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Corona SDK vs Unity: What are the differences?
Introduction
Corona SDK and Unity are both popular game development platforms. However, there are several key differences between these two platforms.
Programming Languages: Corona SDK primarily uses Lua for scripting, while Unity supports multiple programming languages such as C#, JavaScript, and Boo. This difference in programming languages can affect the learning curve and the ease of development for developers.
Platform Compatibility: Unity supports a wide range of platforms including Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Xbox, PlayStation, and more. On the other hand, Corona SDK is mainly focused on mobile platforms such as iOS and Android. This difference makes Unity a more versatile choice if you are targeting multiple platforms.
3D Capabilities: Unity is known for its robust 3D capabilities and is widely used for creating 3D games and simulations. In contrast, Corona SDK is primarily designed for 2D game development, although it does have some basic 3D capabilities. If you are planning to create a 3D game, Unity would be a better choice.
Visual Editor: Unity provides a powerful visual editor that allows developers to easily create complex game environments and scenes. This visual editor also includes built-in support for animations, physics, and particle effects. On the other hand, Corona SDK does not have a built-in visual editor and relies more on coding. This difference can affect the speed and ease of creating game assets.
Asset Store: Unity has a vast asset store with a wide range of pre-made game assets, scripts, and plugins that developers can use to enhance their projects. This asset store provides a huge advantage in terms of saving development time and effort. However, Corona SDK does not have a built-in asset store and developers would need to rely on external sources for game assets.
Community and Documentation: Unity has a large and active community of developers and a vast amount of documentation and tutorials available. This makes it easier for developers to find help, resources, and solutions to their problems. Although Corona SDK also has a community and documentation, it is comparatively smaller and may have limited resources available.
In summary, the key differences between Corona SDK and Unity include the programming languages used, platform compatibility, 3D capabilities, visual editor availability, asset store support, and the size and resources of their respective communities.
When I started to learn game development, I've tried to use Unity multiple times because it's the most popular option. But never get it worked because of the clunky UI which is very hard to understand for a new user. After some time, I've decided to try UE4 despite there was a lot of rumors that it's "heavy" or requires an AAA team. And suddenly it clicked, everything works as I expecting, UI is clear and much more powerfull, no need to build custom tools to work on the game itself. Blueprints are very helpful for beginners, C++ has a lot of "syntax-sugar" - macroses, a lot of convenient in-engine types for everything. Later while working with Unreal, I've realized it has very consistent roadmap with constant improvements and adding new features. At the same time, each major version update is painless so you can upgrade your project during development to get new features. UE4 is free to use with the full list of features and you only have to pay royalty after getting your first $1 million from the project (and that's just the default case, you can always discuss custom license with an upfront fee, if you want to).
I chose Unity over Unreal Engine because Unity has a more user friendly UI for beginners looking to learn game development. Additionally, as someone who uses a lot of online resources to learn new languages and tools, I found a lot of tutorials covering game development with Unity as the core engine. This doesn't mean Unreal is not a great choice for game development, I just personally found learning game development much smoother with the amount of resources available with Unity.
Pros of Corona SDK
- Also potentially build for OS Apple3
- Lua code better than java code2
Pros of Unity
- Because it's a powerful engine, you can build anything16
- C# language14
- Very Popular12
- Easy to Use7
- He Has A Free VErsion6
- Cross Platform6
- 2nd Game Engine In The World5
- Good Choise4
- Very Large Showcase4
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Cons of Corona SDK
- Not Very popular4
- Very Poor System2
Cons of Unity
- Hard to get started with4
- Clunky UI4
- Closed source4
- No consistency with updates3
- Requires to build a lot of tools3
- Gigantic by being 9gb (thats what setup says)2
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What is Corona SDK?
What is Unity?
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