Unity Android Engine Lets Devs Easily Port iOS Games (Some In Less Than Two Days)
Unity has just announced the launch of Unity Android, an Android version of their game engine that many developers use to create games on iOS. We won’t dive into the technical stuff ourselves as we’re not game developers, but some very interesting tidbits from the press release caught my attention. Those who have created games on iOS using unity were able to port their games in as little as two days.
Such was the case with Stupid Zombies from GameResort LLC. SkyVu said it took them two weeks to port both of their Battle Bears games from iOS to Android. Here are a list of features developers can look forward to:
- Integrated Editor — Users can deploy a single project to multiple platforms, including Android, using a one-click solution that just works. Porting a game from iOS to Android can be as simple as changing the target platform and clicking “Build.”
- Support for upcoming Android devices, including Tegra Tablets and the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY Smartphone — Users can be among the first to benefit from releasing games on the exciting range of Android-based gaming platforms.
- Highly Optimized Graphics Pipeline for OpenGL ES 2.0 — Unity Technologies has been working directly with hardware manufacturers such as NVIDIA and Qualcomm to get every last bit of performance out of Android so that users can create stunning games without worrying about the subtle difference between devices.
- Android Remote — Developers can use their actual Android phone as an input device to view and test their game directly within the authoring tool.
The caveat with easy portability is that developers will need to create their games using Unity initially, obviously, but that’s all the more reason for developers to consider a switch or for new developers to consider the platform for the future. Let’s hope this results in more timely game releases for Android. Full press details can be had at Market Wire.