Unreal vs Unity 3D – Choosing the best engine for your game

The gaming industry has been ever-changing, and many programming languages come and go to create different games and to achieve different goals.

Unreal and Unity are two of the most popular programming languages used by game development companies and game design companies to create mobile and desktop games.

What is Unity 3D?

Unity was first established in 2005. The programming language is easy to learn, and over time, Unity has gained a big audience. The asset store of Unity 3D is massive, versatile, and there are a lot of tutorials and online courses to learn the language.

What is Unreal?

Unreal is older than Unity 3D; it was first established in 1988. It became popular for its high–end graphics and its AAA culture. Many video game developer companies prefer to use this language for developing their games as it does not have any restrictions on the vision of the game developers.

Factors to Choose Your Game Engine

There are a few factors you must consider as you compare Unity 3D and Unreal programming languages. Let’s take a look:

Coding

For coding, Unity 3D uses C#, and Unreal uses C++. C# is a good option for a game development company that wants coding, as it is much easier to use and learn than C++.

Game design companies who are using unreal don’t have to learn writing codes, as there is a visual scripting system called Blueprints. The developers have to just create the nodes and connect them to develop the logic for your game.

Graphics

As a mobile game development company, it barely matters whether you use Unity 3D or Unreal, but there is a difference.

The unreal programming language has different preset tools like post-processing, lens flare, volumetric lights that can be modified and used easily.

Unlike Unity, you can have more accurate lighting, and the shadows have a nice falloff and polished look. In this case, Unreal beats Unity 3D in many aspects, and you can edit them according to your preference.

For lighting, Unity 3D supports the latest tools like PBR or GI, but it is not as well defined as Unreal. There are very limited parameters to adjust in Unity 3D like base textures, normal maps, etc.

Asset Store

Asset stores make up a massive part of your game. Currently, there are many assets you can download online for your game. Both the programming languages have game-ready assets. Quantitatively, Unity 3D has several types of assets in their stories for animations, textures, models, tutorials, etc.

There are both free and paid assets in both the programming languages, but many multiplayer game development services prefer Unreal for its asset store. The quality of Unreal is good, and many assets are free in their store.

Pricing

Both languages can be used for free with limited features. You can, however, upgrade to a pro – version for more features. For Unity 3D, the subscriptions range from $40 to $150 per month and per seat.

For Unreal, since Jan 1, 2020, applies a 5% royalty cost on the game’s revenue, the license is free to use and sustains 5% royalties only when you monetize your game.

Community

The online community of both Unreal and Unity3D is strong and massive. They have active forums, subreddits, YouTube channels, etc. Unity 3D has a larger community than Unreal, but the latter has been increasing its audience rapidly. In the official Unreal forum, people post many times in an hour – they are very active.

Industry Presence

Unity and Unreal both are professional game engines used by game developers. Indie developers and mobile games use Unity 3D. Unity’s games are Rust, Ori, Blind Forest, Hearthstone Cities: Skylines, etc. Unreal has been used more by gamers than Unity, games built with this engine are Bioshock, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Fortnite, etc.

You will see Unity is used to create small educational projects and big games like Fortnite and Gears of War used unreal game engines.

Pros and Cons of Unity 3D

Many mobile game development companies opt for Unity 3D game engines to create games for their latest tools and technologies.

Pros

• It offers both 2D and 3D games like Pokemon Go, Angry Bird, Assassin’s Creed, etc.
• The game can be played on multiple platforms like desktop, laptop, and gaming consoles.
• The programming language is easy to learn and hassle-free.

Cons

• It is expensive.
• To fix performance issues, it is difficult for developers to find the code.
• It consumes a lot of memory.

Pros and Cons of Unreal

Unreal is a popular choice among game developers for high-end games.

Pros 

• It has top-notch graphics.
• It supports all kinds of platforms, from mobiles to gaming consoles.
• It is an open-source platform and free.

Cons 

• Even though it is free, you have to pay them 5% of your game’s revenue.
• It is not suitable for small projects, unlike Unity.
• It gives limited support for older devices.

Conclusion

We hope this article will help you choose the right gaming engine to build your next game. Unreal is the most preferred one, but if you are looking to create a minor game, you can go for Unity.