Unity itself offers a free version of its 3D game engine at all times. However, the tools to release Unity games for mobile phones is currently available for free as well (only until April 8th), normally these cost $800.
Available here: https://store.unity3d.com/index.html
Select the FREE version of Unity, then the two mobile versions below it, then hit Add to Cart and Checkout. You won't even have to give it a credit card, just basic account information and your address (there is also an optional survey about what you plan to develop with it).
Even if you don't have any plans or interest in using these at the moment, it is probably worth taking 30 seconds to create an account and acquire the keys for this $800 software while it is free.
In a related note, Unity says "When you shine, we shine". An impressive mindset, one that the BYOND staff and developers should strive to adopt, and actually work towards. I saw Tom addressing somebody in the forums a few days ago with something that essentially said "Our engine sucks, use something else". Not exactly a shining beacon to guide the community...
ID:525617
 Mar 15 2012, 7:28 pm (Edited on Mar 15 2012, 9:26 pm)
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Mar 15 2012, 7:31 pm
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Akriloth
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Mama always said if you want it and its free dont turn it down.
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Thanks Falacy
May have to look into using this :) | |
Thanks for the heads up. I'm definitely checking this out.
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Half of the "programmers" here on BYOND can't even create a simple datum; why instigate them into moving to something that is much more complex than BYOND?
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I'm personally appreciative he put it up. I've heard of Unity but never actually got the motivation to go check it out. Now I am getting it and more for free, so I'm glad.
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What I said was that if you can't accomplish what you want in BYOND today, you should probably use something else, because it's unrealistic to expect it to drastically change. If you want to interpret that as "our engine sucks", that's up to you. I encourage people to explore all of their options before investing a lot of time into creating a big project. Unity is pretty amazing but, like BYOND, it's not for everyone.
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Tom is correct PHP isn't for making desktop applications ;)
Just like BYOND isn't made for 3D. | |
Urias wrote:
Half of the "programmers" here on BYOND can't even create a simple datum; why instigate them into moving to something that is much more complex than BYOND?Very few parts of Unity are more complex than BYOND, most of them are actually simpler. Making 3D models could be considered more complex (and isn't really built into Unity), though I personally enjoy making 3D models far more than making BYOND icons. Networking/Multiplayer requires a bit more effort. 3D rotations are also complicated, but Unity handles a lot of that for you. The general UI and development tools are far more intuitive than anything BYOND offers, and the language is just like any other, with a base in your choice of Java (which seems to be the primarily supported option), C++, or a few others. Not to mention, Unity has practically every feature that has ever been requested on BYOND already built in, and a million other things that have never even been considered here. There are also a lot more useful resources for Unity than there are for BYOND; Youtube tutorials, Official tutorial projects, Community forums that are actually helpful, and more, also the countless examples of impressive Unity creations, and etc forever. Tom wrote: What I said was that if you can't accomplish what you want in BYOND today, you should probably use something else, because it's unrealistic to expect it to drastically change.Wasn't it specifically in reference to the map_text systems that were built for the next version? A system which people could implement themselves (though understandably shouldn't want to if it is going to be built into the next BYOND version), and a version which should have been released several months ago... I don't think many people are expecting you to support full 3D graphics. They are far too complex to even be considered, and given BYOND's current 2D performance, probably nowhere near feasible. Maybe something like what Realm of the Mad God supports, and FA once discussed on his blog. Basically, an automated somewhat-isometric viewpoint that can be toggled dynamically. | |
Falacy wrote:
In a related note, Unity says "When you shine, we shine". An impressive mindset, one that the BYOND staff and developers should strive to adopt, and actually work towards. I think the BYOND staff has that mindset, they've just expanded it a little to be "when you shine, we shine, and none of you shine, so we stopped trying." Tom wrote: What I said was that if you can't accomplish what you want in BYOND today, you should probably use something else, because it's unrealistic to expect it to drastically change. If you want to interpret that as "our engine sucks", that's up to you. What makes that disappointing/frustrating is that BYOND could be a lot better with a few small changes, smaller than some of the changes you've already made, but those changes are still not likely to ever be made. If the BYOND software wasn't maintained anymore people wouldn't be expecting improvements and couldn't be disappointed. Mouse input being glitchy isn't a huge problem itself, but it's made worse by the fact that BYOND is actively maintained and its mouse support is still lacking. I'm not sure why this happens but some features are added quickly (ex: pixel movement), some drag on a little longer (ex: map text), and some even longer (ex: flash client). There is some difference in complexity between each feature but that alone doesn't explain the difference in turnaround time. I'm guessing there's quite a difference in motivation. If the BYOND staff could identify 3 or 4 significant changes (ex: redo mouse support or the graphical display) and gather the motivation to knock them out quickly, I think we'd all be surprised, impressed, and inspired by it (and, hopefully, some game developers who aren't BYOND users would be impressed too and become users). | |
Falacy wrote:
development tools are far more intuitive than anything BYOND offers, and the language is just like any other, with a base in your choice of Java (which seems to be the primarily supported option), C++, or a few others. Not to mention, Unity has practically every feature that has ever been requested on BYOND already built in, and a million other things that have never even been considered here. 1st thing is that Unity3D supports JavaSCRIPT and not Java. Second Unity also supports C# and not C++ and the other language is Boo. 3rd Thanks for saving me time to make a post about the android and IOS being free on Unity. I know for like 2 weeks but didnt get time to post it. To the guys who are gonna make IOS games tho you need to have a mac even thought its supposed to work on the pc so that kinda sucks. Anyways good luck with making the games for phones. Hopefully some good games for android and IOS will pop up that I can play. | |
I just wanted to chime in and say regardless of the BYOND vs whatever arguments, this is a really good deal and would be a silly thing to pass up. If you don't end up using it you're not losing any money, but if you do end up getting curious wouldn't it be nice to have it sitting on your hard drive?
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Forum_account wrote:
I think the BYOND staff has that mindset, they've just expanded it a little to be "when you shine, we shine, and none of you shine, so we stopped trying."The "When you shine, we shine" mindset should be considered a 2 way street. For what BYOND provides its developers, most BYOND games do actually "shine". Games provide low quality limited graphics, focusing on chat based RP instead of laggy tile based gameplay, make use of verbs and stat panels to drive what little gameplay there is, and have generally unresponsive controls. Practically every one of those issues could be fixed by BYOND making changes to their engine, instead of expecting the developers to work far outside the standard operating protocols that BYOND provides them. BYOND also promotes a poorly written guide that hasn't been updated since it was released a decade ago, and therefor doesn't even properly explain a lot of the concepts, on top of being difficult to get through to begin with. They seem to openly admit that they expect the community to provide such support, but then don't provide us the proper support in return when we do create such things for them. Unity, on the other hand, comes with a fully functional project to mess around with, as well as general assets to make use of as soon as you get started. It has several officially supported tutorials that teach you a ton of different concepts, and offers regularly updated documents (similar to BYOND's reference) I'm not sure why this happens but some features are added quickly (ex: pixel movement)Quickly? It took nearly a decade for this to get implemented. Even to push this actual feature release, I had to lead a massive campaign against majority of the community (including yourself) for several months. Which seemed to boil down to maybe 2 weeks of actual effort on their part, to finally implement a system that has been contested for years. Which is the biggest problem I have with the things that go on around here; for what they claim to be a full-time (paid) effort, it sure seems like they barely work on things for an hour or two when it suits them. some drag on a little longer (ex: map text)The problem with this feature is that the update seems to already be finished (and also features an important bug/performance fix), but for some unknown reason they are refusing to actually release it and move on. and some even longer (ex: flash client).We all know this is never going to happen. It has been over a year since they claimed to have an ALREADY WORKING version of the flash client, but there has still been no public release whatsoever. | |
Falacy wrote:
Forum_account wrote: Sorry but I have to ask. What are you still doing here? | |
Cubanbling wrote:
Sorry but I have to ask. What are you still doing here?Putting trolls in their place? Showing this community what competent quality BYOND games can play like? Maintaining 5-10% of the entire BYOND community as my player-base alone, even after countless malicious attacks? Attempting to get this engine turned into something impressively functional that can produce quality projects without having to rebuild the entire engine internally yourself? And, for the most part, succeeding at that; You're welcome for pixel movement and the functional "big-icons" that it provided. I may disagree with everyone here (because you're all always wrong about everything), which leads to constant arguments, and generally have to start riots to get anything done, but I am one of the only people around here that ever does anything for the good of the community. Also, if you could edit your post to not be quoting an entire page of text just to respond with a single off-topic question, that would be appreciated. | |
Falacy wrote:
Cubanbling wrote: Whoa someone's mad. Alright hot-shot take it easy there, don't pop a vein. | |
Cubanbling wrote:
Whoa someone's mad. Alright hot-shot take it easy there, don't pop a vein. How was any of that mad? most of it was just a blatant statement of facts. I suppose the last sentence was slightly annoyed at your usage of the less than perfect quote system, but I'm not sure if even that would qualify... EDIT: Also, these troll posts of yours aren't contributing anything, should I just go ahead and delete them in the interest of everyone's sanity? | |
Falacy wrote:
Cubanbling wrote: Sorry its just it always seems like you hate BYOND so much that I figured hey, what is this guy even doing here. But now i see that you actually love this website so much and truly care for it and its language, you make it sound like probably even more than Tom himself! So thank you, for the features you have provided us and I hope you keep providing us with more. I am clear on things now I hope everyone sees you for what you're really trying to do for the greater good of us all. | |
EDIT: Also, these troll posts of yours aren't contributing anything, should I just go ahead and delete them in the interest of everyone's sanity? They weren't meant to be troll posts I really was interested in knowing. But delete them anyways, their not contributing to anything either way. | |
Falacys nature is close to a troll, He'll constantly put the site down, make it seem like he hates it.. but clearly he wouldn't still be here if that was true, and what he has done prove he cares about it.
He causes arguments, starts flame wars, pokes holes at the software, does a lot of bug reports, makes hundreds of good feature requests, makes a lot of good quality games, makes games use a lot more CPU than most other people, programs so only he can understand it, Gathers some of the biggest player bases, make some mighty fine tutorials and more. Anyway nice post thanks for sharing =) | |