Unity Indie 2.6 - FREE

Richard Kain

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25840

At the currently underway Unite conference for the Unity cross-platform game engine and toolset, the company has announced that future versions of the Unity Indie liscence will henceforth be distributed for free. The lowest-tier option for the Unity engine can now be had by all, without paying any liscencing fee.

And there goes any excuse I had not to try using the Unity engine. I had avoided giving it a spin before because of all the projects I typically have on my plate, and the trial version was only good for 30 days. Now their indie package is going to be completely free. Donwload it and make an entire game with no time limit, and no cost.

Here's a quick quote from one of the Unity guys...

"Whether that becomes a cash flow positive or a cash flow negative -- and some people will upgrade -- is not really important. What's important is to get this in the hands of as many people as possible."

If they are pushing to become one of the de-facto middleware platforms, then mission $@&(*! accomplished. I was working on 2D games. My next 3D game project will be 100% Unity.

JasonLavoie

I approve this message

Richard Kain

There IS NO excuse! - Download Unity now!

Hmmmmm...it occurs to me that I sound like a salesman. I'd like to assure anyone reading this that I do not work for the Unity company, and have not been solicited to hock their merchandise.

Of course, it's kind of counter-productive to hock merchandise that IS FREE!

BlackulaDZ

im attempting to download but firefox is tellin' me "No suitable nodes are available to serve your request." ... i'll wait a while

edit: downloading now, woot!

flow3d

I came as far as to get a character of mine into the editor..
couldnt get any animations to play or anything..
had a hard time finding any help on the subject as well..

but yeah, need this free lisence!! gief

carlo_c

Very nice, i've wanted to have a mess about in unity for a while now

Slum

oh sweet! I've used unity a bit, quite a cool bit of tech. Its no nextgen console engine, but it sure is easy to prototype gameplay in there.

oXYnary

Kudos for them! However, for more involved projects, the indie license really isn't enough. Point in fact, my programmer refuses to look at any engine where the source code is not available. Too restricting.

Snipergen

This is really really really just what we needed, brilliant move! So I guess when you 'finish' a game, you have the option to buy the full version and than upgrade the realtime shadows and other fancy stuff?

Peris

awesome!!! I was planning to buy the indie license since it was pretty cheap, fantastic to hear it's free now

warby

i have been using unity for roughly a year and its a joy to work with !

*although i feel suckered for having paid for the indie version now * .... actually i got it as a present ^^

Davision3D

crazy that they give it away for free, its such a big very good package!

Also, Xbox360 support is comeing!
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25840

rooster

I wish someone would combine quest3d and unity :P
I love the design behind unity, and how it all integrates.. but you still have to do typey shit to make stuff work

Sage

JasonLavoie wrote: »

I approve this message

That just made my day! LOL

Tulkamir

oXYnary wrote: »

Kudos for them! However, for more involved projects, the indie license really isn't enough. Point in fact, my programmer refuses to look at any engine where the source code is not available. Too restricting.

Bullshit! I can't stand that crap from programmers, and I hear it all the time. It's just a bunch of egotistical nonsense. Seriously, programmers like that need to get the hell over themselves.

And this is awesome! Though it makes m a bit cheesed that we have paid for multiple liscenses already.

[edit]Yay! Support for external version control finally! Sounds like 2.6 should be a pretty rocking upgrade.

Lord McMutton

Richard Kain wrote: »

There IS NO excuse! - Download Unity now!

Is this the free version? Or is having to register for a '30 day trial' normal?

PhattyEwok

This is perfect for my ramen noodle sized budget

Vailias

TUlkamir wrote:

Bullshit! I can't stand that crap from programmers, and I hear it all the time. It's just a bunch of egotistical nonsense. Seriously, programmers like that need to get the hell over themselves.

never had to program in much depth have you...

Don't get me wrong a very intelligently designed engine that has script access for almost everything can be just about as handy as having the source, but there will almost always be times when you could accomplish a given task much more efficiently and faster if you could just make a class for the purpose rather than having to find some workaround in script.


That said, I've already downloaded this. I'm sure there is a lot that can be done with it. Xbox360 support coming just makes the promise of the engine all the better.

rooster

I think the programmers have a point tbh, what if you find a showstopping bug in Unity relating to a crucial feature you depend on? you can't fix it

relying on another company to fix your problems is always asking for trouble
(of course if it's 100% bug free perfect in all ways, then never mind but I've never heard of such a piece of software )

John Warner

JE. ZUS.

and just after I bought the fucker.

anyway, cool. unity is great.

Tulkamir

You guys are getting my point wrong.

There are times when source code is needed. There are times when it is not. A smart programmer would determine at the start of the project what is needed, and act on that. An egotisical programmer will just say "I NEED THE SOURCE CODE NO MATTER WHAT!".

Especially when it comes to indie projects where time and resources are limited, it is important to figure out what you need at the start of the project. If you do need the source code, then yea, that's a problem. But in most cases I've seen so far it really isn't needed, and when I ask the programmer what they need the source code for they can't answer.

rooster

but, if it's for bug fixing purposes you can't tell at the start of the project, only when you hit the problem

I do get your point and I know the attitude you're talking about tho, it's really annoying.. I'm just playing devil's advocate

eld

Ged

this is amazing =D always liked unity, now I want to get involved in a little game project hehe

Ben Apuna

Very Awesome thanks for pointing this out to us Richard Kain.

Richard Kain

Marshal Banana wrote: »

Is this the free version? Or is having to register for a '30 day trial' normal?

It's the free version, and the paid-for version. When starting it for the first time, you have to choose between registering, and quitting. Choose to register. This will take you to the Unity site, where you will be prompted to either activate the Free version, or the 30-day trial of the Professional version. (the pay-for version) You can choose either one. (I went for the free version) Then send the necessary activation to your software, and you now have the Free version on your computer for unlimited use. Huzzah!

Richard Kain

As for the whole source code/no source code debate, it really depends. There is some software that you really just don't need the source-code for. Or at the very least, you don't actually need to alter the source code. I used to use the Flash IDE a lot. But I never had the source code for it. The software was primarily geared toward artists, not programmers, so a scripting language was usually good enough.

Unity strikes me as a bit more in that vein. It is a game editing system geared more towards artists than techno-coding junkies. The idea is to manipulate things on a higher, visual level, and leave the low-level coding alone. There is plenty of room to expand on what's there. (one of their scripting languages is C#)

The bug-fixing is a good point. But this is true for any middle-ware solution. And unless you are a crazy-good programmer to begin with, it is unlikely that you would know how to fix such a bug in the first place. If you can't work around a few bugs, then game design probably isn't the right field for you. There are usually work-arounds without fiddling with the source.

Xaltar

Awesome. If I could find some guys interested in a game I would love to give this a try but I'm only a character artist and can't code or animate etc lol

I need to diversify a little :P

oXYnary

Tulkamir wrote: »

You guys are getting my point wrong.

There are times when source code is needed. There are times when it is not. A smart programmer would determine at the start of the project what is needed, and act on that. An egotisical programmer will just say "I NEED THE SOURCE CODE NO MATTER WHAT!".

Especially when it comes to indie projects where time and resources are limited, it is important to figure out what you need at the start of the project. If you do need the source code, then yea, that's a problem. But in most cases I've seen so far it really isn't needed, and when I ask the programmer what they need the source code for they can't answer.

He is not egotistical. But we already know we need source code for the things we want to attempt. Which is in part why he has joined development of the Zen Indie Engine so as not only can he put what he needs into it, he knows it inside and out.

earamsey

Marshal Banana wrote: »

Is this the free version? Or is having to register for a '30 day trial' normal?

I downloaded unity for iphone but it has no option to activaste for free on website!!! please help!!!! mE!!!

funshark

earamsey > unity for iphone is not free. It's another license.

earamsey

All Sucks !!! :(

skylebones

I spent most of the day yesterday tooling around in this game engine. I can't believe how easy it is to use! This is by far the most user friendly engine I've ever messed with.

Xaltar

Downloading now Can't wait to mess with it.

Calabi

How well organised/developed is it? I mean do you have to create the classes yourself organise and program all the game logic. I usually get stuck on that part when I try engines, they usually just provide functions which do things alot better than the lower level way, but you still have to figure out and build up the whole code structure.

Richard Kain

You aren't building up a code structure, so much as you are manipulating and changing the values of objects. Mainly you create GameObjects, and then apply various code components to them, which handle the game logic. For further specific tweaking and custom behaviors, you have the option of scripting out your own components to apply to the GameObjects. Most of the code structure is already there.

I played around with it a little yesterday. I was able to successfully import a 3D model from Blender. The pipeline really is as great as they say. I can fire up Blender, change the 3D model up, and Unity automatically detects the change and re-imports the model, directly from the .blend file. I've got another project I'm working on, so I can't jump into Unity with both feet. But I'm definitely going to be sticking with it for my next 3D project.

Calabi

Cool, Thats what I was hoping to hear. It certainly seems well organised and thought out, even has tablet support.

Thanks for the info.

mortalhuman

JostVice just told me the news, I'm downloading it after reading the thread.

This is great, because anyone who meshes well enough with the software to complete something successful will surely buy a full license.

If the unity people are here: Please, disregard this if it's already there (yet to install/register), but:

VISUAL SCRIPTING. Code blocks, data blocks, Scratch, I don't care, just make it easier. Programmers/Artists divide on the internet is huge, that's why people get to pretend they are celebrities when they "get into the industry" as if it's not just another job. If the internet-based development world connects these dots by making scripting possible without any (or very very litte) actual typing and turn scripting into as visual a process as modeling, you will be the richest person in this market (engines).

eld

mortalhuman, blenders game engine does it with datablocks along with the python, if you dare to try that out.

rube

unity seems to be able to do a fair bit without typing... so far I've gotten a 'character' which is just a cylinder moving and jumping around a level with a smooth camera following, just from adding the the components that unity comes with. No typing yet. Not sure how much further I can go without having to script something.

StJoris

mortalhuman wrote: »

JostVice just told me the news, I'm downloading it after reading the thread.

This is great, because anyone who meshes well enough with the software to complete something successful will surely buy a full license.

If the unity people are here: Please, disregard this if it's already there (yet to install/register), but:

VISUAL SCRIPTING. Code blocks, data blocks, Scratch, I don't care, just make it easier. Programmers/Artists divide on the internet is huge, that's why people get to pretend they are celebrities when they "get into the industry" as if it's not just another job. If the internet-based development world connects these dots by making scripting possible without any (or very very litte) actual typing and turn scripting into as visual a process as modeling, you will be the richest person in this market (engines).

This:
http://www.cycling74.com/
http://puredata.info/

Snowfly

Bumping a semi-old thread. In case anyone's missed it, Unity keeps a record of hardware profiles on their site:

http://unity3d.com/webplayer/hwstats/pages/web-2009Q3.html

So if you haven't jumped on the UDK bandwagon and would still like to make 3D games for the widest possible audience, this should clue you in on what to shoot for.

Peris

Snowfly wrote: »

Bumping a semi-old thread. In case anyone's missed it, Unity keeps a record of hardware profiles on their site:

http://unity3d.com/webplayer/hwstats/pages/web-2009Q3.html

So if you haven't jumped on the UDK bandwagon and would still like to make 3D games for the widest possible audience, this should clue you in on what to shoot for.

Hehe, yep that's why I'm learning unity right now! And also because it has anti-aliasing!!
The workflow in unity is amazing by the way, I keep being surprised by how fast I can get stuff working, and the fact that you can change around stuff while your game is running.

Peris

mortalhuman wrote: »

VISUAL SCRIPTING. Code blocks, data blocks, Scratch, I don't care, just make it easier. Programmers/Artists divide on the internet is huge, that's why people get to pretend they are celebrities when they "get into the industry" as if it's not just another job. If the internet-based development world connects these dots by making scripting possible without any (or very very litte) actual typing and turn scripting into as visual a process as modeling, you will be the richest person in this market (engines).

Maybe for some things, but there are so many things imo that would be easier to write in code than doing it with some kind of visual scripting. I'm just imagining hugely confusing node labyrinths already . Programming really isn't THAT hard, basic syntax of a language can be learned pretty fast, especially something like javascript.

Ben Apuna

Those hardware profiles are pretty useful. I figured it would be pretty bad but I'm still surprised at all the systems still out there that we would consider utter crap. It's pretty funny and sad that neither Nvidia or Ati dominate the graphics end of things since 36.4% are integrated Intel chips all probably running at 1024 x 768 resolutions. It also seems like 64 mb of vram is the sweet spot, ah the joys of PC game development.

Snowfly

Even then, you're still pushing better than PlayStation 1 or NDS specs on the widest end. If you wanted to, you could shoot for a slightly narrower demographic and try for sub-PS2 quality graphics running at say, 800x450 and just be smart about managing what's going on visually. You'd still have a sweet looking game with an OK sized player base, and in a couple years time, the hardware it will run on will most probably be the norm for new basic PC's sold.

LoTekK

Good lord, some of those stats are eye-opening. There's still an alarming proportion of people with no shader capabilities (17.8%), and there's still people with only half a gig of RAM? (19%) o_O

Snowfly

I'm thinking games for netbooks. Torchlight?

Oh Teck, your free copies of Dragon Age and Sims 3 are on the way.

Ben Apuna

Yup, I'm not saying great games can't be made at lower spec. It's just a shock from my perspective having been working on normal mapped assets for the last 4 years or so.

LoTekK

Snowfly wrote: »

I'm thinking games for netbooks. Torchlight?

Oh Teck, your free copies of Dragon Age and Sims 3 are on the way.

Torchlight ftw. I had no idea there were still cards/gpus out there that only supported fixed-function.

Also, Chris, I think I love you. I also hate you, because DA's gonna eat all of my free time up.

[iWi]

flow3d wrote: »

I came as far as to get a character of mine into the editor..
couldnt get any animations to play or anything..
had a hard time finding any help on the subject as well..

but yeah, need this free lisence!! gief

animation tuto is down there, maybe it will help
http://www.unitytutorials.com/Project/project.html

others tutorials -
http://www.unitytutorials.com/video

another website -
http://www.unity-tutorials.com/

FPS - tutorial
http://unity3d.com/support/resources/tutorials/fpstutorial

others videos basic tutorial -
http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/video/

etc.

:poly142:

( Pitty that there's no next gen support (normal,height,spec).
Am I wrong ?
Maybe some "cartoon" rendering can works fine ? )