Commercial production of Game using Panda3d a good option

General Discussion
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Hi all,
I am planning to work on a developing a mid tier game, which can be commercially launched.
I am professional python developer (backend dev) so Pandas3D seems to be a better option for me. But I went across couple of articles and posts that for developing a 3D game, Unity or UE are better? I don’t really want to learn C# or C++ again for the project. So, wanted to know whether choosing Panda3D over UE or Unity is better alternative or not.

If not, what would be a better choice. As I said earlier the project would be more of a mid tier, not next GTA V. So, what kinda challenges might make my life difficult to continue if I choose Panda to proceed with my project.

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Welcome! :slight_smile:

“Better” is in this context, I think, not a word with a universal definition–whether one engine or another is better for you will likely depend on what works for you in an engine.

For example, if visual development tools are important to you, then indeed, Unity or Unreal Engine might be better for you. Conversely, if you prefer sticking to code, then Panda might be better for you.

I suppose that my first question is this: in those articles and posts that you mention, what reasons were given for Unreal or Unity being better than Panda?

Overall, I find that Panda is a perfectly capable engine. Indeed, I’m aiming for commercial development with it myself! (I don’t know where my project lies in terms of scale relative to “mid-tier”, and thus how it might compare, in all fairness.)

(And for reference I have used Unity in the past, albeit quite some time ago now.)

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Thanks.
By better I meant in overall experience. Like whether it will be possible to build a proper 3D game that could be launched as a commercial game. From what I understand it seems that UE or Unity simplify lot of the tasks but overall it won’t matter in game development, I guess?

Most of the articles mention either lack of tutorial to begin with or lack of actual games build with it.
I went through the Panda3D documentation seems to me it would be a good choice though just hoping it could handle the project.

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Again, that’s going to depend on what sort of workflow you prefer. I don’t mean to sound dismissive there, please note: I simply mean that different workflows will work for different people, and thus some might like Unreal Engine, some might prefer Unity–and some might prefer Panda. (And other engines besides, of course.)

Oh, it’s very possible, I do believe.

Ah! I can help with that!

I actually have a “beginner’s tutorial”, which takes one from the first principles of using the engine through making a (very simple) game, to creating a distributable build.

Being a beginner’s tutorial, it doesn’t touch on the more advanced topics (e.g. PBR rendering, or custom shaders), of course, and doesn’t show the full scope of what one can do in Panda–but it should give you some idea of how the engine works.

You should find it here:

Indeed, I was going to suggest this as a way to check out how a game might be made in Panda, in order to inform your impression of whether it’s likely to work for you.

I mean, that’s a matter of adoption, I would say.

Plus, there have been a few (admittedly small) games made and released using Panda, as I recall. Offhand I recall a point-and-click called “A Vampyre Story”, and another game called “Signal Ops”.

Well, if I may ask, what is your project? Perhaps I or others can weigh in on whether the engine is up to it.

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Thanks a lot for such great insights.

Yeah, planning to go through the documentation and tutorials, maybe that will indeed give some useful insights.

Thanks, Signal Ops actually looks pretty interesting.

Basically, it will be an open world game something like GTA Games (obviously not huge project like that but you get the idea), multiplayer is planned for future release so expecting Panda to support that, Graphics is secondary concern atleast for now. The NPCs and other characters would be having AI based on tensorflow models. It’s one of the main reason I want to stick with python so that there won’t be some sorta compatibility issue later down the line.

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Ah, I see! Thank you for the explanation. :slight_smile:

Multiplayer is supported by Panda, as I recall–although I’ll confess that I don’t think that I’ve ever used it myself. (I’m a single-player dev for the most part.)

Similarly, I haven’t used tensorflow myself, and so am not in a position to say how well it meshes with Panda. Perhaps someone else in the community might have insight there, however!

In any case, good luck with your project! :slight_smile:

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What platforms is your project targeting? PC, mobile, console?

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Thanks a lot bro. That’s a great help. :slight_smile:

What platforms is your project targeting? PC, mobile, console?

Strictly PC for now.

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