Unity 3d coming to PC

claydough

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=20779



on democratization of development:

I think they're totally underestimating what's going to happen when the Windows version ships

eat rich people! they taste like chicken.

Tulkamir

Interesting. I've heard some great things about Unity, so it's good to hear there are definite plans to bring it to PC. I just wish there were some sort of ETA, I've been itching to check it out for myself.

rul119

I´ve used unity for one year now, and i can say is a dream for small developers and a very easy to use tool for artists, I bought a mac only for unity and now i know i made a good decision

cons: do not use maya on the mac to create next-gen assets it´s really slow

Thomas P.

Been using and beta testing the Unity engine since the beginning and can only say it's an amazing engine getting even more amazing with each upgrade (it's supposed to be that way isn't it?). Anyhow, anybody using a windows pc will get a chance to test for themselves whenever it's going to available.

Richard Kain

Does anyone here use Shiva? It's produced by a company called StoneTrip. I ask because it seems to me that there are similarities between Shiva and Unity, and I wanted to know if anyone here had used both before? I also ask because Shiva recently got an upgrade that allows it to work on the iPhone as well.

I'm very interested in iPhone development. I don't have an Intel mac myself. (a requirement for iPhone dev) But I've downloaded the tools on my brother's PC. Having Unity's tools ported over to Windows would be a big boon for Unity's producers. Game companies usually aren't Mac-based. They always need programmers, and programmers generally don't tend to favor Macs. I think this is a market distribution thing. Writing software for a Mac isn't nearly as economical as designing for Windows. And Linux is much more programmer-centric and friendly than either OSX or Windows.

Game artists at game developers might enjoy using Macs. But 3DSMax (the recognized industry standard in 3D software) has never been ported over to the Mac. So 3D game artists will almost certainly use Windows or Linux. (I believe XSI has always had a Linux port)

One of the best things about Unity is that it was developed using Mono. Mono is a cross-platform implementation of the .Net framework and runtime. As such, it provides the development convenience of truly object-oriented programming with pretty much complete portability. Software designed for Mono can be ported to just about any platform. Unity already supported every platform for its run-time engine. (including home consoles, Unity will run on the Wii) Porting the Unity tools to Windows will be great for this middleware solution.

P.S. Shiva has a personal learning edition that isn't time-constrained. If you're at all interested download it and give it a try. I've successfully imported some models into it from Blender, and gotten dynamic shadows running, but haven't dug too deep into the interactive elements.

Michael Knubben

They've said this in the past, so it's not really news anymore, but them mentioning it again now gives me hope it's a big priority for them now.

Ged

yeah it would be really good to see them open up development to a bigger market. My friend and I got into unity during university and were blown away by how quick and versatile it was (especially compared to macromedia/adobe director 3D which was the alternative for web). I would definitely like to see what pc users could do with this, the unity 3D forums are often full of people with big ideas but very little knowhow(especially in terms of 3D model creation) and perhaps that could change if much more people got involved.

doc rob

Here's the big coup: Develop on the PC, target the Web and iPhone. Nothing else currently lets you do that without heavy porting.

Thomas P.

Richard Kain wrote: »

Does anyone here use Shiva? It's produced by a company called StoneTrip. I ask because it seems to me that there are similarities between Shiva and Unity, and I wanted to know if anyone here had used both before? I also ask because Shiva recently got an upgrade that allows it to work on the iPhone as well.

I'm very interested in iPhone development. I don't have an Intel mac myself. (a requirement for iPhone dev) But I've downloaded the tools on my brother's PC. Having Unity's tools ported over to Windows would be a big boon for Unity's producers. Game companies usually aren't Mac-based. They always need programmers, and programmers generally don't tend to favor Macs. I think this is a market distribution thing. Writing software for a Mac isn't nearly as economical as designing for Windows. And Linux is much more programmer-centric and friendly than either OSX or Windows.

Game artists at game developers might enjoy using Macs. But 3DSMax (the recognized industry standard in 3D software) has never been ported over to the Mac. So 3D game artists will almost certainly use Windows or Linux. (I believe XSI has always had a Linux port)

One of the best things about Unity is that it was developed using Mono. Mono is a cross-platform implementation of the .Net framework and runtime. As such, it provides the development convenience of truly object-oriented programming with pretty much complete portability. Software designed for Mono can be ported to just about any platform. Unity already supported every platform for its run-time engine. (including home consoles, Unity will run on the Wii) Porting the Unity tools to Windows will be great for this middleware solution.

P.S. Shiva has a personal learning edition that isn't time-constrained. If you're at all interested download it and give it a try. I've successfully imported some models into it from Blender, and gotten dynamic shadows running, but haven't dug too deep into the interactive elements.

Unity is not middleware as you put it. Unless I misunderstood you However, if you are interested in iphone development then you should definitely talk to Tom H. at Unity Tech. or David Helgason. There is also an interesting thread about the question "Shiva vs. Unity" on the Unity forum:

http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=14979


Thomas P.

Thomas P.

I'd also advise you or anybody else interested in iphone publishing to check this site and read/watch the information displayed there:

http://unity3d.com/unity/features/iphone-publishing

The video shows how fast and efficient you can develop with Unity (for sure one of the fastest pipelines).


Thomas

Parnell

doc_rob wrote: »

Here's the big coup: Develop on the PC, target the Web and iPhone. Nothing else currently lets you do that without heavy porting.

But wait I thought Unity was Mac only? Can I now develop on the PC with it?

Basically this is what I'd love to do:

1. Use an engine to plop in a little world and character
2. Have them run around in game
3. Have it run on Iphone and PC

is that possible with the Unity?

I have a PC and would be developing on it.
thanks!
B

ElysiumGX

I've known about Unity3D for a while (Off-Road Velociraptor Safari). But it's Mac only. Just last night, a friend of mine, programmer, learned about Unity and was going on and on about it, specifically about iPhone and Wii development. So I says, "I know, sounds great, I'd love to work with it. But it's Mac only." Well then. How do ya like them apples?

Kevin Albers

Wow, thats cool. I was tempted to buy a Mac a few months ago so that I could develop using Unity. I'm glad I decided to wait and hope for a PC version of Unity.

Richard Kain

Thomas P. wrote: »

Unity is not middleware as you put it. Unless I misunderstood you However, if you are interested in iphone development then you should definitely talk to Tom H. at Unity Tech. or David Helgason. There is also an interesting thread about the question "Shiva vs. Unity" on the Unity forum:

http://forum.unity3d.com/viewtopic.php?t=14979


Thomas P.

Hey, thanks Thomas P.! I suppose that the technical definition of Unity might not be "middleware" per-say. It is more of a complete package than most middleware solutions, providing editors and tools as well as the game engine proper. I will definitely take a look at that Shiva vs. Unity board discussion. It should prove enlightening.

doc rob

modeling_man wrote: »

But wait I thought Unity was Mac only? Can I now develop on the PC with it?

Basically this is what I'd love to do:

1. Use an engine to plop in a little world and character
2. Have them run around in game
3. Have it run on Iphone and PC

is that possible with the Unity?

I have a PC and would be developing on it.
thanks!
B

The title of the thread is "Unity 3D coming to PC"

. . .

You can target both platforms with the same game. It won't just run on both, it would require porting, but not complete rewriting.

Flynny

Im really intrigued by this, I have a real urge to make my own game to test my own ideas someday, this may be it what i was looking for!