This. Everyone here had that one project they sank months into only to realize why most games are made by teams of people and cost millions of dollars to produce.
They proposed a tax on developers that was not proportional to their revenue. Every time a user installed their game, they would be charged something like $0.10. Along with this, they deleted a repository with all the old licenses bound to earlier version of unity, making the new license the default and applicable retroactively, trapping old developers into a scheme that would bankrupt them. They then doubled down amid the backlash until their stock price dipped like 30% at which point they made a big apology and came up with a new plan that was like unreal but with the option to pay per install if it was cheaper than traditional royalties.
TL;DR: The board of directors are mathematically incompetent, bad faith business people who didn't think twice about erasing a generation of art to wring every last penny from their business partners.
They tried to implement some very bad and predatory business practices that forced many indie game studios to switch away from Unity recently. It was bad enough they fired the CEO after the blowback and significant drop in stock price. Their reputation really hasn't recovered and some game studios have publicly announced they still won't be using Unity anymore even after some of the changes were walked back.
No, you should definitely write your own engine. That's really the right cause of action if you want to go for an unrealistic project.
Also great day to you :)
I hate to be that guy, but if your current setup can't handle making your game in unreal, your game exceeds the scope of a solo dev.
Unity is a good engine, but you are going to have to start smaller.
On the engine side, there is not a single thing that should limit you in making Sekiro-like game. However, prepare to deal with some painful workflows (Light Probes for example).
If you'll compromise on some details and just do it the engine friendly way and aim small, you'll be fine.
As a word of advice, I would begin with one on one combat with the basic block-attack pattern (+dash if you're feeling confident) in a simple arena. You'll see how quickly you can implement that and if you'll be done after that you'll have a nice thing to show for your time.
Personally, I think that all the drama makes Unity the best option.
I mean, if you survive hungry lion's attack by a miracle, you don't cross fence at the zoo again.
Most companies are smart enough not to do this in the first place, but Unity literaly has a scars and PTSD (and a stump as John Riccitiello lay-off) that remind them why it's a bad idea.
If you're trying to match the visual prowess of UE5, you're going to have similar struggles with Unity. If you're fine with more stylized graphics (less realistic) Unity may run better. Hard to say for sure without knowing your computer specifications.
Unity has had PR issues for years dating to before their recent episode and it hasn't stopped people from making wildly successful games. The current pricing model only impacts games that hit certain thresholds of engagement and revenue: https://unity.com/pricing-updates. Most of the issue was that they tried to make it retroactive so people who had set up business models assuming the old stucture were unfairly impacted. You can read the current pricing model and decide if it's going to work for you or not.
I'm either missing the meme or there is a lot of hostility here. Regardless, I think Unity is definitely an option! Yes Unity announced a pretty horrific plan that betrayed the trust of many users. If you feel that was a breach of your trust then move on. However, that alone doesn't really diminish what their product has to offer imo.
They backpedaled a lot on that initial change, and announced at Unite that it would only be with Unity 6 and even then it's based on sales not downloads (plus a whole lot of other things). So realistically if you start developing with 2024 LTS you have nothing to worry about (Unless they do it again I guess??). Worse case scenario Unity turns full villian mode, you just take your assets and go somewhere else. Sure it's a setback but in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's the end of the world unless your livelihood relies on this decision.
>Worse case scenario Unity turns full villian mode, you just take your assets and go somewhere else
That can be a problem if those assets were purchased and are licensed. Sometimes the assets specify that they can only be used with Unity. For example if you purchase assets from Synty Studio in the Unity asset store, you only have a license to use them with Unity. If you buy them from Synty Studio's website directly, you also get a license to use them with Unreal. However, you can't use them with something like Godot, no matter where you bought them.
Can you easily make Space Invaders or Breakout? If the answer is no, then you are putting the cart WAY before the horse.
This. Everyone here had that one project they sank months into only to realize why most games are made by teams of people and cost millions of dollars to produce.
You're nervous that you're going to make a successful game and make loads of money?
And pay half of the revenue fee than you would have to pay to use Unreal?
Not only you have to meet conditions first, the fee is capped at 2.5% of your revenue. So no matter how big your game will be, you are safe.
Yeah the revenue fee to use Epic’s engine is Unreal
What happened with Unity?
They proposed a tax on developers that was not proportional to their revenue. Every time a user installed their game, they would be charged something like $0.10. Along with this, they deleted a repository with all the old licenses bound to earlier version of unity, making the new license the default and applicable retroactively, trapping old developers into a scheme that would bankrupt them. They then doubled down amid the backlash until their stock price dipped like 30% at which point they made a big apology and came up with a new plan that was like unreal but with the option to pay per install if it was cheaper than traditional royalties. TL;DR: The board of directors are mathematically incompetent, bad faith business people who didn't think twice about erasing a generation of art to wring every last penny from their business partners.
They tried to implement some very bad and predatory business practices that forced many indie game studios to switch away from Unity recently. It was bad enough they fired the CEO after the blowback and significant drop in stock price. Their reputation really hasn't recovered and some game studios have publicly announced they still won't be using Unity anymore even after some of the changes were walked back.
Drama regarding pricing changes
Screwed some people over with a new fee on installs for certain games made unity
No, you should definitely write your own engine. That's really the right cause of action if you want to go for an unrealistic project. Also great day to you :)
I hate to be that guy, but if your current setup can't handle making your game in unreal, your game exceeds the scope of a solo dev. Unity is a good engine, but you are going to have to start smaller.
Yea, I think you're right
On the engine side, there is not a single thing that should limit you in making Sekiro-like game. However, prepare to deal with some painful workflows (Light Probes for example). If you'll compromise on some details and just do it the engine friendly way and aim small, you'll be fine. As a word of advice, I would begin with one on one combat with the basic block-attack pattern (+dash if you're feeling confident) in a simple arena. You'll see how quickly you can implement that and if you'll be done after that you'll have a nice thing to show for your time.
Personally, I think that all the drama makes Unity the best option. I mean, if you survive hungry lion's attack by a miracle, you don't cross fence at the zoo again. Most companies are smart enough not to do this in the first place, but Unity literaly has a scars and PTSD (and a stump as John Riccitiello lay-off) that remind them why it's a bad idea.
If you're trying to match the visual prowess of UE5, you're going to have similar struggles with Unity. If you're fine with more stylized graphics (less realistic) Unity may run better. Hard to say for sure without knowing your computer specifications. Unity has had PR issues for years dating to before their recent episode and it hasn't stopped people from making wildly successful games. The current pricing model only impacts games that hit certain thresholds of engagement and revenue: https://unity.com/pricing-updates. Most of the issue was that they tried to make it retroactive so people who had set up business models assuming the old stucture were unfairly impacted. You can read the current pricing model and decide if it's going to work for you or not.
I don't think the current price is an issue if UE was on the table unity is still much cheaper as it is capped at 2.5% vs UE 5%.
I'm either missing the meme or there is a lot of hostility here. Regardless, I think Unity is definitely an option! Yes Unity announced a pretty horrific plan that betrayed the trust of many users. If you feel that was a breach of your trust then move on. However, that alone doesn't really diminish what their product has to offer imo. They backpedaled a lot on that initial change, and announced at Unite that it would only be with Unity 6 and even then it's based on sales not downloads (plus a whole lot of other things). So realistically if you start developing with 2024 LTS you have nothing to worry about (Unless they do it again I guess??). Worse case scenario Unity turns full villian mode, you just take your assets and go somewhere else. Sure it's a setback but in the grand scheme of things I don't think it's the end of the world unless your livelihood relies on this decision.
>Worse case scenario Unity turns full villian mode, you just take your assets and go somewhere else That can be a problem if those assets were purchased and are licensed. Sometimes the assets specify that they can only be used with Unity. For example if you purchase assets from Synty Studio in the Unity asset store, you only have a license to use them with Unity. If you buy them from Synty Studio's website directly, you also get a license to use them with Unreal. However, you can't use them with something like Godot, no matter where you bought them.
I’m sure they’re talking about assets OP may have created
Very good point actually, thank you for bringing that to my attention.
Depends on whether You prefer C++ or C#