What Is Unity? Everything You Need To Know
If you have any interest in mobile game development, then learning Unity should be your top priority. What is Unity? Simply, Unity is the tool used by a large number of game developers to create and power their creations. Unity software is powerful, extremely easy to use, and free until you start making the big bucks.
What is Unity? The game engine and IDE
Unity is a 3D/2D game engine and powerful cross-platform IDE for developers. Let’s break down what this means.
As a game engine, Unity is able to provide many of the most important built-in features that make a game work. That means things like physics, 3D rendering, and collision detection. From a developer’s perspective, this means that there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Rather than starting a new project by creating a new physics engine from scratch–calculating every last movement of each material, or the way light should bounce off of different surfaces.
What makes Unity even more powerful though, is that it also includes a thriving “Asset Store.” This is essentially a place where developers can upload their creations and make them available to the community.
Want a beautiful looking fire effect but don’t have time to build one from scratch? Check the asset store and you’ll probably find something. Want to add tilt controls to your game without going through the laborious process of fine-tuning the sensitivity? There’s probably an asset for that as well!
All this means that the unity game developer is free to focus on what matters: designing a unique and fun experience while coding only the features unique to that vision.
What is the Unity IDE?
As well as a game engine, Unity is an IDE. IDE stands for “integrated development environment,” which describes an interface that gives you access to all the tools you need for development in one place. The Unity software has a visual editor that allows creators to simply drag and drop elements into scenes and then manipulate their properties.
The Unity Software also provides a host of other useful features and tools too: such as the ability to navigate through folders in the projector to create animations via a timeline tool.
When it comes to coding, Unity will switch to an alternative editor of your choice. The most common option is Visual Studio from Microsoft, which integrates seamlessly for the most part.
What language does Unity use?
Unreal uses C# to handle code and logic, with a whole bunch of classes and APIs unity to Unity that you will need to learn. The good news is that it’s possible to get an awful lot done in Unity without needing to handle a lot of code. That said, understanding how to program will create many more options for what you can achieve, and Unity gives you the flexibility to change almost everything.
Luckily, C# is also one of the more beginner-friendly programming languages. And it’s well worth learning, as it is widely used in the industry and also shares a lot in common with other popular languages such as C and Java. In other words, learning Unity with C# is a great introduction to coding.
Unity vs other game engines
Of course, there are other big game engines available for mobile game development. The Unity game engine faces stiff competition from the likes of Unreal Engine and Cryengine. So, why choose Unity?
Well, as you’re on an Android site, there’s a high chance you’re interested in mobile development. This is really where Unity comes into its own as a development tool. While the software was previously known as “Unity 3D,” it has grown to be equally capable as a 2D game development tool. Not only that, but the way that graphics are handled makes it very easy to port experiences to lower hardware.
It’s for these reasons that Unity powers the vast majority of titles on the Google Play Store.
Because Unity is cross-platform, though, this means it is just as easy to create games for iOS, PC, or even game consoles. Unity also offers excellent VR support for those developers interested in developing for the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive.
So, what is Unity not as good at? Well, compared to Unreal or Cryengine, Unity is not quite as capable of incredible top-end graphics. That said, recent updates are helping it catch up! Unreal and Cryengine are also significantly less welcoming for newcomers, with a much steeper learning curve.
As ever, it’s about choosing the right tools for the job. If you are a huge AAA development studio targeting PC primarily and aiming for the best graphics possible, you will likely choose either Unreal or Cryengine. For an indie developer targeting mobile, Unity is a no-brainer. But if you fall somewhere between those two extremes, you’ll need to weigh up the pros-and-cons!