I’ve made some simple games in past (with corona SDK and cocos), now I’ve have a idea for a game a bit more complex so I’ll need a framework more powerful I intent to use unity.
Question is I have some doubts about the free version of unity
With free version I can compile my code locally or server side?
I can have other guys coding on project?
How about the limitation of $3000 per quart? That is in term of revenue? How they can control that goal?
I’ll have any limitation in term of performance with free version? Or for final product is only about splash screen with unity?
I can start to work on my game and if the game have success I can buy the licence after the game was created?
Sorry for this dummy question I search on google, some answser I’ve found have more than 2 years
The only differences are that you can change the splash screen, it is mandatory if you gross 100k+ annually and you can change the editor to a dark skin
The splash screen requirement is the only major drawback to the free version. All of the other differences involve expanded customer support and on-line features. For most developers, starting off with the free version is the most viable option. I’ve personally never converted over to the Pro version. I’m waiting until I hit it big and earn that $100,000 in a single year. Could be a while…
I still use the free (ah-hem, personal) edition for my personal projects I’ve never been a fan of the dark skin and I don’t mind that it shows my game is in Unity Everything else is the same as far as the engine is concerned You even still get this awesome kickbutt community to go with it! <3!
First up personal is exactly the same engine as pro. The key limitations are
You cannot change the splash screen
You cannot use dark skin
You cannot earn more then 100K (The exact definitions of ‘earning’ vary, consult the EULA).
On to specifics
Personal users get access to free cloud builds. You can do more with the pro tier, but its a case of more and bigger builds, rather then any new features.
Yes. Unity works fairly well with version control systems like git or mercurial
The only revenue limitation is 100K annually. If you beat this target, you probably won’t be to concerned about buying licenses. The only type of team this really hurts is if you have a high number of licenses but are only just breaking 100K. In that case talk to Unity’s licensing team directly.
(You may be getting confused with that other engine that charges you royalties above the 3k mark. Unity does not charge you royalties. Ever.)
Performance is identical. Just the splash screen
The revenue limit technically applies to the last financial year (? Check this, its been a while since I read the license). So you don’t have to upgrade until the year ticks over. It also means that if you decide not to use Unity to further develop games after a big hit you don’t have to upgrade. (Why you would do this is beyond me.) For most people this means you can use personal now and buy pro after the revenue comes in. There are some exceptions, like if you already are a high revenue entity, or you are funded by grants above the revenue threshold.
tl;dr - As long as you don’t make more then 100K per year you can start with personal and upgrade later.
Thanks for your support you’ve clarify all my doubts, I’ve decided to use unity on my next projects, with personal license. And check the evolution of my revenues.
By the way, is there a a list of essentials plugins or package that you can recommend for me? I mean I’m a back-end guy and one of thing that I don’t like on Corona framework is a lack of a coherent game architecture. I mean everything is pointing to write all the code on same game loop backend file, i’ve solve this using some ninja and trick ways to avoid this, I’ve search and I’ve found this plugin StrangeIoC to structure my game project with unity
Is there more plugins like this? Can you point me a list of must have plugins that every unit guys must have? Or I can see some tutorial where I can see a project structure of a real project? I mean I’ve see a lot of tutorials and that’s is pretty help, but non of this are talk about I do manage files and procjet on a big project or a real project.
I dislike it too (dark skin), although I preferred it for a long time. It drastically limited the colors you can use in a custom Inspector because every color is added to “dark gray” before display. Meaning you only get to use really dark colors mostly.
I’ve never been a fan of the dark skin and I don’t mind that it shows my game is in Unity 
Everything else is the same as far as the engine is concerned 
Nice to meet you, Holliebuckets.