Questions from a newcomer to Xenko ( and game developing )

#1

Hello everybody,

I’m new to game engines and would like to get started for a transmedia project.
So I apologize ahead for my stupid questions …and my bad english too ! ( I’m from France)
As from I could read on this forum, Xenko isn’t quite ready for a commercial use. I plan to start on my project in the coming month for a release at the end of the year. It aimed for VR headsets ( Vive and Oculus)

I’m very interested by the Open Source approach of Xenko, since my project will involve open modification by members of the project. And it looks very solid from its core.

So this is my newbies questions :

If I decide to start my development with Unity or Unreal, would it be possible/easy to migrate it to Xenko later on ?

I heard that Unity is the way to go for prototyping : What about Xenko, since the community and tools are much smaller : Is it still possible ?

Since my transmedia project involve also a mobile app to capture videos ( certainly developed with Xamarin in C#) Is Xenko has any great “PROS” comparing to Unity and Unreal

Last : My VR app has to be graphically “Top of the line” : Once again, is Xenko can handle this comparing to the two others.

Thank you. I will be always grateful from any insights from you on one of these questions

0cte1 :slight_smile:

PS : Xenko’s forum is already the most practical one I ever used …

#2

Hi @0cte1,

Welcome to the community.

I don’t work for Silicon Studio but I’ll do my best to answer your questions.

If I decide to start my development with Unity or Unreal, would it be possible/easy to migrate it to Xenko later on ?

I’m not sure about Unreal but Xenko is not that dissimilar to Unity that it would be insurmountable. Most of your assets would be reusable i.e. models, textures etc. Xenko’s Script API is similar to Unity’s MonoBehavour at least in concept. If you are familiar with Unity than you shouldn’t have that much trouble translating it to Xenko. That being said there is no tool to do conversions for you.

I heard that Unity is the way to go for prototyping : What about Xenko, since the community and tools are much smaller : Is it still possible ?

Unity does have the advantage here mainly because there is an asset store and a lot more information on the web. Which means you don’t have to create as much from scratch. But I have found it reasonably easy to translate Unity samples etc. to Xenko.

Since my transmedia project involve also a mobile app to capture videos ( certainly developed with Xamarin in C#) Is Xenko has any great “PROS” comparing to Unity and Unreal

Xenko’s mobile platform support is based around Xamarin. So you could at least share your code base.

Last : My VR app has to be graphically “Top of the line” : Once again, is Xenko can handle this comparing to the two others.

Silicon Studio is dedicated to VR support. As stated in this blog post http://xenko.com/blog/run-dont-walk/. And they are well on there way for implementing there built in VR support see trello board item VR support.

Well I hope I have been able to help. Maybe someone better informed, like one of the Xenko developers will pop in and add to and/or correct me if I’m wrong.

Cheers,
dfkeenan

#3

Unreal uses C++/Visual Scripting. So moving to Xenko, or even Unity, would mean that you have to ditch ALL your code. However, if you make a game with Unity, there is a very good chance that you can take none specific to Unity C# game code, and just reuse it in Xenko.

It is “ready” if you are willing to mess around on the engine level. But yeah, fairly new devs such as you, and myself. Are probably better off with Unity for their first game. :slight_smile:

#4

Thank you very much dfkeenam for your enlights. My project is a long term one, so I’ll not waste time digging into Xenko’s engine. But I do have to decide if I go with Unity for the prototype phase or not. Keep in touch. thanks

#5

Thank you Souldomain TM for your insights. Your answer makes a strong point on making a proto with Unity then move to Xenko later on when it gets more serious.
Cheers

#6

But I wonder, is Xenko team is willing to get involved in a projet coming from a community member, if it’s interesting for them, helping on technical issues ?
Is there any example going on right now ? Thanks

#7

While I can’t speak for the Xenko team (Silicon Studio employees). They do monitor the existing community channels (see below) and reply to some posts/questions.

But if you contact them via email and negotiate extra support then who knows.

#8

Thank you dfkeenan.
I will try to get in touch with them in a near future.
It looks like one of the core developer is french, which is also my nationality

Cheers

#9

Official support will come with the commercial release of Xenko. In case you didn’t yet read the blog. At the GDC 2017, Silicon Studio will make some announcements regarding Xenko’s release.

I assume Xenko will be out mid this year, or by its end.