Question Why is Unity the game engine of choice for VAM?

[d33p]

Just out of interest. Why is this project based on Unity instead of Unreal Engine?

Was it simply the engine MeshedVR was using at that time or are there other reasons (f.e. limitations in UE) which led to that decision?

 

[meshedvr]

When I started VaM, UE had just gone open source. Before that, it was hard to get. Unity was easier to just pick up and mess around with. I did evaluate UE at the time, but I was already using Unity for a while. After some time with UE, it was clear Unity was a bit easier to customize and would meet my needs better. VaM uses a lot of custom physics and other stuff that would have been harder to do in UE. I also greatly prefer C#. There really isn't anything you can't do in one engine or the other. UE has better out-of-the-box render quality, although Unity's HDRP has closed the gap somewhat. I'm also quite excited about Unity's DOTS system and burst compiler which should be able to unlock major power.

 

[NutellaBrah]

I dont really know of any games that look good in VR that are in Unreal engine.

Notoriously one of my favorite sims Assetto Corsa which was perfect looking in a unity inspired moddable engine switched to UE for Assetto Competizione the sequel which looks great in pancake mode but because of UE no matter what you do it just doesnt look crisp in VR now that they switched to it. No matter how they update it its just too thick.

Meanwhile HL Alyx is in Source 2 and that looks perfect.

Unity is just the best for VR it seems like.

 

[d33p]

I also greatly prefer C#.

Same here. But that really is the only downside i see for me regarding UE. And Unreal C++ is so modified that you have to get used to it anyway - no matter where you're coming from.
Ok, so it purely was a matter of taste and routine. The good thing about that decision is that i now want to learn Unity as well.
I first thought that the reason for not using UE would be the lack of a soft body implementation.
At least that was the reason for me to stop my own little breast physics project Not that i wouldn't be able to implement my own solution but it would just take too much time for a personal side project.
But it seems like that Unity has at least one decent game-ready asset and a few soft body solutions by the community.
May I ask how you created these awesome physics in VAM @meshedvr ? Is that a self-made solution or can you recommend a certain library or asset from the Unity marketplace?

@NutellaBrah I don't think the reason for that game not looking crisp is Unreal Engine. Many people underestimate the effort you have to put into a scene to make it work. Unreal looks nice out of the box but you really have to know what you're doing if you want that AAA look. A lot of customization options also means a lot of possiblites to mess up your visuals
Unity is definitely the more beginner friendly engine. But i really like the tools and the overall workflow in UE. And - of course - the visuals. But now that @meshedvr mentioned it i really have to take a look into DOTS. Especially that Burst compiler sounds interesting. If that thing really compiles into machine code that performs better then compiled C++ then i will definitely be impressed af.

 

[NutellaBrah]

Same here. But that really is the only downside i see for me regarding UE. And Unreal C++ is so modified that you have to get used to it anyway - no matter where you're coming from.
Ok, so it purely was a matter of taste and routine. The good thing about that decision is that i now want to learn Unity as well.
I first thought that the reason for not using UE would be the lack of a soft body implementation.
At least that was the reason for me to stop my own little breast physics project Not that i wouldn't be able to implement my own solution but it would just take too much time for a personal side project.
But it seems like that Unity has at least one decent game-ready asset and a few soft body solutions by the community.
May I ask how you created these awesome physics in VAM @meshedvr ? Is that a self-made solution or can you recommend a certain library or asset from the Unity marketplace?

@NutellaBrah I don't think the reason for that game not looking crisp is Unreal Engine. Many people underestimate the effort you have to put into a scene to make it work. Unreal looks nice out of the box but you really have to know what you're doing if you want that AAA look. A lot of customization options also means a lot of possiblites to mess up your visuals
Unity is definitely the more beginner friendly engine. But i really like the tools and the overall workflow in UE. And - of course - the visuals. But now that @meshedvr mentioned it i really have to take a look into DOTS. Especially that Burst compiler sounds interesting. If that thing really compiles into machine code that performs better then compiled C++ then i will definitely be impressed af.

well it looks good in normal flast screen resolution. BUt in VR its a blurry mess and sharpness is a huge issue. Almost like it has too much going on.