Unity vs. Unreal Engine

Unity is a full-fledged game engine released in 2005 by Unity Technologies. It is widely used in the game development market by developers. Even though Unity supports all different platforms like Android, PC, and WebGL, the main market share of Unity is still in the mobile game industry. 

Unreal Engine is a competitor game engine to Unity. It was released in 1998 by Epic Games as an open-source system that has been updating continuously since then. Unreal Engine is widely known for its PC development for 3D cinematics and games.

Comparison between Unity & Unreal Engine

Let us discuss a few main differences between Unity and Unreal Engine to understand them better.

User interface

Unity has a very balanced user interface that is easy to understand if the user is familiar with game components like animations, lightning, scripting, etc. Playing around with the UI should help them get a gist of where to find the Unity platform’s main features. Everything on the main page of the Unity Editor is well-marked, thus making it easy to navigate.

Coding language

Scripting is crucial to Unity and Unreal Engine to make games on these platforms. It is used to code most of the gaming logic in Unity. The coding language that Unity uses for scripting is C#. C# is a high-level language based on C/C++. It primarily uses built-in functions for performing different tasks. Having basic coding knowledge will help users learn this language faster.

Unreal Engine’s scripting language is C++, which is a low-level language. The type of C++ programming used in Unreal Engine differs from what most users are familiar with. The scripting is mainly done in Unreal Engine to create blocks that make up the logic for the game in the blueprint editor.

Note: Unreal Engine’s implementation of C++ includes additional features and abstractions that can make it more approachable for game development compared to other contexts where pure C++ might be used.

Graphics rendering

Unity has a very detailed graphic rendering system. Things like lights and shaders must be properly rendered if the user aims for immersion and ambiance in their game. There are mainly two methods of rendering in Unity: 

• Forward rendering

• Deferred rendering. 

In forward rendering, Unity renders the lights and other objects on each rendering pass. Whereas in deferred rendering, all the things to render are stored in a buffer during the first pass and rendered from the buffer when needed in later passes.

Unreal Engine also has different ways of rendering objects in its environment. The Unreal Engine’s rendering mechanism is very different from Unity. It considers multiple things while rendering like there is a specific rendering for lights known as lit translucency. Each separate light style, moveable, stationary, or static light, has its way of rendering. The sub-surface rendering defines rendering methods for specific objects like jade or ice that make them look more realistic.

Cross-platform integration

Cross-platform integration is an essential component of games nowadays. A game engine can easily import the SDK of some platforms like Xbox or PlayStation without the user going through the engine files. Unity and Unreal Engine both provide the ability for cross-platform integration.

In Unity, exporting a game across multiple platforms is as easy as a few clicks if the user has implemented the game’s underlying logic. Most game engines have limited platform support, but Unity supports almost all platforms, from Android and iOS to Playstation, Xbox, AR, and VR. 

Compared to Unity, Unreal Engine also has support for almost all platforms. They allow the integration of SDKs in the editor through the platform itself. Unreal Engine supports AR, VR, and other platforms.

XR support in Unity

XR is an emerging field nowadays, from game development to real-life situations, being integrated into multiple fields to solve problems. It is mainly divided into three categories which are AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), and MR (Mixed Reality).

Unreal Engine, being the direct competitor of Unity, also provides integration options for all VR and AR devices. Unreal Engine has built-in integration for most VR devices like Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear VR, HTC Vive, etc.

Online support

Unity and Unreal Engine are well-known for their detailed online documentation and the helpful community they have fostered. If users face any issues in their Unity project, they can visit the online forum, Unity’s official documentation, or the Educative Answer website. They can see the Unreal Engines Online Forum or their documentation if they face issues in their Unreal Engine project. Both are well known for repeatedly updating their editor to resolve any errors the new features might pose to their systems.

The asset store of both these engines is very popular as users can find controllers, models, and even fully implemented games on the asset store. They can either use them in their projects or build upon them. These features make these engines stand above other game engines regarding online support.

Choosing between Unity and Unreal Engine: Matching tools to projects

These game engines are equal in most of their features, but still, there is a huge difference in how the community perceives these game engines. For a beginner, most people would suggest them to learn Unity. This is because of the language and overall support the Unity platform provides users. It is well-known in the industry that C# is a language easier to learn than C++ because of its clearer and easy-to-understand syntax.

On the other hand, most high-end developers prefer Unreal Engine over Unity because of its beautiful graphics handling. Unity uses a specific render pipeline to render everything. In contrast, Unreal Engine has multiple rendering methods for each component, which the developer can change to create the visual of his liking.

Summary

Here is a detailed summary of the main features of both these engines: