I thought I’d try something new and write up a bit about the various tools that I use so I’ll start with…
Unity 3d!
This is the tool/game engine I’m working with for most projects at the moment. In a nutshell it’s a generic level, properties and content editor was merged with a component based game engine. Code for unity projects is processed by mono, so it supports c#, javascript & boo.
… also the basic version is free!
Why do I use it?
While unity is never going to be as specialised or have the performance of a custom written engine & tool, the speed at which you can get something up and running with it is staggering.
If a project comes along that needs a custom engine, chances are I’ll still prototype some part of it in unity, just because I can have gameplay in the first ten minutes.
More proof?
I was in a group that made this game in just 48hrs, some people on the team had never used unity before! You can even play the game here!