Overview

Unity

Stacks1.7K

Followers1.4K

Votes78

Corona SDK

Stacks17

Followers37

Votes5

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.

Advice on Unity, Corona SDK

Alexey

Software Engineer / Game Developer at Norlin Games

Jun 11, 2020

Decided

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).

92.3k views92.3k

Comments

Arthur

Software Engineer at Value Industry

Mar 1, 2020

Decided

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.

89.8k views89.8k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Unity	Corona SDK
Unity is the ultimate game development platform. Use Unity to build high-quality 3D and 2D games, deploy them across mobile, desktop, VR/AR, consoles or the Web, and connect with loyal and enthusiastic players and customers.	It is a cross-platform framework ideal for rapidly creating apps and games for mobile devices and desktop systems. It builds rich mobile apps for iOS, Android, Kindle and Nook. Build high quality mobile apps in a fraction of the time.
-	Call any native library; Cross-platform; Completely free
Statistics
Stacks 1.7K	Stacks 17
Followers 1.4K	Followers 37
Votes 78	Votes 5
Pros & Cons
Pros 17 Because it's a powerful engine, you can build anything 15 C# language 12 Very Popular 8 Easy to Use 7 Cross Platform Cons 4 Closed source 4 Clunky UI 4 Hard to get started with 3 Requires to build a lot of tools 3 No consistency with updates	Pros 3 Also potentially build for OS Apple 2 Lua code better than java code Cons 4 Not Very popular 2 Very Poor System
Integrations
No integrations available	Google AdMob JetBrains Rider PlayFab Lua Vuforia TestFairy Pushwoosh Helpshift

What are some alternatives to Unity, Corona SDK?

Godot

It is an advanced, feature-packed, multi-platform 2D and 3D open source game engine. It is developed by hundreds of contributors from all around the world.

Unreal Engine

It is a game engine that helps you make games. It is made up of several components that work together to drive the game. Its massive system of tools and editors allows you to organize your assets and manipulate them to create the gameplay for your game.

Gamemaker Studio 2

It has everything you need to take your idea from concept to finished game. With no barriers to entry and powerful functionality.

Panda3D

It is a game engine that includes graphics, audio, I/O, collision detection, and other abilities relevant to the creation of 3D games.

pygame

It is a cross-platform set of Python modules designed for writing video games. It includes computer graphics and sound libraries designed to be used with the Python programming language.

Buildbox

It is the easiest drag and drop game maker software.Make your own games without coding and export them to iPhone, iPad, Android, Mac, PC and Microconsoles.

AppGameKit

It is an easy to learn game development engine, ideal for Beginners, Hobbyists & Indie developers. It solves many problems caused by mobile device fragmentation. With it you can code your game once and then deploy your game to multiple platforms. Different resolutions and input systems are all easily handled by it.

Amazon Lumberyard

It is a game engine with no royalties or seat fees, frictionless integration with Twitch and AWS, plus much more on the horizon.

Phaser

It is a free open source HTML5 game framework. It uses Pixi.js for WebGL and Canvas rendering across desktop and mobile web browsers. Games can be compiled to iOS and Android apps via 3rd party tools.

libGDX

The framework provides an environment for rapid prototyping and fast iterations. Instead of deploying to Android/iOS/Javascript after each code change, you can run and debug your game on the desktop, natively. Desktop JVM features like code hotswapping reduce your iteration times considerably.