Unity Plus vs Pro

SkinnyBoy

Hi guys, I use cocos2d-x on daily bases but have been trying other engines to move out of my comfort zone... Yesterday I was visiting the unity website, and I see that they have introduced the plus version that a poor guy like me can afford.

Can someone please point the differences between the two and whether it is recommended to use the plus version?

Elyaradine

I've personally been using the Personal (i.e. Free) edition at home for all of my game jams and personal prototypes. My impression with Unity is that you should always be going for the cheapest one that you're allowed to use. (i.e. Free until you need to use the Perf tools, or need to hide the Splash screen. Plus until you're making over $200k in revenue.)

Even if you intend to be working on a shipped/paid title, you might as well use the Free version up until you're in the last leg of development (perf, testing on devices, etc.).

edg3

Personally I can share the best is (like @Elyaradine has shared) the cheapest one you can use. It took ages for a project I made in Unity (projects kept changing) to have me purchase one of the licenses (and it thankfully was only to remove the "Unity" start screen for me). You can build and share games for free - start there, especially since the free Unity has mostly got the correct capabilities.

It also helps to start with the free version to get acquainted with the development environment, tools and actually get complete understanding of Unity. With you sharing you want to "try other engines and move out your comfort zone" - move out using the free Unity - you only need to pay for it when you get to the need for paying for it (underlined the summary).

EvanGreenwood

Yeah, I'd also suggest using Unity Free.

For our projects at Free Lives I don't think there's any difference between Unity Free and Unity Pro. Every now and then we build a new computer and install Unity on it, and there have been occasions where we've worked for a few weeks before realizing that it's Unity Free rather than Pro.

Obviously we are working on commercial games, and legally we have to buy our copies of Unity (or give out revenue share), and also we like their tools and we want to support them.

But for starting out I don't know of any reason to purchase Unity. Obviously check the feature's list comparison.

https://store.unity.com/ <- Personal gets you "All Engine Features" and "All Platforms", which is what you really care about if you're learning the tools.

EvanGreenwood

Having said that, Unity Plus does come with some assets that cost $190 normally... PlayMaker in particular could be interesting if you want to use node based coding... and the other two assets are similar to the kinds of things that come with Unreal out the box.

Though after 3 months you will have spent as much as PlayMaker's price on subscription. And if you really are just learning you should be able to get PlayMaker for cheaper on the internet (to try before buying).