unity versus Blender Game Engine ?

Hello BA community, after some googling i still want to know what you think of unity game engine
never found any comparison list/thread that discusses the difference between BGE/UNITY.

thanks all.

The biggest difference is that blender is a complete 3D package with a game engine, while Unity is just a game engine.
But comparing just the stuff they have in common, Unity is a better game engine in my opinion.

I know this isn’t much of a comparison, just an opinion.

you get a better pipeline with unity, and can run on devices such as xbox, wii and ios. seamless…

I have no experience with BGE or Unity, but I would expect it would be similar to a comparison between Blender’s (current) render engine and something like LuxRender. Unity would be developed entirely for game development, while Blender is developed for many more things. So one would expect it to be better.

But, as I said before, I have no experience with any.

Hi!
For a while i having work with both and i in my vision we can point some differences.
I will talk about the Unity Pro with all payed Licences and the BGE trunk version :

Plataforms:

  • You can use Unity do make games for Windows, Mac, Web, iOS, Android, Xbox, PS3 and Wii
  • With BGE you can export to: Windows, Linux, Mac, Web ( Bruster plugin )

Programming:
-Unity scripts is based in javascript and C# do you have some plug-ins to add a “logic bricks system” like too

  • BGE´s scripts is based in python and Logic Bricks ( Nodal is coming with GSoC, but it´s for future :D)

Graphics:

  • Unity is based in OpenGL and you can use Deferred Render and Omni/Directional/Spot Lights Shadows, you can make your shaders with cg language too ( what is good in my opinion )
  • BGE is too based in OpenGL but with default GLSL pipeline and only have Spot Lights shadows. We don´t have a good workflow for edit ours GLSL material codes yet (Moguri are working in that, but, its future too), but we have a Nodal editor for materials what is slow in some cases but is very cool!

Performance:

  • That is the great point of Unity. All work like a charm, the shaders are many optimized and all pipeline is made to keep the FPS high if you don´t make so much noise.
  • BGE have so many problems with optimizations in GLSL code and physics.

Cost:

  • for Unity Pro you will Pay $1500,00 + $1500,00 for iOS development + $1500,00 for Android development + God Knows how much for each outers console licenses ( they don´t say in the website ). Of course its per seat. so if you have 2 machines pay it *2, if you have 5 for a little studio, sorry for you.
  • BGE is free and Open Source, and if the limitations don´t matter for your job or project so take it!

It´s my point of view as user of both. I have BGE and Unity Free.
Sorry my bad English
Bye! :smiley:

As many said before Unity is a focused game engine, thus working with it way more practical and effective in the long run, assets management, building tools and overall speed is way better, personally I think that having the free version of unity is more than enought for most freelancer/hobbist game maker, having realistics shaders by default that are very good already.

The only strong point of BGE I’ve found so far is the shader system, it gives a lot more of flexibility out of the box for graphics, is way easier to understand and gives a lot more freedom before having to start coding a more complex shader (for example the shaders Martinsh do). For example it took me a couple of days to code a simple shader that had a normal, diffuse, specular color and alpha map at the same time, the difficult part was to code the specular color, but in blender that comes by default in the material editor, along with many other goodies like ramps.

So in few words for me it is a choice about good game development tool with good optimisations versus graphical flexibility.

Unity is a much better game engine (unfortunately), The graphics in the BGE (GLSL) can rival that of Unity, however Unity can hold a lot more detail and still run at 60 fps. For ones starting out on games, I suggest the BGE. It’s easy to use and you don’t have to import everything you make into the game engine.

good, and what about documentation <resources to learn> ?
edit: and which one is more commonly used?

I can tell you i have studied BGE for 2 weeks but nearly no progress. Finally I changed to Unity 'cos there are tons of coding discussions on the web :evilgrin:

edit: and which one is more commonly used?

Here’s a list of some of the games made with Unity http://unity3d.com/gallery/game-list/
Here’s a list of games made with the BGE … Oh Dear !!

Well, we have colour cube atleast XD.
http://www.colorcubestudio.com/home.html

Yep, color cube is very good.
Then there’s the game I’m making:D

Actually, here are some, not all, just some demos and completed games: http://www.tutorialsforblender3d.com/Demos/Demos.html

I used Unity - I actually wanted to see what the hype was about, and give it a nice little chance, but I just didn’t like it. Moving objects around wasn’t very nicely done. I guess that’s just the Blender in me - Actually, maybe I should see a doctor about that… LOL

Anyway, I didn’t really find anything extraordinary about Unity - it seemed slower than using Blender for game development. Also, you have to pay for features that are free in Blender, like video textures and dynamic shadows (even if it’s a bit slow in the BGE).