Project Review

Having gone through and completed this project, I am left with a handful of thoughts.

While it was mildly challenging to get used to Unity again (it having been a couple months since I last used the software), once I had gotten back into the swing of things, progress moved quickly. 

Having used Java for most projects in the past, Unity's reliance on C++ was a bit of an obstacle at the start. However, as I slowly became accustomed to the syntax of the language--and began to treat GetComponent as gospel--the differences between the two faded away and I was left with a quite serviceable (albeit odd) means of getting things done.

The most interesting trait of the engine I was able to discern was the method by which it handles inputs. Compared to the capabilities of more primitive engines, being able to simply use "if (Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Space))" and the like instead of importing all sorts of various packages is certainly a pleasant sight.

That being said, Unity does have a rather grating wordiness to it at times; the number of times I had to use lines like lm.GetComponent<LightManager>().lightPower in order to access variables was more than I care to count, and it really puts into picture how much I've taken for granted the ability to simply grab a public variable off the surface of a given object. The way it handles UI elements is also quite peculiar as well, and don't even get me started on the animations. The animation system is so frighteningly unintuitive for retro resources that I had to program my own method of cycling through subimages (using image arrays) just to get the player to walk properly, which did cut down quite a bit on the amount of time I had to work on the project as a whole.

Of course, it does have its merits. Being able to pause the runtime at any point and find/test values on specific objects within a scene came in handy quite often, as did the rather streamlined yet complex navigation menus used to modify public vars and the like. It probably also works well in the lighting department too, although I never could really wrap my head around all that stuff to be honest.

As for whether I would recommend this engine over its competitors? Well, yes and no. If you're looking to make a 2D or 3D game that uses skeletal animations and whatnot, this is a perfectly fine choice of engine. If you're like me, however, and prefer to work with pixel art and use more retro aesthetics, there's probably better options out there for you.