Questions about unity

Ratel

Hey guys saw the post about unity supporting dB as well or soon at least, looks awesome but I have a few questions I was hoping you
guys can help me with, I tried game maker again for 3 months recently and found it still lacking for me.

1. The free version of unity for "Indies" if you release a game with it are their royalties?
2. Does it have a scripting language like GM does or can you use c++?
3. For those that are working with unity how steep would you say is the learning curve?

Sorry if the questions are dumb, just want to know a bit more before I jump into something again, thanks in advance.

FanieG

I could be wrong on this (so more experience guys please correct me if necessary) but:

1) Think if game makes more than certain amount you need to purchase a pro license. However, if you are starting out, the last thing you need to consider is "How much money you will be making"

2) Can script in C#, Boo and Javascript.

3) Plenty of online tutorials & documentation to learn from, as well as published books on Unity. I only started game development earlier this year and have found the learning curve not too steep.

Hope that helps - Check out Unity's site for more info

Elyaradine

1. Afaik no royalties, but the game starts up with a Unity logo, and some features (mainly related to performance and graphics) are missing. Not having a profiler is kind of lame imo, but it's great that you can effectively prototype for free, and only purchase if you've got a game worth spending money on.

2. You script in C# (highly recommended), Javascript or Boo.

3. The docs are pretty good, and the community is very active on their forums and Answers site. The vast majority of things I've struggled with have been solved with a quick search.

FanieG

@Elyaradine - Don't you hate when you post at the same time as someone else :) Also, what is the profiler for?

Elyaradine

The profiler shows a breakdown of where your resources are going. If your game lags, you can see if it's because of physics, maths, shaders, etc. so you know what to fix. Not important at all for prototypes, but invaluable for shipping a game.

FanieG

@Elyaradine - that does sound useful. I would love to have the Pro version, but still learning, just a hobbyist and most of all - HAVE A CRAPPY DAY JOB - and can't afford :( To dream is sooooo nice

hermantulleken

@LittleBear

Just confirming the info from the others:

1. Indeed, no royalties, but there is an income roof. Details here: http://unity3d.com/unity/licenses The free-version is already very powerful, and indeed the pro features generally really are for pro-development.

3. Definitely harder to use than GM, but very easy compared to some other 3D engine with comparable power. Unity is incredibly feature rich, so it will take some time to learn all the features. But you do not need to know all the features to get something going. If you start simple, you will make good progress.

Ratel

Thanx for the great answers guys :)
I have been making my 2d engine using c++ and SDL but my dream is not to become an engine designer but a game designer, need to speed up my process for prototyping, think I'll grab it tonight.

PS. Any other tips/advice for a noob at unity?