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Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

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Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#21

Post by flafla2 »

oneoff786 wrote: post #5

I have found unreal’s basic ui editor to be fine. Unity is, in my opinion, just a poorly managed company with a good product in spite of it. They’ve failed to deliver on many things and the engine has glaring weaknesses, e.g. no networked multiplayer built in. I would bet on the engine generally getting worse over time as management tries to push non functioning new stuff.

This is going to sound a bit hyperbolic but I haven’t been truly impressed with any new features in Unity since the introduction of PBR and dynamic indirect lighting in Unity 5.0. If your game doesn’t require cutting-edge technology then you would be hard-pressed to find a significant difference between the latest version and say version 5.4. If your game does require excellent optimization, rendering tech, etc, then Unreal is simply the better option.

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#22

Post by oneoff786 »

flafla2 wrote: post #21
oneoff786 wrote: post #5

I have found unreal’s basic ui editor to be fine. Unity is, in my opinion, just a poorly managed company with a good product in spite of it. They’ve failed to deliver on many things and the engine has glaring weaknesses, e.g. no networked multiplayer built in. I would bet on the engine generally getting worse over time as management tries to push non functioning new stuff.

This is going to sound a bit hyperbolic but I haven’t been truly impressed with any new features in Unity since the introduction of PBR and dynamic indirect lighting in Unity 5.0. If your game doesn’t require cutting-edge technology then you would be hard-pressed to find a significant difference between the latest version and say version 5.4. If your game does require excellent optimization, rendering tech, etc, then…

I tend to agree. I find unreal to have a higher initial learning curve but then generally be an easier engine to develop for. The core engine components have a wider coverage of basic game concepts like movement and network replication. The difference between fixed updates and tick updates is not a concern which is a trap for newbies. The engine source is available.

Unity has better support for 2D games. And seems to be more mobile friendly. The asset store is better if you want to just pull in some other peoples stuff, which I find unpleasant for anything but photo realistic mundane objects. That is to say, I think Unity tends to be the best choice for making mediocre games, which is not to say that games made in Unity are intrinsically mediocre at all.

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#23

Post by 41209 »

oneoff786 wrote: post #5

I have found unreal’s basic ui editor to be fine. Unity is, in my opinion, just a poorly managed company with a good product in spite of it. They’ve failed to deliver on many things and the engine has glaring weaknesses, e.g. no networked multiplayer built in. I would bet on the engine generally getting worse over time as management tries to push non functioning new stuff.

I vastly prefer code over blueprints, and C# is much easier than C++.

I've tried learning Unreal like 3 times. I still can't even get the build chain working

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#24

Post by oneoff786 »

shetill wrote: post #19

The native UI framework and even paid assets are absolute rubbish. I've actively avoided working on these as I realised how difficult and unproductive it is. Especially Editor UIs and Property Drawers is the worst. They have so many projects on Preview (like their supposed new UI system) and has stayed like this for years... disappointing. I've thought on switching to Unreal for long time but never went with it knowi…

FWIW I learned Unity and unreal blind with no particular familiarity with C# or C++. I’m a Python programmer for a day job. I have found unreal blueprints to be more than sufficient for anything I want to do, and honestly a superior choice because they corral you into best practice methods that actually use the engine’s built in components whereas you might accidentally end up trying to implement them yourself in Unity because a pure code interface isn’t very discoverable.

I have dipped into C++ for some tasks involving a lot of arrays and what not. It wasn’t that hard to do what I needed to do. I definitely do not know the language but it’s all worked out pretty well so far.

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#25

Post by Shadonototra »

redefine_net wrote: post #18
Shadonototra wrote: post #16

multiple reasons - it's hard to make declarative UIs with C# (recent versions try to make it easier, but it's still not there) - making UIs is hard, making game UIs is even more hard because there is no rule to make a UI, it depends on many factors (art style, game genre, platform you target, input you support) - making something customizable, serializable and performant is very hard you are better making your own th…

I don't get why they don't make HTML-compatible frames you could just rotate in 3D. in my mind - if you said UI you said HTML. (and JS and CSS)

because web tech sucks, it performs poorly, it's even more true when you start to target ressource constrained devices (mobile and consoles)

8ms is your framebudget for 120 FPS

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#26

Post by linkdd »

vgel wrote: post #15
toivo wrote: post #7

Whats a better UI framework? Been a unity game dev since I learned to program properly so I don't even know any better.

anti-example, Godot's is also horrible, and Unity vs Godot are the two main options for 2D development :(

I like Game Maker Studio 2 a lot for 2D games.

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#27

Post by vgel »

linkdd wrote: post #26
vgel wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

anti-example, Godot's is also horrible, and Unity vs Godot are the two main options for 2D development :(

I like Game Maker Studio 2 a lot for 2D games.

I'll have to check it out, I used it as a kid but not in years.

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#28

Post by 41209 »

terrycody wrote: post #20

Try godot instead.

Godot has potential, but it’s no where near Unity in terms of ease of use.

With Unity I can typically buy an asset for whatever I need, but with Godot I might need to implement it myself. Unity has tons of problems, but better off with the devil you know

Re: Ask HN: Why is UI design in Unity so hard?

#29

Post by 41209 »

redefine_net wrote: post #17

I'm glad I'm not alone with my frustrations over Unity. I feel like Unreal is clumsy as well for new developers, so it's a choice between which shortcomings you prefer. Can't wait for a new engine to fill in the gap.

Honestly this post is like complaining my new car only has manual windows.

Everything else with Unity is pretty easy. I hate Blueprints or any visual scripting. In the long term Blueprints don't build any real skills, and I learned to program with Unity.

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