1 update & some other future updates as well. #2 is some advice and insight with regard to submitting your app and/or game to Apple for their cringing approval process. #3 is some general advice I wanted to share.

Let me know if you have any other questions regarding the approval process, or anything else really; and I’m also always looking for some feedback regarding how your taking in the information. Am I babbling, should I show some accompanying videos, or does it even matter as you don’t really care?

**This is part 2 of 3**
This is my 2nd video for my bi-weekly video blog. There are 3 topics in which I talk about, #1. being my first iPhone/ iPod Touch game Feed Meh!! v1.1 update & some other future updates as well. #2 is some advice and insight with regard to submitting your app and/or game to Apple for their cringing approval process. #3 is some general advice I wanted to share.

Let me know if you have any other questions regarding the approval process, or anything else really; and I’m also always looking for some feedback regarding how your taking in the information. Am I babbling, should I show some accompanying videos, or does it even matter as you don’t really care?

**This is part 1 of 3**
This is my 2nd video for my bi-weekly video blog. There are 3 topics in which I talk about, #1. being my first iPhone/ iPod Touch game Feed Meh!! v1.1 update & some other future updates as well. #2 is some advice and insight with regard to submitting your app and/or game to Apple for their cringing approval process. #3 is some general advice I wanted to share.

Let me know if you have any other questions regarding the approval process, or anything else really; and I’m also always looking for some feedback regarding how your taking in the information. Am I babbling, should I show some accompanying videos, or does it even matter as you don’t really care?

This is a video with some insight on the many tools and applications we used to make our first iPhone game ‘Feed Meh!!’ and some ideas of what we’re planning for the future of the game.

Let us know if you have any suggestions for an application of your choice that you think we could use for our process, or if you have any questions regarding our upcoming game or the actual tools and process we used.

Visit CBMUmedia.com for more information.

Tools:
Unity3d: unity3d.com/
Cinema 4D: maxon.net/
Photoshop CS3: adobe.com/products/photoshop/family/?promoid=BPDEK
Illustrator CS3: adobe.com/products/illustrator/
Textmate: macromates.com/

Organization
Basecamp: basecamphq.com/
Mole Skin: moleskineus.com/
Drop Box: getdropbox.com/

If your interested, please submit your email via the website [ FeedMeh.CBMUmedia.com/ ] and I’ll make sure to notify you once it’s released.

Music By: 6ergascho