How many pro licenses are needed for a project? (and some iOS development questions)

[MrGuybrush]

Hello.

I’m trying to budget for a game development, and I need to figure out what the cost will be.
I will be developing for iOS and iPad at first but my pipeline so far is all PC.
I will have one programmer helping out to create the prototype/demo, and the rest of the team is mostly creating the game content.
So my question is, will I need more than one unity pro license, one iOS pro license, one Apple developer license, and one ipad?
Can I work with just these and have the rest of the team use free Unity licenses? Or is it a bottleneck for the production?
Also does it worth it, to run the pro unity through VM for iOS? Or should I buy a Mac for this?
And one more question. I understand that Unity converts the project to XCode but apart from that, does my programmer have to be further familiar with XCode in regards to Unity development for iOS? Or does Unity handle a 100% of the translation?

Any suggestions are much appreciated, and I apologize for the ignorance. I’m here to learn.

[PrimeDerektive]

Unity Technologies FAQs

“Sorry, license mixing in the same company is forbidden. You may not, for example, use 9 free Unity licenses for development and a single Unity Pro license to publish the final game. You will need a Pro license for each team member.”

[MrGuybrush]

@PrimeDerektive

http://unity3d.com/unity/faq

What is the $500 team license for? Is it something I can use for each person of the team?

[squared55]

@PrimeDerektive

http://unity3d.com/unity/faq

What’s the definition of a company, though? Is it the same as a team? If an artist only uses external programs, is that OK? If an artist gives a programmer a few assets, then leaves, do they need a pro license? What about if they use Unity for previewing stuff and that’s it?

[MrGuybrush]

@MrGuybrush

What is the $500 team license for? Is it something I can use for each person of the team?

Nevermind, upon further reading I see that thats an extension of some sort to the editor, its not the editor itself

So lets say there are 4 team members.

Do I need to count $1500 for the unity pro, + $1500 for iOS pro + $500 team license for each person?

that would be $14,000 just to start!

[XGundam05]

You don’t need the Team license, you could use something like Git or SVN instead.

[MrGuybrush]

@squared55

What’s the definition of a company, though? If an artist only uses external programs, is that OK? What about if they use Unity for previewing stuff and that’s it?

That would be a good question. An artist only updates the graphics and won’t need to connect any assets.

Would it be that everyone has to work out of one shared project directory, and have a single project compiled in order to preview something?

[MrGuybrush]

@XGundam05

You don’t need the Team license, you could use something like Git or SVN instead.

That’s good to know XGundam05 thanks for the tip.

[eskimojoe_1]

You should buy for yourself and your OWN employees. When they leave your project, they should surrender their licenses.

If you buy for remote people, chances are, you are being scammed. You should insist on remote people having their own licenses and be sure they have a strong portfolio of prior arts and necessary experience.

If you buy for someone without a contract, chances are, that person will leave you and take your licenses along with them.

[eskimojoe_1]

@MrGuybrush

Do I need to count $1500 for the unity pro, + $1500 for iOS pro + $500 team license for each person?
that would be $14,000 just to start!

Not to mention salary you have to pay, AutoDesk and Adobe software you need to buy. Its always good to have priority support from AutoDesk and Adobe when your staff face weird problems.

[MrGuybrush]

@eskimojoe_1

You should buy for yourself and your OWN employees. When they leave your project, they should surrender their licenses.

If you buy for remote people, chances are, you are being scammed. You should insist on remote people having their own licenses and be sure they have a strong portfolio of prior arts and necessary experience.

If you buy for someone without a contract, chances are, that person will leave you and take your licenses along with them.

That is interesting. I have actually heard from programmers that included Pro licenses on their quote and I found that very unprofessional. If they are pros, they should already own a pro license for themselves.

So is it that easy for someone to walk away with a license? I might have programmers that want to work from both the same room and their own place remotely.Can’t I tie a license to something that belongs to me only, so that I disable their second machine license when the project is over?

[eskimojoe_1]

Are you making them on-site employees or remote employees? If they are on-site, you buy licenses for them. If they are remote, they are contractors and they buy their own licenses.

That dispute of people walking away with licenses is because you share the serial number with them. You should buy for yourself and your own office.

If someone else works remotely, they should buy it themselves as you have no control over their time. They could be lying to you constantly delaying your project while collecting money doing nothing. Have you thought about that?

Our company have our own licenses for multiple employees - UnityPro, AndroidPro, iOSPro, Team. For example, if we consult for you, we do not ask for fees to buy UnityPro or Adobe or AutoDesk licenses.

If you buy UnityPro for them, what’s next? 3DMax for others, New computer for others, Android tablets for others, Car loan for others, Home loan for others, Free vacation to the Caribbean while supposedly working for you… you get the idea where this slippery slope is going. They then insult you and walk away with all your licenses and equipment.

You might want to consider asking them for their resume and portfolio, or collection of arts done. Are they using their real names? Does the PayPal show a different name or alias? Are they sufficiently skilled enough to complete your project?

Have you considered doing background checks to ensure they do not have criminal records and their Degree certificate is not fake? Does the background check show multiple addresses - indicating they are on the run and hiding from creditors?

You might want to give them a simple art test to make sure they do not do stick drawings, modelling test where they model low-poly and good quality works, coding test so the coder knows what they are doing.

If the cost is too much for you, you might want to consider full-development companies - IronBelly, Rosor, FlamingHairBall who can do all the work for you and they seem to have good reputation. You give them the project and they do all the work for you.

[zombiegorilla]

@MrGuybrush

So lets say there are 4 team members.

Do I need to count $1500 for the unity pro, + $1500 for iOS pro + $500 team license for each person?
…
That would be a good question. An artist only updates the graphics and won’t need to connect any assets.

Would it be that everyone has to work out of one shared project directory, and have a single project compiled in order to preview something?

You will need a Pro license for anyone on your team that uses Unity. For example if your artists don’t use Unity, you don’t need to get them a license just because they are on the team. In our studio virtually none of our artists have Unity, even though they may be creating content to be used in a Unity game. So if any of your team doesn’t need Unity, you don’t have to get it for them. You still can’t mix Pro and non Pro. If you are using Pro, anyone on your team that needs to use Unity must have a Pro license.

[squared55]

@zombiegorilla

You will need a Pro license for anyone on your team that uses Unity. For example if your artists don’t use Unity, you don’t need to get them a license just because they are on the team. In our studio virtually none of our artists have Unity, even though they may be creating content to be used in a Unity game. So if any of your team doesn’t need Unity, you don’t have to get it for them. You still can’t mix Pro and non Pro. If you are using Pro, anyone on your team that needs to use Unity must have a Pro license.

What if they only use Unity for previewing stuff?

[zombiegorilla]

@MrGuybrush

That is interesting. I have actually heard from programmers that included Pro licenses on their quote and I found that very unprofessional. If they are pros, they should already own a pro license for themselves.

So is it that easy for someone to walk away with a license? I might have programmers that want to work from both the same room and their own place remotely.Can’t I tie a license to something that belongs to me only, so that I disable their second machine license when the project is over?

Simple answer: laptops.

If they are employees, you should be providing the hardware and software. It is a bad idea to let them install your software on their personal hardware. (this can lead to all kinds of problems). The standard practice it just issue laptops. If you separate for whatever reason, you just take back the laptop and everything is one neat package. Also, if they work from home/remote/whatever, they can just take their computer with them. I think it has been at least a decade since I have a desktop as a primary work computer. Here, when someone is hired, they just pick their flavor (Mac/Win), and they are handed a fully loaded laptop after orientation. It makes license management a breeze.

[eskimojoe_1]

You have 4 people.

The artist does not need Unity3d. So that leaves 3 people.

The coder… get a person who already has UnityPro + Team + iOS Pro + Android Pro. So that leaves 2 people.

The modeller… get a person who already has UnityPro + 3dMax. So that leaves one person.

So that leaves just you to get your own licenses.

You need to buy a Mac for yourself.

The coder should already have a Mac. Your coder should already be familiar with XCode, XCode plug-ins, NGUI, ASP.NET, PHP and C#/Photo or Java/ElectroTank or uLink/C# for server-side.

You don’t need a team license, you just need a version-control server on-line where people can commit and check-in their work to.

If you have expert-level coders and expert-level modeller, you don’t need UnityPro as all the features of UnityPro are not needed when you make high quality game.

[zombiegorilla]

@squared55

What if they only use Unity for previewing stuff?

Depends on what you mean by “previewing”. If is just showing to stakeholder or reviewing it, you can just do a web/device/standalone build they can look at. Of if you mean to see (for example) if an model or something works/looks correctly, then that is more accurately called “testing” which is part of the development process, and would require a license. (since it is requires an import and development environment)

Basically, if they need it for any purpose, it needs to be licensed. Any other situation where the actual environment is not needed, you can just publish it.

[eskimojoe_1]

@squared55

What if they only use Unity for previewing stuff?

The 2d artist usually works with the coder. The 2d artist submits the artwork to the coder to include it into the scene.

you just take back the laptop and everything is one neat package.[/quote]

If they don’t give back the laptop, you take them to court and ask the court to award you damages and make the person pay-up. The next employee gets a new laptop

[squared55]

@eskimojoe I’m talking about a 3d artist in this case.

@zombiegorilla

Of if you mean to see (for example) if an model or something works/looks correctly, then that is more accurately called “testing” which is part of the development process, and would require a license. (since it is requires an import and development environment)

That’s what I mean. But the license says

" you are not permitted to combine or integrate in any manner any Licensee Content developed with Unity Free with any Licensee Content developed simultaneously with Unity Pro."

So as long as you don’t import anything from the other version, doesn’t that mean you are OK? I’m interpreting that as if you can’t make anything with Unity Pro (code. particle system, etc).

And what if you lose contact with said artist? Does them giving you art make you+them a Legal Entity? What if a Unity Free coder does some freelance work in the commercial section, then moves on?

Would be nice for a Unity rep to give the definition of “develop.”

[eskimojoe_1]

Let’s say for example you hire an 3D artist. Did you consider hiring pro 3D artist who has their own Unity3DPro and their own 3DMax?

The guy there sets-up the animations, FBX and everything else for you and gives you a UnityAsset package.

If you are going to get those remote 3d artist who you need to buy them 3DMax, UnityPro, iOSPro and Android, Team license, Wacom tablet, Photoshop, 3DMax add-ons and off-line holiday, you probably know what you are getting