Leadwerks Game Engine:

About

Leadwerks Game Engine: is a single player action game. It was developed by Leadwerks Software and was released on January 6, 2014. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Leadwerks Game Engine is a user-friendly game development system for creating 3D games and VR experiences, with comprehensive tutorials and a royalty-free license for commercial games. The engine's new global illumination and volumetric effects, along with a vegetation painting system, enable developers to build games with high-quality graphics. This tool is ideal for beginners and pros alike, with features that simplify the process of creating and publishing games.

Genres & Tags

Educational

Play Modes

Single-Player

+10

Skip User Reviews

71%

Audience ScoreBased on 243 reviews

graphics11 positive mentions

stability5 negative mentions

Leadwerks offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for beginners to start creating games quickly.
The engine supports Lua scripting, which is accessible for new developers and allows for rapid prototyping.
The community is active and helpful, providing resources and support for users to troubleshoot and learn.

The engine has significant bugs and stability issues, leading to crashes and frustrating user experiences.
Documentation is often lacking or outdated, making it difficult for users to find the information they need.
The engine's performance can be inconsistent, especially with complex scenes or when using certain graphics cards.

graphics
47 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
23%
71%
6%
The graphics of Leadwerks are generally described as visually appealing, comparable to the PS3/Xbox 360 era, with potential for improvement through customization and a robust shader system. However, users have reported performance issues, particularly with AMD graphics drivers, leading to significant FPS drops and crashes. While the engine offers good graphics capabilities for indie game development, it requires substantial hardware resources, and some users feel it lacks the advanced graphics features found in other engines like Unity and Unreal.
- “Very nice graphics :)”
- “Leadwerks is a great 3D engine, easy to pick up and learn with good graphics and good performance.”
- “The visuals are great and getting better and better each month, much because of the shader system.”
- “Somehow the engine runs poorly even with Quake (1996) graphics, especially with terrain.”
- “- visually on the level of PS3/Xbox 360 era graphics.”
- “Graphics are not very good.”
optimization
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
Overall, optimization reviews highlight significant concerns about performance drops in recent updates, with users noting a 20-30% decrease in FPS since the beta phase. While some engines, like Leadwerks, are praised for their good performance and ease of use, others face criticism for outdated benchmarks and inefficient use of features that negatively impact performance and game size. Despite these issues, there are positive remarks about specific systems, such as deferred rendering and innovative vegetation implementations, which contribute to better performance in certain contexts.
- “Leadwerks is a great 3D engine, easy to pick up and learn, with good graphics and good performance.”
- “If you need something different from mainstream 3D engines, easy to learn and to code with great performance and regular updates, this one is really good.”
- “The vegetation system is great, and in some ways it's innovative in its implementation, which means better performance.”
- “Since then, every major version has had a significant 20-30% FPS drop, and the developers simply don't care and feign surprise when people don't believe in 10x performance graphics without any real evidence, like trials and real examples. Meanwhile, benchmarks are still a few years outdated.”
- “Even highly skilled and committed indie developers will never use half the things that ship with UE4, and this isn't just a neutral aside—it's actually bad for UE4—because you're still paying for those features in performance and game size.”
- “You can do the same stuff in 10% of the time in other game engines with better performance results and without getting sick because of the ugly GUI.”
gameplay
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Gameplay in this engine is user-friendly and allows for quick prototyping, particularly for simple projects, thanks to built-in scripts that facilitate gameplay design. However, it lacks basic templates for newcomers and is primarily focused on FPS mechanics, which may deter those seeking more diverse gameplay experiences. While it offers flexibility for programmers to modify gameplay elements, the learning curve associated with the API can be a drawback compared to more established engines like Unity or Unreal.
- “For a programmer who wants to work on gameplay design and development, most of the nitty-gritty boring stuff is handled.”
- “There appears to be quite a nice player controller script (among others) built in, which allows for a new developer to quickly get into their game and start focusing on mechanics rather than technicalities.”
- “The scripts that make the gameplay are available to look at and amend, so once you understand how things interact, you can start by changing some of the script values, such as walking speed, and see how the gameplay changes. Many of these values can be made to appear on the scenes list of items, as each entry can have its own script tab and you can show the values being used and change them.”
- “For newcomers, it lacks basic gameplay templates; actually, it's FPS-centric.”
- “User-friendly, but not game-mechanically friendly, and somewhat buggy.”
- “The principles of delivering a decent game (game mechanics, level creation, etc.) are not really tied to a particular engine, but in the end, you need to pick one to implement your game.”
stability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game is frequently criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs, crashes, and issues with the character controller. While the editor is noted for its user-friendly design, it suffers from significant stability problems that hinder gameplay and customization. Overall, the experience is marred by a lack of reliability.
- “And parenting objects is so bug-ridden I feel it's held together by prayers.”
- “The editor is cool, but it is buggy and it crashes randomly.”
- “User friendly, but not game-mechanically friendly, and somewhat buggy.”
music
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
67%
The music in the game is generally well-received, with users noting that it effectively enhances the experience, particularly during moments of danger. However, there is a minor issue regarding the requirement for all music files to be in a specific format.
- “The sound design is impressive, with a variety of music tracks that enhance the gameplay experience.”
- “The music really sets the mood, especially during intense moments when the player is in danger.”
- “I love how the soundtrack complements the game's atmosphere, making every moment feel more immersive.”
- “Not really a problem, but all music files need to be in a specific format.”
- “The sound effects for all the assets are decent, but the music track that plays when the player is in danger feels out of place.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express mixed feelings about the monetization of Leadwerks, highlighting that while the advertising effectively attracted them as an alternative to Unity, it also led to a sense of regret for not conducting thorough research before purchasing. The price point of $1500 is seen as excessive, contributing to buyer's remorse despite initial enthusiasm.
- “At this point, I don't have buyer's remorse, but I am really upset at myself because I was unfortunately swept away by the advertising, which led me to not doing full due diligence as I usually do on any product I buy.”
- “Leadwerks advertising caught me at the right time; I was seeking an alternative to Unity that included features that shouldn't be excluded in this day and age, and I wasn't about to pay $1500 for them.”
- “The advertising portrays that this is the one-stop shop for Linux game development.”
grinding
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find that the grinding aspect of the game is alleviated by the use of the FBX format, which simplifies the process of importing models and animations from Blender. However, some still feel that certain tasks remain frustrating and tedious, indicating that while improvements exist, grinding elements persist.
- “Again, this makes simple tasks frustrating and tedious.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
50%
The atmosphere in the game is enhanced by effective use of lighting, shadows, and post-processing effects, creating immersive environments. However, limitations in outdoor visuals, such as the absence of dynamic elements like clouds and distant structures, detract from the overall immersion.
- “You can create some really atmospheric games with its lighting and shadows, and with the addition of post-processing effects, like bloom and SSAO.”
- “While you can still make some amazing looking skyboxes this way, it hurts in the category of trying to make outdoor environments visually immersive when you can't have free-flowing clouds, ships in the atmosphere, large buildings off in the distance, and things of that nature.”
- “While you can still create some amazing-looking skyboxes, it detracts from the visual immersion of outdoor environments when you can't have free-flowing clouds, ships in the atmosphere, large buildings in the distance, and similar elements.”
story
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The story aspect highlights the use of Leadwerks in a NASA context, emphasizing its role in mission design, conceptualization for engineers, and the creation of engaging educational content for the public, particularly for space enthusiasts.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find humor in the irony of needing to request basic features like keyboard shortcuts, highlighting a lighthearted frustration with the game's development.
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users express a strong emotional investment in the game, highlighting their active participation in the community and a sense of patience and hope for improvements. This dedication reflects a deep connection to the game and a desire for it to succeed.

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180h Median play time

180h Average play time

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