Game engine

Depending on the idea of the sonic fan game that you want to create, picking the right engine is essential. There are plenty of pre-made engines for many of the common game creating programs available. Game Maker, Unity, and Unreal are most well known game making programs, however, not all of them are free. Game Maker 8 (https://www.gamemaker8.com/) and Unreal Engine 4 (https://www.unrealengine.com/en-US/download) are two engines that are free to download. And when creating a fan game, pricing is usually the first to decide whether or not an engine/program is worth getting. Unity isn't free, but it does make up for it by having a large Asset store. All three have a decent sized community and plenty of tutorials that can be easily obtained on youtube. But which one is right?

The best way to decide which of the three programs are the best is to list to pros and cons. (I might be a bit biased since I've used Game maker and Unreal Engine more than I have Unity).

Game Maker 8 -- presently updated to Game Maker Studio 2 (which is not free) -- is ideal for 2D sonic games which the graphics will be that of the Mega Drive classical sonic games. Game Maker (all the Game Makers) use sprites and shades instead of models and textures. This does have an effect on the game as the graphics will look far smoother on UE4 than in Game Maker. If smooth, modern quality is what you are looking for in your game, then the best engine is UE4. But if sharp pixels that resemble the old classic days of sonic, then game maker will be perfect. There are plenty of engines already build for game maker 8, and Dazimean has taken the initiative to port his Sonic 360 engine to all the game makers. While game maker does have the ability to create games in 3D, and there is a sonic 3D engine already released, I would not recommend using 3D in game maker as the graphics are neither nostalgic or beautiful. So if you plan on making a sonic game in 3D, game maker is out of the equation. Game Maker Studio 1 and 2 aren't free, but after being purchases they do offer access to their marketplace. I'm not sure how game saving works in UE4, but Game Maker Studio 1 and 2 make it really difficult to create save files. (But that's another topic so. . .)

UE4 requires knowledge in C++ while Unity requires knowledge of Python and C#. Both have pre-made 3D sonic engines beautifully made for them by amazing sonic fans. While I've used Unity here and there, I've come to like the user interface of UE4 to be more friendly and easy to work with. You can watch plenty of comparison videos on youtube about Unity Vs UE4, but one thing they will all have in common. UE4 has better graphic abilities.

So all in all, if you want to make a 3d sonic game, use Unity or UE4. If you already know C++, or C# then use the program that utilizes that program language. If you want to create a 2D sonic fan game with the classic looks, use any of the Game makers. If you want that Sonic Fan Remix look, use UE4 or Unity for 2D. So in conclusion, it's really up to the maker to analyze themselves and their game idea and use the program that best fits their analysis.