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  • Unity: A Great Game Development Tool
Technology Articles > Software > Development > Unity: A Great Game Development Tool

Seemingly, it makes very little sense to use a Mac game development tool to develop Windows games. Strangely, Unity (designed for Mac) can actually be used to create Windows games and, further, might be the best Windows game development tool on the market. The reason why many Windows developers use Unity instead of other Windows gaming development programs has a lot to do with Unity’s simplicity. Unlike various other game development tools, Unity has a clean interface and plenty of logic to help out any game developer. If you’re searching for a game development program and you’re tired of what’s out there Windows or Mac-wise, it’s time to take a close look at Unity.

The Simplicity of Unity’s Interface

Unity divides all games into three specific categories. Those categories include “assets,” “projects,” and “scenes.” As you might have speculated, a project is the overall gaming project and Unity’s definition of scenes refers to various levels or sub-groups. An “asset” is anything that goes into a game like the game script and other parts. These divisions make a lot of sense once you jump into the interface and everything is organized nicely. Unity’s interface also includes six different views that can be accessed at any point. These views (organized by panels) include “hierarchy,” “inspector,” “timeline,” “project,” “scene view,” and “game view.” Logically, these views make it easier to work on each segment of a game without battling a mish-mash of views.

Each game view includes a number of features (for example, you can rotate and move things around when in “scene view” and actually see all of your progress in real-time when in “game view”). A nice addition to this program is the drag and drop feature that allows users to snag an item from the Project view and drag it into any other view (like the scene view). Really, game development couldn’t get any easier than this -- unless, of course, Unity wrote the actual code for you (sorry, no such luck!).

Other Great Unity Features

Importing 3D files from various applications is made easy with Unity. If you have a current Maya or Lightwave file, for example, you can import these simply and quickly using the importation option (various other files are supported too). As mentioned above, when you’re done creating your game with Unity (or finished working on a portion of your game for the day), you can save your work in either Windows or OS X format. This alone makes Unity worth owning, in this reviewer’s opinion (of course, you’ll need to work on a Mac, but that’s a small price to pay for a game builder that’s this easy to use).

Unity also comes with amazing technical support, just in case you’re ever stuck using the program. Note: this program is one of the few game development options out there that won’t leave you stuck with bugs and other issues half-way through the game, but you may have a question or two that you need answers with and that’s where Unity’s tech support really delivers. Unity not only comes with a great user’s manual, but this product is backed up by a user’s forum that seems to be accessible around the clock. You’ll be hard-pressed to find another game development program on the market that’s as great as Unity is. If you are tired of bugs, problems, and complicated game development tools, Unity can be purchased for $249. The Pro version of Unity will set you back more than $1000, but this reviewer still thinks the price is worth it.