Ever since the dawn of my game programming journey I've been struggling to find a better alternative to Unity. Because it's way too bloated for 2D and I also just wanted to make my own engine or other engines. (Plus it's been controversial more or less recently. And I just HATE the obligatory splash screen.)

The recent DOTS update though, along with jobs system/burst compiler, and other updates like fullscreen shader node... coupled with my very recent shopping spree in the Asset store such as full fledged AI pathfinding etc... made it utterly impossible for me to leave it. I'm just gonna throw my white flag and decided stick to Unity. Doesn't matter how "unprofessional" it seems to have its logo on it. Unity has come a very long way now and fully solved its possible performance issues, not that it ever mattered for my very very small 2D games anyway...

The only reason I'd ever choose another engine is when I can't stand with its still painful UI system, especially in pixel 2D where its scaling is pretty much non-deterministic (I don't know if that'll ever change with uxml)... or if I'd "ever" need the 3D graphic capabilities of Unreal, now that it has Lumen (global-illumination) and Generative AI for auto-world building. I'm pretty sure Unity will catch up as it always have, but I'm especially tempted by the latter - I can see why people say Unreal is setup well for artists and world designers, while Unity set up for for programmers' ease of use.

So yeah... tl;dr I'll probably see you again in October with Unity. Again. I'm not gonna reinvent the wheel. I like making games. Not engines. I tried, I really did. But it's too much for me, trying to find the right language and workflow and all that... after wasting my past month trying different things, I'm back to Unity and sticking to it for good, especially with its promising updates.

Won't someone PLEASE do something about that splash screen though? Do I still really have to pay for that thing too? Does it realize how much it makes my game seem unprofessional?... It's not my fault the engine still has that stigma.