Unity needs to seriously rethink their entire direction

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I think the biggest problem that unity is facing right now is that they’re trying to compete with unreal, when the reality is they already have a niche they’re extremely successful at that they should pursue.

And to put it plainly, I don’t think they should be competing with unreal, I think they should be competing with Roblox.

Please don’t wince at that and hear me out.

Unity’s strength can be boiled into two core niches: community and games to market.

Going after tech demos is a treadmill they cannot keep pace on and they shouldn’t try to.

What they should do is:

  1. Focus on creating a social network for game development on unity.
  2. Create their distribution platform that is a single download and opens Unity when looking through.
  3. Create a subscription service that is the same for developers and for gamers to blur the line and get more people developing games as a hobbyist.

Starting with number one, I think it’s clear that they’ve actually started doing this but it could definitely be so much more. Personally, I would like to see a streamline system where people can start projects and gather people contributing with the legal side taken care of through their end.

Granted this doesn’t have to be with every project, but it would be nice if someone could put out a GDD and start a dev log, while taking on people interested in the project and the profit sharing filters through them so that it doesn’t become a scam.

But I would definitely like to see people develop a profile with a list of accomplishments that can’t be faked.

Lastly, I can especially see this being a good way to get into crowd sourcing.

Two, I think doing their own distribution on a single download platform makes too much sense not to do. All the different games have their own assets but can also draw them from a common library which could immensely decrease downloads and remove barriers for potential players. then give developers a plethora of monetization options: in game ads, subscription based, per purchase, dlc, and tips.

But as users go, they download the main game and can now look through a ton of content that can be quickly accessed, not unlike rpg maker, but with much more flexibility in creation.

Also, this makes play testing incredibly easy and fast. Working on a game? Publish Directly into the platform and get it on every single device immediately.

Three, I think they need to da a subscription model that allows people access to an integrated library of assets streamed straight to the engine that is immediately deleted if they don’t want it, or moved into a permanent folder.

The assets themselves should follow universal design principles that developer can tweak to meet their needs.

But more crucially, I think the subscription should also double as their distribution subscription so that every player using it has a development license and vice versa.

That’s my opinion at least.

Thoughts?

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Unity really shouldn’t be pursuing Child Exploitation the game.

How about we just settle on a game engine that’s stable and has good tools.

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I think that it’s possible to do this without the exploitation.

Think being the operative word.

But also, the biggest criticism of Roblox is how much of a bite they take out of the apple.

I’m guessing you don’t take issue with apogee buying the build engine from a 17 year old Ken Silverman or Origin selling games by 15 year old Richard Garriott, right?

So what’s the distinction?

Please don’t read that as a loaded question, I’m genuinely asking.

Roblox Is imexcusable because they tale dollars on the dime,

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Take a dollar on the dime. Sorry, using a phone to post this.

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Even putting aside the questionable nature of Roblox, no one wants Unity to become some social network and no one has been asking for that (aside from yourself).

The main thing the majority of users around these parts and others have been asking for is powerful tools that help them efficiently make games.

And if there’s anything to take away from the latest Unite, it’s that they’re heavily investing in that after middling about with acquisitions and other nonsense for years on end.

Unity should be competing with Unreal because it gets us better tools to make our games. Not instead completely pivoting away from all of that to make some game distribution platform that would compete with giants like Steam.

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I can dig this. (I don’t think it has to be too exploitive of the younger demographic gaming space).

Could be kinda like the warcraft 3 mod scene. Everyone had all those art assets and it was easy to mod to make a wealth of different games, and you could meet in lobbies to try new things and there was always that excitement of the new mod around the corner. No big downloads, just some game logic to try a new game.

Imagine a world where new budding game developers all had access to the same root files and assets all rigged and set up with game logic and set up in a way that it invites iteration, sort of like a living tutorial that developers could use to make a light “mod” to learn the basics of gamedev, or heck they could use it as a basis for an entirely new game.

There could be a few “templates” like RTS, side scroller, card game, whatever. Each with fully rigged assets animations, animation systems and scripts all ready to go with a bare bones working game loop.

Communities could spring up on social networks like facebook or twitter and create cool prizes for amatueres and pros and start fostering a community with big personalities discussing new features and mechanics that are being added.

Have little releases where the best code created by the community get integrated into the templates and have this living breathing mod scene where Unity isn’t thought of as this cold editor where professionals can make games and newcomers are left out, but it’s an inviting platform with approachable assets that are created in a way that nurtures the coming generation of gamedevs.

I’ve actually think about this stuff quite a bit, because this fun scene feels largely dead these days. I actually don’t know too much about Roblox maybe I should look into it.

There is absolutely a void for budding game creators that didn’t exist years ago. We don’t have a place for developers to learn to get decent at making games, and we’re finally entering an era where the lack of stepping stones is really starting to impact AAA studios, IMO. But maybe I just don’t know about emerging platforms, I kinda live under a rock these days :stuck_out_tongue:

Fact is, there just aren’t that many developers these days that cut their teeth on anything meaningful because the mod scene and gaming scenes that used to be so rich are barren now.

Warcraft 3 gave rise to Dota, Dota gave rise to league of legends and World of Warcraft.

There were tens of thousands of modders all learning together and getting better at gamedev across several communities that all fed into those games being made and this industry staying healthy.

That’s all dead now.

ANYWAY! Feel like i’m rambling at this point. I dig this post. We need more approachable platforms for developers to learn the ropes and for them to congregate and get better together in a fun approachable environment where their games can get played and the cream rises to the top.

I have this crazy theory that Unity is planning on doing visual code. Shader graph 2 is using the new graph system, and it allows for custom shader logic in those nodes…

MAKES YA WONDER!

Note: I’m in no way saying that unity should be simplified or dumbed down to become some easily adopted media platform. Just thinking with some visual scripting and some well made community tools and well integrated “templates” it could maybe kick start some really cool budding communities. Sorta like a tutorial/ community hybrid where people could grow into making their own games by learning the engine and building a community at the same time.

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Also, sorry for the triple reply, how is it different than TikTok or YouTube?

I know this is gonna be a mega wince, but maybe it’s time to allow the creation of game dev influencers.

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Fair.

I just think there’s bigger fish out there that no one has thought of going for.

I think we both seem to agree that games to market is a huge selling point though.

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No it’s not. Modding is more active and accessible than ever. There are entire frameworks that make modding any Unity game easy as hell. And plenty of game devs these days still started out as modders.

I’m one of them! I was modding Morrowind and Oblivion as a teen before setting my sights on game dev proper.

In fact Morrowind is still being actively modded and some of the best mods for it have only come out in the last few years.

Last year I was curious about modding Subnautica, and there was a discord channel absolutely bustling with people all taking part and sharing information.

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I was JUST editing my post before I read this. It’s entirely possible maybe I’m just out of the loop. In my mind it feels like it’s not as approachable a mod scene these days. I’m just not seeing those killer games like tower defense, or Defense of the Ancients lately taking the world by storm. Something about the way players find games and the tools at their disposal. It’s like that magic combination of accessibility, a solid game environment, and audience isn’t there any more.

Could just be rose colored glasses though. The good old days of all those awesome flash games sure is gone.

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I feel like you’re putting a lot of stuff in the words and wasn’t able to articulate.

But I think you get the gist of what I’m getting at.

People want to make games.

They don’t want to mess around with marketing, distribution, organizational skills, and legaleze.

I think the real challenge is making sure the diamonds find their way up and Creating a fair ecosystem.

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OK, but you have to admit modern has reached the plateau.

And personally I feel like modding Is extremely exploitative, Far more than Roblox.

My brother made something like 20 different levels for descent that were released on an unofficial CD ROM With Hundreds of levels and didn’t get a penny.

Meanwhile people cry foul At creation club.

It has a built-in expectation of zero monetary reward and all the value is given to the original developers

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Kind of your mind against my experience here.

When I first went to mod Morrowind there was next to zero information on how to even get a 3d model into the game, let alone which 3d program to use. This was, needless to say, nearly twenty years ago, and programs like Blender weren’t widely known about.

Nowadays there’s endless tutorials and resources, and the tooling is better than ever. When I went to mod Subautica, there were ample resources and documentation on how to specifically mod it. I was able to get my first mod up and running within the hour.

Even old games like Morrowind have gotten Lua scripting backends worked into them, making the mods of the future even more impressive than they used to be.

No? There’s always some new and interesting mod out there, particularly for the most popular games like Skyrim. Modders are always gonna mod, so long as someone has an idea and the commitment to pull it off.

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Totally.

So much of gaming has degraded because of what was done to modding communities and the flash scene and all that. Lots of people just don’t get exposed to gamedev in a way that they get immediate plays and put into an ecosystem where the barrier to entry isn’t too high, but they’re able to create quality experiences worth playing.

It’s a real bummer what Blizzard did to the mod Scene with Starcraft II and how that void was never really filled.

Those golden age of newgrounds and the warcraft III days were so good and led to a solid decade of good games.

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Btw, you SHOULD look into Roblox.

Their revenue and market share rivals Nintendo if I’m not mistaken.

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The biggest issue they’re facing right now is that no one trusts them.

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OK, maybe it’s just me but it feels like modding as a whole is remaking every previous elder scrolls on the latest engine, graphical tweaks, player made levels, or putting The Master Sword in a game.

I know there’s a lot more to it, but the harsh reality is it’s never gonna breakthrough this plateau without monetization which has floundered spectacularly.

Just using the word modding makes the entitled cry-babies screech at the idea of paying people doing the work.

Work deserves compensation and I’m not sorry to say that. And the workaround from large studios about it is to politely ignore them.

I feel like they’ve made a very deliberate ecosystem where discourse on the matter doesn’t happen.

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Because modding is a hobby and not a profession.

You want to make money off of those skills? Become an actual game dev. The jump isn’t that large.

You’ll find most modders do it as a hobby as they enjoy it. No one’s doing it to make tons of cash.

There’s too many legal issues when it comes to paid mods. That’s why most modders take donations.

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Not to pile on, but I think this also addresses the major fundamental issue with games right now.

AAA Studios are terrified of innovation.

And it’s starting to infect the AA and single A games.

Studios want a print money button, And I really can’t blame them considering the lives involved in it, But it’s created a cancer Of stagnation that we are Watching unfold in Hollywood A decade down the pipeline.

Before long we’re going to see 99% of games being old IPs.

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Absolutely.

Not to be gross, but they need a Miley Cyrus foam finger moment to shift the conversation.