Unity 5 vs Unreal 4: From a single developer perspective

I’m using Unity for two years and I’m happy with the engine, but it’s not perfect and when Unreal Engine 4 became free, I became interested in it. Currently I’m making games by myself, mostly for PC. When I’ve started to research Unity 5 vs Unreal 4 topic, I’ve noticed that those videos and articles often listed advantages and disadvantages of the engine that are completely irrelevant for me. Some people did pointed to the fact that those engines are similar, so I will only focus on differences that are relevant for me, as a single indie developer focused on 3d games for PC. I will ignore stuff that is not relevant to me, like 2d support, multiplatform support etc.

Unity 5

Advantages:

• Has a lot of content in Asset Store. Including plugins that add functionality to the engine.
• Unity Asset Store has a lot of content with low prices and lots of discounts.
• Editor doesn’t need powerful PC to work smooth.
• I like Unity pricing model. It’s much simpler and better.

Disadvantages:

• When you dealing with editor functionality plugins. Most of them are not as polished and bug free as core engine functionality. There is also risk, that something will happen to the creator of the plugin and that plugin will not be updated to work with the latest version of Unity.

Unreal Engine 4

Advantages:

• Has its own visual scripting language. I’m a big fan of visual scripting. This means visual scripting is properly supported and integrated into the engine. Probably most of game logic assets on UE4 marketplace will be build using it, so it’s easy to edit them.
• Has a lot more build in tools including major stuff like proper tool set to build open world games.
• Easier to make game look pretty?

Disadvantages:

• UE4 marketplace is almost empty compared to the Unity Asset Store. I’m making games on my own and Unity Asset Store is a huge part of why it’s possible. That’s why for me it’s the biggest disadvantage of Unreal Engine.
• Prices on UE4 marketplace are much higher compared to Unity Asset Store.
• Needs powerful PC to run editor smoothly. Yesterday I’ve find out that on my laptop Unreal editor will show only 5 fps. Unity works smooth on it, with the appropriate project.

That’s why I’m interested in Unreal Engine and I will continue to look at it, but will still use Unity for the time being.

My horror shooter about abnormal fear of woman called Gynophobia released on Steam as an Early Access title. Game is playable from start to finish and it was already tested by people. Current Steam version has been improved significantly compared to the version available on Desura. Also current steam version includes Steam Trading Cards. Game is available for Windows and OSX, although OSX version is a bit out of date compared to the Windows version. I plan to add Linux version a bit later. I’ve also updated all screenshots and trailer. Here’s couple profile backgrounds that you can get on Steam if you craft and trade cards from Gynophobia.

My horror shooter game about abnormal fear of women Gynophobia will be released 05/29/15 on Steam as Early Access title. Game was significantly updated and improved compared to the current version available on Desura. Gynophobia will also include Steam trading cards. New screenshots and trailer are available on Steam and on creashock website. Version for PC and Mac will be available on May 29, but I plan to add Linux version a bit later. Desura users will also receive updated version of a game. Here’a a list of changes compared to Gynophobia 1.2 on Desura.

• New design for some enemies and characters
• Graphical improvements
• Partial Controller Support
• Balance improvements
• New GUI
• Bug fixes
• Localization to German
• Localization to Polish
• Localization to French
• Localization to Ukrainian
• Localization to Spanish
• Localization to Brazilian Portuguese

and many more small changes and improvements.

Here’s new trailer for the game.

Just after finishing my blog post with tips on getting your game greenlit, my fourth game Gynophobia have been greenlit on Steam Greenlight. People who bought Gynophobia on Desura will also benefit from this, cause this means, that Gynophobia will receive more updates and support for more languages.

If someone wants to help me with localization please drop me mail at guaindie at gmail.com

Thank you for your amazing support!

I guess you can say that I’m pretty experienced with Steam Greenlight. I have 3 greenlit projects and one in top 100. I also read everything I stumble upon about Steam Greenlight. One of my projects took 2 years to get greenlit. My last project called Shadows Peak was greenlit in two weeks, with almost no marketing effort. Shadows Peak greenlight page has no negative comments. The key takeaways from all that experience is:

1. It’s all about the game. Whether Steam audience will consider your game good, depends on a lot of factors. But I would say the best strategy is to find a undeserved niche with enough demand. It is not a trivial task, since you just like every other indie have limited skills, money and taste. By limited taste, I mean, that you probably don’t like every genre and every setting. Those factors limit range of projects you can tackle.

2. Your greenlight page is your most important marketing tool. If you have only X amount of time to spend on marketing, I would spend it all on making a great trailer, screenshots, Icon and description. Don’t go to Greenlight, when you can’t provide good quality trailer and screenshots. A lot of developers say, that even when big sites covered their greenlight campaign, more than 90% of people still came from Steam.

I can talk about about the fact you should probably support all Steam platforms and add localization for multiple languages in your game. But without good game and good greenlight page, those things will not make a difference.

If your greenlight gets low percentage of yes votes and you understand that getting greenlit may take more than year. You have to decide how to properly spend your game development time. You can spend it trying to market your current game to get some votes outside of Steam, or you can start new project. I would advice starting new project.

I believe, that low percentage of yes votes, is a good indicator of low sales. Let’s face it, your current game maybe just not good enough, not unique enough or not ambitious enough. With every new project, you will grow as developer and your games will become better. A year ago I couldn’t tackle project of Shadows Peak scale and quality. Even though I had Shadows Peak idea for years, before I was simply not there in terms of my skills and experience to deliver it.

The road to “success” maybe be different for some other folks, but those are key takeaways from my own experience and research.

I’m happy to announce you that Shadows Peak has been Greenlit in just two weeks. This means that I can now release Shadows Peak on Steam.

Right now I’m transferring Shadows Peak to Unity 5 game engine. Since Unity 5 made almost all of it’s features available to personal license users, it means that Shadows Peak will have a much better graphics and optimization!

Thank you for your amazing support!

My new PC horror game is looking for Steam Greenlight. Shadows Peak is an atmospheric psychological horror that explores the dark side of a player. Please help us get it on Steam by voting on Steam Greenlight. Game is planned for PC, Mac, Linux.

New version of Gynophobia game is gone live. Gynophobia is a horror shooter about abnormal fear of women.

Gynophobia version 1.2 changelog:

• New enemy model
• New weapons sounds
• Russian localization added
• Small decor and gameplay changes

If someone wants to help with localization to other languages, please drop me mail at guaindie AT gmail.com

You can grab Gynophobia on Desura digital distribution platform for PC and Mac with a 60% Christmas discount. I’m currently investigating a Linux option.

To celebrate Halloween, I’m giving away 100 keys of a horror shooter game Gynophobia. Gynophobia is a horror shooter about abnormal fear of women. Game is using classic first person shooter gameplay, to convey story about Mark, who is suffering from different phobias, including abnormal fear of woman. Game is currently available for PC and Mac.

Grab your key here.

If you want to thank developer, please vote for Gynophobia on Steam Greenlight.

My new PC game is looking for Steam Greenlight. Gynophobia is a horror shooter about abnormal fear of women. Please help us get in on Steam by voting on Steam Greenlight.