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Possibly also a little bit about it, such as difficulty, user friendliness, language and what type of game it <strong>might*</strong> be best suited for.<br />
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<strong><span style="font-size: 10px;">* This does not mean ONLY suitable for, but just what it's main strength might be.</span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">I am gonna start out by listing those that I know of below. Please post those you might know of, which I didn't list! Please do it in the same format. Also, if you have knowledge on a platform that I listed, but didn't provide anything for (due to lack of personal experience) please post as well, so I can add the proper description:</span></span></p>
<ul class="bbc">
<li><span style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Unreal Development Kit (UDK):</strong> This is probably my favorite. It's the same engine that made the Gears of War series (Yes that's EPIC Games), and the development on it is constantly running. The engine itself is old, but through time have been upgraded, looked over and had new releases made almost every month, making it a very stable and mature engine. You can download this kit for free! However, to sell games with this thing, you either need to buy the $99 license, or buy the source at $2499. With that said, you don't have access to the source, but just about every aspect of the engine can be customized, just not the core (unless you have the native source, as described above). You can make games for Windows and iOS (not sure if you can make it for MAC as well).<br />
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<strong>Language:</strong> UnrealScript (And C++ if you got the source as described above).<br />
The UnrealScript language is inspired by Java, and C++ and if you know any of the two, you might have a better chance at learning it. One thing to note is, that the learning curve for this is pretty steep, unless you get it from the start of course. Personally I am still learning it bit by bit, very slowly, since there are very few books written on the subject it might seem overwhelming. They got a pretty good level of documentation, written in the same style as with Java documentation (for reference).<br />
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<strong>Difficulty:</strong> The kit itself takes a little bit to get used to, but otherwise very user friendly! There are tons of videos on YouTube showing how to navigate and work the UDK, so get searching. There are also videos on their Event System (<strong>Kismet</strong>), and their animation system (<strong>Matinee</strong>) though, they are for a bit more advanced users. There are plugins as well (that I am not going to list) which will help with developing UnrealScript files, just as if you wrote in in an IDE like MS Visual Studio or similar.<br />
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<strong>Conclusion: </strong>It's a good engine to get started with, even though it might seem overwhelming at start. The engine is primarily made for FPS games, but can without a problem be configured to other types of games. EPIC have made a website where they showcase games and projects made with the UDK, as well as give links to various sites such as documentation and their forums. Their forums is the way to go, if you want to develop!<br />
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://udk.com/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://udk.com/</a><br />
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://forums.epicgames.com/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://forums.epicgames.com</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>CryEngine:</strong> Someone might want to fill in for this one, as I have never worked with it.<br />
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.crytek.com/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://www.crytek.com</a></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 10px;"><span style="font-size: 14px;"><strong>Unity3D:</strong> I have only had very little experience with this engine, but as far as I can see on the internet, it has produced some fairly good games, like Battle Star Galactica, M.U.S.E, Suckerpunch and Lego Starwars: The Quest for R2-D2. It seems to be more centered around mobile game development, though I might be mistaken. But it does produce some very pleasing PC games!</span></span><br />
Someone with more experience might wanna tip in about the other things!<br />
<a class="bbc_url" href="http://unity3d.com/unity/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://unity3d.com/unity/</a><br />
</li>
<li><strong>Source Engine:</strong> I think we all know this one. VALVe have been doing pretty good lately with titles such as Half-Life 2, Left 4 Dead 1/2, Team Fortress 2, Portal 1/2 and now soon Dota 2. The Source Engine is incredibly easy to acquire, and get started with in terms of laying out a level and so on. Personally I've had very little experience with the Source Engine, but as has been proven many times now, it makes for a great mod-maker specifically but also for own games in general made by the community.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_(game_engine)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Source_(game_engine)</a></li>
<li><strong>Other Engines:<br />
JMonkeyEngine: </strong><a class="bbc_url" href="http://jmonkeyengine.com/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://jmonkeyengine.com/</a> <strong>Language is:</strong> Java (Also check <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.lwjgl.org/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://www.lwjgl.org/</a>)<br />
<strong>Love2D: </strong><a class="bbc_url" href="https://love2d.org/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">https://love2d.org/</a> <strong>Language is: </strong>Lua<br />
<strong>RPG Maker VX Ace: </strong><a class="bbc_url" href="http://rpgmaker.net/engines/rmvxace/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://rpgmaker.net/engines/rmvxace/</a> <strong>Language is: </strong>Ruby (I believe?)<br />
<strong>Game Maker: </strong><a class="bbc_url" href="http://rpgmaker.net/engines/gm/" rel="nofollow external" title="External link">http://rpgmaker.net/engines/gm/</a></li>
</ul>
Edited by AngelSandy, 17 April 2012 - 08:27 AM.
). It's also mainly for FPS games, the engine was initially a tech demo but then used in Far Cry (the original one, not the second). Crysis (1, warhead, 2 and 3), Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2, Homefront and Warface are running/will run on CryEngine. But it has also been used in MMOs, such as Aion and the upcoming ArcheAge. I think it's more suited for large outdoor environments (although with the new Landscape feature in UE3 I would personally use that over CE), and it has some nice road and river tools. Probably my favorite feature of CE3 is the 3D water it comes with. Sure you can do that on other engines as well (with tessellation) but performance-wise I think CryEngine's water is the best. 
I think this is great, and Crytek will probably announce a similar feature soon as UE3 already has Flash support. The engine isn't developed for a specific type of games, so it can be used for pretty much anything. I wouldn't use it for FPS games, but something like puzzle games or racing games would be a good choice on this engine. Especially if you're interested in mobile development (even though UE3 supports iOS).
