iPhone Pro purchase <48 hours away.. questions

Unity Engine
,
1

(just waiting on the money to get into my account then purchase… soo…)

I have a few games written in the latest version of Unity Pro, should I just chuck them and re-write them in 1.6 or wait until I get the iPhone Pro version and then compile / test them on my iPhone?

Does Unity for the iPhone have a build/deploy to iPhone so that I can test them directly on my provisioned iPhone? Are there instructions with iPhone Pro that tell how to add an icon for distribution? Are there instructions with the iPhone Pro version that tell how to publish to the Mac store?

I have a timeframe of < 2 weeks to get about half a dozen games out to the Mac store, so during deployment, are there any niche information I need to be aware of? Limitations to the gyrometer? Screen touch locations, multi touch limitations etc?

These games will require typically a 360 rotation of the iphone and ~0-90 degree orientation, is this a problem? I have tons more questions, but will start with these.

Zumwalt

2

:shock:

Yes you can test on your provisioned device. Instructions to get your games into the App Store are handle through the iPhone Dev Center at Apple.com. As for your other questions - Download the trial and test it out! :slight_smile:

3

I’m not sure what re-writing them in 1.6 would accomplish…1.6 is ancient history and basically irrelevant. If it’s about the Mono version, there’s a lot more differences between 1.6 and 2.1 than just that. Just so you know, putting out a half a dozen games in under 2 weeks, especially when you’re just starting out with the iPhone, is completely unrealistic. Do you have a developer account? That alone could take more than 2 weeks to be approved, although a number of people have been approved in days. As for your questions, read the forums first since I think everything you asked has already been covered.

–Eric

4

I’ve had a developer account at apple since July of last year. I have non-game iPhone apps already being used internally, not published, just limited to the 100 user ad-hoc license per the license agreement. Reason why I asked about the 1.6 being relevant was because of the framework of 1.1 which is what 1.6 is based on (if I recall). I don’t want a trial license because if I do get it, (which I am sure they probably would supply me with one), once I was happy with the app, I would want to push it up to the store, which I couldn’t do in trial, so I would be bummed out.

I was wondering what kind of experience people had with the build → deployment using the iPhone Pro software from Unity, was it smooth, no issues, just use the deployment methods we normally use through the apple store and what not. I don’t have iPhone Unity instruction manual, so the icon, loading messages, save state, etc would be in the manual and what I am looking for would be less likely to be on the forums vs the manual where Unity typically has its strength in explaining things.

I have read where save state was an issue with iPhone Pro, along with reading where the gyrometer is limited in motion and a few other things, so I was looking for clarity if these issues were resolved cleanly by people who are using the software now vs the fix list. Just because something is on the fix list, doesn’t mean that someone else hasn’t still ran across it. Been reading through the iPhone area regularly to keep up to date. What I need to do entails all of the applications use a thin database on the iPhone and interact with it form Unity, the games need to get regular xml updates for objects and the like. (not live updates, just when ever the game can check for these little game update files), the binary update is obvious, its just another push of the same app back up to the store.

-z

5

I haven’t read the posts in full but something is hurting my eyes. There is no such thing as Unity iPhone Pro, we made a careful and intentional choice to call it Advanced. Nor is there Unity iPhone Indie, it’s Basic. Unity iPhone Basic is an add-on that you can apply to either Unity Indie or Unity Pro. Unity iPhone Advanced is an add-on that you can only apply to Unity Pro.

Thank you for using the proper terms, I’ll now resume my reading… :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I don’t get why Unity 1.6 even entered this conversation, just don’t do that.

You build from Unity and create a XCode project that is then in turn built in order to deploy on to your device. If you use Unity’s “Build Run” both steps happen automatically.

No, but it’s exceedingly simple. Build from Unity (not Build Run), find the icon file in your project and replace it with your own. And note, customizing an application’s icon is technically a task done in XCode so if you want documentation on how to do that then read up on Apple’s site.

No, and again this is on Apple’s side of the fence so check the iPhone dev center for that sort of information and how to use iTunes Connect for publishing.

I’ll step out and say that I think you’re borderline nuts to have such a schedule in place. Yes, our solution is quite nice but there will be some learning curve and that is a tough schedule for anyone. And you’re also asking some very vague questions that are tough to answer. Watch your JS as it’s strong typed on the iPhone and iPod touch (as if you declare #pragma strict), generics aren’t supported, performance is lower and no there aren’t general “limitations” with the accelerometer and touch data.

It’s only a problem in that you’ve not described how you hope to capture that 360 rotation data. You can gather orientation data as well as accelerometer data on three axes, but it’s hard to map that against what you’ve said above.

So you’re so certain of self control issues that you’d rather wait and force yourself into an obscenely compressed time frame and release schedule? Seriously, write us for a trial (we’ll happily provide Unity iPhone Basic to you) and make your life simpler.

7

I honestly don’t know how to take your response.
Every piece of it was heavily sarcastic and aggressive which is bizzar coming from you.

“just don’t do that” well, if you recall, Unity 1.6 being a good product that it is/was, was based on Framework 1.1, iPhone is based on framework 1.1, unless I was totally mistaken in that fact.

Pro vs Advanced, naming thing, they both mean the same thing with your products, one is fully featured one is not. So you can just say “Full Featured”, or “Incomplete” means the same thing as “basic” or “advanced”, I apologize that I got it confused gees.

Um, no documentation and you automatically expect me to know that I have to use XCode to replace the icon instead of something SIMPLE like placing a gif or jpg that I want as an icon in some asset folder and name it icon.gif or icon.jpg and your software auto-magically handle it for me?? then tell me to go to apples site to learn how to program iPhone “Advanced” in Unity? That is how you worded this post and that is how I am understanding what you are telling me to do.

I haven’t described the full functionality of the 360 degrees because that is obvious, 360 is a sphere, the iPHone will need to be tilted and the degree judgement needs to know if I went beyond a certain scope, on an +/- scale to be able to adapt. Aka, can iPhone “Advanced” judge that the phone just went from facing the user to leaned back till flat, till tilted upside down, same goes with left and right, can iPhone “Advanced” know that the phone was tilted from 0 - 180 then beyond in either left or right rotation? I don’t see that as vague, but again, I apologize for being vague on what the wording of 360 (sphere) meant, again, my fault entirely apparently.

Why on earth am I being attacked on what I might or might not have already programmed that I want to port over to the iPhone? Who is to say that for the past year of owning Unity PRO that I haven’t been prepping some applications that I see potential for the iPhone rather than desktop?

Thank you all for making me feel like an ivilid and smaller than a nat that someone just stepped on and thrown away, very cool. None of my questions deserved these types of responses.

8

I would caution you that a project built in normal unity (even version 1.6) will not necessarily make a seamless transition to unity iphone, scripting limitations aside. There’s definitely going to be some ramp up time as you get used to making the most of the accelerometer and multi-touch API, and odds are good that your apps will need some significant optimization (and perhaps even re-designing) in order to achieve acceptable framerates and functionality on the device, even if you were building them with iPhone in mind from the beginning. There’s no substitute for testing on the actual device.

I would agree that your schedule of six apps in two weeks, even if they’re already done in vanilla unity, is probably pretty unrealistic.

9

Totally not intentional, sorry if I came off wrong as that wasn’t on purpopse.

Yes, perhaps a smilie was in order (a few). I just don’t see that as a reasonable use of time. Instead of doing that I’d get a trial and start working in the iPhone app right away anyway. :slight_smile:

Again, a smilie would have helped convey my attitude a bit more, sorry. :slight_smile:

That’s not what I said at all. I gave you a heads up on how to change the icon and noted that it’s very (exceedingly) simple so you’d know that in the end it’s not tough to sort out. And you don’t have to use XCode, it’s just a drag-drop your new file on top of the existing one affair (or use the post-process script being worked on by others here on the forums). Additionally, it’s not “programming in Unity” to swap application icons or to publish your application. Unity authored applications are like any other iPhone applications (XCode projects that can have icons and get published), documentation for icon customization is in fact on their website as well as info on how to publish your content when ready. I was just pointing you to some available information. :slight_smile:

Edit: and we’re well aware of the fact that it would be nice to have an in-app way to specify your icon and loading screen (adv-only), we’ll get on that.

Yes, but I asked as someone might envision that 360 degrees in a few ways:

  1. I’m standing there with my phone held in front of me, if I spin in a circle, holding my arm out in front of me, and I do so over 360 degrees the phone won’t really catch that as the phone’s orientation never changes, perhaps you’d notice a slight acceleration but it would be all but impossible to detect that the phone user is turning.

  2. I’m standing there and have my phone held sideways for a flying style game, I want to tilt it clockwise in my hands and be able to do so continuously, over 360 degrees. That you’d be able to detect as the orientation and acceleration data would capture it due to the phone’s orientation being in motion.

So I asked. :slight_smile:

That makes perfect sense and yes, it’s generally something that you can track and detect quite well. :slight_smile:

Again, I didn’t mean to attack, I was perhaps just being a bit too terse and all. IM and forum posts can easily come off as more aggressive than intended and I think mine falls into that category. I’m definitely sorry about that.

Although I do think you’re insane to attempt that sort of schedule, get the trial and get busy know! :slight_smile:

Liberal smilies used to indicate that I’m honestly not upset and wasn’t attacking you. I swear! :smile:

10

Thanks for the clarification and the apology. Smilies help tons with responses to help identify if one is being serious or just silly. All this aside, although I am insane with the schedule, in honesty I have explained to my investors that the expectations they have for those products will really mean more like 1 every few months. Everyone wants everything done yesterday, doesn’t matter what industry. The purchase of the Advanced version could end up being a wash or work out, I won’t know until I buy it and use it. All that I know, is that in under 2 weeks, I will have to make a decision to either proceed using Unity for those projects or go back to regular XCode building the iPhone bundle. (not looking forward to that can of wurms :frowning:

11

Cool, and again I’m sorry about the post above. I’ll offer it again, trial! Just contain yourself and don’t publish until you buy, but get started right away (even if only a few days or a week earlier).

Ping me if you want one and I’ll get you squared away pronto.

12

Now you’ve got me curious… If you’ve worked on some games for a year, why do you suddenly need to convert and release them all at once now?
Sounds a bit like a DOS-Attack on the AppStore… :wink: ← notice the smiley

On a more serious note: I hope you’re really good with performance optimization… I for one had totally overestimated the power of the iPhone initially… I started two iPhone-projects in Unity Indie before iPhone Basic came out. Once I had iPhone Basic it took me a day to get both projects to run at all (I hadn’t bothered with strict typing before - well, I thought I had, but it turned out I didn’t quite know all about it…) and once built on the iPhone they both ran at about 3 fps. I was close to giving up for half an hour and then I started heavy performance optimization…

13

General optimization points:

regular 3D games will need corresponding assets to be used with the occlusion system or you are not going anywhere. This means that the object must be done in distinct objects so parts that would be occluded can occluded. the occluder does not cut the geometry for you.

Many distinct objects → granted death, you have 20-30 drawcalls (distinct objects / object parts with own materials) at maximum. → mesh combiner occluder

Animated actors with 1000+ polygons: if this is more or less the only thing on screen then yes, otherwise it will be a 5fps show. you have something about 7000-10000 static triangles as budget, animated polygons count tripple++ depending on the amount of bone weights.

14

Zumwait,

if you are used to Unity then iphone Advanced is just that with functinality for the iPhone input (but not keyboard you will have to do your own code for that specifically).

Accelerometer is easy with the right code for example these are used to get movement in x,y,z:

iPhoneInput.acceleration.x
iPhoneInput.acceleration.y
iPhoneInput.acceleration.z

JS being very strict can be interesting, but you are probably ok with strict typing anyways.

Unity Iphone Advanced is just Unity so think that way - 2D is not as easy to accomplish.

All approaches need thinking about because 30 drawcalls is not a lot. I am currently getting 35 -59 draw calls and seeing the hit as I do on the iPhone itself. I don’t have a complex game visually, but it seems I have already over reached my allowance. Now I am having to reduce stuff to claw back draw calls. I have ONE animated character and a few particle effects and some static scenery - not much I assure you.

So for me the biggest issue currently is getting it to run smoothly at a decent frame rate. I certainly do not know all the tricks to use so I could be a poor example. What’s great is you do get that swift development iteration cylce going with Unity.

I hope some of that helps.
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15

All of this helps a lot, and I appreciate all of you that have chimed in with tips and tricks for the iPhone and programming. What my goal, is the first few releases will be very slight in graphical interaction with a minimumal framerate requirement, meaning that it is OK to have ~5FPS on them based on what they are. The rest are OK at ~15-20 FPS, they don’t require more than that, I am taking the C64 approach to programming as far as requirements. Each game (other than Unity iPhone overhead) should fit on an old school floppy, all objects will be exteremly minimal in poly count since a few of them I have, require very little visual appeal, but more on the text side. All in all each game with Unity overhead “should” fit in under 10 megs, with 1 or 2 megs of that being my junk.

16

I sent in an email to sales@unity3d.com earlier this morning for the iPhone Unity Advanced with a few questions and what not, how long (in hours or days) will it take before I will typically hear from them? I just want to make sure that the email didn’t get lost between me and them somehow.
Thx

17

Quick note on accelerometers: they don’t work like gyros. Gyroscopes can tell you everything you want to know about rotational orientation. Accelerometers with the level of (in)sensitivity as that on the iPhone will only reliably tell you which direction gravity is pulling. Other than that, you can tell if the device was hit or shaken, and that’s about it. If the device is rotated along an axis in-line with the direction of gravity (that is, within a plane orthogonal to gravity), the accelerometer won’t know about it since the direction of gravity did not change with respect to the device.

I hope that helps.

18

Typically response times are “within a business day”, which could technically be as late as Monday (which is why I’ve offered for you to contact me directly too :slight_smile: ).

Joe (our sales rep who tends to all sales@ emails) and I are heading out of the office for a few hours this afternoon, I’ll make sure your email is answered and you have a reply sent before we do that (if that hasn’t happened already).

Edit: sent! You’ve got mail!

19

Thanks :slight_smile: got the email and getting to work, I sent another few questions / requests, I’ll check back in on those over the weekend :slight_smile:

EDIT: sent in a request to sales, can’t wait to hear back tomorrow with what I need.

FYI: 2 programs so far have only needed to have there images changed by the compression type, other than that, wala, they compiled and boom, right onto the iPhone they went without a hitch. Although I have ran across an “odity”, I will start another thread on what I have discovered, don’t know what is happening, I know this is vague but would be off topic for this, all I know is I want to go ahead with the physical purchase, I could deploy tonight probably 1 game as it is.

20

I would seriously like a response to my email so I can purchase this thing, granted I allowed myself to be pushed into getting a 30 day evaluation first (huge mistake on my behalf), I said I wanted to buy it out right because I had deadlines and projects I want to publish. The 30 day trial did show me though that I can get away with just the Basic version. BUT I need to have my email answered before I can buy it, the reason is in the email. I know you said up to a full business day before response, but I am “hoping” that someone looks at the emails in sales over the weekend so I can send to apple 2 of the programs this weekend, if I have to wait till monday because of not going with my first request of just buying it out right rather than getting the trial… sigh… anyway, this is just aggravating. Yea I know there is a purchase link but it requires my full pro key, I need further information from sales to continue with the purchase request… going to go out to the bookstore to settle down some.