Ask HN: Unreal Engine or Unity for Long-Term VR Project?

#1

Post by ansek » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 3:06 PM UTC

I'm a software developer and this is my first experience with 3D and VR. I planned to create a small prototype for Social VR project and I want to find the best fit for that.

They both seem equally good at first glance and the underlying languages (C++/Blueprint and C#) are not the problem.

Does anybody know pros and cons of these engines when it comes to VR?

Re: Ask HN: Unreal Engine or Unity for Long-Term VR Project?

#2

Post by benmcnelly » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 3:34 PM UTC

For me, I like the professional pipeline and stunning visuals of Unreal, but would not recommend it to anyone not doing this full time with a team. Unity I think is more accessible and can easily be made to look great as well, and is well suited for small teams or single developers.

Specifically relating to VR, I have worked and made full projects in both, and I prefer Unity and would highly recommend it over Unreal for VR, but you should try both and see what feels more intuitive for you.

Re: Ask HN: Unreal Engine or Unity for Long-Term VR Project?

#3

Post by ansek » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:46 PM UTC

benmcnelly wrote: post #2

For me, I like the professional pipeline and stunning visuals of Unreal, but would not recommend it to anyone not doing this full time with a team. Unity I think is more accessible and can easily be made to look great as well, and is well suited for small teams or single developers. Specifically relating to VR, I have worked and made full projects in both, and I prefer Unity and would highly recommend it over Unreal…

I noticed that when I was watching asset marketplaces and examples for both engines.

Unreal Engine seems more professional with advanced graphic and serious tools by default and Unity seems like an engine for indie studios who work on creating more creative games with unique styles. Of course, it's at first glance.

Thanks for the answer, I'll consider this in my decision.

Re: Ask HN: Unreal Engine or Unity for Long-Term VR Project?

#4

Post by thenomad » Mon, Jan 23, 2017, 6:48 PM UTC

Having created a rather large project for VR that's currently doing quite well ( http://store.steampowered.com/app/488760 - horror/RPG for the Vive) - Unity all the way.

Unreal's a lot heavier-weight and has processes which are probably very applicable for a larger team, but slow things down quite a lot for an individual dev.

Unity's fast and reasonably intuitive to work with, and the Asset Store ecosystem adds a lot too.

Caveat: I've not done extensive work in Unreal. I used it enough to determine it felt too heavyweight for my needs. I wrote some of my conclusions up over here, although at the time I was looking at film production rather than VR: http://www.strangecompany.org/development-notes-unreal-engin...