Is there ANY way to target a Chromebook with Unity?

Questions & Answers
1

I’m not sure if there is a better forum to ask this question. If there is, please let me know…

I’m trying to find a solution to target an ARM based Chromebook with Unity. Here’s what I’ve tried…

  1. Using Unity 4.2.2, I created a VERY simple Hello World app: One GameObject with one script attached using OnGUI to print “Hello NaCl” to the screen and built to the Google Native Client target. Result: did not work on ARM based Chromebook (see screenshot) [39241-screenshot+2015-01-21+at+10.20.06+am.png|39241]
  2. Using the Unity 5 beta 18, I created a VERY simple Hello World app: New Unity UI consisting of a single panel and a single UI Label with “Hello WebGL” printed to the screen and build to the WebGL target. Result: worked, but painfully slow to simply load. Based on Unity blog posts, etc., I’m not hopeful this will be a viable option for ARM based Chromebooks for quite a while.
  3. Using Unity 4.6.1, I built a simple “Hello Android” app using the same OnGUI approach as with the NaCl test. Then, I ran the APK through chromeos-apk to package it up for use with Google’s (in development -
    39242-app_runtime_for_chrome.png
    39242-app_runtime_for_chrome.png960×600 18 KB

So none of the above appear to be viable solutions for targeting a Chromebook with Unity. I realize that there are some Intel powered Chromebooks and the WebGL option might become viable for those Chromebooks, but our games are played in K-12 schools and schools are buying ARM based Chromebooks. Is there - or will there be an option to target these machines with Unity or do I need to find a non-Unity based solution?

2

NaCl in Unity 4.2 only ever worked on intel CPUs, so it is not an option. I think that WebGL is probably the most promising option you have, though the ARM chromebooks, are probably indeed on the lower end of specs for Unity WebGL content. I have an old Samsung intel Chromebook, which is also pretty slow compared to modern desktops (I think 1.3 Ghz Celeron). It runs simple Unity WebGL content acceptably fast, though not great. What is the performance like on the ARM Chromebook after loading and running the content for a few seconds? Does it become acceptable once the JIT catches up? If not, your only hope would be for Chrome to improve JS performance (possibly with the upcoming v8-turbofan JIT).

3

Hi Jonas,

No, after further research and testing, it appears it will be quite some time before WebGL will be a viable option. I’ve created a feature request (feedback ticket) here: http://feedback.unity3d.com/suggestions/work-with-google-to-make-unity-built-apks-work-with-arc-welder hoping that ARC could be a viable solution in the meantime.