this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024
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Game Development

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[–] [email protected] 118 points 2 months ago (1 children)

too late, moved to godot 😘

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Too late, moved to Unreal.

If this doesn't work out, Godot will be the next port of call.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I'm a little surprised that unreal is the next choice after unity given how much hate Epic seems to get. I thought about switching to unreal but then I learned that you have to download the epic store to use the unreal engine, and I refuse to do that after the "scan your whole PC and upload your game list" thing they pulled a few years ago.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

You don't, you can compile from source.

Unreal is a top class engine. Yes, it's proprietary and you always have to be cautious, but right now, it's an engine that delivers top features that can build great games and isn't run by Unity. If you win big, you need to pay, but you know that going into it.

Godot is great and improving all the time but it needs maturity.

It was a head vs heart decision and the head won this time.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Interesting, I didn't know that was an option. All I could find in my admittedly quick search was about installing it from the epic store. I'll keep that in mind for next time.

[–] [email protected] 86 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Damage done. It became a great example of why it isn't a good idea to rely on an engine operated by a corporate entity, since there's always a chance your product will be directly affected by some external executive's random choice.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

See also: Oracles Java runtime, Docker desktop, VMware.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

What happened with docker?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Docker Desktop now has a license cost for medium+ sized businesses. Docker Engine remains open source, but the desktop UI as well as the tech that makes Docker work on Windows (and Mac?) is now no longer free.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Rancher desktop on Windows has done well enough as a replacement for docker desktop for me

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

That's shitty.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 months ago

Thankfully containers are open source.
Everything is "docker this" and "docker that". But podman is viable, and there are other container systems.
The container format is so ubiquitous it's FOSS. I mean, it's kubernetes.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

I got personally screwed by this when I sunk the cash into Substance Painter / Designer, and then they "joined the Adobe family."

At this point any software in my pipeline that's not FOSS would be considered a point of vulnerability.

[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I get that they wanted in on the PokΓ©mon Go and Genshin Impact money printers, but anyone could have seen how much damage to their reputation it was going to cause.

Too little too late. Personally I've moved to Godot and am loving it. Have I mentioned that they have stellar documentation yet?

[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 months ago

AND that the documentation is built in to the engine, only a 60mb download!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Along with Krita's one of the best docs I know, it's so good!

[–] [email protected] 62 points 2 months ago

D'awww, did someone's little cash grab not work out?

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I remember so much pessimism last year that people's complaints will change nothing and that almost every Unity dev is too deep and won't be able to switch engines.

Well, guess what, so many people did switch and Unity did feel the hurt. The community really did take action.

Everyone's going to (rightfully) dunk on Unity but I think this is a great move and it's nice that the engine isn't going away. Competition is always good, and I'm happy for the devs that did stick with the engine. Lots of studios celebrating on social media with a sigh of relief. I still think Godot is going to eat Unity's lunch the next few years so they better step it up.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 months ago (3 children)

Did they though? I haven't heard of a single big name studio switching to an opensource game engine.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

I only know about the developers of Slay the Spire switching to Godot. Not the biggest name, but still well-known.

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/card-games/slay-the-spire-2-ditched-unity-for-open-source-engine-godot-after-2-years-of-development/

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Most don't switch as they have in house skills that would cost to retrain. The real kicker is the big studios of the future that started their projects on Godot. Those Godot games that succeed (like Cassette Beasts or Brotato) may fund the big studios of the future, and you know their leads will be Godot specialists looking for Godot devs.

Other big studios may trial Godot, but when the seed is planted, the trees take 2 to 5 years to mature.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I can only hope the ecosystem will very different in 5 years.

Anti Commercial-AI license

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Big names probably plan ahead and may have switched the projects that were not too deep into development or haven't started yet. But it's likely something to not be loudly announced

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 months ago

we’ve made the decision to cancel the Runtime Fee for our games customers, effective immediately. Non-gaming Industry customers are not impacted by this modification.

Unity Personal: […] Unity Personal will remain free, and we’ll be doubling the current revenue and funding ceiling from $100,000 to $200,000 USD. […] The Made with Unity splash screen will become optional for Unity Personal games made with Unity 6 when it launches later this year.

at its heart, it must be a partnership built on trust

well… as much trust as you can get back after such activities.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago

They clearly shit their pants when they saw everyone leave. I wonder how many developers will return. I know I won’t.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Great, but why were no one but the bean-counters consulted when coming out with the blatant money-stealing scheme in the first place?

You have a lot of trust to build back because Godot has come a decently long way.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

But some won't consider it. I was 2 months into a project and abandoned it. I'm now knee deep into another project in Unreal. If this doesn't go well, it'll be Godot, or Bevy or Armory. Unity is dead to me. It's still the same company run by the same board and I do not trust them.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 months ago

Today. Unity is cancelling the runtime fee today.

Nothing stopping them doing a Microsoft and bringing back Recall.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago

Related - A Unity programmers take on Godot:

https://lemmy.ml/post/20205357

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I tough they canceled it in the weeks after the outrage

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 months ago

I think they only cancelled the "this applies retroactively to previous versions" bit. They removed some of the egregious parts of the runtime free, but otherwise kept it.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Closing the stable door after the horse has made a 12 hour flight, settled in a new country married with children, recently gained citizenship and is a well respected member of the local school board.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Day late and a dollar short. Long live literally anything else!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Long live Godot!

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Awww. Things didn't work out? 😒

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Thoughts and prayers for the CEO πŸ™

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

I honestly got the impression that it was some half baked idea from some boneheaded executive that didn't have any idea how they were even going to put it into practice anyway.

Wouldn't be surprised if they just couldn't figure out how to get it working without major issues.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Someone else saw the ldtk jam chart, huh?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago

Wow, that's some news! It’s awesome to see Unity listening to the community after the huge outcry. This whole situation has been like a wild rollercoaster ride, right? Developers everywhere can probably exhale a bit now. Let’s see if this rebuilds some of the trust that got shaken. So, what are your thoughts on where Unity goes from here?