Written by Timur Radman 2022 Cohort
The feeling of bringing a game to life is a thing that a few people are lucky enough to experience. Nowadays, this is easier than ever, with an abundance of tools and game engines available for everyone. You no longer need to have studied Computer Science or even know how to program in some cases; it’s all simplified now.
The most popular choices for anyone looking up online how to make a video game are the two clashing game engines, Unity and Unreal Engine. But which one is better? Well, that is a big debate, but I have a personal take that will help make this decision easier.
A couple of factors should be taken into consideration first. Things like the team size and whether there’s previous knowledge in coding. But first, a quick overview of both engines.
You can read more about both engines here. This is an old comparison, though, as Unity added more options and packages to support AI and ML, as well as Network support.
It’s also worth noting that you can publish your game using Unity for free, while Unreal requires you to pay 5% of gross revenue on your product after it generates USD 1 million in gross income.
Taking that into consideration, let’s make a quick comparison.
Team Size
When pushed to its max potential, Unreal produces more performant and more realistic 3D visuals than Unity. However, it requires the team to be experienced and extensive enough to push the Engine that far. So, if you’re starting on your own or with a small team to learn game development, it would be wise to go for Unity. If you’re a group of experts with experience in 3D pipelines and want to make something truly stunning, Unreal is your way to go.
Knowledge of coding While I find coding easy to learn, especially with the free courses and tutorials on Youtube, many people find it hard to understand. Unreal is well-known for its easy-to-use blueprint, a visual coding technique that non-coders can use to implement logic in the game. You can also use C++ in Unreal. Although Unity has its visual coding tool called Bolt, the community still thinks it’s a bit hard to use and could use some improvement. Almost all Unity developers use C# nowadays.