[casual_games] Unity 3D

[Bernard François]

Hi guys,


Here at PreviewLabs, we're using Unity for rapid prototyping.
On most prototypes, we only work with one person at the same time, so
for us it's no problem that we can't merge scene files.

Version control is possible in the pro version; if you enable the
'external version control' feature somewhere in the settings, all meta
data will be saved in a text-based format.

One reason why we're currently investigating to use other engines is
because there isn't a lot of third-party middleware available for
Unity, but for many casual game developers this is probably not an
issue.
Similar engines we're looking at for the moment are the Vision Engine
and Gamebryo Lightspeed.

For game developers I think the many different supported target
platforms are a big plus. Just be sure that, during development, you
work with the most low-end device you want to support. This can save
you a lot of optimizing. We once had a lot of work optimizing a
prototype with physics based gameplay that we wanted to have running
on an iPhone.


Regards,

Bernard


--- --- --- --- --- ---
M: + 32 (0) 478 92 00 71
E: bernard.francois at previewlabs.com
W: www.previewlabs.com
--- --- --- --- --- ---

I'll be attending Game Connection Europe November 16-18 in Lyon,
France. Please contact me if you want to make an appointment.


On Sat, Aug 28, 2010 at 7:58 PM, Josh Samuels <josh at arrivalgame.com> wrote:

> For having Unity scene data be text instead of binary this project seems to

> have potential:

> http://github.com/terravision/UnityTextScene

> But it is a work in progress.  Hopefully Unity will take the hint or that

> project (or something similar) will be ready for production in the near

> future.  I've had to pass scene files back and forth between different

> people to deal with this.

> Thanks,

> Josh

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

> Josh Samuels

> josh at arrivalgame.com

> http://www.ArrivalGame.com

> http://twitter.com/arrivalgame

> "Experience a piece of forgotten history"

> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

>

>

> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 9:54 AM, Adam Martin

> <adam.m.s.martin at googlemail.com> wrote:

>>

>> Ouch. I can see that being a showstopper for a lot of studios adopting

>> Unity.

>>

>> (we've considered it and done the eval 3 times now, and each time

>> found showstoppers that meant we couldn't take it further - NB: we

>> were only evaluating for use on iPhone/iPad)

>>

>> On 26 August 2010 17:19, Juan Gril <juangril at jojugames.com> wrote:

>> > No, you can't. That's why we are complaining about it.

>> >

>> > On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 8:14 AM, Adam Martin

>> > <adam.m.s.martin at googlemail.com> wrote:

>> >>

>> >> Can you offline export to a mergeable file format and use a mainstream

>> >> version-control system instead?

>> >>

>> >> IME, you should never use a VCS if VCS isn't the vendor's main

>> >> business. Too much pain, too much lost time, too much missing

>> >> performance or features.

>> >>

>> >> On 26 August 2010 16:03, Juan Gril <juangril at jojugames.com> wrote:

>> >> > I agree 100% with what Jeff and Grant are saying are the biggest

>> >> > hurdles

>> >> > with Unity right now. Here at Joju we have one project in

>> >> > development,

>> >> > and

>> >> > we are having a great time with it, despite those flaws. The devs in

>> >> > the

>> >> > project are quite happy because of the fact that they don't have to

>> >> > work

>> >> > with Flash :).

>> >> > We may start a mobile game in a month, and if we do we'll use it too.

>> >> > Cheers,

>> >> > Juan

>> >> >

>> >> > On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 7:35 AM, Iestyn Lloyd <iestyn at gmail.com>

>> >> > wrote:

>> >> >>

>> >> >> Yeah, lack of Scene merge is quite a pain..

>> >> >>

>> >> >> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 3:33 PM, Grant Shonkwiler <gshonk at gmail.com>

>> >> >> wrote:

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> We use it here at Megatouch Games. We love it, the biggest problem

>> >> >>> we

>> >> >>> are

>> >> >>> having is with the source control (Asset Server) it doesn't really

>> >> >>> want to

>> >> >>> play well with more than one or two people working on a game. Also

>> >> >>> there is

>> >> >>> no scene merge, hopefully they will fix this soon because it is

>> >> >>> crippling if

>> >> >>> you are trying to make a project with a big team.

>> >> >>> Let me know if anyone has found a work around for this, we just all

>> >> >>> have

>> >> >>> our own sandboxes in each project and hand merge stuff.

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> Grant Shonkwiler

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 10:10 AM, Jeff Murray

>> >> >>> <jeff at psychicparrotgames.com> wrote:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> Hey iestyn,

>> >> >>>> I've been using Unity for 3 years now and I think it's an

>> >> >>>> incredible

>> >> >>>> engine. I've produced browser-based games, desktop apps for Mac

>> >> >>>> and

>> >> >>>> PC and

>> >> >>>> iPhone games (if you have an iphone, I built the skateboarding

>> >> >>>> game

>> >> >>>> MikeV:

>> >> >>>> Do or Die with Unity iPhone).

>> >> >>>> Up until Unity 3, its biggest failing was not having a debugger

>> >> >>>> ...

>> >> >>>> since that's now a part of Unity 3, in my opinion, the biggest

>> >> >>>> failing right

>> >> >>>> now is that it doesn't exactly handle 2d (UI included) very well.

>> >> >>>> Sure, you

>> >> >>>> can make 2d games and UI but there's no dedicated 2d framework to

>> >> >>>> make it

>> >> >>>> easier on the devs. It's always 3d pretending to be 2d, if you

>> >> >>>> know

>> >> >>>> what I

>> >> >>>> mean. There were plans to have a fast 2d framework built in to

>> >> >>>> Unity

>> >> >>>> 3, but

>> >> >>>> it didn't make it in. That's my only major gripe, tbh.

>> >> >>>> The amount of positives totally outweigh the negatives. I get

>> >> >>>> tempted

>> >> >>>> to

>> >> >>>> check out other engines every once in a while - and I do - but I

>> >> >>>> always end

>> >> >>>> up coming back to Unity.

>> >> >>>> Cheers!

>> >> >>>> Jeff.

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> On 2010-08-26, at 8:36 AM, Iestyn Lloyd wrote:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> Hi List,

>> >> >>>> How many people here are using Unity for game dev? I've made a

>> >> >>>> couple

>> >> >>>> of

>> >> >>>> small web games now, and started making an iPhone/iPad/Android

>> >> >>>> game,

>> >> >>>> and I'm

>> >> >>>> extremely impressed. The beta of Unity 3 is absolutely

>> >> >>>> *amazing*...

>> >> >>>> Anyone care to share their thoughts on Unity?

>> >> >>>> Cheers,

>> >> >>>> iestyn

>> >> >>>> --

>> >> >>>> http://iestyn.net

>> >> >>>> http://twitter.com/yezzer

>> >> >>>> _______________________________________________

>> >> >>>> Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> >>>> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> >>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> >>>> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> >>>> Archive Search:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> >>>> List FAQ:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> _______________________________________________

>> >> >>>> Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> >>>> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> >>>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> >>>> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> >>>> Archive Search:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> >>>> List FAQ:

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >> >>>>

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> _______________________________________________

>> >> >>> Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> >>> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> >>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> >>> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> >>> Archive Search:

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> >>> List FAQ:

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >> >>>

>> >> >>

>> >> >>

>> >> >> _______________________________________________

>> >> >> Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> >> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> >> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> >> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> >> Archive Search:

>> >> >>

>> >> >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> >> List FAQ:

>> >> >>

>> >> >>

>> >> >> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >> >>

>> >> >

>> >> >

>> >> > _______________________________________________

>> >> > Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> > Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> > Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> > Archive Search:

>> >> > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> > List FAQ:

>> >> >

>> >> >

>> >> > http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >> >

>> >> >

>> >> _______________________________________________

>> >> Casual_Games mailing list

>> >> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> >> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> >> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> >> Archive Search:

>> >> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> >> List FAQ:

>> >>

>> >> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >>

>> >

>> >

>> > _______________________________________________

>> > Casual_Games mailing list

>> > Casual_Games at igda.org

>> > http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> > Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> > Archive Search:

>> > http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> > List FAQ:

>> >

>> > http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>> >

>> >

>> _______________________________________________

>> Casual_Games mailing list

>> Casual_Games at igda.org

>> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

>> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

>> Archive Search:

>> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

>> List FAQ:

>> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>

>

> _______________________________________________

> Casual_Games mailing list

> Casual_Games at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games

> Archive: http://www.igda.org/casual-subscribe

> Archive Search:

> http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=010373383720242846960%3Az3tdwggxil8

> List FAQ:

> http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Casual_Games_SIG/Casual_Games_List_FAQ

>

>