Unity Visual Scripting vs Programming for Game Development

Game development by writing programming and visual scripting are two popular game-making methods. There are many game engines that allow you to develop your game by programming and many others have the visual scripting solution. Well, some engines allow both of these ways to develop a game just like Unity.

Well, from the title also you can guess that in this article, I am going to give you a comparison between visual scripting and programming in C# for game development in Unity.

In Unity, you can develop a game in two ways. One is by programming in C# and the other way is by using visual scripting features.

Previously, writing programming was the only way to develop games in Unity natively, but later, Unity acquired Bolt asset for visual scripting from developer Ludiq and now it is part of Unity. After the integration of Bolt with Unity, now Unity has a stand-alone way to develop games by visual scripting.

But many newbies and beginners have a question when choosing between visual scripting or programming in C#. Actually, they are confused about choosing between visual scripting and programming. For this reason, I think to write this article to give you a comparison between these two ways of game development in Unty 3D.

Visual scripting vs programming for game – Which one is better?

Well, if you are expecting a short answer in one line and choose the one as better than the other, then want to let you know that it is not possible to give you the answer in one line. This is because there are many factors involved that decide which one between visual scripting and programming is better. Also, it depends on person to person and the type of games you try to develop.

Let’s discuss all the factors one by one and continue the discussion…

Your experience and programming skill

If you previously have no programming experience and want to start developing games quickly, then visual scripting is a nice way to start developing your game.

But if you are already fluent in programming with C# or you already have fluent programming experience in any other language, then I can say that using Unity with C# should be your first preference. For a fluent programmer, it is easier to develop a game with programming than visual scripting.

Well, in case, you have no experience in C#, but you already have moderate to high-level experience in other programming languages like Java, C++ then I also suggest you start with programming. This is because C# is very simple and easy to learn and is experienced with other programming languages.

Believe me, if you are good in other programming, it only takes a few days to learn C# and start working with it in Unity.

Well, I have just said that if you previously had no experience in programming then choose visual scripting. But still, I suggest you learn some basic programming even though you work with visual scripting. This is because learning about the basic thing of programming like variables are good for understanding visual scripting.

Game type

Game type is also an important factor in choosing between visual scripting and programming. For example, if your game is simple then visual scripting should be enough. But when the game is complex then visual scripting is going to make it more complex in developing the game.

This is because visual scripting sometimes has a limitation and it becomes too complicated when you work on a complicated game. In high-level games, it sometimes becomes too difficult or tends to be impossible for specific things when working with visual scripting.

But that doesn’t mean you must have to choose coding over visual scripting. If you are an indie game developer and you develop small games and you don’t want to learn to code, then it is always welcome to develop your game without coding and rely only on visual scripting. In Unity, visual scripting can do everything that you can also do by writing C# programming. I just want to say that, for a large game, things become so complicated in visual scripting.

Are you a game designer or artist?

If you are a game designer or artist or both, then most probably you would not like to give your time to learn coding. Also taking care of both development in coding and design is going to be very difficult for an artist or designer.

In that case, I recommend you avoid coding and only rely on visual scripting. Visual scripting is going to be easier for you.

Advantages and disadvantages of visual scripting in Unity

There are both advantages and disadvantages that can be encountered while developing games in visual scripting.

Advantages:

Let’s first discuss the advantages of game development in Unity with the help of visual scripting:

• If you are from a non-programming background but have strong logic-building capability then visual scripting can help you to develop your game easily.
• No need to learn any programming language. If you are a designer or artist, you can focus on your game designing task instead of spending a lot of time developing and writing code for the game.
• As you don’t have to write a single line of code, so there is no chance of syntax error.
• It helps designers and artist to focus on their work instead of focusing on writing code.
• Visual scripting makes it possible more accessible to individuals who may not have a strong programming background but still can develop games on their own. It’s a great entry point for newcomers to game development.
• Learning visual scripting is easier for some people compared to learning a programming language for game development, especially for those who are more visually oriented.

Disadvantages

Below are some of the disadvantages of developing games in visual scripting:

• If you develop a game using visual scripting, then the program runs in the backend. So the main power of a game is always a programming language. This proves that, with programming in C#, you have the full cvontrol of your game development. Even many tasks that are sophisticated and difficult for visual scripting can be done easily using a programming language.
• If you are from a programming background, then most probably, visual scripting is going to be an irritating way of game development in Unity. Moreover, with programming in C#, you will enjoy the game development. So in visual scripting, you are not going to enjoy the coding. C# programming in Unity is so fun and gives you a chance to enjoy coding.
• You can not use the same level of control and flexibility when you choose visual scripting in Unity. Game developers may find it challenging to implement complex or unconventional game mechanics.
• Visual scripting in Unity may struggle to handle large and complex game projects. This is because the visual representation can become cluttered and hard to manage.
• For some people, it can be more complicated to learn than developing games in C# programming.

Advantages and disadvantages of C# programming in Unity

Just like visual scripting, developing games in Unity C# also may have some disadvantages.

Advantages:

• If you are fluent in programming, then you can find writing C# code for game development in Unity is easier and less complicated than visual scripting. Even if you have some app development experience using any of the ibject oriented programming languages, then also C# in Unity is going to be a piece of cake.
• C# is so easy and robust programming language that also lets you enjoy the game-developing task in Unity. With visual scripting, you are going to miss it completely.
• Developing a game using C# programming will give you full control of the Engine. There is no limitation when you choose programming.

Disadvantages:

• If you have no time to learn programming language and you have no previous experience of programming, then visual scripting is the recommended way of developing Unity games.
• For artist and designers, visual scripting help them to focus on their task instead of thinking about other things.

So what should you choose?

I hope you like the above discussions in this article. You can analyze the discussion and ask yourself in which category you belong to. Do you have programming experience or are you only a specialist in design and love to work as an artist? If you don’t want things complicated, don’t want to give time to learn any programming language, and want to develop simple games only to submit on Google Play or App Store, then I suggest you go forward with visual scripting.

Well, if you ask me personally and want to know from my personal experience, then I always prefer programming over visual scripting. This is because I am from a programming background.

But this may not be applicable to many others. There is nothing wrong if you complete your game using visual scripting. But I want to suggest, that even though you choose visual scripting for the development of Unity games, still it is a good idea to learn about basic programming in C# to understand variables, classes, functions, etc. Even in visual programming also you have to use variables.

That’s it… I hope this article is going to be helpful to you.