Would you recommend SceneKit or Unity to start a test 3D game on tvOS?

Question

RobbeyRoad OP

Created Mar ’24

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Hi,

I'm an experienced developer on Apple platforms (having worked on iOS/tvOS projects for more than 10 years now). However, I've only worked on applications, or simple games which didn't require more than using UIKit or SwiftUI.

Now, I'd like to start a new project, recreating an old game on tvOS with 3D graphics. This is not a project I plan to release, only a simple personal challenge.

I'm torn with starting this project with either SceneKit, or Unity.

On one hand, I love Apple frameworks and tools, so I guess I could easily progress with SceneKit. Also, I don't know Unity very well, but even if it's a simple project, I've seen that there are several restrictions for free plans (no custom splash screen, etc).

On the other hand, I've read several threads (i.e. this one) making it look like that SceneKit isn't going anywhere, and clearly recommending Unity due to the fact that its documentation is way better, and the game more easily portable to other platforms. Also, if I'm going to learn something new, maybe I could learn more with Unity (using a completely different platform, software and language) than I would with SceneKit and Swift stuff.

What's your opinion about this?

Thanks!

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Answer 1

Bill3D OP

Mar ’24

I‘m currently working on polishing my SceneKit game. I mainly stuck with SceneKit because I have years of experience working with it and thought I could compensate for any issues faster than learning something new. I even felt like it was a smart idea after Unity’s recent controversy. You can feel somewhat alone in figuring things out. If you want to cross platform, that’s a solid point for Unity. Mine is made for the iOS mobile platform in mind. So I didn’t care about that. That said, and especially if this flops hard, I might try a Unity or Unreal PC game next.

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