If your business is looking for a way to develop and distribute cross-platform 2D and 3D game apps, you should try Unity. The Unity 3D game engine is widely used, as it includes many of the features the best game developers look for in a language. And with Unity, your company can deliver top-quality content to over 20 different platforms (including PC, web, and mobile).
According to Statista, the gaming market in the USA alone is projected to surpass 65.49 billion dollars (and that’s down from a record 66.88 billion in 2020). Needless to say, it’s a huge industry, one your business could benefit from. And even if your company’s primary focus isn’t games, you can always add a simple mobile or web game to pique the interests of new customers.
Think about it this way: You could develop a simple mobile game that helps to promote a new product or service your company is about to release. Or maybe a game that allows customers to earn coupons for discounts on items (depending on how well they play). There’s no end to how you could use mobile and web apps to help promote your business and its products or services.
But how do you get your developers started with mobile app development? One great place to start is Unity.
What is Unity?
Unity is a game engine that was launched at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference and turned the mobile game development world upside down pretty quickly. Unity provides a wealth of development resources, such as:
- Intuitive development tools
- Ready-made assets
- Outstanding documentation and tutorials
- Robust online community for support
Unity has become so popular, your business would be remiss if they didn’t start their game development here. With Unity, you have everything you need to start developing high-quality content for your company. In fact, it isn’t limited to creating only games. With this engine you can create:
- Augmented reality experiences
- Interactive experiences
- Previsualization for film
- Architectural visualization
- Animation
- Simulations
So although Unity is a game engine, it has other uses that could readily benefit your business.
Advantages of Unity
There are several clear advantages to using Unity.
Cross-platform support
If there’s a platform you’re looking to develop for, chances are Unity has it covered. Unity works with 27 different platforms, such as:
- Desktop (Linux, macOS, and Windows)
- Web
- Android
- iOS
- Playstation
- Xbox
- Nintendo Switch
- Google Stadia
- Android TV
- tvOS
- ARCore
- Microsoft HoloLens
- Magic Leap
- Oculus
IDE support
Unity supports several Integrated Development Environments (IDEs), such as:
- Visual Studio
- Visual Studio Code
- JetBrains Rider
- Atom
- MonoDevelop
- Emacs
- Consulo
- Eclipse
It’s highly likely that your developer’s favorite IDE will be supported by Unity, so those software engineers won’t have to worry about learning a new development environment to start using this engine.
High-quality audio and visual effects
Unity offers support for high-quality video and audio effects, which goes a long way to ease game development. All visuals are quickly adaptable for every screen without distortion or compromising quality.
Over the past few years, game engines have been serious options for animated filmmakers. One reason for the rise in popularity of using game engines for this purpose is because we’ve almost reached the point where pre-rendered and real-time rendered graphics can’t be distinguished. And Unity includes frame-by-frame export and supersampling (a method of removing aliasing from images in computer games).
Well documented
Unlike some pieces of technology, Unity is incredibly well documented. Your developers will find easy-to-understand documentation that will help them embark on a journey of creating outstanding content for your business. New Unity developers can begin with this Get Started guide .
Easy debugging
Unity offers incredibly easy debugging because all game variables are displayed during gameplay, which allows developers to debug at runtime.
Touchscreen support
This is where a lot of companies can benefit from using Unity. With touch screen devices deployed everywhere, you’re going to need applications that are capable of interacting with them. For example, traditional maps in malls are being replaced by interactive displays. Thermostats are getting smart. Appliances and autos even include touch screens.
Unity is capable of integrating into just about any backend used, and with a powerful graphical component, it’s easy to not just make it possible to develop apps that can integrate with touchscreens, but create apps that are capable of seriously impressing customers. So instead of just building simplistic menus for touchscreens, you can build exciting environments for use on nearly any type of device.
WebGL build option
Another outstanding feature is the highly optimized WebGL build option which is capable of delivering web app experiences at native speeds. This can be crucial to companies looking to deliver the best possible performance for web-based applications. WebGL on Unity has been used for apps like Star Trek Timelines, Greed for Speed, and Bugz.
Conclusion
If your business is serious about diving into the world of content deployment to customers, users, and the general public, you should seriously consider adding a game engine like Unity into the mix. If your developers are already working with the likes of Java, JavaScript, .NET, Python, or frameworks like React Native, they’re already ahead of the game and will have no problem diving into Unity to create games and other avenues for the delivery of exciting content to your customers.
