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Now that iTorque3D is out of the question...

by Richard Skala · in iTorque 2D · 11/12/2010 (7:37 am) · 6 replies

What is the best 3D engine available on iPhone?

I was hoping to use iTorque 3D when it was to be available, but in light of the latest Torque news, I'm guessing it probably won't see the light of day any time soon.

3D iPhone engines I know of are:
- Unity
- Oolong
- SIO2
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Torque Owner Ronald Ian Bantayan
#1
11/12/2010 (9:38 am)
Unity, hands down

Associate David Montgomery-Blake
David MontgomeryBlake
#2
11/12/2010 (1:41 pm)
I've used Unity iPhone for a while now and I quite like it. I'm finding the Shiva interface more intuitive, though (and I've been using Unity since 2005, so that's kind of weirding me out). If you are looking for source engines, though Oolong and SIO2 are the way to go. If you do not need the source for your titles, then Unity or Shiva are both excellent.

Note that I have not used the iPhone portion of Shiva, but I know several people who make their living from games that are using it and loving it. I have really liked the interface for the editor. In many ways, it appeals to the Modo user in me.

Torque 3D Owner Marc Dreamora Schaerer
Gayasoft
#3
11/12/2010 (11:32 pm)
Unity or Shiva are likely the ways to go out of my view

Torque Owner Richard Skala
Pixel Vandals Inc.
#4
11/13/2010 (1:34 am)
I never heard of Shiva until you mentioned it just now, and, while it looks really nice, after checking it out, I was kind of disappointed to discover that in order to run it on a Mac, you have to run it in Parallels. I messed around with Unity in the past, but damn, it's expensive!

One thing I really liked about Torque was that the source was available, and the game could be coded almost exclusively in C++ (and the editor was pretty nice). I can deal with not having the source, as long as the engine is well supported, but it seems that Oolong and SIO2 might be closer to what I am looking for, mainly due to affordability and compatibility.

I still have time to work with Torque 2D for now, but of course I need to look ahead to the future as Torque may not be updated any longer, so when I do make a switch, I will be ready.

Torque Owner Richard Skala
Pixel Vandals Inc.
#5
11/13/2010 (2:31 am)
Actually, Unity isn't too expensive, if you just get the basic iOS license ($400):

https://store.unity3d.com/shop/

However, is that license alone enough to create complete and functional iPhone games?

Torque 3D Owner Ronny Bangsund
Torque Cheerleaders
#6
11/13/2010 (2:42 am)
I would keep an eye on Shiva, since they've promised Mac-native tools. Unity doesn't give you much in the way of optimisation before you pay pro-level prices ($3400?). I also think you need to actually pay $1900 to get the iOS engine. It's a plug-in which requires the pro version, if I understood it correctly.