1. Introduction: Why This Question Still Matters in 2025
Even in 2025, the game engine choice remains one of the most critical early decisions for indie developers. While open-source engines like Godot and Bevy have matured significantly, some developers still consider building custom engines tailored to their unique game concepts. It's not just a technical choice—it's a business and creative one, too.
2. What Changed in the Last 2 Years (and Why It Affects You Now)
Between 2023 and 2025, the engine landscape underwent major shifts:
- Unity reversed its controversial runtime fee, but not before thousands of developers explored alternatives. The trust damage remains.
- Godot hit version 4.2, with stable 3D tools, a growing plugin ecosystem, and a dedicated open-source community. It's no longer just for hobbyists.
- Unreal Engine 5 continued refining its indie support, making high-end graphics more accessible through Nanite and Lumen.
- Bevy (Rust-based) and Open 3D Engine (O3DE) gained traction among devs seeking performance and modularity without licensing constraints.
This isn’t a “Godot vs Unity” post. It’s about whether indie developers should lean into these mature open tools—or take full ownership and build something of their own.
3. Open Source Game Engines in 2025: What They Offer (and Where They Fall Short)
Strengths:
- No licensing fees or royalties
- Active communities and regular contributions
- Full access to source code
- Excellent for 2D and moderate 3D projects
Limitations:
- Documentation and tooling can vary, especially with newer engines
- Performance optimization sometimes requires deep engine knowledge
- Fewer commercial integrations compared to major engines
Use when:
You're making a 2D game, narrative project, or small 3D game with limited budget and scope. You want a tool you can control, but not build.
4. Custom Engines: Why Some Indie Devs Still Build Their Own
Custom engines aren’t dead—but they’re niche.
Some developers want total control over performance, asset loading, file sizes, and rendering. Puzzle games, platformers with highly unique mechanics, or tech-forward prototypes may benefit.
But the reality is:
- Development is slow — building an engine can eat 6–18 months.
- Testing is complex — you own every bug.
- No ready-made tools — you'll need to build your own editor, debugger, and more.
Cost Breakdown
From our board game development cost guide, engine development can increase a project's budget by 30–60%, depending on scope and feature needs.
Use when:
You have deep engine experience, need extreme optimization, or are solving a technical problem that general-purpose engines can’t address.
5. Cost, Time & Risk: A Clear Side-by-Side Comparison
6. Decision Matrix: How to Choose Based on Your Project
Ask yourself:
- Are you building alone or with a small team?
- Do you need deep customization, or can existing tools work?
- Is your project timeline flexible?
- Is your priority speed, polish, or innovation?
Choose Open Source if:
- You want to prototype quickly
- Your game fits existing genres like platformers or RPGs
- You value documentation, plugin support, and a thriving community
Choose Custom Engine if:
- You need full control for a very specific experience
- You have deep engine-building experience
- You can afford longer development time and technical overhead
7. Real-World Examples (Successes & Cautionary Tales)
Success:
An indie developer used Godot to release a pixel RPG on Steam in 10 months. No engine licensing fees. Game sold over 12,000 copies.
Struggle:
A two-person team spent over a year building a custom engine for a physics puzzle game. They burned $20K in savings. The game was never completed.
Custom Engine Win:
A developer building an educational simulation required total control over UI and optimization for old hardware. Their custom engine delivered—but only because it was based on a pre-existing framework they’d built earlier.
8. What I Recommend After 15+ Projects: A Personal Take
After working with Unity, Unreal, Godot, and my own C++ engine, here’s my honest take:
If you want to finish and ship a game, use an existing engine. Godot, Bevy, even Unity. The speed and support you get far outweigh the freedom of a custom engine—for most indie projects.
If you’re solving a technical problem that commercial engines can’t handle, and you’ve got the time, experience, and budget—then a custom engine might make sense.
9. TL;DR: When to Use Open Source vs Custom
Use Open Source When:
- You want to ship fast
- You need reliable tools and support
- You prefer contributing to or benefiting from community work
Use Custom Engine When:
- You have a very unique technical requirement
- You have engine-building experience
- You understand and accept the risks
10. Bonus: How Engine Choice Impacts Your Total Game Budget
Based on our board game cost breakdown:
- Custom engines often increase dev time by 2x or more
- Tooling has to be built from scratch (UI editor, level tools, debug console)
- Testing is on you, with no third-party QA pipelines
Choosing the right engine isn’t just about what works—it’s about what saves you time and money in the long run.
Need more insights into how engine decisions affect cost? Check out our Board Game Dev Cost Guide where we map out budgets, timelines, and technical risk factors in detail.
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