Unity Indie: Now Free

Posted by Paul Eres Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:46:00 GMT


Unity is a middle-range game engine (cheaper than the million-dollar ones but more expensive than things like Game Maker) which has been used for indie games like Dock’s Tumbledrop, Derek Yu’s Diabolika for iPhone, Tale of Tales’ Fatale, and many more.

Unity Indie, previously around $200, has been renamed to just “Unity” and is now free. You can read more information on the whys on Gamasutra. Apparently Xbox 360 support is also in the works. To quote David Helgason from the Gamasutra interview:

“The thinking was that Unity Indie isn’t generating a significant portion of our revenue, and we’ve always had this vision of democratizing our tools. We have over 13,000 customers using our product, so we figured, let’s take Indie and just give it to everyone. Whether that becomes a cash flow positive or a cash flow negative – and some people will upgrade – is not really important. What’s important is to get this in the hands of as many people as possible.”

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Comments

  1. General Grey said 30 minutes later:

    My God…

  2. TeamQuiggan said 40 minutes later:

    This is awesome!

  3. michael said about 1 hour later:

    beautiful

  4. RC-1290 said about 1 hour later:

    Wow, that is nice. When I’m done with flex and 2d, there is a good free engine(+tools) availabe :). (without having to be an IGF winner)

  5. Matthew said about 1 hour later:

    Couple pieces of info from the Unity conference:

    • The license structure is still the same, which means you can totally release commercial games with the free Unity (it has built-in splash screens for standalone versions).

    • Aside from feature limitations, you have to make less than $100k/year and you can’t mix/match free and Pro licenses on the same team.

    • I don’t think they have an official post on this yet, but I’ve heard there’s a 60-day grace period with recent purchases. If you bought Unity Indie in the last 60 days you can either get a full refund or $500 towards Unity Pro.

    Make a Unity game and talk to us at Blurst! http://blurst.com/developers/

  6. Aaron said about 1 hour later:

    Bloody hell. This is a good day for indie development. Unity is a really, really impressive engine – I’ll absolutely use it for my next project now.

  7. jkohen said about 1 hour later:

    Nice, I guess, however reading the quote hurt. Democratizing their tools? They obviously have no idea what democracy means.

    It makes absolutely no sense in this context, unless they start running ballots inside their user community to make decisions on this product, which has nothing to do with this announcement.

    I hope that whoever wrote the actual license has a clue. Or a dictionary. Otherwise, why should anyone trust a company that needs to use random words to color their announcements?

  8. Paul Eres said about 1 hour later:

    to be fair, they were probably using democracy in one of the secondary senses of the word. both of these would fit:

    1. political or social equality; democratic spirit.

    2. the common people of a community as distinguished from any privileged class; the common people with respect to their political power.

  9. Melly said about 1 hour later:

    Mmmmm sexy!

  10. Shoo said about 1 hour later:

    YYYYEEEESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

  11. Dorian said about 1 hour later:

    I was like… WHAT? NO WAY! AWESOME! And immediately shared the story on Facebook.

  12. huzzah said about 2 hours later:

    amazing.

  13. falsion said about 2 hours later:

    Like I said in an earlier forum post, this is great. However, the download link isn’t working right now. For some reason, clicking on download just refreshes the page.

  14. falsion said about 2 hours later:

    Turns out their servers are getting hammered right now. I just sent them and email and they told me that in response. Guess I’ll have to try downloading it later.

  15. Paul Eres said about 2 hours later:

    it took me a few tries, but it works; they’re probably just busy with all the people trying to dl it

  16. falsion said about 2 hours later:

    damn, it’s like a lottery. 10 tries so far and no go. Maybe I’ll get lucky eventually.

  17. falsion said about 2 hours later:

    forget it i’ll try tomorrow

  18. Allen said about 2 hours later:

    I got it earlier today, after it’s post on RPS. The download link was quick but getting a license took an hour wait. I guess as people get off of work and come home they are seeing this and tearing up a storm trying to get it.

    Wonder if anyone will make 3d assets for Assemblee?

  19. Dorian said about 2 hours later:

    Just got my copy authorized!

  20. DragonSix said about 2 hours later:

    So much awesomeness

  21. Darkebrz said about 3 hours later:

    Well, I just got it on my first go, quickly downloaded then registered in a snap :)

  22. Dave Cobb said about 3 hours later:

    This is fantastic! I was just thinking about some things to do with this engine.

  23. Strom said about 3 hours later:

    I know what I would be using to build games for assemblee now….

  24. Radix said about 3 hours later:

    Fucking ace.

  25. Flamebait said about 4 hours later:

    Incredible! Though whenever this kind of thing happens, I always wonder how people who recently purchased would feel.

  26. HAHAHAHA said about 4 hours later:

    I’M GONNA GET RICH OF YOUR PROGRAM YOU SUCKAS SUCKAS

    YOU SUCKAS

    GET IN MY MERCEDES

    UH UH UH UH

    MOVE YOUR BOOTY BOOTY BOOTY

  27. falsion said about 5 hours later:

    Looks like it was my .hosts file which is configured to block ads from malicious websites somehow blocked the download page from loading. I don’t know how or why. But I disabled it and it works now.

  28. Soulliard said about 5 hours later:

    This just made my day. I love Game Maker, but this is so tempting!

  29. falsion said about 5 hours later:

    Yeah, but this can do 3D. And I’ve always wanted to make the jump to 3D. I really want to learn how to use this. The thought of making my first game in 3D is pretty exciting.

  30. trav said about 5 hours later:

    aww, no linux authoring tools :(

  31. ko said about 5 hours later:

    Anyone know how the linux port is coming along? Unity looks awesome, but it’s worthless to me without cross-platform support.

  32. Allen said about 6 hours later:

    Linux port isn’t coming along at all. 5 months ago one of the admins on the forum says they hope to do it in the future, and that’s all he said.

    So, if you want to make or play Unity games you need a mac or a windows box. I would not look forward to a Linux version.

  33. Sandcrab said about 7 hours later:

    @Flamebait: Honestly, I feel a little cheated. I bought it maybe six months ago and that IS a while back, but even with a relatively “low” cost like $200 there’s a perceived scarcity value that’s going to be caused by it costing even that much. I thought I had something kind of unique, and now I don’t.

    But it’s a great move for them, and with a larger user base they’ll probably have better luck getting Unity games onto other portals that have previously been Flash-only. It stings a bit, but I’m sure it’s better in the long run for everyone.

  34. Perludus said about 7 hours later:

    Fantastic news! But I can’t help mentally combine “Unity + Indie” and feel like I should call it the “Undie” engine.

  35. InfiniteAlec said about 7 hours later:

    Unity is a pretty rad engine. It combines powerful tools with a very straightforward and easy-to-understand programming language. (Javascript/C#) Its designed very intelligently and with simplicity in mind.

    There are occasional weird problems with it (mainly the outdated physics engine), but weighed against the advantages, they’re pretty easy to ignore.

  36. Joshua said about 9 hours later:

    Seriously rad news. Now I have no excuses for not giving it a try.

  37. C- said about 9 hours later:

    This is amazing news, can’t wait to try it out!

  38. Dan Leinir Turthra Jensen said about 9 hours later:

    @trav @ko As other people have been saying, the Linux version seems to have some long outlooks… But if you can live with 2D rather than 3D, we’re working on something similar called Gluon :) It’s not at all ready yet, though, which is why you’ve likely not heard much about it - rest assured, however, that we’ll be showing it to the world when it’s closer to ready :) But, since you’re asking… http://dot.kde.org/2009/10/28/gluon-sprint-wrap ;)

    And to make this a little more un-spammy: Unity3D is one absolutely amazing tool! i worked with it during the May production at DADIU and is thoroughly impressed with what they have created. Plus, hey, it does make me a little more proud to be Danish, what with the company behind it being from our little country ;)

  39. Twitch said about 9 hours later:

    Put a bullet in Torque’s head… at least the 3D part, because Unity’s the stripper’s tassels!

    Of course, this also means a ton of people are going to be spitting out 3D crap and clogging up the INCREDIBLY USEFUL and VIABLE forums.

  40. Eddie said about 9 hours later:

    Unity!

  41. Skofo said about 10 hours later:

    Haha, I bet they’re feeling the threat of the rise of Canvas3D and 3D games in browsers in general.

    Yay for competition!

  42. Kaworu said about 12 hours later:

    News is awesome :)

    But how can it be not positive for the company? More devs making games in Unity means more Unity games on the web. More games means higher popularity. It’s a win-win situation!

  43. Jad said about 15 hours later:

    This is hot, I wanna make games with this.

  44. mr.mnml said about 16 hours later:

    i smell huge quantities of awesome around here

  45. Dinsdale said about 16 hours later:

    Now we’re talking!

  46. Infiniteunity3D said about 16 hours later:

    @Twitch- Yep. That’s the first downside that came to my mind as well! Hopefully the good stuff will outshine the crapware.

  47. ctankep said about 16 hours later:

    I’m-ma make me some 4D games; Indie-finity engine are go.

  48. Zuriki said about 16 hours later:

    I broke it within 2 minutes. sadface

  49. Juhkystar said about 17 hours later:

    I <3 Tigsource. Thanks for getting the news out. Now I can finally stop killing myself.

    Unfortuently, there IS inevitably going to be complete idiots and jerks that clog up forums wanting people to just hand over code. I hope the Vets of the forums will be able to distinguish between those legitimately looking for sytax and theory help, and those just wanting to be like OMG I HAS GAME!

  50. moi said about 18 hours later:

    I heard it was not so easy to use for 2D stuff, is that true?

  51. Zuriki said about 18 hours later:

    True.

  52. ChaoticHeart said about 19 hours later:

    Sort of. True flat 2D is not that easy. Doing a beautifully rendered 3D scene that only moves on two axis… thus, basically having 2D game-play is insanely simple.

    In short, you can do 2D game-play very easily. You just do it by taking something 3D and limiting which axis everything can move on.

    To keep this on track, this is amazing news. I am one of those who bought Unity just a month or two ago, but I am still excited. Not feeling cheated, at all. Mostly because I understand this really ADDS value to my investment of $200. A LOT of possible value.

  53. Andrew said about 19 hours later:

    What about the 360 support?

    Gonna be in the free version? Standalone? Premium only?

  54. Patrick said about 21 hours later:

    360 (when it comes) and Wii support is never going to be in the free version. You’ll have not only buy a Pro version of Unity, but pay MS/Nintendo many thousands of dollars and get their permission to make a game for their respective systems.

  55. Matthew said 1 day later:

    Yeah, the 360 support is not some kind of inside track announcement or anything; to make a 360 game you’ll need to be to an approved Xbox developer, with a publisher or direct contract with Microsoft, etc. It’s quite far from the free version in terms of scope and requirements.

    On the Unity side of thing it’s a completely separate agreement/thing from the Pro version.

  56. Annabelle Kennedy said 1 day later:

    this is great!

  57. Sigvatr_ said 1 day later:

    Just learn C++ and use SDL.

  58. Sigvatr_ said 1 day later:

    Well, for PC games.

  59. what said 1 day later:

    C++? Pfft, just use assembly.

  60. nobody2 said 1 day later:

    I make ideas, then I tell my programmer to engineer the tech, who in turn contracts 10 year old to make it in cracked version of Starcraft level editor. You can take my Game Design course at the Institute of Art and Tech, above the H&R Block on 9th street.

  61. Flamebait said 1 day later:

    Just learn electronic engineering and implement your game as a special-purpose computer.

    @Sandcrab, interesting to see your reaction. Apparently they gave refunds to people who purchased less than 2 months ago, so I guess it could’ve been worse.

  62. Flamebait said 1 day later:

    Just learn electronic engineering and implement your game as a special-purpose computer.

    @Sandcrab, interesting to see your reaction. Apparently they gave refunds to people who purchased less than 2 months ago, so I guess it could’ve been worse.

  63. Small said 1 day later:

    BLOW UP THE FUCKING MOOOOONNN!!!

  64. jph_wacheski said 1 day later:

    Well now I have to try it! But remember, if you want your .exe file to be 64k and to build for win, os x, and lunix! You can still use ZGameEditor, it is free and opensource,. [ zgameeditory.org ] Personaly I will probably be using both now, as ZGE still makes sense for small games, with thant small disribution size, and the real-time sound synth, as well as some other niffty procedural features,. but I will give Unity a try and see what I can create,. .

  65. elmernite said 2 days later:

    Best news ever! I’ve been eyeing Unity for a long time, never could muster up the money to purchase it though. -Elmernite

  66. elmernite said 2 days later:

    I forgot to ask, if 360 support comes, could your game be distributed through the XNA community games? -Elmernite

  67. Allen said 2 days later:

    No you cannot elmernite, from the XNA faq http://creators.xna.com/en-US/faq#anchor113

    The game binary must be less than 150MB compressed (as a .ccgame package) and compiled to run with the XNA 3.1 Framework or higher.

  68. Tye The Czar said 3 days later:

    “Whether that becomes a cash flow positive or a cash flow negative – and some people will upgrade – is not really important. What’s important is to get this in the hands of as many people as possible.”

    This man, I like.

  69. SpeedRunGames said 3 days later:

    Great news. I’m evaluating technology for the possible next project and will put Unity definitely on my list.

    To bad, that the indie-version does not include support for videos, shadows, and post-processing effects. One drawback is also, that the assets don’t work well with common version control system. The per-seat-asset-server licenses are probably their biggest source of income.

  70. axe said 3 days later:

    Bleh, splash screens, feature cuts and DRM, no thanks, I’ll just stick with Game Maker and Flash.

  71. Blade said 3 days later:

    If they want to get Unity into the hands of “as many people as possible”, they might want to look at the download link on their site. :p Some people have no problem downloading it, but others (such as myself) just keep looping back to the download page over and over when they hit the link. At the very least, some mirrors might be nice.

  72. Levi said 4 days later:

    anybody know if Unity iPhone still requires a Mac? Their info button is broke.

  73. PHeMoX said 4 days later:

    Very cool and I’m definitely downloading this. Its even the Windows version (had missed they released that). 0_(.)

  74. ctankep said 4 days later:

    AFAIK last time I checked, the pro version on PC has support for iPhone export though it also comes in nooble and advanced versions.

    As far as missing dynamic shadows, and post processing effects, perhaps treat the free version as a quick prototyping environment more than a full blown production platform.

    Also: agree with @Skofo re: HTML5 + Canvas3D. Guess Unity needs more killer apps ontop of the Blurst stuff to ensure their webplayer penetration. Things are happening so quickly in the world of WHATWG as well, and it’s very exciting [ in terms of game design ] ..!

    – Chuan

  75. Random said 5 days later:

    I can’t download it. Wrong version of Java perhaps?

  76. Allen said 5 days later:

    Here’s a direct link to the unity 2.6 setup file: http://bit.ly/1aU1CR

    shortened with bit.ly

  77. PHeMoX said 5 days later:

    @random: No, better try a different browser. It should just throw a standard pop-up download link at you.

    Perhaps you’ve got one of those pop-up killers running?

  78. PHeMoX said 5 days later:

    @clankep: Actually the people behind Blurst are going to focus on retail games too now. Apparently their webplayer / browser game approach didn’t quite took off like they hoped for.

    I can be wrong them changing their ideology, but I do know they are going to make a retail non-browser based version of their Raptor Safari game.

    Probably a good move! :D

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