Game Engine: Unity vs Unreal

Which is better for my project?

I have been debating for many months which game engine would be best for my project. My initial decision to use Unity was based on the fact they use it at university but after hearing about other options I have now done some research.Below are the pros and cons of each, some are based from reading and watching online sources, my own observations and general thoughts that relate to my project. The highlighted points are ones that are important to me as the address my situation, my weaknesses and strengths.

Unreal

Pros

• Quick reply to issues, like fixing bugs.
• A variety of good example projects
• An active and helpful online community.
• Amazing visuals (Compared to Unity)
• Good documentation online and pop up tutorials if you want to learn more.
• Key areas, like moving transforms, better than Unity (Seems to be similar to 3ds Max)
• Ability to ‘play’ the game at any time to see faults (easier and less time-consuming than unity)
• Everything is open; Epic wants the community to send updates and fixes to help with debugging.
• More user friendly interface
• Interface is similar to Photoshop and Adobe products, which is good for me
• Wizards and plugins – make it easy to create a 1^st person shooter without importing characters and objects
• Less scripting
• Real-time rendering
• More successful games created using it e.g. Gears of War, Batman: Arkham City, Bioshock Infinite, Borderlands 2, Mass Effect.
• Advanced dynamic lighting capabilities
• New particle system; can handle up to a million particles at 1 time.
• Use a blueprint system, which is good for designers that aren't strong at coding.
• I can either get it free as a student or pay just under £12

Cons

• Unstable on MAC, Windows is better
• Less streamlined workflow than unity, may take a while for new user to get to grips with.
• You have to recompile and relaunch if you rebuild your C++ code. It doesn't pick up the changes automatically straightaway.

 

Unity

Pros

• Good for games for tablets and smartphones
• Possible to create games for consoles, PS3 and Xbox
• Good, easy to use plugins.
• Large asset library
• Great for 2D games
• Some popular games created e.g. Slender, Temple Run and Angry Birds
• Support will be available at University since they teach with the program
• The Jennison computers have Unity Pro

Cons

• The graphics aren't as good as unreal.
• No real modelling or building features
• The free version doesn't include all the features

Conclusion

After looking at the pros and cons I have decided that I want to use Unreal for my project, I will be talking to my supervisor about my decision to get a second opinion.

Thanks for reading. X