This is a bit off-topic, but only because some of the comments made here are making me wonder about Unity3D.
A while ago, I kept hearing a lot about Unity3D while talking with teams around the DC-NY area. So I looked into it, and made a small game mayself, just research - non-commercial, to see if it was as useful as everyone claimed. Everything they said was true, I was able to get a simple game done in a weekend. BUT, that was without leaderboards, or even scoring, or social tie-ins or ANYTHING other than the simple mechanic and even simpler graphics.
Haven't touched it since...
I would be curious to know, from anyone who uses Unity to make real games, how long does it take you to put out a game with Unity? And once you are using it...isn't it a little difficult to switch to something else if you want to produce a larger project? Or does it work fine for larger projects as well?
Basically just wondering what are people's impressions of using Unity?
I've closely followed the development and rise of Unity3D for the last four years and now i'm planning to do ALL my future 3D related projects with it, because it streamlines and simplifies the whole cross platform(PC, MAC, iOS, Android...) development process. There are of course drawbacks.
It is not that convenient to work with larger teams on the same project and documentation on how to do that is sparse.
It has been done however, even EA has adopted the engine for a few projects (Tiger Woods Online) and there are whole MMOs built with it.
As more and more larger companys start to use it, the focus of the developers behind Unity will shift to all those Team issues.
The pricing and license agreement is VERY competitive and they are having sales every few month.
Qualcomm even released their Augmented Reality Platform as a Unity Package which I currently use to do some projects with.
Overall i think its the best middleware package for indies and mid-size companys today.
I am not a gamedev but I am currently building what some would consider to be a large game[1]. It has been amazing to work in as it streamlines the development process massively. I have only spent about 20 hours with it so far and if I had chosen another engine I would not have progressed this fast.
You should take another look at Unity when v3.5 launches - they have made some advancements and fixes that are targeted for larger projects[2]. I can't wait for a better gui system and native lod support!
As for the negatives, so far I have only found the documentation to be lacking on some fronts (specifically regarding the terrain engine).
A while ago, I kept hearing a lot about Unity3D while talking with teams around the DC-NY area. So I looked into it, and made a small game mayself, just research - non-commercial, to see if it was as useful as everyone claimed. Everything they said was true, I was able to get a simple game done in a weekend. BUT, that was without leaderboards, or even scoring, or social tie-ins or ANYTHING other than the simple mechanic and even simpler graphics.
Haven't touched it since...
I would be curious to know, from anyone who uses Unity to make real games, how long does it take you to put out a game with Unity? And once you are using it...isn't it a little difficult to switch to something else if you want to produce a larger project? Or does it work fine for larger projects as well?
Basically just wondering what are people's impressions of using Unity?