Any new dev migrating to Defold after the Unity/Ironsource merge

[Lex]

i’m curious to know if there is any developer investigating alternative game engines after the unity/ironsource merge.

If that’s the case, we could use this thread to address any concern/question about switching to Defold!

[britzl]

Great idea! There’s definitely been a lot of people recommending Defold (and Godot) as Unity alternatives these last 48 hours. Check some of our recent likes on Twitter: https://twitter.com/defold/likes

[Pawel]

Linked topics worth mentioning here:

From Unity3d to Defold

I have been using unity for about a year or so, and I find defold incredibly confusing. Is there a tutorial for switching?

[Mobile Games] Unity vs Defold vs Godot => which engine?

Hi all! I’m currently working in a French mobile gaming company as a game designer and will leave it in early 2022 to create my own mobile games (mostly 2D and simple 3D games). After some investigation, 3 engines seem to meet my needs and expectations: Unity Well, everyone knows Unity. Many top games were/are developed with this engine. But I find the whole thing a bit heavy and don’t like the pricing system. Defold Light and clean editor, top performances on mobile, LUA. Active communi…

DEFOLD vs Unity?

Hello there I`m a newbie developer and want to develop an indie game with my friends We’re trying to make a simple 2D mobile game, which engine should I choose? Unity or Defold? Can you please explain advantage of DEFOLD and demerits of this engine briefly? Thank you in advance!

[OBoi]

With the current Unity situation, I think Defold would be a good replacement for many devs but can there be explainers and tutorials on some of the Defold features. Personally, the factory has been a challenge to understand and use as the video resources that are there are slightly complex for a beginner to understand. I usually go to the Defold YouTube channel to find beginner tutorials but they aren’t that friendly. All I ask is can there be more explainer on the engine parts and how they are used in game.

[britzl]

@OBoi I merged your post with this already existing post about Unity to Defold migration. I hope you don’t mind!

[britzl]

@OBoi

Personally, the factory has been a challenge to understand and use as the video resources that are there are slightly complex for a beginner to understand

You mean the factory component? The learning materials related to spawning of new game objects are:

• The factory manual: Factory component manual
• The examples: Spawn game object and Shoot bullets

We do not really have any isolated video tutorials for each individual concept in Defold but I guess that is what you are after @OBoi ?

[OBoi]

Yes, the docs aren’t bad, I just wish there was videos that could elaborate on some of the concepts using different scenarios.

[britzl]

@OBoi

could elaborate on some of the concepts using different scenarios.

Could you give some examples? It would help to better understand what is needed.

[OBoi]

Using factory to make enemies appear on the opposite side of the screen.

[Pawel]

A few of the Defold users are trying to make tutorials, including me. I can’t say for them, but for me making an engaging video is really a struggle and I would love to produce something like Unity or Godot tutorials I watched on YT, but simply still looking for a proper formula and tools to do it I really want to gather everything I have up to now and perhaps release a series of small videos soon Wish me luck!

[OBoi]

I had to break it down using a mobile game as an example. If it has been done thats okay and i’ll research more.
Mobile Game
Factory and Collection factory(Using an enemy firing as an example) - Does collection factory combine both the enemy and firing together using individual factories?

[Pawel]

This is a simple example of firing bullets - aka spawning bullets using factories:

Shoot bullets

There is also a site with examples by Bjorn from Defold team:

https://britzl.github.io/publicexamples/

Collection factory is just a Factory that spawns multiple game objects (instances) at once - with given hierarchy (parent-child relationships) And because you can specify the hierarchy in a collection in the Editor, this is why you can use a collection as a “prefab” to create multiple objects (instances) Collection is named in other engines as Scene frequently.

You can also just use just Factories and create multiple objects in the code and then assign parent-child relationships between them - if in some case it is more convenient somehow

[bayustudio]

When unity announced unity tiny, I thought it will be bad for another engine like defold that lightweight and performant. but then tiny is like stalled (or abandoned?)
and today devs looking for defold for unity alternative??
how things have changed
I’m sure a lot of users will appreciate defold simplicity and performance.

Defold for Flash users

I was a flash developer and a tutorial like this was really helpful to give a quick overview of workflow differences.

[Mathias_Westerdahl]

@OBoi In the editor, you can create a new tutorial project.
Both the “Side Scoller” and “War Battles” tutorials cover the topic of factories.
We recommend our new users to go thought the tutorials.

[OBoi]

Thank you.

[Griffin]

@OBoi

Yes, the docs aren’t bad, I just wish there was videos that could elaborate on some of the concepts using different scenarios.

I’m going to start a Defold for Beginner’s video series. Anything I should know to make it more accessible and useful to ex-Unity users?

[masterneme]

Definitely the messaging system and URLs are the concepts more difficult to grasp.

[OBoi]

msg.post.
Various functions and mobile touch controls.

[AarrrBee]

There’s a video for that! Defold Team Explains #3 - The basics of addressing and message passing - YouTube

[Griffin]

Message passing is my favorite part of Defold! It makes working with everything so much simpler because you get to directly choose how your scripts communicate. I’ll make sure to make this the first video!