One of Unity’s greatest strengths is its ability to target over 25 platforms from a single codebase. This guide covers the key strategies and considerations for building a game that runs well across iOS, Android, PC, and WebGL — without four separate codebases.
Plan for Platform Differences Early
Each platform has different input methods, screen resolutions, performance budgets, and store requirements. Design your game architecture to abstract platform-specific behaviour using Unity’s platform compilation symbols (#if UNITY_IOS, #if UNITY_ANDROID, etc.).
Responsive UI with Canvas Scaler
Use the Canvas Scaler component set to “Scale with Screen Size” to handle different screen resolutions. Design your reference resolution for a mid-range phone (e.g., 1080×1920) and test on both tablet and phone aspect ratios. Use anchor presets to handle safe areas on iPhone notches.
Input Handling
- Use Unity’s Input System package for a unified, rebindable input layer
- Implement touch controls for mobile with proper tap/swipe/pinch detection
- Add keyboard fallback for PC/WebGL builds
- Consider gamepad support if targeting console-like experiences
Performance Optimisation Per Platform
- Use LOD (Level of Detail) groups for 3D assets on mobile
- Target 60fps on mobile but have a 30fps fallback for low-end devices
- Disable post-processing effects for Android builds under a quality threshold
- Profile with each platform’s native tools: Xcode Instruments (iOS), Android GPU Inspector
Build Pipeline Automation
Use Unity Cloud Build or set up a CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions to automatically build for all target platforms on each commit. This catches platform-specific bugs early and saves hours of manual build time.
Ozlin Info develops cross-platform games and interactive applications for clients across Australia. Contact us to discuss your game project.