Unity is FREE

Well, that's one way to gain market share :)

I guess this is a response to the proliferation of indie-oriented game dev tools out there (many of which are free).
 
TerryG said:
Um, excuse my ignorance but what is Unity? Do you download a Unity Player to play games?
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Unity is a game engine that builds for Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone(Special License), Wii(Special License), and XBox is coming. It can also create webplayers that can be played in the browser(Targos and podperson have posted a few).

"Unity" (which is the thing that just became free) is what you make the webplayers with.

"Unity Player" (or whatever it is called) is a web browser plugin which is required to play said webplayers. It has always been free.
 
hairball600 said:
Unity is a game engine that builds for Mac OS X, Windows, iPhone(Special License), Wii(Special License), and XBox is coming. It can also create webplayers that can be played in the browser(Targos and podperson have posted a few).

"Unity" (which is the thing that just became free) is what you make the webplayers with.

"Unity Player" (or whatever it is called) is a web browser plugin which is required to play said webplayers. It has always been free.
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I see, thanks for the answer. So it's kinda like Flash in a sense? A program where you can create interactive games?
 
TerryG said:
I see, thanks for the answer. So it's kinda like Flash in a sense? A program where you can create interactive games?
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There's similarity, and differences.

Like Flash, Unity uses a web browser plug-in to show its content, and a wide range of systems are supported.

One of the big differences between Unity and Flash is that Flash is at its heart a 2d system, which supports 3d through add-ons and frameworks, and is programmed natively in ActionScript. Unity started life as a 3d system, can be coaxed into doing 2d graphics through the GUI system, and can be programmed with the likes of Javascript/ECMAscript (like your browser already works with) and/or .NET.

And one of the big reasons this is news to the Cheetah community is that Unity can import and work with Cheetah files. It can't alter the meshes to any great degree, but it can animate them.
 
I see the download said panther.2.6 or something similar. I'd guess it's referring that OSX 10.3 Panther is required? I checked their System Requirements page, but it was not listed on the site.

Wanted to buy Unity when I first read about the link on this forum awhile back, but wanted to get good at Cheetah3D first. Unity looks very promising.

OBJECT BORDERS: Character seperate from the floor:
In game engine programs such as Unity, the option to have borders so objects don't blend through each other, but stop at their surfaces is something I'd really like to see in 3D programs like Cheetah3D, so when you're animating your character picking up an object, or walking on a surface, pushing an object, etc, the 3D program knows the limits and sets them in real time so you won't be able to blend the two borders through each other, unlike a foot going through the floor during a walk cycle. Unless I missed something, it would make animation much easier. In the meantime, that's where keyframing and animation curves play a role.
 
game physics are way more primitive than what you describe. a platform character typically has a simple pill-shaped collision volume. what you describe is difficult for even pixar.

but yeah, would make things easier....
 
Well, I dont know how good it was, but trueSpace had a physics system, it was quite good fun to play with, not sure if it was upto much. But it was fun, but one of the things you could do was set objects to be "solid" so one wouldnt pass though the other. Cant remember the process, been a couple of years since i used it.

Can you run Unity games as native apps on the targeted system or do you always need the player?
 
Yes it can build standalone mac and pc games. Here's an embedded webplayer-http://deepwater3d.com/DW3D/Realtime/Dexsoft.html these models weren't made by me btw.
 
2 Questions for those familiar with Unity: Can you create cutscenes for your game (cutscene meaning movie-like sequences between gameplay), and if so, might it be possible to create an entire movie with just the cutscenes instead of making a game?

Knowing it would be limited to lower polygons and not be movie quality, the advantage being, the solid objects won't blend into each other which would save some time with animation and setting up the world with physics, or am I off track since it's designed to make video games?

Eager to try it out, big download of 290 MBs.

Also, considering Unity can billboard (flatten) distant objects, does that mean it can stream in a giant map world depending on your computer's power? Like how games these days stream in the map from the disc without loading it all at once?

Thanks.
 
DarthSidious05 said:
2 Questions for those familiar with Unity: Can you create cutscenes for your game (cutscene meaning movie-like sequences between gameplay), and if so, might it be possible to create an entire movie with just the cutscenes instead of making a game?

Knowing it would be limited to lower polygons and not be movie quality, the advantage being, the solid objects won't blend into each other which would save some time with animation and setting up the world with physics, or am I off track since it's designed to make video games?

Eager to try it out, big download of 290 MBs.

Also, considering Unity can billboard (flatten) distant objects, does that mean it can stream in a giant map world depending on your computer's power? Like how games these days stream in the map from the disc without loading it all at once?

Thanks.
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In answer to your first question - I don't see why you couldn't. There's actually a Unity extension that was created specifically for creating cutscenes. However, using the game engine won't necessarily make objects not collide with each other - as nervouschimp said, most game characters are simple pill-shaped colliders.

In answer to #2, I believe that is possible with Unity Pro($1500) - I'm unsure about Indie.
 
hairball600 said:
In answer to your first question - I don't see why you couldn't. There's actually a Unity extension that was created specifically for creating cutscenes. However, using the game engine won't necessarily make objects not collide with each other - as nervouschimp said, most game characters are simple pill-shaped colliders.

In answer to #2, I believe that is possible with Unity Pro($1500) - I'm unsure about Indie.
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That helps, thanks. And thanks for the thread about Unity being now free for the time being.

Have you (or anyone else who uses Unity) made games for yourself using Cheetah3D and Unity and what genre? FPS, 3rd person platform, racing, puzzle, adventure, sports, classic arcade, etc.

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It's nice to see programs like Unity offered to creative people to test and try out without any obligation or 30 day time limit, but with upgrades to buy for those serious about making games for gaming systems. Likewise, Cheetah3D offers the full package to download for free, but without the save option, which requires a purchase price(well worth it IMO).
 
DarthSidious05 said:
That helps, thanks. And thanks for the thread about Unity being now free for the time being.

Have you (or anyone else who uses Unity) made games for yourself using Cheetah3D and Unity and what genre? FPS, 3rd person platform, racing, puzzle, adventure, sports, classic arcade, etc.
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I recently created a FPS/3rd Person Platformer for the uDevGames contest, using Cheetah3D and Unity. The workflow is pretty seamless. The game was awful, but that's because I wasn't/am not very good at 3D art and scripting.

I am working on a racing game at the moment, using(once again) Unity and Cheetah.

So in my experience The only thing that will get in your way as far as game-making with Unity and Cheetah is yourself. And possibly C3D's animation tools, which I'm hoping will get upgraded in v5.x. ;)
 
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