Earlier this week Unity announced iOS, Android, WP8 and BB10 targeting will now be included in the base package.  There was another small change that wasn't given the same exposure.  You can now purchase Unity pro on a subscription basis.

So, what does it cost and what do you get? In Unity's own words:

Create with Unity Pro for just $75/month

Our new limited-time offer brings the power of Unity Pro to even more developers!

• Subscribe and pay by the month for a minimum of 12 months
• Prices start at $75/month for Unity Pro
• New releases during your subscription included at no extra cost
• Add any Unity Pro add-on to your plan whenever you want at just $75/month per add-on

It's too bad there is a 12 month minimum, as there would have been a heck of an opportunity here.  Another thing to keep in mind, you need to get pro for each supported platform, so for example if you wanted to target iOS, Android and PC/Web at pro level that would cost $225/month.  In the end I suppose it comes down to how often Unity release new versions.  By their prior release schedule, if you purchased early in 3.x's life cycle, these prices would be worse.

Right now for example, PRO + iOS + Android would cost $4,500 to buy.  Via subscription it would be 2700$ a year.  So basically, if a new version ( Unity 5 ) is released within 2 years, subscription is a good deal or break even at worse, otherwise outright purchase is your better road.  Do I expect to see Unity 5 within 2 years?  My crystal ball says yes.

What exactly do you get with pro over basic anyways?

I suppose that is the ultimate question, now that Basic is free, what do you get for going pro anyways?  Well the full feature matrix is available here.

The key advantages ( at least imho ) are:

• Native code access.  Want to integrate with a 3rd party C++ library…  you can't, at least not if you aren't pro.
• Improved graphics ( 3D Textures, Realtime Shadows, HDR, Lightmapping with GI, Render to Texture, Deferred rendering, Occlusion culling and Full Screen Post Processing effects are all pro only graphic features ).  You may or may not need them
• Code and GPU profiler
• Build size stripping ( on mobile, pro can create smaller EXEs )
• Splash screen removal
• IK rigs for Mecanim
• LOD
• Playing video and streaming
• NavMesh/Pathfinding

So, if you are creating a cutting edge FPS, pro is almost a must, at least if you want post DX9 fidelity graphics.  If you are creating a puzzle game or less graphically intensive game, almost none of these features is going to be important to you, except perhaps the exe stripping.

Anyways, you can purchase Unity via subscription right here.

Unity

Well this one was out of left field:

Today, we’re taking another step on this long road: as of right now, independent Unity developers will be able to deploy their games to Android and iOS platforms completely free of charge. Update Unity and you will find Android and iOS build options (previously basic add-ons) ready and waiting for you to use.

There are no strings attached, no royalties and no license fees. This is just an extension of Unity Free which we launched in 2009. Individual developers and startup studios can simply download Unity and get going on mobile game development. As before, companies and other “incorporated entities” (you know who you are) with a turnover in excess of $100,000 in their previous fiscal year are required to use our paid version. That way, we can keep the lights on and continue to make Unity better for everyone.

(You can make as much money from your games as you like – this limitation is about large companies not using our free products, not about sharing your future revenues.)

And we’re not stopping there. In the coming months, we will make Blackberry 10 and Windows Phone 8 deployment available to everyone all over the planet on those exact same terms. Completely free of charge.

Nutshell version, if your company made less than 100K last year, you can now target iOS and Andrid using the free version of Unity!  Other great news is the BB10 and Windows Phone 8 versions will also be available for free.

This is pretty awesome.  I have to wonder though if Unity aren’t making a bit of a mistake, I would have thought a big part of their revenue base would have been the mobile hobbyists?  Apparently their accountants disagree.  Oh well, it’s a win for Indie devs everywhere.  Frankly it’s getting harder and harder to find a reason NOT to use Unity for your game!

Read the official blog post here.

Or, watch the video:

News Unity

In a move that is causing a small bit of Déjà vu, Blackberry and Unity released the following to the press today:

 

BlackBerry (NASDAQ:BBRY)(TSX:BB) and Unity Technologies today announced that they are working together to create a Unity deployment add-on product for BlackBerry® 10 smartphones, empowering Unity's over 1.5 million strong developer community to publish their games on these powerful platforms. The deployment tools will also be available for BlackBerry PlayBook™ tablets when they run the BlackBerry 10 OS.

BlackBerry 10 will now be one of the premiere mobile platforms supported by the market-leading Unity Engine. The deployment tool is currently in development by Unity Technologies and BlackBerry, and will be released as an add-on option for Unity.

"Unity developers have an extensive catalogue of incredible mobile games, many of which are award-winning. We're excited to offer Unity developers easy access to the new powerful and rich BlackBerry 10 platform," said David Helgason, CEO, Unity Technologies. "We're eager to provide them with another exciting avenue to have their games devoured by an audience hungry for entertainment."

BlackBerry will also seed the Unity development community with BlackBerry 10 smartphones for testing to provide developers the best possible environment to create amazing games for the new platform. Unity and BlackBerry will hold developer meet up events in Europe and North America and will give qualified developer attendees Unity Pro and BlackBerry 10 smartphones. Details are coming soon, so stay tuned to BlackBerry Developers Blog.

"One of the driving forces for success for a mobile platform is a strong games offering. BlackBerry customers have already shown their hunger for mobile gaming, with games being one of the strongest categories on the BlackBerry World storefront and continuing to grow in popularity," said Alec Saunders, Vice President, Developer Relations and Ecosystems at BlackBerry. "We are thrilled to work with Unity and to propel the momentum we are seeing in games on BlackBerry even further. Soon Unity developers will be able to use this deployment tool to quickly and easily offer their games to BlackBerry customers."

Availability

A free beta version of the Unity add-on will be made available to a limited number of qualified developers in the spring. Unity is expecting the final release to be available in the summer of 2013.

Looks like a good opportunity to get your hands on some Blackberry hardware if you are already a Unity developer.  Or you hands on Unity if you are a Blackberry developer.

Myself, I actually have a Playbook which is a pretty nice device and went to buy a Z10 for my wife today and they were basically sold out everywhere I checked… most places laughed and said they sold out in minutes.  So, say what you will about Blackberry/RIM, they might actually be back in the game.  The device itself is quite capable, with a dual core 1.5GHZ Snapdragon processor.  Let’s not forget too that BB10 is actually QNX, a wickedly fast embedded OS that’s been in development for many years.  On top, I have to cheer for RIM er… Blackberry, they are just down the road from me and full disclosure, I own some stock ( which I’ve really enjoyed the past few weeks ), but then, almost every Canadian owns a bit of RIM stock, directly or indirectly…

I will certainly say, Blackberry Developer support is certainly better, as is their focus on gaming, with the Gameplay library, involvement in a few open source game libraries, the portathon they held a few months back and now bringing Unity on board.

Now the déjà vu part…  I SWEAR Playbook was already one of the supported platforms for Unity as part of UNITE.

News RIM, Unity

I have added a pair of books, and replaced a duplicate entry with a different book on the Unity 3D Book Round-up. Another two Unity 4 books have been announced with release dates in March of 2013.

The first newish entry is Essential 3D Game Programming which replaced the duplicate entry of Unity 3.x Scripting on the list ( thanks for the heads up in comments! ).  This book has been on my radar for some time but had minimal information, now there is a bit more available.  That said, something about this book is really setting off my warning alarms… starting with the fact the artist on the cover graphic doesn’t match the author of the book.  Caveat emptor and all of that!

The other two are from established publishers, so no concern in that regard, both are upcoming books on Unity 4.

The first is Learn Unity 4 for iOS Game Development published by APress.

The second is Unity 4.x Cookbook published by Packt Press.  Oddly enough, this book isn’t yet up on Amazon.  Will edit the links when this changes.

As stated earlier, both of these books ( as well as Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity 4 all ship in March of 2013.

News Unity, Book

Things have been ultra quite on the Unity book front, perhaps the market was over saturated with books.  Today however I have added the first new book in a couple months and the first book covering Unity 4, Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity 4 by Sue Blackman.  If that author or book title sound familiar, they should, Sue already released the book Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity, the very first book on the list.

Now the catch… the book’s release date isn’t until March.   All the same, it’s nice to see some Unity 4 books starting to show up on the radar.

As of right now, I don’t have Table of Contents information to share, but the following is the book description from the publishers website.

Beginning 3D Game Development with Unity is perfect for those who would like to come to grips with programming Unity. You may be an artist who has learned 3D tools such as 3ds Max, Maya, or Cinema 4D, or you may come from 2D tools such as Photoshop and Illustrator. On the other hand, you may just want to familiarize yourself with programming games and the latest ideas in game production.

This book introduces key game production concepts in an artist-friendly way, and rapidly teaches the basic scripting skills you'll need with Unity. It goes on to show how you, as an independent game artist, can create casual interactive adventure games in the style of Telltale's Tales of Monkey Island, while also giving you a firm foundation in game logic and design.

• The first part of the book explains the logic involved in game interaction, and soon has you creating game assets through simple examples that you can build upon and gradually expand.

• In the second part, you'll build the foundations of a point-and-click style first-person adventure game—including reusable state management scripts, load/save functionality, a robust inventory system, and a bonus feature: a dynamically configured maze and mini-map.

• With the help of the provided 2D and 3D content, you'll learn to evaluate and deal with challenges in bite-sized pieces as the project progresses, gaining valuable problem-solving skills in interactive design.

 

By the end of the book, you will be able to actively use the Unity 3D game engine, having learned the necessary workflows to utilize your own assets. You will also have an assortment of reusable scripts and art assets with which to build future games.

So, if you are looking for a Unity 4 book, consider checking out this one.

Programming Book, Unity