MERGED - Dark Skinned Themes for Unity Free and Forum

Sure, you're not going to be able to completely buy the better car with the funds from the bad car. But the money will make it easier to buy it. Or you could just sell the old car and do something else with that money, if you so choose. You can't do that with a game engine.

It's implementation is trivial:

Code (csharp):

1. GUI.backgroundColor = Color.coolDarkSkinColor;

There isn't much this can do to steal focus.

But it's usefulness is arguably not trivial.

 

Also free users are customers. They may use Unity free, but most of them spend money in the asset store then. Which they wouldn't spend without Unity free.

 

No, the implementation is trivial because the work has already been done, but the dark skin is an entire separate skin, not just a different background color.

--Eric

 

i switched my pro version to use the bright skin: just to make sure that all my custom editors work (and look) fine in free and pro.
it is just a pain that we have to support interfaces for bright and dark backgrounds.
things could be much easier...

lars

 

Wouldn't you have to do that anyway?

 

in fact unity handles bright and dark skins for you and ensures that the contrast (at least when using built in elements and relying only on e.g. colored text) is high enough to be readable. however what might look like a well structured inspector in pro might become a unstructured and monotonous thing in unity free.
i have never worked with custom icons though.

 

Hahahaha, nice

 

Does this forum have a dark-skinned theme?

 

I use an extension to give it one.

 

Serious reply:
Chrome has an extension for that sort of thing: http://www.shayatik.com/2013/09/how-to-invert-colors-in-google-chrome/

 

Just about every open-source or free version software I've used let's you customize color schemes to some extent, and here we are talking about two options. I see their decision to make it an only pro thing is a low blow. It's a feature that is completely arbitrary to it's performance as a game engine and development environment. Nobody is going to buy the pro version because they need the dark scheme. Reading the first half page of comments the only argument for it being pro only is because it makes you feel special...and we could get into a long and meaningless conversation about that.

 

also i get migraines from light screens so I could even consider it abuse from my perspective

 

Perhaps game development with Unity isn't for you if it causes health issues. People often have to give up things they enjoy for health reasons. Myself, I haven't had any refined sugar in years!

 

If something causes health problems there are two things you can do: stop doing whatever it is you're doing or get medication to help. I wonder if your medical insurance would cover Unity Pro

 

How does one code without sugar?

 

Caffeine, obviously.

--Eric

 

Has anyone ever tried... to put sugar... in coffee...?! Double efficiency!

 

Meh...personally I don't go for drug-enhanced programming; I suspect that's where most bugs come from. I code with the power of LOVE! Either that, or the kinetic energy resulting from multiple impacts of forehead against desk.

--Eric

 

A dark UI will make a BETTER game!
The reason of Dark UI is not cosmetics but more serious...
A darker UI will not distract you from evaluating and balancing colors, lights and shadows to ghot the mood you whant in games.
That's why most graphics apps have these options or are by default (Photoshop, Maya, Max, Lightroom, After FX, Shake tc).
Try to tweak something like discreet shadows or light and colors with a projector light blinding you (aka bright UI)
Plus, a dark UI is easier on the eyes (for the same reason of not having a projector 8-10 hours a day blinding you)
For me as an artist is really annoying and distracting a bright UI and impact the evaluation of Unity.
All other graphic apps have "demos" that have identical UI in the demos, exactly for this reason..
Putting dark UI as a "cosmetic PRO" is childish and will backfire.. I am betting my life it was a programer decision, an artist will know better.

ps.
Of course programers don't give a dime of this.. they are" dark on white" people.

 

You guys know that guy here who can make you skins? Why not custom make a darker skin?

 

My eyes don't deal well with brightness, I have everything, including this forum, set to grey/dark. I would love if there was a darker skin for the free version. Seems strange, considering Mono has this awesome dark skin as well. If I code for more than an hour on white, my eyes start to bleed.

 

I don't like brightness when working some hours on same app, i have Blender with some dark theme tha feels very relaxing.
For unity using Free version i have no choice, but i fell lot more at ease using UE4 default theme that is already good, not too brighten like Unity default one.

Almost all graphics apps , porpose theme customisation, let's see if UT5 will be more clever proposing themes customisation for all ? (instead of keeping stuck in that areas from many years)

 

For many time the major lack in Unity Free has have not shadows, now have one directional light with hard shadows, one is better that none, then the major lack in Unity Free now is not a game engine feature, is a skin, i hope that Unity 5 end with this type of absurd restrictions in the free version, in other words remove dark skin in Unity Free is not cut a pro feature, is make uncomfortable work with Unity Free intentionally.

 

Um, there is already a fee. It's $1500, or $75/month depending on your wish.

 

But I guess you don't want to pay those amounts. What fee would you pay for dark skin?

 

Have you tried Stylish? Someone has already made a dark theme.

https://userstyles.org/styles/101943/dark-unity-3d

 

Not a penny, I would pay for features, a skin isn't a feature imho. By the way not everyone lives in a country where wages are that high, in this country you're fortunate if you make $200 a month how do you suppose people with this little income are ever able to buy Unity? I understand it's an international price but I can't help that I somehow feel excluded because I'm not able to come up with this money without pretty much killing myself for it. All the 'democratizing game development/empowering indies' gibberish doesn't mean much to me anymore after using Unity for about 3 years and still seeing the same discussion and arguments when people ask for a stupid change of skin color.

 

Skinning a user interface isn't exactly the easiest thing. It can involve quite a bit of effort to make the system both support it and make all new resources for a skin. It isn't as simple as changing a single color from light gray to dark gray.

Really I don't see why all these people complaining about eye strain are not willing to pay for Unity Pro. Eye treatment is considerably more expensive than $1,500. My glasses alone are typically $400.

 

People are able to make a chicken taste like an orange and you tell me changing a color is hard work? I like using Unity free but don't tell me changing a color is rocket science. I'm glad that spending 1500 isn't a problem for you but the world doesn't evolve just around you, what about others who dream of a gamedev career but can't afford it?

But nevermind I've seen this same talk over and over again it's like talking to a wall. I'm not sure why I even bothered to reply.

 

Good thing there is a perfectly acceptable free version of Unity that allows for commercial development! if you can't make a worthwhile game using free, getting pro isn't going to help you.

 

You clearly have no experience developing applications of any meaningful size.

I never claimed I could afford Unity Pro. You are right, it doesn't revolve around me. Neither does it revolve around those who get so easily insulted when someone presents an argument against their claims.

I merely postulated that getting eye treatment is going to be considerably more expensive than Unity Pro.

 

You're right and I made a long post on this some time ago. Unity free is great for playing around but it misses a lot, who wants to make a game that he only can finish once he can afford pro? Not me. And please don't decide for me that it fits my needs because it clearly doesn't. I can make a long rant about it but last time nobody even replied. The bottom line is there could be a fully functioning non commercial unity version that we can use so we can finish our projects and when it's done I don't have to sacrifice my life when I buy pro because the risk I'm taking is acceptable at that point.

But ok this is about the skin color and not about my frustrations on the available features in Unity free. I'm sorry if I got carried away.

 

I would like to know where you got your crystal ball.

 

Developing applications with C++, C# and Java. Having so many Unity users just starting out doesn't automatically mean all of us lack experience. Is two decades sufficient for you?

 

I didn't know that gave you supernatural powers. But the way you put it someone without your level of knowledge has no right to speak? Just please stop because clearly you are not an authority and you have no single clue who I am or what I do, the only thing you're doing is making assumptions.

Edit: Pulling the experience card doesn't impress me, maybe try it with real arguments.

 

I have never stated or implied you do not have the right to speak. I stated that A) it is more expensive to pay for eye treatment than it would be to buy Unity Pro and B) that skin development is not a simple color change.

If you do not believe me, go perform some basic research. It is something I do with practically every post I make. I'll even provide an initial link, for C# since that is the most popular language for these forums, so you can get started.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/dn263242.aspx

You asked where I got my "crystal ball" from and I gave an appropriate response.

 

No doubt you're a good guy but dismissing someone's credibility because your gutfeeling and/or personal experience overtakes rational thinking isn't a good way to go about things. You're right that eye treatment is more expensive but isn't it a bit weird in the first place that you have to come up with these arguments to defend a point? If that's the best you can come up with I can't recommend you to take part in any debate. I'm not saying you can't, I'm just saying you probably shouldn't.

FWIW: I do a lot of programming in multiple programming languages and for different platforms. I don't have 20 years experience but that doesn't mean when you say something isn't that easy that it should be the same for everyone. I've heard that many times before and boy were they wrong.

 

You can totally finish a game using Unity free. Lower your expectations and create a game you can finish with free and get that on the international market and use the revenue to upgrade. That's what I and many others have done.

 

This thread was primarily using the reasoning that a dark skin will assist in preventing eye strain. I gave my reasoning as to why Unity Pro is a good purchase towards that goal.

I could have belittled the OP's opinion, as you have been with all of mine, but they put a reasonable amount of effort into their post (proper formatting goes a long way towards this). So I decided to be polite and give my viewpoint.

Not that I wouldn't like to see the dark skin made more easily available, but I understand why Unity is charging for it.

 

I never said it's impossible, but I guess I have different expectations from myself when I create something. I already lowered my expectations there is just a small part of me that hopes some things change and we all benefit from it.

 

We've already benefited immensely. Unity could have kept their new user interface solely for Pro users but they choose to make it open source and give it to everyone. It wasn't a small amount of effort either as it took them years to make.

It is possible their new networking solution will follow in the footsteps of their user interface and be an open source solution.

We're seeing benefits constantly coming down the line. It used to be you had no access to shadows in Unity Free, but now we have access to hard shadows from a direction light. They also gave us access to the stencil buffer.

Not to mention one of the best things to happen to game development was the release of Unity Free.

 

Reasons I don't believe for one minute Unity free is a problem with eye strain:

1. You do not spend a great deal of time in unity vs programming.
2. Unity is greyscale, not white. It isn't hard on the eyes to begin with.
3. If you typically develop in a dark room, that will be far worse for your health.

I don't see Unity's free palette being particularly bad at all. I think it's just personal preference here and people are attempting some form of manipulation because it really does look cooler. It is cooler. But I don't see a valid argument regarding eye strain. That's my opinion as a person, not a moderator of Unity forums (and I am not a Unity employee).

Actually I've been doing it for a few decades and my eyes are still reasonably fine, however there was a period of a few years where I would develop in the dark, and this damaged my eyes. Since ensuring that I have good ambient lighting - ie the lights are actually on, the damage has mostly been fixed.

So it's good warning to all the cool kids out there who think its fun developing in low light conditions, don't do it. It's not the computer ruining your eyes, it's the contrast. Ensure your computer environment is *really* well lit, with the main house light on, or in day time - near a window.

I also am a fan of f.lux - a utility that adjusts the temperature of the display based on time of day, so that it's more natural.

 

Sounds like you have unreasonable expectations of both yourself and Unity. I made enough money with free to buy pro by creating a project I had no interest in making and now I am making the game I've always wanted to make. Isn't that a better way to earn money than working yourself to death in some low-income job trying to scrape up enough money to buy it as you previously implied you would need to do?

 

I'm very happy Unity free exists but I'm not a unconditional yes-nodder. For many years there are tons of discussions inside the community but how can we better things if we basically keep saying 'you should be happy now stfu'? This is totally not democratizing game development, something Unity loves to use in their marketing. There was a time I thought different but it's not fooling me anymore.

 

I don't have unreasonable expectations from myself but yes maybe I have them from Unity. But that's thanks to their marketing I fell for. However I'm glad I found out Unity isn't the be-all and-all, this marriage is a pretty happy one but it's not holy to me.

 

I'm not saying STFU, I'm saying there's a way to constructively ask for more other than just sitting there begging or giving really absurd reasons. People always want more for free, it's natural. If you can give Unity a clear reason why they should give you something for nothing, then Unity will actually listen. I know they listen

But so far I've seen people blame Unity for their own problems ie coding in the dark, which doesn't make any sense

 

Neither am I. I am among those who are annoyed that they don't provide even limited RenderTextures for Unity Free. It is a feature found in every single game engine. Even Blitz 3D, which is an entirely DirectX 7-era engine, provides them.

 

Yeah I've urged Unity to provide render textures too. I think it's one of the major reasons people actually pay for it though, so it's tricky to reconcile. How much would people pay for just render textures, I wonder? $400?

 

@hippocoder

I'm not going to beg I'm trying to get reactions. Some time ago I made a long post (can't find it anymore) with different arguments why a non commercial unity version is beneficial and how it can be monetized. Not a single response and the thread got burried with all the others. I don't blame Unity at all, well I blame a little on their marketing but I guess that's what marketing is about, otherwise I probably wouldn't even bothered to download Unity at all. I personally don't care too much about the skin color but it bothers me it has to come up everytime and people come up with these crazy arguments in favor of/against the color that I think just add the stupid skin already and be done with this discussion.

 

4 dollars a day will mean this time next year you can use Unity pro instead. But $4 is a lot for some people.