C# on Android: Xamarin or Unity?

Question

I am a student and am supposed to code an Android application, probably a game. I have the opportunity to choose my programming language. I find JAVA quite ok, but I somehow like C# more. However, since C# is not natively supported by Android, I am looking for a way of implementing it.

I have found a lot of recommendations for Xamarin, but it is not free. I understand, that the developers should be paid for their work, but since I am a student and will not make any profit of the app, it seems to me unfair to pay anything. I have come across Unity, which is free, but there is very little user feedback, compared to Xamarin.

So, I would like to ask you for your recommendations - is Unity good enough, or should I sacrifice some money and buy Xamarin? Or are there any other solutions?

Solution 1

If you are going to choose to use Xamarin.Android don't forget that Xamarin offers Student Licenses. These cost $99 at the moment.

On another note you might also want to look into MonoGame, which is essentially what know as XNA. With either MonoGame or Unity you should be able to make some nice games.

The "Size capped to 32k of IL code" is not actual IL code but what you have in your output folder in your project. If you are going to create a game with sprites and sounds and such, 32k is not going to reach very far unless you load these resources from the Net or similar.

Solution 2

I never tried Xamarin, but I did try Unity in order to make a simple game that was cross-platform. Unity has a 1-month trial so I would recommend it if your project is shorter then 1 month.

There are many frameworks for creating a 2D games. The one I used was Futile, but it's still in alpha so you might want to try another one.

Good luck!

Solution 3

Xamarin now has a free plan, you should give it a try. Of course there are restrictions but it may be okay for your student project. I used earlier versions of monodroid and I really recommend it whether you are using osx or windows.

Solution 4

Xamarin has a free starter package that can be seen right here on their android page

Scroll down to the bottom to see the download link and the different packages you can get. Should be just fine for a school project.

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Comments

[kabuko]

"Size capped to 32k of IL code" That could be a fairly restrictive limitation.

[Jesse Carter]

32kb is a substantial amount of text. Easily enough to complete a small game for a school project.

[Rolf Bjarne Kvinge]

"Size capped to 32k of IL code" is actual IL code. Only assemblies (*.dll and *.exe) are counted, and any resources in the assemblies do not count towards the 32k either.

[Cheesebaron]

Thanks for clarifying Rolf!

[Earlz]

@RolfBjarneKvinge also, 32K is too restrictive to try MonoGame out on it

[Lisandro]

Update 2016-04-05: Xamarin is now free of charge. store.xamarin.com Enjoy it!