I have used Sculptris, Modo and Mari exclusively to make a character model as a pet for Torchlight 2 with the non-nodelocked educational license.
This includes: sculpting(sculptris), retopology(modo), modelling(modo), smoothing groups(modo), uv unwrapping(modo), texture painting(mari), animation(modo), rendering for video(modo).
You can see my model in-game and my workflow in last part of the video on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO9W0dfJD_s
Torchlight II Steam Workshop here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=176913718
Several of the tools I use in modo are scripts made by other people,
because modo’s standard interface/tools are simply not good enough for me when doing game models.
But with the custom scripts, modo is simply a bliss to model in.
I have also had teaching in: 3DS MAX 2010-2014, Maya 2014, Blender 2.6x.
Modo is simply so much more enjoyable to me than the other software packages I have tried.
One example in the video, is that you see me do smoothing groups with edge loops, like Maya does it. Not possible without scripts.
You can do smoothing groups in Modo’s default interface somewhat, but you have to do it through the window menus every single group you want to make. Sigh
So for modo, when they decided that INDIE should not have scripts and plugins,
I think they missed the mark by a long shot on that one in terms of enticing the indie developers.
I will never consider buying/subscribing to modo INDIE with those limitations.
And there are many more limitation…
One would think that the unshareable modo files was enough of a limitation in itself, that the other limitations wasn’t necessary?
And why would The Foundry think that “Full dynamics toolset” is more useful for an INDIE game developer than usability scripts? Boggles my mind!
As for Mari, I love the way I can paint on a 2d canvas before projecting it onto the 3d model. It took some time to adjust to, but it is so much more powerful than direct 3d painting.
Regarding Mari INDIE’s limitations, 4096x4096 maximum pixel textures are good enough for my needs,
but I think it has some limitations as to how many “patches”(extra textures/material id’s) you can have loaded per object. I think it is 6 at present.
But only 3 objects loaded per scene. If my character model required separate models for every bit of clothing for customization, Mari INDIE is not good enough for me there either.
But yeah, make sure to read up on those limitations, they might not be a problem for your project.
I saw the limitations listed on steamcommunity.com:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/289550/discussions/2/624076851317052780/
I can only praise the full editions of these two software packages, but not the INDIE editions.
Best regards