If you're more interested in completing games than you are in designing engines, just stick to Unity for now. Maybe your priorities will change, but writing an engine to make the same game you could've/would've made in Unity, just so no one can say you're "not a real developer" is a poor use of your time -- real developers ship and support products.

That said, if your needs for an engine are simple to start with and you're interested in getting your hands dirty -- or if you simply have unique needs that would be difficult to support in a 3rd party engine -- then rolling your own can be a valid and rewarding exercise. Just don't fall into the trap of writing an uber-engine because you feel it won't be complete until its features rival Unity and friends. Write only the engine you need at the moment to complete the project you're working on (being forward-looking is fine, just don't try to guess at what's over the horizon), and over the course of two or three projects you'll find that you probably have a fairly robust engine.

I know the discussion is about using Unity or not and if that would be "real" programming or not. I personally use a lot of Unity and C# at work and sometimes at hobby projects as well. I would say that there are other important questions about this subject than if it's real programming or not. I think it is a matter of the appropriate tool for the job. To start I would pick Unity because you will accomplish more in less time and perhaps that will drive you to do even more. The community is super cooperative too.

If you are a beginner, I would suggest going with Unity2D and using C# for the coding (I would avoid C++ and Unity's "Javascript").

Programming C# is real coding, you will learn a lot making a game in that.

Hello!

About 7 months ago, I started to learn C++. After a month ago, I considered myself fairly well-versed in basic C++(i.e. classes, instantiating objects, and some knowledge of splitting code into source and header files ). My goal was to make a game. Then, I kind of went off on a tangent, and attempted to learn some java, and make an android app. However, I found I had a lot of trouble with running Eclipse on my PC, so, long story short, I startedusing Unity. Currently, I'm working on a small, pixelated, 2D platformer. I've been bashed for using Unity 2D, people say that it "isn't real coding' and that it sucks. Now, I'm wondering if it would be more beneficial to make a game in C++ using SFML or something along those lines. Is using Unity hurting my programming skill?

More importantly, should I be focusing on making games with "pure" code, in other words building my own engine/physics? I'm torn here. I'm halfway through the game in Unity, but I'm not sure if it's what I want to be doing.

Cheers,

boxnuggets

For learning purposes i would recommend making smaller single concept demos or very simple games instead, reinventing things is both fun and educational but a full game has so many components that you really don't want to reinvent every single one of them.

I'd recommend using Unity for your game and once you are done you can make some low level physics or renderer demos to learn more about those things.

My simple answer is this:

Use Unity for commercial games that you don't need too much flexibility with, or just for fun and the joy of making games (and not game engines).

Use C++ if you are making a game that is 100% flexible to it's core (and moddable ), and are trying to major in software development and want the experience (what better way to learn software development then to make game engines from scratch? It's like almost the hardest thing you could ever do. It would look good on your resume).