After a few frustrations with Unity, I started learning Unreal Engine (5).
Let me start by saying that I have been using Unity to create games and even some apps over the years. My most recent is the early release of Project Hack, an idle-style game running on multiple platforms.
Everything is going fine. The idea was to release an early single-player with some core functionality and gameplay. Then, based on that feedback, we would build the full version with many extra features, including multiplayer support.
All great. People started giving me feedback, and I started working that into the game.
Here's the but!
But! Getting even the player creation and leaderboard working with the existing code base has been frustrating.
At first, I honestly thought it was me. After all, I'm new to building multiplayer support in a game.
After a couple of weeks of serious debugging (not as easy as you think in Unity), it turned out that it has something to do with the Firebase SDK you import into the Unity project.
I decided it was time for a new approach.
Knowing nothing about Unreal Engine, I dived in.
Yes, it wasn't pleasant at first. Even basic concepts caught me as I took the wrong approach and tried to adapt my knowledge of Unity, C#, and other platforms and make them work with Unreal Engine.
Everything started to come together after I decided to go from the 'assume I know nothing' position.
Right now, a week later. I have a working load/save system, global game data support, and a functional UI. Remember, this is an idle game with just a UI for gameplay.
I am already looking at Firebase integration, and everything works much smoother.
Sure, there are plenty of hurdles I still need to overcome. Not the least of which is rebuilding the entire game from the start, but I am already finding things work much easier for multiplayer and connectivity than Unity.
I also have the working single-player game as a reference to work from.
I fully accept that many will say I don't understand Unity well enough. That is fair. But I would rather spend weeks making progress than fighting to get it working for even simple connectivity.
So, for now, Unreal Engine learning and game porting continue.
For those interested? I'll write more about this as my skills improve.