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Unity, yes or no?

Started by Noddy92 Dec 17, 2012 at 11:01 AM 42 replies 14.7k views
Original Post
Noddy92
Noddy92
Hi everyone,

I want to create a TPS, and after creating a couple of models for the game, my brother suggested that I should complete my game in Unity, because the engine that he's woriking on isn't finished. So I checked out Unity, and everything looks good and shiny, but when I went to read the review about it, all I could find was: "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine". So I want to ask you is Unity engine, a decent engine, or just another game making tool like the FPS Creator or Game maker. What are your experiences in Unity?

Thanks for the advice,

Noddy92
SimonForsman
SimonForsman

Hi everyone,

I want to create a TPS, and after creating a couple of models for the game, my brother suggested that I should complete my game in Unity, because the engine that he's woriking on isn't finished. So I checked out Unity, and everything looks good and shiny, but when I went to read the review about it, all I could find was: "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine". So I want to ask you is Unity engine, a decent engine, or just another game making tool like the FPS Creator or Game maker. What are your experiences in Unity?

Thanks for the advice,

Noddy92


It is a great engine and the latest version (version 4.x) has added quite alot of nice features, you still need to buy the pro version to get the non-crippled renderer though. (Quite many fairly important renderer features are disabled in the free version)
[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
jbadams
jbadams
It's a very capable engine, and it's certainly not in any way "unfinished", but the non-pro version does have some significant features unavailable.
- Jason Astle-Adams
Nibbles
Nibbles
Agreed, there is nothing unfinished about it. Even the free version which i've been using since the release of version 3.0 is hands down one of the best. Do yourself a favor and play with it for at least a weekend. Depending on your level of programming, you might have your game prototype finished, then swap in your real graphics and done.

Where did you read that it was "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine"?
SimonForsman
SimonForsman

Agreed, there is nothing unfinished about it. Even the free version which i've been using since the release of version 3.0 is hands down one of the best. Do yourself a favor and play with it for at least a weekend. Depending on your level of programming, you might have your game prototype finished, then swap in your real graphics and done.

Where did you read that it was "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine"?


The pre 2.x releases weren't all that great to be honest, information on the internet has a tendency to stick around forever, even when it is outdated and no longer relevant.
[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
Noddy92
Noddy92


Where did you read that it was "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine"?


Here, check this out http://devmaster.net/devdb/engines/unity#user-reviews
SnakeMaster
SnakeMaster
As for my Experience i must say Unity is a very impressive Engine. Not the Best but you can do many things with it then you would think of a Free Engine. There is also another positive thing about it, and that would be its price for commercial use.

And if you have skill in javascript or C# i would surely try Unity out.
Daaark
Daaark
There is even a good third person shooter tutorial and example project on the site for you to get started with.
SimonForsman
SimonForsman

[quote name='Kickpuncher' timestamp='1355749666' post='5011668']
Where did you read that it was "Bad engine, avoid", or "Unfinhed engine"?


Here, check this out http://devmaster.net...ty#user-reviews
[/quote]

To comment on the first review:

it is reviewing the now fairly old 3.2 version, most of the complaints raised are no longer valid. (Unity 4 (pro) has both a forward and deferred renderer and built in pathfinding) and weren't even valid for the pro version of 3.x. No built in AI editor, wtf ? You have to write your own AI code in every single general purpose game engine (that i know of atleast) on the market. I have a hard time even seeing how a "AI Editor" should work to be useful beyond a very specific game genre.

the second one is primarily bitching about the free version lacking features. (The free version is not, as the second review implies intended for independent developers, the pro version is, the free version is there for hobbyists or as an evaluation version).
[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
GuyWithBeard
GuyWithBeard

You have to write your own AI code in every single general purpose game engine (that i know of atleast) on the market. I have a hard time even seeing how a "AI Editor" should work to be useful beyond a very specific game genre.


That's not true. Check out xaitment, for example: http://www.xaitment.com/

Incidentally xaitment has Unity support
KaiserJohan
KaiserJohan
Unity is really good if you want to be productive and finish something in a reasonable amount of time.
JonathanJ1990
JonathanJ1990
I've been programming commercial games with unity for about 8 months now and before that started making small games by myself in my free time 6 months before that. it's definitely a good choice if you want to make a project that doesn't take foreer
Noddy92
Noddy92

I've been programming commercial games with unity for about 8 months now and before that started making small games by myself in my free time 6 months before that. it's definitely a good choice if you want to make a project that doesn't take foreer


And how much money did you make with commercial games? I have another question, becaues Unity is most Java an C#, can I master them using Unity?
Daaark
Daaark
The C# I write in Unity is no different than the C# I write in a standalone C# program. Programming is programming. The same concepts always apply.
SimonForsman
SimonForsman

[quote name='SimonForsman' timestamp='1355752460' post='5011686']
You have to write your own AI code in every single general purpose game engine (that i know of atleast) on the market. I have a hard time even seeing how a "AI Editor" should work to be useful beyond a very specific game genre.


That's not true. Check out xaitment, for example: http://www.xaitment.com/

Incidentally xaitment has Unity support smile.png
[/quote]

xaitment is not a general purpose game engine though, it is a specialized plugin for one. (FSMs are not a general purpose game AI solution)

@Noddy92

Unity3d uses C#, Boo(similar to Python) and UnityScript which is closely related to JavaScript, not Java,(Java and JavaScript are two extremely different languages, Java has a lot more in common with C# than it has with JavaScript, JavaScript was named LiveScript until some complete f--ktard decided that renaming it was a good idea. Those responsible for all that confusion deserve a high-five. In the face. With a chair).

You can learn and even master C# using Unity3D if you want. that is entierly up to you. Unity won't encourage you to explore all parts of the language though, most tutorials and documentation are focused on extending behaviours). Also, since Unity3D uses mono you won't have immediate support for the latest C# version (mono lags a bit behind).
[size="1"]I don't suffer from insanity, I'm enjoying every minute of it.
The voices in my head may not be real, but they have some good ideas!
Noddy92
Noddy92

You can learn and even master C# using Unity3D if you want. that is entierly up to you. Unity won't encourage you to explore all parts of the language though, most tutorials and documentation are focused on extending behaviours). Also, since Unity3D uses mono you won't have immediate support for the latest C# version (mono lags a bit behind).


Okay, thanks for the advice, Simon.
So it's settled ten, I will use Unity to make mmy game. Thanks for the advice guys.
nesseggman
nesseggman
I know you've already made up your mind, but I just want to add to assure your decision, that there are plenty of professional games developed for PS3, 360, etc. that are built with Unity. A lot of bad reviews for Unity come from when Unity was a little baby. But now they're on Unity 4 and it is really powerful. I have just started using it myself, and I don't know a ton about it yet, but I have played professional games made on the engine, and they are superb. I've also seen a lot of what people can do on it, and read up about all its functions. It seems very complete and you can make all kinds of games and applications for it. When you're registering it, you can even choose if you're going to use it for games or other things like medical simulation...
Noddy92
Noddy92
I know that there are other engines devolped with Unity, but I like that this has the free option is available in it. And for graphics I can just upgrade it just like Kickpuncher wrote.
JonathanJ1990
JonathanJ1990

I've been programming commercial games with unity for about 8 months now and before that started making small games by myself in my free time 6 months before that. it's definitely a good choice if you want to make a project that doesn't take foreer


And how much money did you make with commercial games? I have another question, becaues Unity is most Java an C#, can I master them using Unity?

well the games were third party mobile app titles developed with freemium models so I really don't know the actual numbers i know between all the titles we got around 650,000 downloads and the one mobile title i do know of we made about $110,000 but again they were third party titles using licensed source material . as far as mastering java and C# . i believe the C# uses is standard though there are definitely unity- specific functions the code is the same C# you would use to program other applications and programs ( to my understanding feel free to correct me if i'm wrong) however i believe unity uses a modified version of java for programming so while it would be similar to java it does have its differences but even those i haven't researched personally.

Edt: I didn't see that Simon sorted out all the differences between scripting in unity versus other applications , sorry! good to see you decided to settle with unity though i have made a ton of games in trms of personal projects and commercial ones with it so i hope you become as much a fan of it as i am!

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