What an awesome week of for us game developers! I got to say, this is the best week to me since I started making games.
Well, if you have been living under a rock(Or generally not in touch with game developing) this week has been a big surprise for us game developers(Both old and new). This week, Epic has granted us Unreal Engine 4......For free. Yep, free. Of course, we have the %5 royalties we have to give them. So, you think that was going to be a big blow to Unity? NOPE! They answered back big time. Unity 5 comes with 2 versions: Personal Edition and Professional Edition. Now, the Personal Edition is free while the profession edition is with the same price points as Unity4($75 a month or 1500). So, wait, what's the come back point? While the PE(Personal Edition) is free, it doesn't have any engine limitations like Unity 4 free has.
To make sure you understand what you just read, say that you are using Unity 4 free right now. There is limitations from Unity 4 free and Unity 4 pro. There's none of that no more. The free version, PE, does not have any limitations to it at all; So, in Unity 5, you have the same engine features in the PE version as you have in the pro edition. And of course with the pro edition, they do have some features that the personal edition don't have; But, you really have to be a PRO to buy that. The same rules do apply, though. Once you make over 100k you have to buy the pro edition. Once I make over 5K I won't have a problem buying the pro edition(I don't think anyone should by that point).
Like I said earlier, it's the best time to be a game developer. With Unreal and Unity being basically free, there is no excuses not completing a game. Plus, there is other CHEAP game engines out there: Like gamemaker(Which, I believe, that their standard version is free) and Cryengine($10 a month). Guys, it's the right time to make some games. When I started, I didn't have these types of options. But, then again, I was kind of lazy, so.......>_>.
Which brings up my game....Not that I'm being lazy about it. Anyways...If you don't know, I'm making a game that's called Captured: The Great Escape. It's for Windows, Mac, Linux and the web. I'm currently making it in Unity 4 Free. With Unity 5 being out, a lot of people are porting their game to the new engine. To be 100% honest with you, I didn't give this a second thought. I am keeping my game with Unity 4. I'm playing around with Unity 5, and I LOVE it! But, I do not want to port my game over at this moment. I would be set back by a little bit because I would have to make changes here and there. And I know I will have to make changes with my scripts(I'm not sure how much, though). As much as I like Unity 5, I will keep going back to the 4th version. One of the main reasons is because my group is using Unity 4 for our game; Currently, we staying with Unity 4. Maybe after the first version of my game, I will port it to 5 and see how it goes. Just depends.
Guys, I just wanted to post my thoughts about this week for game developers. I really hope the news guys/gals who wants to get into game developing know that this is the best time for them! What are you doing? Get to downloading!
