[pjmlp]

I have yet to see a professional game engine that wasn't GUI oriented.

Professional game studios are mostly Windows based, and developers are actually a minority in teams, mostly responsible for low level engine code.

So understandably the workflows are optimized for animators, artists, level designers, gameplay developers, script writers, ...

[mustacheemperor]

Aha, that's a very good explanation. Most of my experience with 3D development has been alongside something LOB oriented rather than a "game" per se; like the other commenter suggested Monogame is an example of what I had in mind in my post above.

I have to add the note, Monogame is absolutely up to par with "professional" engines in many ways. I quoted because Monogame originated from such an engine, XDE, Microsoft's managed SharpDX framework for developing games for Xbox Live Arcade. The community took over when MS cancelled XDE. I don't know if it can compete with Unreal or Unity on everything these days, given some of the demos I've seen of Unreal's lighting etc.

[icsllaf]

I believe MonoGame can be used as text oriented. At least when I tried to use it to make some small games. It's definitely not on the same level of professional use as Unreal or Unity though I think.

http://www.monogame.net/