Unity 4.6 release date

Hi Guys,

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by a seemingly complete stonewall of any answers relating to the release date of Unity 4.6(with the new GUI) we included a load of features in our specifications that really are only worth it with the new GUI and now we're holding off doing important pieces of work rather than buying something from the asset store.

I don't need a release date all I need from you Unity is a bit more of an idea, up to 4 weeks? maybe up to 8 weeks? just anything! Its not like you don't have any idea either - we know our velocities so you must do too - so please for the love of god(yours, mine and everyone elses) give us clue?

Thanks

Marc

 

Don't really have much to say (simply because I don't know) but I'll give a bleep anyway. 4.6 is still in heavy beta testing and fixing. I'm not aware of an anticipated target other than "summer". It'll arrive before 5.0 but that's not much to go on indeed.

So yeah, told you... I have nothing to say Sorry...

 

Hi Rene,

Heh, well thanks for responding anyway - it's not that i'm trying to be a whiner, it's just a bit frustrating not knowing!

Thanks

Marc

 

I share your frustration with the waiting. We are currently struggling to move forward with our current project and continue to skirt the UI features until the new GUI arrives.

The words "heavy beta testing" do not inspire confidence of a release until late August

 

+1

 

We are also at a stage in our project where GUI programming will begin in approx 2 weeks time..This makes
us wonder whether we should risk waiting out a bit for 4.6. We really
want to use 4.6 features, so indeed any ballparks would be great here..Thanks

 

Same here. We would highly appreciate it if at least some more information could be given on any compatibility with NGUI (as it is heavily influenced by it, it seems). If it is a similar as I understand based on the demonstrations that can be found on Youtube, we could start off with a NGUI based UI, and switch later on without too much of a hassle.

 

As far as i understood new GUI is basicly made by same person who made NGUI so im pretty sure he understands every aspect and will make it compatible.

 

He was working on it at some point but left UT last year or so, so you cant count on that.

 

He was only there relatively briefly, and it's changed much since then so it's really not NGUI at all or compatible with it.

--Eric

 

looking forward to hearing from you: " It's out! "

Count the days guys:
http://days.to/until/autumn-or-fall

 

I think they might release it during Unite which is August 20-22. Hopefully.

 

Why release date of Unity 4.6 is so important?
You know what's in it?

 

uGUI.

 

Let me offer an alternative perspective.

Do you really want to wait any length of time to then hang the success of your project's UI on a 1.0 version of a library? Regardless of how much beta testing it gets, it's going to take time to mature to the point where all the sharp edges are sanded off and dark corners properly lit. That's not a knock on Unity; it's just the nature of software development.

On the other hand, there are two or three good UI packages on the asset store that have shipped in multiple production games, which you could be using right now.

 

NONE of the packages(that i'm aware of) offer the features of the new unity GUI, so yes, i'm developing a cross platform game that requires a great, easy to develop UI - its not much to ask for a rough release date - we can get on with other stuff and adjust our plans accordingly

 

They already gave a rough estimate: summer.

--Eric

 

I'm not quite sure why you think that's an acceptable "time" for a release. I have 8 people sitting around trying to figure out a project plan. I know that given the tools they need how long it will take to complete a piece of work. Unity will also know their "velocities" and excluding a major oversight in development can give a better estimate than "summer"

 

If this was summer 2013 it would be normal for a major software company to say summer 2014, but we're IN summer, M$, Oracle, SAP ALL OF THEM provide more accurate release dates closer to the time.

 

@marcfielding: Never plan with what you potently could have. Just rely on the things you have access to.
The GUI systems that are on the asset store may not have 100% of the function you will get if unity brings it GUI out but at the moment you have 0% of the new unity GUI , so every other GUI system is more appropriate then to wait an unknown amount of time for a new and not 100% ready/ Stable new GUI from unity.

I would like to have the new GUI too but at the moment NGUI does the job fine for me.

 

I probably wouldn't count on the first release of the GUI system being production-ready. Might be safer to assume that you're waiting for 4.7 (if there is such a thing) or 5.1, waiting until the capabilities and limitations of the system become more clear, and any early bugs sorted out?

Although we've seen a bit, we still really don't know all the details of Unity's GUI system. Will text support be good enough for those of us who are using NGUI/2DToolkit at the moment? (NGUI lets you easily add custom glyphs - very useful for in-game-currency symbols etc, and both systems make it easy to process fonts in Photoshop to add outlines/bevels/drop-shadows)

Also, will the Unity system let you create custom widget types (actually add polygons to the GUI), if you need something special? I've had to do this with NGUI, and it worked out quite well.

The primary reason that I'm excited about the Unity GUI is performance on mobile. While NGUI's functionality is good, it's rather too easy to cause yourself performance problems with it - and in theory, Unity's system should be much faster, with all the mesh updating done in native code, rather than C# scripts.

 

@fffMalzbier yeah it's more about a decision as to if we wait for the new Gui as its obviously better or shell out for NGUI - I just reread my posts from last night and they might come off a bit terse. I do understand its a big job so no hard feelings toward unity I just wish we had a more specific date. We've just decided to set the gui stuff back a few months and use placeholders for now.

 

@marcfielding That is exactly what we have decided to do. I did shell out for NGUI and on our current project we are waiting for Unity's GUI before we make any huge GUI progress. The reason for that is because while NGUI is still a lot nicer than the old Unity GUI, it is a long way off from the new Unity GUI. I'd love to know a slightly more specific date for Unity 4.6, but we'll manage until we get that.

 

As much as I am looking forward to the release, I personally think that it is better to be given an estimated date as oppose to an unrealistic exact date which then falls through. I think that what Unity Tech are doing is smart and have learnt from past experience by not giving an exact date as it gives them the flexibility to make sure that they don't release a half baked version; and I don't know about you but I'd rather wait until "summer" for an awesome release then receive an early August release which is disappointing.

 

Should hire away some of the UE4 guys. They seem to be able to knock S*** out pretty quickly....

who said that?

 

I've heard Unity 5 is being announced at Unite Seattle, and if 4.6 is coming out before that, then it really can't be far off. This was from a Unity rep at a conference. He couldn't say when but kept repeating "When is Unite Seattle?" whenever asked about Unity 5 after a long discussion.

 

I doubt Unity 5 is going to be released at Unite this year. I'm guessing Unity 5 will be announced but not released at Unite. The best we can probably hope for is a release date estimate. Maybe they will announce that Unity 5 will be released in Q1 of 2015. Of course, I hope I'm wrong. I hope they do release Unity 5 at Unite this year.

 

I can almost guarantee that Unity 5.0 will not have an official release at Unite. Most likely 4.6 will be released.

 

They will probably announce the release date for 4.6 at or around Unite. It's been kind of slow lately in Unity land, and they really need to drop something at Unite to get the excitement levels back up.

I have heard Unity 5 has a tentative release date of November. I think I read this on Digital Tutors or something, it was a somewhat credible source, I forget where exactly I read that though. I can't find it now. I think it was actually redacted from wherever I read it, so I think it was an accidental leak. A November target release date seems reasonable, but you know how release dates go. It could get pushed back.

From the looks of some of the presentations I've seen on Unity 5, they are still in the trenches working on the Alpha version. Unity 5 needs some significant work before release. I have heard the Enlighten integration in particular has been quite the endeavour. Highly doubtful they would be releasing Unity 5 at Unite.

 

Unity 4.6 will come in 22th or before that day.
Unity 5 will be released within 2014.
My opinions.

 

Same deal.. putting off GUI until 4.6. Its getting frustrating.. The decision, do the UI now, and have to redo it later, or wait wait wait.. and have a much delayed release date ;(

 

Why would you have to redo it later? Just do it now, and it will continue to work. A new GUI system won't somehow break every other existing GUI system.

--Eric

 

I meant in future updates/changes to the game.. there will be a new GUI system available, most probably making everything easier/faster, and i'll be stuck with the decision to change over to the new system, or keep plodding along with my implementation in the old system.

 

At this point and time I'd rather wait for the new version. Even by the preview alone you can see so much things that make it better than OnGUI. Of course this only applies if you are not under time pressure to deliver within the next few weeks. You can still implement some simple debug buttons or text outputs using the old GUI, which is fine.

 

Well Unity 4.6 its on Beta 15 already I think and that alot of Betas for any software release.
Meaning should be any time soon hopefully Unite.
In mean time we should get 4.5.3 official version.

 

According to a Digital Tutors email that was sent out today, Unity 4.6 is tentatively out "in a month".
http://blog.digitaltutors.com/interview-with-unity-about-highly-anticipated-unity-4-6/

Unity 5 is "hopefully shipping late this year", according to the evangelist guy in the video.

 

"In a month"... that's stretching the term "summer" quite extensively.

Got 2 projects on hold for this update to be released, and it's hindering production like crazy.

We need a date, so we can plan ahead!

This is not the 624th Call of Duty coming out, making us just a bunch of kids pissed that there is a delay. For some of us this is what pays the bills, and we need some certainties.

Please!

 

In the game industry you plan based on what you've got now. The future doesn't exist. Nobody does what you're asking, nobody successful at least.

Sounds harsh, but it's realistic. Depend on what is available to you now, not a shifting tomorrow.

 

Summer ends on September 22 (in the northern hemisphere anyway), so nothing is being "stretched".

OK, here's a certainty: if they rush a release to meet an arbitrary deadline, it will suck.

--Eric

 

Something is telling me Unity5 might come sooner than expected: https://twitter.com/RustUpdates

 

It's pretty obvious nothing would be announced before Unite, I've assumed all along that's when Unity 4.6 would be released to the public, though possibly as a public beta if it wasn't ready. So be patient, they aren't going to spill the beans here when Unite is coming up.

As for Unity 5, I'm sure some big developers have access to an early experimental release (otherwise, how would Shroud of the Avatar's beta suddenly get 64-bit support?), but that doesn't mean it's coming soon.

 

Well, it's been possible to publish 64-bit builds for years; since the Unity 3.x days at least.

--Eric

 

I'm now trying out the Open Beta and I like uGUI way more than anything in the Asset Store. We are also in the stage where we have to make a decision on the tool we use for a GUI in our game and we very must like it to be uGUI.

Since the Open Beta is out, can anyone from Unity provide us with an ETA a bit more accurate than "Summer"? If this is still accurate and it would suggest it being out before the 22nd of September, that's will suffice as well.

Cheers.

 

I am in agreement & a similar situation as this guy.

 

Just a quick update on this thread, I've had the opportunity to have a go at the Beta and the new GUI is AWESOME and well worth the wait.

 

Hi Guys.. summer is ending in less than 1 week... we have to start a new project and we have to understand if we will be ever able to release it !!! are there any news?

 

If you really want to try it, use the Open Beta of 4.6 http://unity3d.com/unity/beta/4.6 You can release stuff with it but please remember it is a beta and not as stable as our full releases.

 

Hi Aurore. We're using the Beta since many days and it works really well. The problem is that we're working 99% on web player, so we won't be able to release the project until you will release the plugin publicly.

So we're now in front of a big choice, if we want to use the new GUI we need to convert the project for 4.6 and we cannot revert to 4.5 and until it will be officially out we wont be able to release it to our customers.

If we have to wait one or two weeks more, we can work with 4.6 beta and wait for the final to release, if the beta will require another month or so, we have to continue with 4.5 but we cannot use the new GUI system and we have to revert to other (not compatible) solutions like NGUI

 

Not sure if this will help you:
Check this out: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/will-the-nect-beta-have-v-4-5-4-included.268711/#post-1777210

 

I tried to make web build with 4.6 beta and got "Built with Unity 4.6 beta" label at the bottom-right corner of the game view. Can I disable it somehow?