Skip to main content
Up and Coming
September 1, 2015

Unreal vs Unity

I did see this page.

It's a year old though, so I'm curious about how the individual IDEs have come since then.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of each with regards to Oculus development? Is one a clear better over the other or is it mainly up to preference?

    21 replies

    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    EvryDayVR has two excellent videos to get you started. You should really consider downloading both, try them out and make a decision based on what meets your needs.

    Getting started with Unity
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU5_1ivyItg



    Getting started with Unreal Engine
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdmBBBd20f4



    Please note that both now have free (for dev) options, which was not the case at the time of those videos.
    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    In the process of pulling them both down and deciding which to start with atm. I've touched both in the past but it was so long ago it probably means nothing.

    Thanks for the videos. Will take a look after I post this.

    I'm really just toying around for my own entertainment, not for profit. My end goal is an arena of some sort. Nothing too complicated. I'm sure either would suit me just fine but what I wont find out until 3 months into development is that x feature with y IDE is really 'wonky' and best not used. That's kind of the real world info I was hoping for from more experienced devs than I.
    Inspiring
    September 1, 2015
    Both are great engines for different reasons, but I'd personally go with Unity due to better ease of use.

    Really, though, you could spend about a week with each one testing it and probably have a decent idea.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    kojack
    Honored Contributor
    September 1, 2015
    From what I've experienced, if your hardware is towards the lower end of the acceptable range, Unreal will struggle to run compared to Unity, it has a much higher overhead. Even a simple room with a couple of cubes was a performance hog in Unreal while Unity games ran fine.

    On the other hand, Unreal has C++.
    Author: Oculus Monitor , Auto Oculus Touch , Forum Dark Mode , Phantom Touch Remover , X-Plane Fixer Hardware: Threadripper 1950x, MSI Gaming Trio 2080TI, Asrock X399 Taich Headsets: Wrap 1200VR, DK1, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, GearVR, Go, Quest, Quest 2, Reverb G2, Quest 3
    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    look at this forums posts count for Unity integration vs unreal integration.
    look at the unity asset store vs the unreal asset store

    to me thats enough data to make the call.
    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    As a beginner i suggest going with Unity, imo Unity is easier in a lot of ways. The only thing it falls just a tiny bit short is the graphics side, while nowadays Unity can produce great looking graphics as well.
    Developer of One Secret Fantasy One of the best virtual reality dating games www.onesecretfantasy.com
    Up and Coming
    September 1, 2015
    "DrSnake" wrote:
    As a beginner i suggest going with Unity, imo Unity is easier in a lot of ways. The only thing it falls just a tiny bit short is the graphics side, while nowadays Unity can produce great looking graphics as well.


    but if each was maxed out at maximum graphical potential would the difference be 5000%?

    with amatuerish skills it would be like 10% better on Unreal but with professional it would be 5000%?
    facebook.com/AntDX316
    Inspiring
    September 1, 2015
    Unreal does have the upper-hand with graphics, at least by default. A talented team with good artists can make something great with nearly any engine. And I've seen some nice stuff with Unity as well. In any case, if you're an indie developer you shouldn't worry about that last 10% of graphics fidelity when there are much more important things like fun gameplay, original concepts, good art direction, etc.
    AMD Ryzen 7 1800X | MSI X370 Titanium | G.Skill 16GB DDR4 3200 | EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 | Corsair Hydro H110i Gigabyte RX Vega 64 x2 | Samsung 960 Evo M.2 500GB | Seagate FireCuda SSHD 2TB | Phanteks ENTHOO EVOLV
    Up and Coming
    September 2, 2015
    Appreciate all the insight. I'm not much of a 3d artist, (read I butcher spheres and cubes,) so the graphics side of things isn't going to be my strong point. I'll most likely search out some free assets and make due with the quality I get.

    I was looking more for the pitfalls that would creep up several months into development if any. The videos from eVRyDay kind of touched on what I wanted in the UDK video. Unreal has to code their own support so updates come several weeks after Oculus releases them for Unity. That's the kind of info I was seeking.

    I'm still undecided at the moment but on the other hand, my DK2 hasn't even shipped yet so I've got plenty of time to tinker with both.
    Up and Coming
    September 2, 2015
    "cybereality" wrote:
    Unreal does have the upper-hand with graphics, at least by default. A talented team with good artists can make something great with nearly any engine. And I've seen some nice stuff with Unity as well. In any case, if you're an indie developer you shouldn't worry about that last 10% of graphics fidelity when there are much more important things like fun gameplay, original concepts, good art direction, etc.


    but which would be the easiest platform to pump out programs or are they equal?
    facebook.com/AntDX316