Should Unity stop it's Free version and just go with subscription based pro?

Great news, let's wait for the public Roadmap to resurface again so.

 

I've agreed to give a talk on Unity in the near future to a local developer group (general, not especially games) here in Lincoln, UK. It is probably too small an event (a dozen or so people) for someone to visit from Unity, but do you have any support available for such events? I'm thinking promotional material, demo projects, etc.

 

I understand the point you are trying to make, but I have to laugh at the way you wrote it. Given the age difference between Unity and UE4, I would hope your public roadmap was available years earlier.

 

UE4's public roadmap is sustainable because, on top of everything else, they have regular progress updates that happen well before major version releases. If something would happen to change the roadmap, people would actually know about it ahead of time. For instance, a while ago a feature, I can't recall which, was pushed back on the roadmap. How did we learn about this?

They told us.

They outright said in one of their twitch streams "we've had to push this back and here's why." They gave a public explanation as to what was going on and it went over pretty damn well because we actually knew why. Apparently we were told why the Unity GUI was constantly delayed for over 2 years in obscure forum posts and on a developer's twitter account?

This isn't just roadmaps, it's disclosure of why things are happening and why the roadmap has changed.

 

That don't give a good result of not informing client users on what is developped , what is delayed and how much it could be delayed. Today people have more choice than some years ago, Unity will have to consider that at some point. In UE4 there is so open discussion on what is developed and community developers bringing stuff are put on credits alson it's a win win situation.

 

I had to remember my log in info just to say this...I haven't been on these boards for over a year now. Anyway
*ahem*
I'm getting an oculus rift dk2 soon...so i figured it would be a good time to explore UE4 and unity again. UE4 is cool, and all the good things people say about it is true. No need to beat a dead horse. It was the best impulse buy I've had in a while. Its clearly the best engine of the 2 and is constantly improving.

However, I have a lot of unity code from working with it professionaly for 3 years, so, i re-download unity free a few days ago. It was like riding a bike, I was just making things happen instantly. (thats a good thing) However, i also remember why I was ready to get off the bike and get a car. Here's why I'm already irritated for a few reasons (with the free version specifically).

1) when my dk2 gets here, i wont be able to use it with unity free.
2) i have a g27 race wheel. Logitech made a cool lib for it that i got from the asset store. I also cant use it with unity free. (i know i can use the wheel out of the box, but i want force feed back!!)
3) i downloaded the car demo to base an oculus game off of it, using my g27. The FU$%^&G WATER in unity free is broken in that demo. The shader "fx/water" needs to be updated, or fixed. I cant use the pro version...so i get a nice sea of pepto-bismol.

these next 2 have nothing to do with paid or free but...
4) a lot of documentation is STILL incomplete!
5) meta files!! they didnt work for svn when i used it for my previous job, i dont see why such a clumsy way of doing version control IS NOW FORCED ON TO EVERYONE, EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT USING VERSION CONTROL!!

I had my issues to love and hate unity, and many have been said over and over again in these comparison threads. However, the fact that me as a "new" user had these issues right out of the gate is the reason why free needs to go, or needs to be made decent! I guess the consensus is that if you are NOT making a mobile game, unity free is a waste of time?

 

But aren't you a freelancer? Wouldn't you have a personal copy? I doubt your clients own a Unity license for each person using the project.

 

You definitely raise a good point.

1: I'll admit to being on disability benefits too, but I don't get to control the money. Virtually all the income I live off comes from the Unity Asset Store my partner runs (Indie Game Models). It's tough when the things you need are miles away from what your budget allows, I've been there.

2: No, not every hobbyist is interested in making it a profession. Some may go as far as to earn some money from it, but not as a full-time career or profession.

3: Very true. I've worked on 15 different projects, most of them being games. None of them were successful, so it definitely would cost me dearly if I used Unity Pro on one of those failed projects.

4: I can understand why you would say that. For me, royalty payments would be an issue if my game earns a lot of money, which is exactly what I plan for it to do if it does succeed.