Which is a better option, OpenGL or a game engine for developing a game for the iphone or ipod touch?

Question

I am new to OpenGL ES, and I'm about to begin a 3D game for the iphone in which we are showing some car pursuit or racing. Is it possible just with the OpenGL ES or UIKit only, or do I have to use other tools for it? I am comfortable with UIKit but newer to OpenGL/OpenGL ES; which would be better to start this game?

Or should I use a game engine? If so, then which game engine would give us the 3D feeling, quality of images and motion, and rendering of the views with the sound effects?

Answer 1

First of all, OpenGL, UIKit and Game Engines are very different from each other and specifically geared towards different uses.

OpenGL is a 3D graphics API. If you go with this, you'll have to write quite a bit of extra code, maybe some tools and a pipeline, to get a fully-featured game going. For example, collision systems and AI will be on you to develop.

UIKit is geared towards simple applications that don't require complex graphics. As the name suggests, it's best for applications that revolve around a UI.

Game engines usually include tools and pipelines, physics, audio and graphics engines, and possibly some other features such as simple AI/Navigation systems.

For your application, it sounds like you might be better off going with a game engine as it will get you up and running much sooner than if you try to develop those systems yourself. One popular engine is the Unity engine.