which one is among these two to use. I want to make a 2-d platformer, so i need help with it. Thanks
Gut reaction - with no bias towards Corona (which is what i’m using) - is that if you want to make a 2D platformer, I would go for Corona rather than Unity. For such a game, i think Corona would be more appropriate and easier to use.
I haven’t dived into Unity fully, but its definitely a software to use if you want to make 3D games. I know and hear there is a 2D plugin/module, but Unity as a software is built primarily for making 3D games.
There are of course other software that is also more appropriate for making 2D platform games than Unity.
Cheers,
Big sale on Apress.com so i’ve just purchased an eBook on the 2D functionality within Unity. so, give me a couple of weeks and I’ll be able to let you know what I think of it 
That said, I am very happy with Corona SDK - I do tend to get a bit frustrated with LUA as a whole, at times, but that is only because I am a Java and C# developer by trade and they’re completely different.
Rich
@Rich: I don´t think that there is any ebook for Unity that involves the *new* 2D features yet.
After playing around with Unity 4.3 (2D update) for about 3 weeks I can say that it depends on your target market.
Unity has been super easy so far and it did not took me very long to re-create my current project which was done with Corona and is currently under review by Apple. But: Unity is not optimised for mobile if you do not spend extra money on external plugins or take care of the optimisation stuff yourself.
So if you are just targetting the iOS/Android market and you do not want to use Unity´s 3D features then Corona should be the right way to go. But be careful! Since Corona does not have a built-in level editor you need to rely on external software… Graphics 2.0 has broken many of these tools and it takes some time before they are updated properly.
If someone is completely new to programming and would like to start creating games for PC/Mac/mobile/consoles then I would suggest to start with Unity(!). Honestly, I do not see a reason for beginners to invest time into Corona/Lua anymore. Corona was king a year ago, but times have changed, new platforms have been introduced and support came way too slow.
Does this mean I am not using Corona anymore? NO! First of all, I need to take care of several Apps and games that has been made for customers that needs to be updated time by time, mostly business apps. There is no reason to use Unity and I think that this would be way harder anyway if not impossible. But for games I will switch to Unity - better platform support, more resources and more possibilities.
Max
Hey Max,
There’s this one http://www.apress.com/9781430262299 - was only published in October. Had a quick skim over it and it looks as though it focuses purely on the 2D dev capabilities within Unity. Just keeping my options open really…
Rich
Ah okay, Unity has been updated to 4.3 in November so this book might feature the old techniques only. But the main aspects are the same.
I might have sound a little bit harsh on this whole conversation, sorry for that. If one of my clients wants to see a mobile game only and there is no need for 3D then we will use Corona (graphics 1.0 by the way!).
I think that everyone should play with both engines
Gut reaction - with no bias towards Corona (which is what i’m using) - is that if you want to make a 2D platformer, I would go for Corona rather than Unity. For such a game, i think Corona would be more appropriate and easier to use.
I haven’t dived into Unity fully, but its definitely a software to use if you want to make 3D games. I know and hear there is a 2D plugin/module, but Unity as a software is built primarily for making 3D games.
There are of course other software that is also more appropriate for making 2D platform games than Unity.
Cheers,
Big sale on Apress.com so i’ve just purchased an eBook on the 2D functionality within Unity. so, give me a couple of weeks and I’ll be able to let you know what I think of it That said, I am very happy with Corona SDK - I do tend to get a bit frustrated with LUA as a whole, at times, but that is only because I am a Java and C# developer by trade and they’re completely different.
Rich
@Rich: I don´t think that there is any ebook for Unity that involves the *new* 2D features yet.
After playing around with Unity 4.3 (2D update) for about 3 weeks I can say that it depends on your target market.
Unity has been super easy so far and it did not took me very long to re-create my current project which was done with Corona and is currently under review by Apple. But: Unity is not optimised for mobile if you do not spend extra money on external plugins or take care of the optimisation stuff yourself.
So if you are just targetting the iOS/Android market and you do not want to use Unity´s 3D features then Corona should be the right way to go. But be careful! Since Corona does not have a built-in level editor you need to rely on external software… Graphics 2.0 has broken many of these tools and it takes some time before they are updated properly.
If someone is completely new to programming and would like to start creating games for PC/Mac/mobile/consoles then I would suggest to start with Unity(!). Honestly, I do not see a reason for beginners to invest time into Corona/Lua anymore. Corona was king a year ago, but times have changed, new platforms have been introduced and support came way too slow.
Does this mean I am not using Corona anymore? NO! First of all, I need to take care of several Apps and games that has been made for customers that needs to be updated time by time, mostly business apps. There is no reason to use Unity and I think that this would be way harder anyway if not impossible. But for games I will switch to Unity - better platform support, more resources and more possibilities.
Max
Hey Max,
There’s this one http://www.apress.com/9781430262299 - was only published in October. Had a quick skim over it and it looks as though it focuses purely on the 2D dev capabilities within Unity. Just keeping my options open really…
Rich
Ah okay, Unity has been updated to 4.3 in November so this book might feature the old techniques only. But the main aspects are the same.
I might have sound a little bit harsh on this whole conversation, sorry for that. If one of my clients wants to see a mobile game only and there is no need for 3D then we will use Corona (graphics 1.0 by the way!).
I think that everyone should play with both engines
Not sure what the annual cost difference is, but I thought Unity was much higher than Corona Pro. For someone like me trying to build 2D only apps in my spare time (after work) the main negatives I saw for Unity were the following. Not sure if this has now changed?
- higher cost
- more time actually populating objects in the 3D world
- felt like you were working against the grain to make a 2D app in a 3D world
- was an issue then re the low cost version on Unity wanted to have its Unity page showing first at start up
Having said that looking at the list of platforms Unity now supports it is very impressive. They just announced another platform again I see…
I do not see any of your mentioned *issues* in the current version of Unity…
“higher cost”
-> Unity has been free for a long time now, even longer than Corona. Only a few features are restricted to Unity PRO but you can easily add similar functionality to your projects by yourself. What exactly do you mean by “higher cost”. No one forces you to create the next AAA-3D Game with Unity (which would result in higher cost :P)
“more time populating the world”
-> I guess it´s hard to drag and drop an object, a sprite for example, from a folder into the scene?
“felt like wrking against the system”
-> Unity 4.3 has added native 2D support a few months ago(!). Now it is as easy as 3D but you can always extend your 2D game with 3D features.
regarding your last point
-> When did you use Unity for the last time? There are two versions, free and Pro.
I am using the free version at the moment because I do not need any Pro features yet. There is no need for extended draw-call optimization - I have done this by smart coding and level optimizations by myself. There is no need for Sprite Atlases (Pro feature) since I am using third party software like TexturePacker. I can release my projects to all platforms for free except for the new consoles because they need special licenses by Sony/Microsoft/etc.
There is still the Unity splash screen at the beginning of your project but if you are done with your game and want to release it, just subscribe to Unity Pro! They have switched their licensing stuff to a monthly basis which is around 75$ per month.If this is too much at the beginning then just release it with the free version!
@CineTek - thanks for the update - it’s been a couple of years - out of interest what sort of 2D app would you now elect to go with Corona as opposed to Unity?
I know that some people have made business apps with Unity. But to be honest I think Unity is overkill for this kind of application.
In general I am using Corona and Unity. Corona for “lightweight” apps and Unity for games. I like to have the possibility to export my games to almost all platforms and I really like the modular system Unity is using.
But for certain things like business apps and *some* projects I prefer Corona - or native solutions.
There has not been a case where I thought that Unity would fit better for a *business* app than Corona or other solutions.
thanks - looking at the Unity price page it does seem a bit confusing - there’s Unity Pro, but then there’s IOS Pro & Android Pro - so if you wanted the “profiler” and “occlusion culling” (for the sake of argument - which requires pro) and you wanted to release to IOS and Android (like Corona) how much would this be. The buy page (https://store.unity3d.com/) lets you select each of these then gives you the total cost of $4,500 it seems (which is a license for that version, so guess you pay on top of this for major upgrades)…
iOS and Android Pro are updates which you can buy for Unity Pro.
It´s the same as the comparison between Unity Free and Unity Pro. You do NOT need Unity Pro or iOS Pro/Android Pro to release on iOS or Android. These give you some additional features you might want to include into your project.
If you really *need* Occlusion culling in your game AND you are targetting mobile only, then I think that you *need* to buy Unity Pro and iOS/Android Pro. But this is one of the things you can achieve by yourself with smart coding. And for a 2D game this should not really matter.
There is a built in “lite” Profiler in Unity free that shows you the current amount of vertices, draw calls, etc in the current scene. I would say that the *profiler* coming with Unity Pro is not more than a *gimmick*
Not sure what the annual cost difference is, but I thought Unity was much higher than Corona Pro. For someone like me trying to build 2D only apps in my spare time (after work) the main negatives I saw for Unity were the following. Not sure if this has now changed?
- higher cost
- more time actually populating objects in the 3D world
- felt like you were working against the grain to make a 2D app in a 3D world
- was an issue then re the low cost version on Unity wanted to have its Unity page showing first at start up
Having said that looking at the list of platforms Unity now supports it is very impressive. They just announced another platform again I see…