Unity 5-2017-2018?

Hello!

I wondering about the current unity versions that many uses.
I remember that Unity 5 was a big release, i have 5.6.5f1 and now we have 2017 and 2018 versions, are these the successors of Unity 5? like they would be "Unity 6" and "Unity 7" with year release version numbers?

I have some vague memory that 2017 was some sort of testing version or something like that and not a part of Unity 5? That's why im asking this.

 

Yes. Unity 5 was the big change over. 2017 is like "unity 6" and 2018 is like "unity 7".

But honestly, the changes between 5-2017-2018 versions were not as dramatic as the previous iterations, so they seem more like point releases to me.

 

Ah okey!
Do they still makes updates for Unity 5? or is it 17 and 18 they working on these days?

 

I believe they have stopped updating Unity 5 awhile back. They've gone to a new model, and are creating "long term support" versions, and that started in 2017.4 I think. The updates are here:

https://unity3d.com/unity/qa/lts-releases

I believe the plan is that they will do this with the final release of each yearly version.

 

So if i get this right, they only make bug fix releases for current version until a complete new version is released with new features?

 

I believe they will support the final ("lts") release with updates and patches for 2 years after the release - so the 2017.4 release will be supported until March 2020 (which should put it at the beginning of the 2020 release cycle).

Note: I do not work for Unity, and of course they have changed their processes in the past and likely will again in the future.

This blog explains it in more detail:

https://blogs.unity3d.com/2018/04/0...g-the-tech-and-long-term-support-lts-streams/

 

Comparing version numbers is really irrelevant now - 2017 might be like v6, v7 AND v8 compared to v5, as different amounts of features are added with each major release. Plus some features are in external packages, which only require a minimum version and could work with that and any later releases.

The .4 release at the end of the year is the safe one for companies which are worried about new versions breaking too much. It could simply be the same as the .3 if QA determines it great. It could incorporate a few bug patches.

Any non-beta/non-alpha release after is usually safe, but has had a shorter time to prove itself. Starting a new project you generally pick either the most recent LTS, or if that seems too long ago and/or you think later features are useful, the most recent stable release.

Right now that's 2018.2.14f1, as shown in the hub under Official Releases. Use the hub app so you can manage different versions. It saves your sanity