When to get Unity Pro?

When is it worthwhile to upgrade to Unity Pro? I've been using the free version of Unity for 3 years now.
Having written most of my own small features that Pro comes with; it would be nice to have those built into Unity instead. But I'm not sure if that is enough reason? I know I'll definitely be using Unity for my future projects. So there is no doubt it is then engine for me.

So those of you who did purchase the Pro, when did you decide it was necessary?

Comments

  • We bought Pro when we knew we were going to sell something made in it and needed the loading screen to go away.
    Thanked by 1Gnoblar_agency
  • edited
    I'd say if you're going to release a commercial product in Unity then it might be worth it. Especially if the price of Unity is small compared to the cost of developing the game.

    There's a couple features that are important to us in Unity Pro, like the Profiler. Making a game run smoothly on lower end machines is important when you're charging money. (I don't know if there is a free version of the Profiler)

    But staying free right up until the point where you're committing to that commercial release is probably fine. It's not like you'll be at any disadvantage having used the free version for so long.

    I have heard of very successful commercial games which have had the Unity splash screen at the start, though as a point of pride I wouldn't want that on a commercial game I released.
  • Thanks!

    The Unity loading screen really is a pain on my pride.

    I'll keep this all in mind before I commit to buying the full version.
  • edited
    The way I see it, from a technical perspective there are three reasons to have Pro:
    • Render to texture, which you'll want to make your game look prettier,
    • The profiler, which you'll want to make your game run prettier,
    • and asynchronous loading methods, which you'll want to make your loading prettier.
    If it sounds like you won't need or could do without any of those things, pro is otherwise not worth it. Of course, you're unlikely to find a game that won't benefit from access to the profiler, so by that measure it's always worth it.
    Thanked by 1EvanGreenwood
  • dislekcia said:
    We bought Pro when we knew we were going to sell something made in it and needed the loading screen to go away.
    Is it really that bad? Does it affect end users at all?
    If I was using Unreal 4 I wouldn't mind showing that at the start? But Unity... :P
    Thing is, especially on mobile end users don't know shit about this. Just my opinion.
  • They don't know shit, and that's kinda the point. You don't know how many people I've heard say "hey you know that game, made by that company... What're they called... Unity"

    :/

    I probably won't be getting pro anytime soon (Dead Run isn't worth that yet), but eventually, I will. It kinda sucks that it's an ongoing spend as opposed to once-off though.
  • dislekcia said:
    We bought Pro when we knew we were going to sell something made in it and needed the loading screen to go away.
    Is it really that bad? Does it affect end users at all?
    If I was using Unreal 4 I wouldn't mind showing that at the start? But Unity... :P
    Thing is, especially on mobile end users don't know shit about this. Just my opinion.
    We worked on DD for like 2 years without Pro. It was only once we started messing with the different export options that we felt Pro would be worth it.

    But what @Tuism says is true: You want your startup screen to be useful to you, not someone else ;)
  • @Chippit: I would throw in lightmap baking too, for most 3D games this is pretty important.
  • Tuism said:
    It kinda sucks that it's an ongoing spend as opposed to once-off though.
    Well, once-off is an option, if you're willing to pay for ~2 years of subscription up-front. :P
  • edited
    Squidcor said:
    @Chippit: I would throw in lightmap baking too, for most 3D games this is pretty important.
    Oh yeah, there's that too, but lightmapping does, in fact, work in basic. You just don't get the same quality without GI, which I THINK is pro-only. Strictly speaking, though, you could lightmap stuff yourself in Unity basic ;)
  • Right now I really wish I had that profiler... But I suppose for developing a fairly simple 2D game I wouldn't need the power of all those features at this stage in development.

    @Chippit: I had no idea that you could bake lightmaps in basic. Music to my ears :) same goes for those nasty hard shadows.

  • edited
    You... really wouldn't guess what kind of performance issues can happen in "a fairly simple 2D game". Dead Run has had all kinds of optimisation problems which we would never have known without some time on the profiler. Some examples:
    1. Instantiating/destroying stuff instead of pooling
    2. Use of fonts can be very heavy if not bitmap
    3. Putting sprites into one spritesheet, maximising the use of atlases

    Man, is there somewhere people have gotten a bunch of these optimisation things in a list? That would be damn valuable.
  • @Tuism Yes, it would be great to get a list of best practices. for me
    Instantiating/destroying stuff instead of pooling
    absolutely ruined performance and still does.
  • Tuism said:
    Man, is there somewhere people have gotten a bunch of these optimisation things in a list? That would be damn valuable.
    That would be a very long list of "Don't do X, Y or Z, and absolutely never, ever, ever do W"
  • Even a partial list would be super helpful. Like seriously. It's been a painful process to say the least, with or without coding experience :/
  • edited
    Tuism said:
    Even a partial list would be super helpful. Like seriously. It's been a painful process to say the least, with or without coding experience :/
    Herman had a pretty nice list here. Not really optimisation specific, though, more just a list of pretty good practises. Perhaps SOMEONE will write such an optimisation thing one day...
    Thanked by 1Tuism
  • edited
    Perhaps SOMEONE with such experience in the lore of optimisation will be just the hero this forum deserves...
  • Chippit;25112 said:
    Perhaps SOMEONE will write such an optimisation thing one day...
    But then I'd be putting myself out of a job!
    Thanked by 2Chippit Tuism
  • Tuism said:
    They don't know shit, and that's kinda the point. You don't know how many people I've heard say "hey you know that game, made by that company... What're they called... Unity
    That is too funny! And sad. Good point.


  • edited
    Well, now that I have had to join the corporate fold again, ugh, I have a government project that I have to do a formal proposal for... guess what, I am proposing Unity as a mobile platform for capturing data, GPS and camera images and comms pushing/pulling from a WCF service...

    Unity is awesome for games - why not for corporate/government apps? And why not, it ports so easily between platforms? Oh and I have obviously requested a purchase of Unity, obviously.... ;)

    If you can't beat 'em, make them join you...
  • @konman
    I recently used Unity at our offices to give people a 3D tour of our new and yet to be built office building. I think it has great non-game uses!
    Thanked by 1konman
Sign In or Register to comment.