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Unity 4 Details

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by MattCarr, Jun 18, 2012.

  1. brilliantgames

    brilliantgames

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    Does anyone know if there are new terrain features?!
     
  2. Dreamora

    Dreamora

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    its a bit aged with no normal maps etc. Its a Shader Model 2 - Generation 1 terrain back from 2007 one would say as even Torque Game Engine Advanced had a more feature rich terrain visually on its launch day and a thing that will need to be addressed at some point. But likely thats not gonna happen soon as its optimally done together with implementing a terrain streaming system and potentially voxels as the current bloat bomb is not as optimal as it could be and should be for todays game needs in the AA+ sector, requiring workarounds by devs or 3rd party systems closing the gap (which is nice that it can be done)
     
  3. lmbarns

    lmbarns

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    Wouldn't it be amazing if car dealers gave you a free "loaner" car to use until you had money and need for a better model???

    Tada.
     
  4. mikevanman

    mikevanman

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    another thought are these price including tax (probably says on the pages) .... now thats lazy
     
  5. Tak

    Tak

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    In all likelihood, yes. There is nothing Ubuntu-specific about the player; we're just focusing our QA efforts where we'll get the most benefit for the effort.
    The team playtested several games on various versions of Ubuntu, Fedora, and Debian (because that's what we had lying around) with no negative results.
     
  6. Tseng

    Tseng

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    No, they never did. They add 25% tax, which is more than in most of the EU countries.
     
  7. Tanel

    Tanel

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    It actually says excluding tax.
     
  8. AngryAnt

    AngryAnt

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    Good news everyone!

    The "only able to upgrade the whole shebang or nuthin'" has been classified as a bug. We're working on implementing support for first upgrading the core product and later upgrading the add-on licenses.

    Note that this is not live yet. The store ninjas are hacking away as we speak.
     
  9. pivotraze

    pivotraze

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    What I think would be cool:

    A payment system other than up front available. Like, I pay month by month, and I get to use all the features of Unity Pro. If I miss a months payment, all my Unity Pro features are taken away. When I reach the price of Unity Pro + some interest (like 1700 or so), I get Unity Pro for life.

    Tha would be sweet... but dreams are out there huh? :)
     
  10. Khyrid

    Khyrid

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    Software is not a car. The way it is used is different. And I never asked for the upgrade to be free. My beef is not one of "fairness" it's an issue of incentive and investment. I am criticizing the model they use because it doesn't make me want to buy it. The way it is set up makes it better not to buy until the last minute when your game is about to be released. I already explained this.
     
  11. pivotraze

    pivotraze

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    That will please a lot of users... lol
     
  12. Code_Of_Honour

    Code_Of_Honour

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    Wait, so I can now upgrade my iOS license without losing my Android one???

    Awesome!!
     
  13. mikevanman

    mikevanman

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    now I am sad ...

    so the $850 price to upgrade to 4 X2 for iOS then plus 20-25%
     
  14. SquiggleDome_2

    SquiggleDome_2

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    So basically if I buy $850 upgrade from 3.x Pro to 4.x Pro, I get $200 voucher. Then later in a separate transaction, upgrade iOS 3.x Pro to iOS 4.x Pro and use the voucher, I only pay $650? Do I get another $200 voucher?
     
  15. Dreamora

    Dreamora

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    Very cool, thanks you :)
     
  16. pivotraze

    pivotraze

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    Does the 20-25% tax fee still apply in states that are tax-free, like Montana?
     
  17. PixelEnvision

    PixelEnvision

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    Whew :)
     
  18. Tanel

    Tanel

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    So, I can upgrade to unity 4 free and then later when I need the basic mobile licenses get them at the upgrade price?
     
  19. AngryBear+^

    AngryBear+^

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    Came back from lunch to see this. Extra happy camper now :D.
     
  20. Tseng

    Tseng

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    Well only if you are Indie/private person. If you have a business with an VAT ID, you don't have to pay the tax of course
     
  21. Metron

    Metron

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    Gosh... I'm not against paying an upgrade fee, but please use the same fares as for the previous upgrade...
     
  22. L-Tyrosine

    L-Tyrosine

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    Did Unity ever dropped a license version from working? Will content generated with 3.5 keep working, on webplayers and so on?
     
  23. Code_Of_Honour

    Code_Of_Honour

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    As usual, UT doesn't disappoint :D
     
  24. lmbarns

    lmbarns

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    Yes and the "flaw" you keep finding is the "beauty" in the design. (That you can stay free as long as possible, building out as much of your game, even releasing commercially without any cost. Then if you make money you can buy pro and implement it's features)

    It's only an investment if it's going to make you money.

    If enough people are successful with their free project, Unity makes money when they upgrade. Wouldn't it be nice if 3ds max student version let you use it commercially until you made 100k in a year or needed some extra features?
     
  25. jashan

    jashan

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    Did you miss that there's Unity "free" and that UT has "democratizing game development" somewhere in their marketing stuff? They're serious about it. They really don't want you to spend money on Unity unless you need to. This may be hard for some to believe, but I totally trust them on that one - they are those kinds of guys.

    And really, it's not so hard to understand: If you are capable of creating a really cool game but you can't afford Unity Pro, you can go with Unity "free", do the development until it's almost finished.

    Then, you could either go to some publisher - or even more fun: Go with Kickstarter or IndieGoGo or another crowd funding platform. You already have an awesome game to showcase, so it should be easy to get the money for Unity Pro (plus mobile licenses, if you need to) from the crowds. You might even already have a fan base with the game you created with Unity "free".

    In the end, everyone wins: You get to create your game, UT gets another happy customer (and if you get Unity Pro, a tiny amount of money) ... and players get to play another awesome game developed with Unity ;-)
     
  26. AngryAnt

    AngryAnt

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    No and yes. 2.1 web players still work in the 4.0 plugin and we intend to keep it that way.
     
  27. digitalsoapbox

    digitalsoapbox

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    It's far too soon for another major point release.

    3.x wasn't released that long ago, and unless Unity is planning to sell itself to Adobe or another company known for yearly upgrades, I'm not really sure what they're doing. The upgrade price is way, way too high when considering the somewhat underwhelming features list, not to mention the lack of all upgrades promised during the initial release of 3.x. Throw in the fact that Unity billed itself as a viable alternative to more expensive engines - providing a powerful toolset for independent developers - to get to its current market penetration and it feels very much like it's changing its tune. If an industry-standard program like Photoshop is cheaper to upgrade, something is very wrong.
     
  28. Lars-Steenhoff

    Lars-Steenhoff

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    Just would like to use shadows and fonts on Mobile, but 1700 is a bit steep for that ... from a indie point of view.
    Perhaps there will be an asset store solution for cheaper, I think I will wait for that.
     
  29. Metron

    Metron

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    To those who say: "you know there's a free version"...

    you know there are a lot of features not included in the free version? Those my game is relying most on: asset bundles and real time shadows... so even for the development of the game, a pro version is necessary...
     
  30. Hesham

    Hesham

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    That all that I wanted to hear, thanks
     
  31. jashan

    jashan

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    Awesome! Thanks!
     
  32. Khyrid

    Khyrid

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    A model that doesn't penalize you for buying the pro licence at the wrong time and supports people learning and using the pro features would be more beautiful. It would also have caused me to purchase the pro licence already, and unity would get to have and use my money for the next few years in advance.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2012
  33. AcidArrow

    AcidArrow

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    What I want to know: Does mecanim include an IK solver? It wasn't explicitly mentioned, but some of the stuff shown, they could be using a solver.

    If it does, how exposed is it to the user?
     
  34. Per

    Per

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    OK as the other thread was deleted I'll ask again - What happened to the new GUI system that was announced for the 3 cycle?
     
  35. lmbarns

    lmbarns

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    You couldn't release a scaled back version without shadows to generate support for a pro implementation of it? Instances instead of streaming?

    Nobody would like/support it?
     
  36. Code_Of_Honour

    Code_Of_Honour

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    It was postponed :( It still needs more work apparently.
     
  37. antenna-tree

    antenna-tree

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    The thread was not deleted, the posts were just merged with this thread.

    The new GUI got postponed to 4.x.
     
  38. NTDC-DEV

    NTDC-DEV

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    Unity 3.0 Came out November 2010. Unity has a tradition of releasing major versions during Unite, thus with Public Beta subscription closing on July 9th, it is safe to assume that 4.0 will be released in August.

    Which makes it 2 years minus 3 months.

    Since then, Unity has released 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5 and all 3.x.x in between for FREE while including NEW features for FREE for almost two years.

    Yes, it's not optimimal if you bought it this year, or even late last year. But it's not "too soon" IMHO.
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2012
  39. pivotraze

    pivotraze

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    So the table was uploaded, and wow.

    Unity 4 free users miss out on some of the coolest Unity 4 features xD






    Lol, Build Size Stripping no one gets :)

    Darn, no Occlusion Culling for Unity 4 Free. And none of the major NavMesh improvements...

    There is still some... "Typos" in this list. Unity 3.5, according to the list, has lost LOD support, and the Dark Skin.... heh
     
    Last edited: Jun 18, 2012
  40. Tak

    Tak

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    Unity 4.0 will ship with Mono 2.6, with more added bugfixes and tuning. We hope to have a newer version integrated later in the 4.x series, but the roadmap for that hasn't crystallized yet.

    This is not scheduled for 4.0, but we would of course like to see it in an upcoming release. :)
     
  41. mindlube

    mindlube

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    Exciting times! Nice feature list. Surprised about no new GUI, but i am using the NGUI add-on and very happy with it.

    I have Unity 3 Pro, iOS Pro and Android Pro. My upgrade cost is therefore ~ $2,500!

    Yet my Autodesk Maya subscription is only $595/year!

    It would be a lot easier to swallow (and budget for) if Unity switched to a Subscription licensing model. Where you get the Pro updates with all features. Just a thought!
     
  42. Metron

    Metron

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    I own the pro versions. Asset bundles are necessary to me for the character generation (I currently can generate +- 300 different robots)... light and shadow are not integral part of the game, but have high impact of the perceived feeling of the game.

    It's really the high upgrade costs that bug me. I have to upgrade 2 licenses and was waiting for bug fixes (that had been done after Unity took a look at my project). I changed game style and camera view of my game to keep the # of assets in the view low...

    but well... let's see what comes...
     
  43. Lars-Steenhoff

    Lars-Steenhoff

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    + for subscription option!
     
  44. Khyrid

    Khyrid

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    If there was a free upgrades in exchange for giving unity a % of earnings I'd be fine with that. I'm not being greedy, I just don't like to be rushed. If I buy the pro version but don't make any money off of it because I develop slow I shouldn't have to shell out for upgrades. But if I do actually make money then Unity gets a nice cut and everyone is happy. Unfortunately people who develop casually tend to be younger and less informed, so they don't have a prominent voice and there is therefore no loud demand for a "long-winded" development pro licence.
     
  45. HolBol

    HolBol

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    I usually feel quite reserved here, that free users should be grateful that they're getting something at all. But I'm starting to get fustrated. What _new_ stuff, apart from half the animation system, do you the free users get? It's almost no wonder so many stuck with Unity 2.6.1, on the free license- because nothing has changed for us! I know, i shouldn't complain, but when there are often no alternatives to the features that are being put in for the free users out there, it's very fustrating. Shame Unity Free and realism can't go together, graphically.
     
  46. Code_Of_Honour

    Code_Of_Honour

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    Wait, we're getting built-in multiplayer networking??

    Also, I believe AntennaTree said that all versions will have LOD support, as 3.5 currently does. So that's probably a typo :p
     
  47. AngryAnt

    AngryAnt

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    Unity 3.0 was released two years ago. We're giving everyone Linux deployment for free. Many of the new features are available in a form for non-pro users.

    We have not and will not abandon the hobby/indie/basement/whatever crowd.

    We have no intention of stopping funnelling part of our income into making awesome software available for free.

    And no we're not in the middle of selling to anyone. Seriously. What would be the point?
     
  48. pivotraze

    pivotraze

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    I agree. I'm grateful that I get some new stuff, but the best features that are very important, like the improved NavMesh, are important to me. I don't have 1500 to shell out. haha
     
  49. Code_Of_Honour

    Code_Of_Honour

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    No. No. NO. We do NOT want them to take a cut of our earnings...be glad that UT is one of the few engines that doesn't require anything like that(especially for free users!)
     
  50. antenna-tree

    antenna-tree

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    I don't think I ever said that?