Game development has grown popular owing to the engaging and exciting games developed of late. When it comes to game development, the first and foremost thing that game developers need to arrive at is the game development platform. Choosing an incorrect platform can lead to wastage of time, money, and efforts. Getting acquainted with a new development engine involves a lot of time and money. Choosing the right platform for game development is highly essential as it is one of the most critical decisions. To solve the dilemmas faced by developers in taking this decision, I am presenting this article comparing the features of Unity, Corona SDK and AndEngine. I will also justify the effectiveness of Unity over other game engines.
AndEngine:
Pros:
When you enter the keywords- Android Game Development Engine what you will get in the first search result is AndEngine. It is an open source platform used for Android game development. This lightweight and powerful game engine offers 2D development platform to game developers. Whilst supporting advanced OpenGL functionality, it delivers games native to Android. One of the major strengths of this game engine is its lightweight architecture and its amalgamation into Eclipse. It utilizes Java mostly.
Cons:
Despite its striking features, AndEngine is not well-maintained. Their website is akin to that of 2000s wherein there are a number of broken links. Lack of documentation makes using AndEngine a challenge for amateurs. Moreover, it works only for Android apps and this leads to consumption of more time and resources. Thus, it can rightly be concluded that this game engine will soon make its exit from the game field.
Corona SDK:
This cross-platform engine helps in development as well as publishing. A number of games have utilized it owing to the powerful features it offers. With Corona you need a single code to deploy the game on both iOS and Android. One of the major benefits associated with it is there are no charges for using it.
This game engine is well-known for its support and documentation. Apart from game apps it is also utilized to create business apps. It packages your code into an application which is compatible with most of the major operating systems. This is where it gains an edge over AndEngine.
Cons:
When it comes to cross-platform publishing one must be ready to give away a few dollars more. In order to interpret the code that works both with Android and iOS, Corona SDK makes use of its own programming language Lua, a variant of C#.
This is why it can easily be learnt by iOS developers. However, for other platform developers Lua is a challenge. In this era of rapid apps development wherein a developer is expected to learn around four to five languages to churn out basic program, learning a new language can be quite a task. If you want to use Corona SDK you need to have an internet connection as the publishing process is accomplished on Corona's servers. You need to upload your code as well as graphical assets to get the working file package. Though the world is going online remains connected during development seems like a challenge.
Unity:
For 3D game development this is the best platform you can go with. Unity has recently updated its engine for 2D capabilities. Offering unprecedented features and support, it is quick in adapting to new technologies and platforms. It supports Oculus rift.
The main USP of Unity is its wide device support. With its engine you can write one game and then use it to run on different platforms, including iPhones, Androids, Windows Phones, Macs, PCs, and Linux. You can even publish your game as a web application. Thus, you derive more from lesser efforts.
Two common coding languages are supported by Unity - C# and JavaScript. Boo is its custom scripting language. Beginners will find JavaScript easy and the good news is that it is supported by Unity.
Not only the powerful features are the reason behind its upper hand, it comes with excellent documentation as well as an active developer's forum. Plug-ins can be created to customize Unity as per the development needs. All this depicts that it truly is a platform worth investing in.
The above points clearly indicate the reasons for developers having a preference for Unity over Corona SDK and AndEngine. Unity is much easier, compared to other platforms, for developing games. It is an inevitable game development tool which offers powerful features with simplicity.
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