Top gaming engines which support AR/VR development

Emerging technologies like AR and VR have changed the course of interaction between humans and the surrounding environment.  Entertainment, e-commerce, gaming, education, healthcare, etc are highly dependent on these two technologies. Apart from the developed nations, developing nations are also participating greatly and hence one can find many Game Development Companies in India who have started developing AR and VR to supply advanced user experience to the customers. However, it is quite necessary for companies to choose the right tool for development. The decision of tools depends on the developer’s choice; it can be mobile games or apps, location apps, etc.

What are AR and VR?

AR represents augmented reality, whereas VR stands for virtual reality. A person with a Smartphone can easily access augmented reality. AR uses a real-world setting and enhances both the virtual and real world. 

VR on the other hand is completely virtually made and creates an entirely computer-generated world. Uses of headsets, gloves, sensors, etc are needed in the case of VR. VR allows you to tour distant locations virtually.

Top VR game engine software

It helps developers to create virtual reality video game experiences. A virtual reality SDK is responsible again for the designing, building, and testing of the games. VR game engines can create augmented reality experiences but the framework is different from AR game engines. Let’s have a look at the top VR game engines,

1. Unity: 

This game engine has a diverse role to play. It comes in handy in both cases of AR and VR. Unity supports multiple mediums and is well suited for both 2D and 3D games.

2. Unreal: 

The creator of Unreal Epic Games is also responsible for building Paragon, Fortnite, and SPYJiNX. The biggest asset of Unreal is the visually stunning attributes that make the gaming experience memorable.

3. AperetusVR: 

ApertusVR is a free, open-source XR (AR, VR, MR) engine that is cross-platform, distributive, multi-user, and IoT enabled (programming library). ApertusVR is a fresh new “no vendor lock-in” virtual and augmented reality platform that runs on a variety of operating systems and virtual, augmented, and mixed reality devices. The cross-platform Apertus engine reduces fragmentation in the market by allowing programs to be built once and operate on any XR system, as well as access many XR devices.

4. Cry Engine: 

It is one of the powerful engines available for free of cost. The first $ 5k revenue annually is royalty-free and 5% royalty gets applied when the project is shipped, making it totally beginner-friendly.

5. Lumberyard:

Amazon Lumberyard is a now-defunct freeware cross-platform game engine built by Amazon and based on CryEngine (first published in 2002), which Crytek licensed in 2015. Amazon and the Linux Foundation stated in July 2021 that portions of the engine would be utilized to develop the Open 3D Engine, a new open-source gaming engine that would replace it. The new engine will be managed by a new Open 3D Foundation, which will be operated by the Linux Foundation and will be distributed under the open-source Apache 2.0 license. The new engine is said to be based on Lumberyard, although many sections have been rewritten, thus it is considered a separate engine.

Apart from all these, we have other options like ApertusVR, AppGameKit, Nuke, etc for VR gaming experiences.

Top AR game engine software

An augmented reality game engine provides the infrastructure for creating an AR gaming experience. Designing, building, and testing the game are done with the help of AR SDK. The software development kit is also responsible for creating and editing 3D characters and assigning certain behaviors to 3D objects. AR game engines support AR operating systems and hardware through an API. Most mobile phones support AR. There are some game engines that support augmented reality experiences like,

1. Unity:  

Unity is the most popular choice among gamers to create 3D and 2D games. The best part of Unity is its flexible nature. The coding done in C# makes it quickly adaptable. Unity is budget-friendly and supports multiple mediums like android, iOS, Mac, LINUX, and desktop.  It also gets lots of support from the third-party plug-in. Unity has two modes like the view mode and game mode.

2. Unreal: 

Formed in 1991 by Epic Games, it delivers a high-quality gaming experience and is supported across PC, console, and mobile platforms. The instant feedback and real-time update are key assets of Unreal. The visual technology and material editors are undoubtedly pros of Unreal. The blueprint editor of Unreal helps in designing the program without coding knowledge; the only requirement is logic building.

The aforementioned ones are the top  AR gaming engine software. But apart from these 4, we also have options like HeroMirror for limited space size; LiveAvatar for creating great 3D characters; Nuke for having a cutting-edge toolkit for node-based compositing, etc.

The decision to call any gaming engine best is totally on the user. For AR, it is quite hard to look past Unity but in the case of VR, Unreal steals the show. However, for mobile VR it is best to trust Unity again. Whatever the gaming engines be, it is an underlying fact that AR and VR technology have brought a captive experience with the revival of 3D. Gaming these days represent realistic images with other sensations stimulating a player’s physical presence in the gaming environment, all thanks to these two technologies.