Question: What game engine was used to create The Forest?

Answer

"The Forest," released in 2018, is a survival horror game developed by Endnight Games. It utilizes Unity as its game engine. Unity is a popular choice among developers for creating both independent and major games due to its versatility, ease of use, and comprehensive set of features that facilitate both 2D and 3D game development.

Here's an overview of why Unity was a suitable choice for "The Forest":

1. Cross-Platform Development: Unity allows for cross-platform development, which made it possible for "The Forest" to be released on multiple platforms, including Windows and PlayStation 4.

2. Graphical Capabilities: Despite being aimed at all levels of developers, Unity has robust graphical capabilities that could support the dense forests, complex environments, and the atmospheric visuals required for "The Forest".

3. Physics Engine: Unity comes with a built-in physics engine, which would have been essential for creating the realistic interactions between the player, the environment, and the AI-controlled enemies in "The Forest".

4. Community and Asset Store: Unity has a vast community and an asset store full of resources and tools. This would have allowed Endnight Games to utilize pre-made assets and tools to speed up the development process when needed.

5. Scripting: Unity uses C# for scripting, which is a powerful, versatile, and widely-used programming language. This familiarity and power can help a small studio like Endnight Games to focus on game development rather than dealing with the intricacies of a more complex or less known language.

6. Support and Documentation: Unity provides extensive documentation and a supportive community, which can be very beneficial, especially for indie game studios that might need guidance and troubleshooting during their development process.

Here is a simple Unity C# script example that demonstrates how you might start scripting a basic player controller:

using UnityEngine;

public class PlayerController : MonoBehaviour {
    public float speed = 10.0f;
    private Rigidbody rb;

    void Start() {
        rb = GetComponent<Rigidbody>();
    }

    void FixedUpdate() {
        float moveHorizontal = Input.GetAxis("Horizontal");
        float moveVertical = Input.GetAxis("Vertical");

        Vector3 movement = new Vector3(moveHorizontal, 0.0f, moveVertical);

        rb.AddForce(movement * speed);
    }
}

This script takes input from the player through the keyboard and moves the character or object within the game world by applying force to the rigidbody component—an approach that might be used in a variety of games, including those similar to "The Forest".