I kinda expected there to be better pro unity arguments. There are real arguments for using Unreal (performance, lighting), is there really no reason to use unity over unreal other than you already know it (on desktop/console)?
Maybe Unity has the performance edge at some use cases when using DOTS, but it’s a new tech and I don’t trust Unity’s new tech / features so early (days?) after they release them.
Other than that…
Uhhh…
Ehhh…
Fast prototyping or something.
3 Likes
Unity has solid third party support. Odin Inspector, Serializer, and Validator always come to mind immediately, but there are others like Magica Cloth. Unity’s UI system is much more flexible and easy to work with. While I’m not a fan of saying it out loud less they get even more complacent Unity has the better documentation too.
5 Likes
I think other arguments were already listed, though, but for some reason you chose to ignore them? For example, clean API is a valuable thing.
“Performance” claim is dubious. Unreal editor is more resource-hungry, resulting unreal game will usually have larger install size and will be running slower.
Also, games featuring massive number of agents in combat, like UEBS and TABS were made in unity and not unreal.
1 Like
It’s not worth having argument like this.
You are doing something, you need to know what you are doing to be able to decide what tool is the best for your situation, people, expertise, project. In general Unreal is great for TPS if you just make another boring grinder without any interesting stuff. As soon as you want to make anything unique and interesting, congratulation, you will think Unity’s compile time and domain reload are suddenly great and perfectly reasonable. But seemingly your team made up their minds without any real analysis, because Unreal is the goat or something.
3 Likes
They are doing their best to ruin that though (unless I am the only one that really doesn’t like their docs for the packages).
2 Likes
Same here. It’s very much a downgrade from their previous documentation.
2 Likes
You made the ridiculously fast prototyping argument, but @angrypenguin disagreed. I’m not sure which of you is right so I kinda skipped the point.
I mean from everything I’ve seen, read and heard, it’s easier to build dense environments faster that still run smoothly. Like if you have a fairly big scene with tons of foliage and stuff in it, that’s something where generally Unreal will have a pretty significant edge.
This could be true. Especially with DOTS. I know TABS, whats UEBS?
Admittedly, I’m just looking for “casual chat around the watercooler” type arguments in favor of unity to fend off annoying comments from coworkers telling me to switch. Maybe I could lean into the ridiculously fast prototyping thing even if it might be dubious.
Related:
https://forum.unity.com/threads/what-are-the-genuine-limitations-of-unity.1444351/#post-9058696
Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator. Another swarm fighter.
Well, if they already made their mind, you can’t change it anymore, no matter what arguments you provide.
Basically in my case, as far as I can tell I’m extremely compatible to unity approach in monobehavior API. Hence the fast prototyping speed.
Meanwhile, in case of indie Unreal games on steam it an UNreal title usually looks like this:
- Pretty.
- I saw that grass and those trees and those rocks in some other game.
- THe lighting style usually fairly similar to other unreal titles.
- Limited customization, usally restricted to attachment swaps. Changing limb length is almost never a thing.
- Usually uses stock FPS, TPS, and VR controller, unmodified or with base mesh sawpped. VR controller does not take seated play into account, and you can’t crouch or add height offset to it. (this could’ve changed, though)
For the record, seated play support in VR is something I believe every VR dev must ensure is present in functional state. And that crouch, stand up and height asset is supported.
One huge issue here is that if the player has some health problem that prevents him/her from walking normally and uses VR to unwind, then by giving the player a controller without height offset you’re giving them wheelchair experience. Which… can be soul-crushing.
- Animation is detailed.
- Gameplay is quite simple.
- UI is usually primitive, it can have pretty graphics, but it is on the level of bitmap sprites where numbers are printed at precomputed positions.
- Almost no 2d unreal games.
Unreal would be amazing for making movies, animation-centered games, visual novels with 3d dolls and so on. For making apps with high level detail but no gameplay, like a car configurator.
If you want to experiment, chances are you’ll need to fight the API, until you develop a clean slate you’re comfortable with. At least that’s in my case.
Please note that right now I’m not looking for any sort of argument, as I’m feeling pretty shit. Just take the info as an opinion.
4 Likes
If you don’t want to switch, there must be a reason. Surely if you argue your own position it will be more compelling than what other Unity users say.
1 Like
I’ll be the stiff-shirted fuddy-duddy who suggests changing the topic or avoiding that kind of office banter. I know that both banter and rhetorical debates can be fun, I engage plenty in both for that reason alone. However…
I get the impression that this particular topic is directly related to a thing you do professionally at your place of work. Personally, I wouldn’t deliberately do anything which ties up people’s feelings into what could be important decision making at some point, because there’s a significant chance that it’ll either influence the decision making or leave someone teed off.
Also, there’s some potential for the type, quality and detail of your arguments to impact peoples’ professional opinion of you. So I wouldn’t get involved in it on a just-for-fun basis.
Of course, if the conversations are at work but aren’t about work (maybe a bunch of you are discussing a common hobby?) then ignore all of that and enjoy the banter.
1 Like
Easiest, most effective argument is gonna be: “Nah, I’m good.”
2 Likes
I’d go “GET OF MY LAWN, ya silly kids, with your prints that are blue. LUMEN IS A UNIT OF MEASUREMENT YA HIPPIES, NOT A FEATURE! You’ll pry C# and fast prototyping out of my cold dead hands, YA HEAR! In my days we used collaborate AND WE LIKED IT! You kids have become soft with versioning systems that actually work, BAH!”
6 Likes
I’m too old to learn a new engine… I’ll give you my Unity when you pry it from my cold, dead hands!
1 Like
I do, I use Unreal for anything that needs extremely high graphics performance or incredibly realistic PBR style shading, and unity for everything else.
I prototype in unity first (as I am a unity user for more than a decade so its just easier for me) and then move to Unreal and I find converting code quite easy that way.
I will say however that even after a long time trying to learn Unreal, I am nowhere near as fast in it as unity. This is nothing to do with the engine, its just really hard to get to the same level of comfort in the engine as I am with the engine I learnt gamedev with.
I work mainly in the XR industry so I also dont notice the pains of not having access to Unreal as much, because (At least for standalone XR) its just not as good as unity for that use case.
My advice is that questions like this wont answer anything - try the engine out yourself for a few months and then you will be able to compare their workflows for yourself.
5 Likes
Is Switch a target? None of the new Unreal tech runs on Switch. This is one of the reasons why I’m still here - Unity supports all platforms under the sun with sufficient performance.
On the performance note, you’ll reach far more people with URP than Nanite/Lumen. Lumen lists GTX1070 or faster as requirement under Platform Support section. I asked ChatGPT4 to show total percentage of cards roughly equal or faster than 1070 from Steam hardware survey data. The number it gave me is 35.84%. So Lumen limits your reach, which is not a concern for big budget AAA, but might be relevant to a small team that might not want to directly compete with AAA industry.
Same applies to Nanite. From Fortnite news blog:
About 15.66% people on Steam have cards roughly equal to 2080 or faster.
1 Like
Unity has their fair share of technology that doesn’t run well or at all under Switch. I don’t blame engines for that limitation though. I blame a device built off of mobile technology released eight years ago.
2 Likes
Wasn’t a diss on Unreal, just a statement of fact. OP didn’t specify which consoles are being targeted and listed new tech as reasons for switching. Although, perhaps the non-mobile comment eliminates Switch.
I would point out if you are starting a project and targeting the switch right now, you maybe need to rethink your strategy. Switch is very much near end of life, by the time you actually release you will likely have new hardware to target.
1 Like
This is really helpful actually! That’s all super relevant!
Switch has been a target platform in the past, I’m not sure if that market is still as active now though since the switch is definitely aging.