Unity (game engine)

Not to be confused with Unity (user interface).

Unity

Developer(s)	Unity Technologies
Initial release	1.0 / June 8, 2005 (2005-06-08)
Stable release	5.3.4 / March 15, 2016 (2016-03-15)
Written in	C, C++
Operating system	Creation OS X Ubuntu (experimental) Windows Deployment Android Android TV BlackBerry 10 Gear VR HTC Vive iOS Linux Nintendo 3DS line Oculus Rift OS X PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 PlayStation Vita Samsung Smart TV Tizen tvOS Wii U Windows Windows Phone Windows Store WebGL Xbox 360 Xbox One Deprecated (v5.3) Adobe Flash Google Native Client Unity Web Player Wii
Available in	English
Type	Game engine
License	Proprietary
Website	<strong%20class= "error"><span%20class="scribunto-error"%20id="mw-scribunto-error-1">Lua%20error%20in%20Module:Wd%20at%20line%20405:%20invalid%20escape%20sequence%20near%20'"^'. http://<strong%20class="error"><span%20class="scribunto-error"%20id="mw-scribunto-error-1">Lua%20error%20in%20Module:Wd%20at%20line%20405:%20invalid%20escape%20sequence%20near%20'"^'.

Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies and used to develop video games for PC, consoles, mobile devices and websites. First announced only for OS X, at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in 2005, it has since been extended to target twenty one platforms. It is the default software development kit (SDK) for the Wii U.

Five major versions of Unity have been released. At the 2006 WWDC trade show, Apple Inc. named Unity as the runner up for its Best Use of Mac OS X Graphics category.

Overview

With an emphasis on portability, the engine targets the following APIs: Direct3D on Windows and Xbox 360; OpenGL on Mac and Windows; OpenGL ES on Android and iOS; and proprietary APIs on video game consoles. Unity allows specification of texture compression and resolution settings for each platform the game engine supports, and provides support for bump mapping, reflection mapping, parallax mapping, screen space ambient occlusion (SSAO), dynamic shadows using shadow maps, render-to-texture and full-screen post-processing effects. Unity's graphics engine's platform diversity can provide a shader with multiple variants and a declarative fallback specification, allowing Unity to detect the best variant for the current video hardware; and if none are compatible, fall back to an alternative shader that may sacrifice features for performance.

Unity is notable for its ability to target games to multiple platforms. Within a project, developers have control over delivery to mobile devices, web browsers, desktops, and consoles. Supported platforms include Android, Apple TV, BlackBerry 10, iOS, Linux, Nintendo 3DS line, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Unity Web Player (including Facebook), Wii, Wii U, Windows Phone 8, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. It includes an asset server and Nvidia's PhysX physics engine. Unity Web Player is a browser plugin that is supported in Windows and OS X only. Unity Web Player has been deprecated in favor of WebGL. Unity is the default software development kit (SDK) for Nintendo's Wii U video game console platform, with a free copy included by Nintendo with each Wii U developer license. Unity Technologies calls this bundling of a third-party SDK an "industry first".

In Japan, Unity has a moe mascot character named Unity-chan (ユニティちゃん, Yuniti-chan), real name Kohaku Otori (大鳥 こはく, Ōtori Kohaku) (voiced by Asuka Kakumoto). The company allows the use of Unity-chan and related characters for use in secondary projects under certain licenses. For example, Unity-chan appears as a playable character in Runbow. The popularity of the character also led to her to appear in Vocaloid adaptions, including her own sound library for Vocaloid 4 and a special adaption of Vocaloid designed to work with the Unity Engine 5.0 version called Unity with Vocaloid.

Reception

In 2012, VentureBeat said, "Few companies have contributed as much to the flowing of independently produced games as Unity Technologies. ... More than 1.3 million developers are using its tools to create "Bob's your uncle" graphics in their iOS, Android, console, PC, and web-based games. ... Unity wants to be the engine for multiplatform games, period."

For the Apple Design Awards at the 2006 WWDC trade show, Apple, Inc. named Unity as the runner up for its Best Use of Mac OS X Graphics category, a year after Unity's launch at the same trade show. Unity Technologies says this is the first time a game design tool has ever been nominated for this award. A May 2012 survey by Game Developer magazine indicated Unity as its top game engine for mobile platforms. In July 2014, Unity won the "Best Engine" award at the UK's annual Develop Industry Excellence Awards.

Unity 5 was met with similar praise, with The Verge stating that "Unity started with the goal of making game development universally accessible ... Unity 5 is a long-awaited step towards that future."

Following the release of Unity 5, Unity Technologies drew criticism for the high volume of quickly produced games published on the Steam distribution platform by inexperienced developers. CEO John Riccitiello said in an interview that he believes this to be a side effect of Unity's success in democratizing game development: “If I had my way, I’d like to see 50 million people using Unity – although I don’t think we’re going to get there any time soon. I’d like to see high school and college kids using it, people outside the core industry. I think it’s sad that most people are consumers of technology and not creators. The world’s a better place when people know how to create, not just consume, and that’s what we’re trying to promote."

See also

• List of game engines
• List of Unity games