unity indie becomes free?

hello there

i have just read an article in gamasutra here:

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=25840

that says unity indie will become free once unity 2.6 arrives

can anyone confirm this ???

if thats true, thats good and bad at the same time.

good because everybody will be able to put hands on unity without any cost involved 8)

bad because i spent 200 dollars in a free software :roll: hahahahaha

however it was worth it.. but still you get that strange feeling in your guts hahahaha

 

Interesting and his answer makes since. I can only see it broadening use.

I do wonder if they'll add more features to the Pro line, now.

As long as our Indie costs still count towards Pro if I ever upgrade, I have no complaints. Prices change. I paid $200 to work on my project for a year -- sound investment.

 

UT gets kind of slow with its news. First the 5.5M investment now that ...

HEYO HIGGYB WHATS GOING ON? Is your computer sleepy or in a different room-time continuum?

I think for many its good news and I say that as a Pro + iPhone Advanced + Asset Server owner (the later is a $500 investment that might go into hot air with 2.6 and SVN / Proforce).

The interesting thing to me as T3D Pro owner too will be the conquence on T3D Artist Edition that was planned to happen at $500 ...

 

Oh man!!!! this is so cool!!!

I think garagegames will not like it. This will make the Unity Web Player much more popular.

 

if this is true it'd make sense as to why there's been such a delay on my third license request

 

As if the webplayer ever was a topic in relation to torque as torque has no webplayer capabilities at all (when put in relation to Unity or Flash).
Torque has a "per game webdeployment" technology that still requires any user to install a distinct plugin for each Torque game.

 

This would be really annoying for those of us who have just purchased indie though.

Even if they offer a cheap upgrade to pro - I wouldn't be able to afford it

 

Heres another link : http://www.develop-online.net/news/33150/Unity-is-free

 

I know that. We can list here what it means:

1- garagegames lost users
2- web player gets popular, so, we will see some Unity games on sites like armor games.
3- garagegames lost more users
4- Google buys Unity.

=)

 

You could look at it that way - or you could look at it as though you're buying pizza for UT being so awesome…

 

@Tim : no reason to wish ill-will on another product. Having GG be strong keeps Unity strong. Also I'm fine with not having Google run *all* my technologies.

 

It was just a joke, sorry

 

I think they should give us purchased Indie users VCS support (assuming it's currently exclusive to Pro)

This will cut down on 99.9% of my rants/complaints on this forum!

 

Ugh, as far as the speculation goes:

The guys are GarageGames are good people, be nice to them. If TorqueScript was more like C++ or C# and their iTGB at that time ran better, I would still be using their products. Even if their products were complete rubbish, that would not take from them being genuinely decent human beings.

 

No worries. Just a little touchy on the nets when it comes to company/product/<place x here> cheerleading/bashing.

Guess I have to go eat lunch and hopefully get some more official news when return!

 

Probably the idea…

 

See it as a $199 investment into Unity Pro upgrade and months of more experience than others

Its not like the Asset Server licensees are likely to going the "real losers" with the appearance of versioning in Unity Pro unless the asset server got some fair overhaul and finally Windows support too.

 

That is great for new users but I kinda hope that UT would still give the old customers some goodies as well.

But that's how the world usually goes, old customer aren't as valued as new ones

 

Aw man! It is good news, but I just bought indie last week!

 

Well me as well bought Unity not much long ago, i'm sure Unity will give some sorta benefit to those purchasers, though I won't ever be buying anything in the shop because its too far beyond what I want.

I wouldn't expect money back though

 

Having just bought indie a month ago, what did I just spend 200$ on? If I give a company 200 dollars worth of value, I expect something in return, I don't expect what I paid for to become free the next month.

 

Unity is valuable, regardless of how low the price is. I just read a post on Blurst's Facebook which said that purchases within the last 60 days can get a full refund or $500 towards a pro license. I don't think this is official company line yet, so I'd wait until they issue a real press release before getting upset over anything.

 

Google is buying Unity? (j/k)

 

So can we expect in influx of noobs to the boards now?

 

The UT store has just been taken offline for 'scheduled' maintenance.

 

Also, back on topic :


This is a smart move, as it would be the first time a company is offering such a tool to the public.

They can expect awesome sell increases, as Pro is necessary when you want to be serious at gamemaking.

 

Hu?
2.5 was the windows release, not 2.6
(yes I know, that logically doesn't hold for all. But there is a strong correlation between ignoring the search orthe unwillingness / inability to RTFM and windows users. Not due to windows but more due to many of them beeing gamers living in the daydream that even a stupid game is a thing of days or weeks not months to years as it is with their background)


I agree with you nomad.
Also now there is a clear line for "advanced users / capabilities" with only Pro beeing non-free

 

The combination of windows and free is a honeypot for those dreaming of riches.

 

yeah, it will be a huge increase in users, asking to do WOW in a weekend like any other free 3d game related soft(xna,ogre3d,irrlicht)

but also a lot of useful and talented people

i suppose now that unity got that 5 million funding and all the pro,iphone wii sales and soon xbox 360 sales

giving away unity indie would not be so much money loss, but in exchange hell a lot more exposure to the world

 

I'd venture to say that there is ample proof that *simple* games can be accomplished in days to weeks, or minimally their core mechanic can be fleshed out in that time.

 

Don't get me wrong. Now that Unity supports so many platforms (including 360 at some point), that may mean an increase in real, full time jobs that require Unity experience. That would be a wonderful thing.

 

I wonder if this will lead the way to a pricing war with GG, shiva and the like.

 

I agree with Timmer.

I hope they at least allow people who bought the Indie license to still get a discount when upgrading to Pro.

I just bought the Indie license three days ago. :-0

 

As far as the comment on "new noobs flooding the forums", I don't think we would see much of a difference since plenty of beginners have always been able to work with the 30-day Indie trial.

 

That'd be great, I can only imagine it'd help further Unity!

The only thing is, being a student, I could only afford the Unity Indie. After a bit of saving I was able to get it earlier this year, and it was well worth he money, but I still wonder what they are going to do with us indie users who payed for a license... *unrealistically hopes that they bump us up to a pro license*

 

Right, if you are realistic about what you can and want to achieve. That kind of user also uses the search function and the documentation commonly

The kind of user thats beeing talked above is those that include one of the following words in their posting normally too: MMO, WoW, Crysis, Oblivion, ...
Things that even with a serious background in the field are a years work at very best.

 

One thing that could really be a big deal is use of Unity in classrooms. Having a free version allows schools, universities, and game universities to offer classes for Unity without having to worry about the overhead of buying licenses. A huge win for Unity.

 

I have to disagree with richard.

The Unity trial is comparable to a EVE Online/WOW trial. How active do you get in the community/etc when you know you only have a few days, even if it's just common FAQ stuff? It usually takes a certain amount of time before what you're looking for *isn't* in a tutorial/demo/documentation.


I think with a free version of Unity there will be more committed newcomers, who will become Unity developers, at which point we will see a surge in the forum usage, and the newbie FAQs. I've no problem with this, it brings a lot of good with a lot of repetitive posts.

I have to agree with Kenlem's comment on another page. With Unity going free, and more developers considering it, it is going to be easier and easier to find full time Unity jobs at actual studios, which is fantastic.

Lastly, I don't think I'm out $200, but rather $200 invested towards the Pro version.

 

Great news!

I also just bought the indie license this month.
But if I keep my discount on the pro license you will not hear me complaining.

 

The store is online, you can get it free there - and note the discounts on pro.

 

Yeah! It's free! I'm one of those lucky ones who had 3 days left on my trial and was about to kick down the $200. (sigh of relief)

QUESTION: do I need to download it again, or is there a way of 'registering' it ?

By the way, it's going to cost me in the end. To upgrade to pro from Indie 2.x is $1099, so after the $200 you've already paid, that's $1299 total, while I'm going to have to pay the whole $1500... Hmmm.

 

...and I'm one of the unlucky ones that scraped enough cash together to buy it 3 days ago. Aaaagh! :cry:

Guess I'll wait and see what the official line is before I start doing any complaining though.

 

I'm so happy
I couldn't affort the engine but now they have me a miracle!
Thank you Unity
This is just great!


T.

 

OMG!!!! IT'S FREE!!!!! I was saving to buy this for Christmas and now it's FREE!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Is the profiler pro only?

 

I just hope no one bought Unity Indie yesterday...

 

The profiler is pro only (finally was able to DL it) : (

The search is great though!

 

i bought unity indie in july, and now ...... it would be really nice to see some features in an additional license for indie owners who bought within the 2.5 period.

i've really looked forward to see the profiler in action, but, what, free version doesnt have profiler, ok for free, but i own an indie license.

for me the 200 bucks are a lot of money. this was an investment that now feels like a fail.

 

Wait, wait, wait... Indie is becoming freeware?! This is a disturbing development on several levels if it is indeed accurate...

What exactly is changing, and how will paid indie users be differentiated from non-paid Indie users?

As it is, the differences between Indie and Pro versions of unity creates significant turbulence among the user-base, as per the numerous threads on things like the watermarks and splash screens.

For instance, will the new "Indie" version (free) require developers to sacrifice screen real-estate to some kind of banner ad to be displayed to the user in the game window at all times?

In the meanwhile, how does this affect the Pro version of Unity? Will there be a significant reduction in price, so more of us can actually afford the better license? Or will this be left alone to maintain the perceived value of the Pro license to current Pro owners?

 

It is indeed true (check out DL page), there aren't any banners, but we don't have access to some of the pro features f.e(no profiler)