Posted on 2013-12-20 14:15 by Aaron Meier
A simple comparison of Sping vs. Unity 3D.
Built-in RTS features
Comparing Spring v0.95 to the Unity community RTS prototype.
| Features |
Spring |
Unity 3D |
| Basic Movement |
Yes |
Yes |
| Movement Queues |
Yes |
No |
| Patrol (with queues) |
Yes |
No |
| Building Construction |
Yes |
Yes |
| Building Construction Queues |
Yes |
No |
| Basic AI |
Yes |
Yes |
| Basic Pathfinding |
Yes |
Yes |
| Minimap |
Yes |
No |
| Multiplayer |
With Lobby Client and External Server |
No |
| Resources |
Fixed "energy" and "metal" |
Customizeable |
Time to implement features
- Very difficult - At least 20 hours of work for most developers.
- Difficult - Between 10-20 hours of work.
- Moderate - Between 5-10 hours of work.
- Easy - Less than 5 hours of work.
| Feature |
Difficulty for Spring |
Difficulty for Unity |
| Minimap |
N/A |
Difficult |
| Multiplayer |
Moderate (to re-package the Lobby) |
Very difficult1 |
| Custom Resources |
Very difficult |
Easy |
| Action Queues |
N/A |
Very difficult |
- Can be made much easier with the use of a networking service, such as Photon PUN (from $9/mo/100 concurrent users to $200/mo/1000 extra concurrent users)
Engine features
| Feature |
Spring |
Unity 3D |
| Distribution License |
GPLv2 for code |
Whatever you want |
| Modern 3D Rendering |
Yes |
Yes |
| OS Support |
Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, Android iOS, WebPlayer, and others |
Windows, Linux, Mac OSX |
| Map Editor |
Yes, but complicated pipeline |
Yes, with IDE |
| Language Support |
C++ and Lua |
C#, UnityScript, or Boo :( |
| GUI actor editor(s) |
No, script-based |
Yes |
| Graphics configuration |
Yes, via Spring Lobby |
Yes, in-game or via launch utility |
| Art-pipeline |
Requires Upspring for custom format |
Built-in support for most formats |
| Documentation |
Absolute garbage (seriously) |
Very good |
| Commercial Games |
Yes, as long as source code is made public |
Yes, no strings attached |
| Performance |
Exceptionally good (mostly C++) |
Very good (mostly C#) |
Distribution
| Feature |
Spring |
Unity 3D |
| Steam |
Yes, C++ source |
Yes, with "pro" version ($99/mo) |
| Installer |
Manually Build |
Manually Build |