Updated April 18, 2023
Difference Between Monogame vs Unity
Monogame is a game developing free and open-source software that is used by the game developers for making games that can access on multiple platforms as well as other systems. This software is based on the C # framework. It is also used for making games for Windows as well Windows phones that can run on other systems. Unity is developed by Unity Technologies as a cross-platform game engine that supports various platforms since its development such as desktop, mobile, console, and virtual reality as well. Generally, it is popular for Android and iOS mobile games development and used for different games that are Monument Valley, Pokemon go, Call of Duty: Mobile, Cuphead and Beat Saber. Today in this article I am going to tell all the important aspects of both software so that you can understand both software deeply and we are also going to learn about Monogame vs Unity.
Head to Head Comparison Between Monogame vs Unity (Infographics)
Below are the top differences between Monogame vs Unity:
Key difference between Monogame and Unity
We have discussed above that both software is used for game development but their developers are different so there must be some special features that make them special in their work. So let us have a look at these features too.
- If you want to have any of this two software, then you must have information about their price and for having Monogame to start work with it you have to pay nothing because it is an open-source and free application but for more information about how you can install and download it for your use, you can visit on its official website. While Unity has some variation in subscription plan such as it has Personal subscription plan, Pro plan and so on. It makes a variation in the price of these subscriptions so you can visit its official website for having information about the current plan.
- Monogame utilized specific capabilities of platforms by way of the OpenTK library when targeting non-Microsoft platforms. Whereas Xamarin platform runtime is necessary when its targets OS X, iOS, and Android. The runtime which we used here provides a tuned OpenTK implementation that helps the team of Monogame for focusing on core graphics tuning of the platform. Whereas Unity offers its user to create games in 2d as well as in 3d. This engine offers scripting which is the primary scripting API in C# and this primary scripting deals with both Unity editor in the plugins form and games themselves.
- OpenGL, OpenGL Es, or Direct X provides graphics capabilities to MonoGame. OpenGL 1.x is used for graphics rendering of MonoGames (2.5) which was released earlier and OpenGL 2 allows MonoGame to have more advanced rendering capabilities in the platform. In prior to C# which is the primary programming language of the engine supports Boo, which was not in use after the release of Unity 5, and the JavaScript version which is called UnityScript was deprecated in August 2017 after launching Unity 2017.
- Some of the games that developed in MonoGame are Aptheon, Axion Verge, Bastion, Carrion, Capsized, Escape Goat, Infinite flight, and so on. These games reflect features of MonoGame as well as it working capacity while Unity allows importation of sprites and advanced level of rendering within 2D games. We can do many things with the unity that is texture compression, mipmas, settings of resolution for each platform, provides support for reflection mapping, bump mapping, parallex mapping, screen space ambient, and so on, and due to these features it also has the number of games that are developed with it such as Call of Duty (mobile), Monument Valley and so on.
Comparison between Monogame and Unity
In this section, you will have knowledge about the basic information of both software which is necessary for understanding how both software work and what are their requirement.
| Monogame | Unity | |
| Definition | Monogame is a free and open-source game development engine that can access on multiple platforms and base on the C# framework. | Unity is also a game development engine that works on cross-platform game engine development. |
| Developer and Initially released on | Monogame was developed by MONOGAME team on September 2, 2009, with all essential features that are required for game development. | It was first announced and developed by Unity Technologies and released in June 2005. |
| Latest version or currently stable version | 3.8 is its latest version which was released on April 10, 2020, for resolving all drawbacks of the previous version. | On March 23, 2021, its latest version was released and it was 2021.1.0.
On January 13, 2021, its preview version was released with the name 2021.1.0b2. |
| Platform | It can develop for different platforms such as iOS, Microsoft Windows Phone 8, Microsoft Windows Desktop, Microsoft Windows 10, Linux, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and tvOS. | It also has a number of platform for that it can develop easily and that platforms are Mobile Platforms ( iOS, Android, Android TV, tvOS), Desktop Platform (Windows, Mac, Linux), Web platform (WebGL) and so on. |
| Written | It is written in C# computer language. | It is written in C++(runtime) and C# (Unity scripting API) |
| Type | We can categorize it under Application and Framework. | It can categorize under game development software. |
| License | Its developer offers Microsoft Public License to its user. | It has a Proprietary License type. |
| Availability | If you want to gather more information about this software then you can visit on its official website which is www.monogame.net | You can have more details related to this software from the official website of Unity Technologies that is www.unity.com. |
Now after going through this comparison table you have good knowledge about the basic details of both of the software and have an idea about what are the requirements for having this software and how they work. Now let us go through some details so that we can differentiate them easily.
Conclusion
I am sure now after having a good discussion of both software throughout this article you have made a good analysis of them and grab a number of good points that give you all important information about these two software. Now you can try to learn this software to start your game design carrier because both software has their special features.
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