Recently I’ve been keen to do more games development. It’s something I really enjoy, having written a few Flash games in the past, but not something I get to do at work. With work a little uncertain at the moment it’s also a good time to add to my skills etc and have a bit of fun.
Having decided I wanted to get back into games development and specifically mobile gaming on iOS and Android (I still love doing my Web-based fantasy motorsport management game) the next decision was what engine or technology to use.
In my case I didn’t want to do any native development. I’ve done a bit of Java but no Objective-C, learning the language isn’t the problem though. The concern for me is that I want to be writing games that I can roll out to Android and iOS with the least effort in porting of one to the other. Ideally I’d like the flexibility of supporting BlackBerry and Windows phones too but that’s less of an issue right now. So that rules out any native development and I need to pick an engine/SDK.
Other key factors include:
- Cost to market – for the purposes of this I mean Android and iOS deployment and support of in-app purchases(IAP) and ads
- Availability/quality of support
- Support for creating 2D games
- Ease of trialling the software as a “5-9er”
This last point is worth explaining. I won’t be creating games as part of my day job so I can only do this between 5pm and 9am (i.e. out of work hours). With family commitments and being a trustee for a charity the amount of free time I have is very limited. Realistically I think I probably only have between 10pm and 1am on four nights a week, so that’s 12 hours a week (on a good week).
As a result, trialling software before I buy is essential but the trial period is also important. A 30 day trial may be fine if you can work on this every day but in my case I’d be making a decision based on, at best, 48 hours usage spread over the 30 days… not ideal.
Software I considered and a link to a bit of info/opinion on each (info/costs at the time of writing):
And the winner is… Unity
Unity really impressed me and it seems ideal for what I want. The features, flexibility and excellent community really tipped the balance.