Cross country training app

[kenn_rosie]

I want to create an animated plus training videos training app for high school cross country runners.
such things as:
training plan
works outs
exercises
injuries
will unity be a good place to do this?

[Schneider21]

Welcome! And thanks for your question! This one’s common enough that I’ve added it to my FAQ.

@Schneider21

I want to make a non-game app using Unity! Can it be done?
Sure. But… why? The advantage of a game engine is that it provides real-time rendering of content integrated with user input and processing (also called a “game loop”). If you don’t need to make a game, you’re probably going to be better off using something else (Xamarin, PhoneGap, Appcelerator, and Ionic come to mind). You can certainly use Unity if you want, but it’s kinda like using a screwdriver to put in a nail.

[JoeStrout]

I don’t entirely agree with that answer. The big advantage of Unity, quite apart from being a game engine, is that it’s cross-platform. None of the others you mention are particularly good at that.

If you want desktop (Mac/Win/Linux) cross-platform, the only other serious contender is Xojo. Xojo (which used to be Real Studio, and before that was REALbasic) used to be pretty awesome, though in recent years has had some quality & design problems. It’s still better than anything else for making native cross-platform apps, though. There just aren’t many tools in that space.

But if you don’t care about “native” and need to show things like animations or 3D models the user can spin around or whatever, then Unity is a pretty great choice.

[Schneider21]

@JoeStrout

I don’t entirely agree with that answer. The big advantage of Unity, quite apart from being a game engine, is that it’s cross-platform. None of the others you mention are particularly good at that.

That’s actually the focus of those products. All of them can produce native apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

@JoeStrout

If you want desktop (Mac/Win/Linux) cross-platform, the only other serious contender is Xojo. Xojo (which used to be Real Studio, and before that was REALbasic) used to be pretty awesome, though in recent years has had some quality & design problems. It’s still better than anything else for making native cross-platform apps, though. There just aren’t many tools in that space.

Okay, so I did leave out desktop platforms, but to be fair, any time I’ve seen this question asked, they’re talking about mobile. Which, although not explicitly stated here, was assumed in this case because youths only use phones nowadays.

[JoeStrout]

@Schneider21

That’s actually the focus of those products. All of them can produce native apps for iOS, Android, and Windows Phone.

Like I said, not very cross-platform.

Okay, so I did leave out desktop platforms, but to be fair, any time I’ve seen this question asked, they’re talking about mobile. Which, although not explicitly stated here, was assumed in this case because youths only use phones nowadays.

[kenn_rosie]

thanks for the inputs, In the future I would like to try a fishing app game, so I thought I would try this cross country training app first.
I want to add to the app things such as video and/or animation of a runner bounding up a hill, springing up a hill, and approaching the crest of a hill.
multiple choice questions and results either pointing to a YouTube video or a self generated animation depending on multiple choice answer.
And you are correct, I want it as an iPhone and android app.

[Schneider21]

If you’re interested in making games, you owe it to yourself to give Unity a shot. Go through some tutorials and see what you think. Just keep in mind, (and this is, apparently, my opinion and not a gospel truth) if you want to make “app” apps, there are tools out there more suited to this. Meaning things like native UI elements, layouts, API calls, etc are just much simpler on these platforms that focus on that kind of thing.

You can do all the same stuff in Unity, but you either have to build everything yourself (even using Unity’s post 4.6 UI stuff takes much more setup than dragging over a comparable item in Android SDK or Xcode) or scrounge the asset store. Transitions between panels is another thing… In Unity, you make them all yourself, whereas other tools have presets you can choose from.

That’s not an attempt to deter you, but rather to let you determine where it is you want to focus your effort. As I said, if you want to make games, why not get started learning the system now? But if you just want to get an app out there quickly, I can’t recommend it as the best option for every project.

[kenn_rosie]

Thanks again,
so out of the other app builders out there, which would you suggest for my cross country training app? and will it also have a free copy?

[Schneider21]

Sadly, I know of them more than I know about them. I’ve tinkered with Xamarin and Appcelerator a bit, but never published anything.

Fortunately, researching these options (And others!) will be a great way to start off your project and help start your plan for development, figuring out things like what language you’ll need to learn, what other tools you’ll have to familiarize yourself with, and a lot of terminology used throughout the app development process.