Why cross-platform deployment matters in Unity - See It in Action

Why Cross-Platform Deployment Matters

📖 Scenario: You are a game developer creating a simple Unity game. You want your game to reach as many players as possible by making it work on different devices like Windows, Android phones, and iPhones.

🎯 Goal: Build a Unity script that shows how to detect the platform the game is running on and display a message. This helps understand why making games work on many platforms is important.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a Unity C# script called PlatformChecker

Add a variable called platformMessage to store the message

Use Application.platform to check the current platform

Set platformMessage based on the platform (Windows, Android, iOS, or others)

Print the platformMessage in the Start() method

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Game developers often want their games to run on many devices like PCs, phones, and consoles. Detecting the platform helps them adjust controls, graphics, and features to fit each device.

💼 Career

Knowing how to handle cross-platform deployment is important for game developers and software engineers to make their apps accessible to a wider audience and improve user experience.

1

Create the PlatformChecker script and add a platformMessage variable

Create a public class called PlatformChecker that inherits from MonoBehaviour. Inside it, declare a public string variable called platformMessage.

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class PlatformChecker : MonoBehaviour
{
    // Declare a public string variable called platformMessage
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Remember to write public string platformMessage; inside the class.

2

Add platform detection using Application.platform

Inside the PlatformChecker class, add a Start() method. Inside it, use Application.platform to check if the platform is RuntimePlatform.WindowsPlayer, RuntimePlatform.Android, or RuntimePlatform.IPhonePlayer. For each, set platformMessage to a string describing the platform. For example, if Windows, set platformMessage = "Running on Windows". For other platforms, set platformMessage = "Running on an unsupported platform".

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class PlatformChecker : MonoBehaviour
{
    public string platformMessage;

    void Start()
    {
        // Use Application.platform to detect platform and set platformMessage
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use if, else if, and else to check platforms and set the message.

3

Add a Debug.Log statement to print the platform message

Inside the Start() method, after setting platformMessage, add a line to print it using Debug.Log(platformMessage);.

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class PlatformChecker : MonoBehaviour
{
    public string platformMessage;

    void Start()
    {
        if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.WindowsPlayer)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on Windows";
        }
        else if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.Android)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on Android";
        }
        else if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.IPhonePlayer)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on iOS";
        }
        else
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on an unsupported platform";
        }

        // Print the platformMessage
        // Your code here
    }
}

Need a hint?

Use Debug.Log() to show the message in the Unity Console.

4

Run the script and observe the output

Attach the PlatformChecker script to any GameObject in your Unity scene. Run the game and observe the message printed in the Console window. The message should match the platform you are running on, like "Running on Windows" if on Windows.

Unity

using UnityEngine;

public class PlatformChecker : MonoBehaviour
{
    public string platformMessage;

    void Start()
    {
        if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.WindowsPlayer)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on Windows";
        }
        else if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.Android)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on Android";
        }
        else if (Application.platform == RuntimePlatform.IPhonePlayer)
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on iOS";
        }
        else
        {
            platformMessage = "Running on an unsupported platform";
        }

        Debug.Log(platformMessage);
    }
}

// Run the game and check the Console output

Need a hint?

Make sure the script is attached to a GameObject and the Console window is open to see the message.