Moving project from Unity to Unity Android? Converting from Android to iOS?

I'm just getting started with Unity but I'd like to plan a head. I want to make and publish a game for both iOS and Android and was just wondering about the process before I get in deep.

I know that building a project for iOS on Windows, especially for phone/tablet is not really viable at all. But I don't have a Mac and don't have an iPad/Pod/Phone. I do have a Windows PC and a variety of Android tablets, though. I was just wondering how simple (or not) it is to convert an Android project to iOS when I eventually can get the Mac devices and those licenses.

Also, I can't quite put down $400 for an Unity Android license at the moment but I don't want to waste time, so I'm wondering how much of an Android game project you can build in the regular Unity engine before needing to develop solely in Unity Android? And how simple (or not) it is to move all those assets from regular Unity to Unity Android. Thanks!

 

Just to give a small answer, you can actually do everything but the android specific stuff. By that I mean movement. (for the most part. Sometimes people will use the gps and such, in which you would have to test with a device.) For the most part, movement/touch is the only thing you can't do. You can program the ai, collision boxes (doors, items, damage), scoring, menus, etc. The way that unity is programmed, an android devices first touch input is a simulated left click, so you can actually program an entire game without android, if you only have one touch input at a time (by checking a left click). Probably not the most efficient way of doing it, but if it's a single touch type game, then it will more then likely not be that processor intensive.

I don't know about how easy/hard it is to go from android to ios, as I haven't even tried working with ios at this point. I would say that it's probably not hard at all if it's just basic touch input. Things like accelerometer or gyroscope may require more effort. I can't say anything for certain on this though.

One thing to keep in mind when getting a mac to develop for ios. (ios can NOT be built on windows no matter what. It requires xcode, which is mac only) In order to get the current xcode in order to build unity, you MUST have a core 2 duo system. A core duo is not able to install xcode as apple restricts it. I made that mistake myself, so don't make my mistake.

Also, develop your game as much as possible before buying the apple store developer license ($99 a year). Because it's subscription, it doesn't make sense to buy it until you actually need it.

 

Thanks a ton, that answers my question perfectly. Pretty relieved to hear I can get to work on a lot of stuff before needing to acquire a license.