I am looking for some opinions on UE4’s blueprints vs either Unity’s C# or the visual scripting alternative available in Unity.
I am not really concerned about advanced lighting because looking at escape from tarkov designed in Unity 5 it seems to be that Unity 5 is a damn fine Engine capable of next gen AAA quality.
I personally am not seeing a very huge difference between UE4 and Unity 5 in terms of graphics. But would prefer to have opinions from folks here who have used both.
I am in the process of gathering all my ideas on a game I want to make, its an ARPG similar to Path of Exile and Grim Dawn I have the idea but have not figured out a name as yet. Opinions on this are welcomed on which engine would be a good choice. I also had another idea for a platformer which would likely be much easier to develop especially for mobile
From my understanding the C++ used in UE4 is as easy as C# in Unity as there is no memory management etc to deal with these days. But would be more interested in its Blueprints it looks rather interesting.
UE4 C++ is still far from C# in general and especially when compared to component based approach used in Unity. If you have basic programming experience then code is the best way to go in both. Since UE4 is free I would suggest trying it out to and prototype something with blueprints and then see if you actually want to do a whole game with them in the end. Unity does not yet come with visual scripting and it’s unknown when it will be ready, if ever. Asset store has many of them however, free and paid. Remember that visual scripting will mostly lock your code/logic to that engine and is generally not that useful in the programming world where as coding skills are helpful in multiple things.
C++ used in UE4 is significantly harder than C# in unity, because C++ is more complex langauge (despite unreal team’s numerous attempts (many of them successful) to make programmer’s life easier), and because C++ in Unreal 4 is poorly documented. If you’re going to use C++ in unreal 4, you’ll need a skilled programmer that can dive into unreal’s code to figure something out. Newbies need not to apply, pretty much. In general I prefer C++ to C#, but I wouldn’t recommend to use C++ in UE4 to someone new. It’ll just kill their project.
Unreal 4 offers better visual quality out of the box than unity, due to preconfigured postporcess filters and slightly differeent PBR rendering model (reflective surfaces look better). Unity also has long standing bug where you can’t really mix baked and dynamic shadows properly. Unreal 4 does not have this issue.
Unity also doesn’t include any visual programming tool by default, although there are several solutions on the asset store.
In general, if you’re familiar with programming, using code for game logic is a better idea than using visual programming tools, because code is more compact and easier to read than node networks. Unity also may be a preferred choice if you are going to need highly customized shaders (for example, if you want to render objects by raytracing), because unreal’s shading model is harder to experiment with.
Basically, if you want nodes, then UE4 is a better choice.
If you want to tinker in code, then Unity would be a better choice.
Unreal 4 has steper learning curve.
Unity has a higher chance of running into some horrible bug 6 months into development of your project.
I’d say that Unity is more suitable for prototyping and 2d, while Unreal is better choice for 3d/high-fidelity project especially if you have some serious funding.
Thanks @neginfinity and others who helped on this thread.
So I am quite new to programming I do it as a hobby. As you guys have said Unity would be a better choice for a path of exile style game. I am also considering switching to a FPS project instead but I am not sure if it would be worth anyone’s time to download and play considering the kind of free games there are out there such as Evolve Stage 2 etc
One of my reasons for a POE / Diablo style ARPG is because its a niche market and I would probably have a better chance at selling it cheap for maybe $5 or less if I had to.
Suggest developing something small in both - whatever you think is a small game - check Unity Learn section and Unreal learn and develop a couple small games.
That should give you the knowledge you need to proceed with whichever engine you like best.
OR you might find a variable that steers your decision to one particular engine over another. Myself - as an artist who is all about the visuals, you’d think I would naturally gravitate towards UE because of there demos and blueprints, however the component based design of Unity AND the community here - compared to over there - really made me feel like I could get more done as a lone wolf, and could get help whenever needed without getting immature remarks from - less respectful developers.
And check out Playmaker or any of the other FSM / visual scripting tools that are available for Unity.
Just watched a “getting started with Unreal” video where a guy made a spiral staircase and had a completely operational FPS available with starter assets, I didn’t see him fucking around with anything trivial. Lots of interface buttons for common tasks. Seems to have been designed with making games in mind, I must wonder if this mindset extends deeper into the engine and interface.
I never really talk bad about Unity. But it almost makes me wonder why you have to invest $300-$500 in Assets before it becomes usable?
Just started up Unreal for the first time and… honestly, the real time shadows on geometry, kind of make me giddy.
Looking back at the Unity shadows and I’m kind of like…
Pretty much, in a nutshell… what I gather is that Unreal is better in every way… the reason people have a hard time with it is that… C++ is hard?
Cause you know… programming is hard…
for people who don’t… program…
^ well I get where you are coming from. I downloaded UE4 and I am trying both UE4 and Unity. The thing about Unity is the community here is much bigger and much more helpful. Lots of questions on Unreal forums go unanswered. Infact I have noticed lots of questions about game design are answered by EPIC engine developers.
It looks like EPIC staff is trying to fill the role of the smaller community don’t get me wrong I really admire the epic staff they are quite down to earth but there is no replacement for Unity community.
I am doing the tutorials on both engines I will give a feedback when I have an actual completed don’t want to give any feedback at all until I have a fully functioning game out the door. But I will agree with you, the demo projects given out by EPIC is really amazing. Its crazy what UE4 can actually do.
If you have never seen this video you should now, it shows the monster that UE4 really is and yes thats all full ingame graphics.
…well at some level people are expected to become self-sufficient and not reliant upon hand-holding and spoon-feeding. And if you keep at this long enough you’ll know what that feels like. And then you’ll look at those simple questions and… just shake your head.
Well Unreal comes out the box with a game framework for most common tasks in pretty much any 3D game.
It has so many systems designed for 3D games (destruction, AI, widgets, IK, Root Motion, State Machines (including BTFST AI systems, also enviro queries (AI sub-system), Vector boundary streaming systems, automatic texture pooling, automatic instancing, automatic occlusion, GPGPU particles, Physx simulations (including Apex destruction and full cloth) w/ ragdoll, instanced workflow (mat’s / geometry etc.), full cinematics system, complete sculptable terrain system with boundary vector streaming, shared derived data caching, material editor, multiple scripting systems (Skookum for e.g.) a platitude of content examples showing you how to make AAA MP games… Etc. etc.
I’m not even scratching the surface of the workflow tools and systems it has and I’ve not even mentioned all the graphics tech above, but knowing how to put it all together does take ample amounts of time to learn… Although it’s fair bit quicker than making it yourself.
So in short yes, it is made with making 3D games in mind… Although the 2D system from what I’ve heard is getting somewhere.
In terms of asset store “stuff”… Here’s what I generally use with Unity, just to save me a boat load of time if nothing else… Doesn’t make it any more “useable” but it sure makes things much quicker.
Final IK $90
Scion $60
Shaderforge (or / and alloy) $125
Terrain stitcher / WM import system (all I need personally, easy to do but meh only a couple of bucks) $5.00
Tenkoku $65 (as you can make a TOD system in Unreal in about 15 BP’s (based off in-built), easier to buy in Unity)
Rain AI (free)
Cinema Editor (for cutscenes) $60.00
Easyroads (or some spline altenative) $45.00
Vertex / mesh paint tool $10.00?
Decent erosion brush $25.00
Apex equivalent $60.00
Some sort of game “framework” equivalent $100.00?
Sunshine for shadows? Whatever that costs…
So yeah, I’d say about $800.00 - $1000.00 or so??!
C++ in Unreal (even with GC and Mem allocation) ain’t as simple as C# that’s for sure, but I don’t find it that much harder than Unity’s scripting system… I do use Skookum and BP’s for a lot of higher level stuff anyway, so I couldn’t really care less. It’s only intensive systems I use it…
Honestly I’ve spend years with both, I can make them both sing and dance at this point and the hardest choice is deciding what would save you the most amount of time. Or money (potentially)?!
I actually get frustrated easily when things don’t have a “right” way. One of the things that has rather annoyed me in Unity is just how much there is “no right way” to do anything, it’s very “willy nilly”. Everybody gets to do it however they like and nobody is much concerned with valuations of techniques, merits of different approaches, or anything to that effect. Unless you have a similar personality, it is unlikely that you will know what I mean in regards to this particular annoyance.
I think my first post on the forums was to the effect of “why does it seem there is no comprehensive guide about how to do things”. Unreal doesn’t seem to have that problem. If anything, it looks like you are directed toward a certain way of doing things.
What’s interesting is that, at this point, I need to create a large industrial complex full of inter-connected rooms. The areas have to be loaded into memory and released from memory as you traverse the facility, as it will be larger than what can be loaded into memory at any given time. I find myself irritated in Unity because for some reason it doesn’t feel like it was designed for this purpose of making modular 3D environments. Sure, if you hold CTRL you can snap but Unreal has this super-imposed grid.
I don’t know, but I think Unreal will actually be faster for me.
Plus that visual scripting blueprint stuff looks fun to play with, removes some of the complexity of doing basic tasks since they’re already pretty much ready to roll. Probably help with some of the fatigue, rather than staring at code 24/7.
OP to me this is my story so far… RPGMaker → GameMaker → Unity. Now it seems like Unreal is next. So maybe that helps answer your question.
