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Unity 4 Adds Linux Support
dartttt writes "After more than 14,000 votes by Linux users and efforts by Brian Fargo, Unity has added Linux support to their popular 3D game engine. Starting with Unity 4.0, Linux will be supported as a publishing platform allowing Unity games to be played natively on Linux. Only standalone desktop games will be supported initially. From the article: 'Unity Technologies, maker of a widely used video-game engine, today announced that its fourth-generation product will introduce new animation technology and extend its support for Adobe Systems' Flash Player, Linux, and Microsoft's DirectX 11.'"
How about a kickstarter to liberate the source of Unity?
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
now devs and companies just have to click a few buttons and we got some games... hopefully
Laws and common sense still applies.
You mean Unity finally wont suck on Linux?
http://saveie6.com/
OMG! OMG! OMG! More proprietary software is coming to Linux!!! Fuck yeah!!!
Now that the engine is ported, how much additional effort is required by the developer to make their game run on Linux? A lot? A little? I'm readily curious.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
cool more game for Linux! it seems that some companies in the game industry take notice of Linux and it's market
Pics or GTFO!
this could encourage others to support linux with their engines
Since games like shadow gun run on Android and make use if the unity engine, want unity essentially 'ported' to Linux anyway? I mean I'm sure it is native code on Android and not just Java.
The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
I thought this was another "gnome 3 is horrible" post. It's so horrible that after a few releases it NOW supports Linux.
nt
Is Unity compatible with Ubuntu Unity? Does one allow to kill the other?
It is not misleading, it is only misleading if you are a moron.
It should have taken you a whole 3/4 of a second to realize that it was not the Unity you expected and is instead a different Unity.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
Can we get some GameMaker up in here?
Humble Indie Bundle. Nuff said.
Apparently, Polyphony has just announced Gran Turismo as a Linux-only title - the preview is already up on Youtube: GT6
The community needs to, err, unify Unity and Unity if we're ever going to advance the cause.
Except for UNITY. splitters !
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
It makes perfect sense for Valve to buy and opensource Unity to get more games for their upcoming Linux-based game console.
Which means Linux will be dead. (Because Joe Retard's idea of an ideal OS, which is an appliance that thinks for him, while he drools on the floor, is the complete opposite of a full computer with an efficient human-computer interface that is used for automating *your* work away.) Long live Linux!
Can't tell if trolling or truly stupid...
to use on the Nokia phones
http://memegenerator.net/elop
As response to the above I can confirm that Unity is very much used because of the development environment, ease of use for 3D artists, and an incredibly simple tool chain that lets you target many platforms with one codebase. Art assets can be shared between platforms as well, or specified per platform.
For these reasons, Unity is used a lot at small studios, particularly where gameplay is the main focus and the technology doesn't have to be cutting edge. Systems like Unreal and CryEngine are more powerful from a technology and graphics standpoint, but are not nearly as easy to use for small teams of developers.
In particular, Unity's documentation, specifically its scripting documentation, is outstanding. The documentation for other systems is extremely rough by comparison.
I have no affiliation with Unity3D, other than the fact that I've used the software in the past and like it. I know the facts I mention above because I've done consulting and training for many local game studios, many of which have used or are using Unity3D. Also, hundreds of my students currently work in the game industry (many in Vancouver BC) so I often hear about what's going on in local studios.
And this is why the Ubuntu jerks named the product this way. They're trying to get respectability by riding on the coattails of a respectable company via customer confusion. This is the same reason rip-off companies that make counterfeit products always copy the packaging and look of the company they're trying to steal from. As always, it's the end user that suffers because of these scammers.
I knew Linux could not be responsible for such a Desktop travesty! I wonder how much Shuttleworth was receiving to take the rap??
Lets say that there is an article about Ford's term as Vice-President. Just because you thought about the motor company first that doesn't make the article misleading.
Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
We run Unity for an embedded gaming solution (electronic gaming, think slots and similar machines). When I approached Unity at G2E they said they had it working on Linux (I suspect IGT or another big player in class 3 asked for it) but it wasn't released to the general masses. Linux is so much easier to manage than the alternatives and is much more cost effective.
This also means you can run Unity games on the RaspberryPi or similar. Can't wait to make myself a Unity arcade cabinet based off the Pi or Rikomagic.
"If you are going through hell, keep going." - Winston Churchill
Honestly, I don't see how XBox could be losing money with the annual subscription. That said, I won't be renewing my subscription the second time around. I was really hoping windows media center would be a good thing for, you know, media. But as it turns out it blows, so I'm going to build a mini-atx computer to replace it.
How wonderful! All 30 of the people who play games on Teh Lunix will be overjoyed! Sadly, only 2 of them actually buy software. But hey, I'm sure those numbers are very compelling for software devs to support Teh Lunix!
So how do you recommend funding the development and publishing of a professional-quality video game with zero kicks in the gonads?
Hopefully this means we'll be seeing a nice flood of Unity games that have been waiting for the Linux support like Kerbal Space Program.
I believe Microlith was referring to RMS's statement linked from this story, which might be taken to mean that non-free games on a free platform are the lesser of two evils: "At least you avoid the harm to your freedom that Windows would do." He goes on to say something to the effect "instead of actually playing games, support these vaporware projects".
X.Org X11 Server is not part of the GNU project, and in fact, a GNU system need not be running any sort of window system at all. Some comments to other Slashdot stories have convinced me that if the sense is "GUI Linux but not Android", the term "X11/Linux" is probably more accurate.
The things which are classicaly non-portable are things which require input and output.
Every video game requires input and output. If your gameplay is finely tuned for a keyboard or joystick, then adapting it to a completely flat touch screen isn't necessarily a trivial matter. An on-screen gamepad isn't enough because the player can't feel where the buttons are without looking, a problem known since the Intellivision. For example, how would you adapt Super Mario Bros. to touch control? I tried playing the official Tetris® game for iPhone once, and I couldn't get even half the TPM (play speed) on it that I could get on Tetris DS.
Judging from the number of the "This had better run on Linux!" comments on Neal Stephenson's sword game Kickstarter campaign (they are likely to use Unity for CLANG), this should make some people happy.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
That's not the same at all.
The article used the name 'Unity,' not the title 'Unity 3D' (the official title of the software described in the article).
It is misleading.
No it's not. That's the name of their domain name. Their product is just "Unity" -- So no, it's not misleading.
Are you being serious? Studios will continue to not target Linux for the foreseeable future and generally remain DirectX only. Unity of all things isn't going to change this. A DirectX only strategy is not "suicide" when the broad majority of your target user base uses DirectX. But really, you were probably just trolling or seriously delusional anyway.
Today Unity3D also announced that the next major release of the Unity game engine (Unity 4.0) will allow the developers to target DX11, I really don't think they're trying to affect DX/OpenGL so much as do what their customers want.
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Honestly, I don't see how XBox could be losing money with the annual subscription.
XBox had a few quarters running in the black, not doing nearly so well right now, and not remotely close to payback on the original investment. Meanwhile the product is well past what should have been its end of life and the whole kooky charade has to play out all over again. If not for Balmer's personal pride this vanity project would have stopped providing subsidized gaming consoles long ago.
Do you see it now? Not "losing money" but "already lost tons of money with no hope of getting it back now or ever".
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Hah, that's funny, Android is Linux. Anyway I said nothing about targeting Linux I talked about targeting OpenGL. Which has clearly got the high ground right now. Face it, DirectX is an oddity that is only walks the earth because Microsoft keeps pumping money into it, but that isn't enough.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
One more wall of fortress Microsoft crumbles. Game devs finally notice the way the wind is blowing, a DirextX-only strategy is suicide. OpenGL won and soon only the shrinking PC segment and money losing XBox will be left waving the DirectX flag. It's about time.
And how does Microsoft respond? Sure, send in the Slashdot spinmods. Sheesh. Better you boys should do some honest work.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
Outside of mobile platforms where DirectX is actually a competitor, OpenGL will not overtake DirectX in use for the foreseeable future. Microsoft has never taken a strong interest in bringing DirectX to mobile platforms to begin with. DirectX flourishes just fine on the platforms Microsoft actually cares about it being on. You can tout your nonsense about the end being nigh for DirectX until your face turns blue, but it won't make it true. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.
The presence of DirectX in the mobile space rounds to zero, and that is where the action is. Meanwhile, OpenGL has a foothold in or dominates every market except XBox, where Ballmer would rather eat a floppy disk than let anybody ship a game based on the graphics library he tried so hard to kill. Maybe Ballmer should have tried harder because failing in that evil project was a critical failure and no doubt will be the cause of much chair throwing in Redmond as the logical consequences play out.
It verges on comical to hear you protest that Microsoft does not actually care about this. Well go ahead, your delusions are not my problem.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
One more wall of fortress Microsoft crumbles. Game devs finally notice the way the wind is blowing, a DirextX-only strategy is suicide. OpenGL won and soon only the shrinking PC segment and money losing XBox will be left waving the DirectX flag. It's about time.
I can hardly wait for Slashdot to break the Microsoft Surface story so I can make fun of it.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I contributed to the Wasteland 2 kickstarter, and it was said all along that if/when it reached X dollars there would also be a Mac and Linux version. It easily passed that amount. In one of the follow-up newsletters, they stated that they had reviewed a number of game engines and chosen Unity, one of the reasons being that they had been working on porting it to Linux anyway and that there had been a substantial amount of work done already to that end, before being chosen for Wasteland 2. That and the development tools made it very easy to work with and they could put more resources into content, rather than creating/porting an engine and so on. (I don't have the email in front of me - so I'm going from memory)
Nuff said indeed. That's all there is to say.
But Unity (the game engine) is actually just called "Unity", and not "Unity3d". The latter is commonly used to refer to it, because the website is unity3d.com, but the product is simply called "Unity", so the headline is correct in that sense. I guess it could have been more explicit by mentioning the words game engine in the title, though.
You clearly don't understand the purpose of DirectX if you believe Microsoft is actually sweating OpenGL's current position in the mobile market. If Microsoft wanted DirectX to be more widespread in the mobile market, they would actually be trying to further that goal. They're not going to for the same reason they'll never bring DirectX to Mac or Linux: It's a platform specific library designed to bring in developers to the Windows platform. DirectX maintains its strong dominance over OpenGL in the Windows PC market, which is where the library is almost entirely based.
I'm done trying to get this through your thick head. It's just not worth replying further.
Yeah, he very specifically did say that in one of his recent essays. He doesn't like this unliberated software, but he'd rather that it sleeps w/ his liberated OS, rather than an unliberated one.
I actually tend to believe that the opposite choices are the way to go. Had the FOSS movements (not talking about just the FSF, but everybody involved in having source code automatically available w/ binaries) actually started w/ useful apps and making those liberated or open-sourced - things like Office Suites, Image & video editing software, Publishing software, financial software like and so on - that would have been better for FOSS as a whole. People would have gotten used to the likes of Open Office, GIMP, VLC and so on ages ago, just like they're used to Firefox and Chrome, and those would have been ubiquitous on computers. This would also have given these platforms the opportunity to get feature rich and customizable, letting people install either just the features they need, or all the bells & whistles.
Once that was out there, it would have been relatively easier to migrate them to FOSS OSs, be it Linux, BSD, osFree, ReactOS, et al. The initial port may have been a bitch - all those API translations and so on - but once that was done & out of the way, making upgrades to say, Linux versions of FOSS titles would have accompanied the upgrades to Windows equivalents (incidentally, while on that subject, such software should not have to be re-written b/w different versions of glibc or GCC or GTK or Qt - once it's written in each library, it should automatically be supported by its successors). Only caveat I see - the business models behind these would have needed to be worked out, but aside from that, it would have ensured a much wider acceptance of FOSS. In other words, if these programs need to be sold, do it, so that the projects don't remain in the red.
In short, what keeps FOSS from being widely embraced is its focus on lower layer s/w like kernels and userland utilities, rather than actual programs that end-users need. Stop making 20 text editors, 10 music players (KDE, I'm looking @ YOU), and so on, and actually produce the type of software that people need - be it things like Quickbooks, Photoshop & so on (close the gaps b/w GNUcash & Quickbooks, GIMP & Photoshop, Calligra vs MS Office and so on). Once those are successful, it will be easier to talk people into installing BSD or Linux or other FOSS OSs, since these titles can be ported there, given the availability of the source.
Microsoft cares about OpenGL to the extent that it allows users of non-Microsoft platforms to enjoy a high performance 3D gaming experience, and Microsoft hates that. Games are one of the few remaining areas where Microsoft is able to create a platform advantage, and that particular advantage is quickly eroding. So yes, Microsoft care about OpenGL, it is a strategic technology. Microsoft always knew that a healthy OpenGL would facilitate escape from its platform locking, and therefore tried very hard to kill it, and fortunately failed, but it was a close call. Microsoft never stopped caring about it, it just can't do anything about it, it already shot its multibillion dollar wad in the form of Xbox and now there are way way way more Angry Birds players than Halo players. Xbox just doesn't matter very much any more, and Microsoft killed its own PC gaming platform to try and make it matter.
You know, it's getting boring talking about tired old monopolist thug Microsoft and its ruined plans. Talk to yourself about it next time, I'm moving on to something that matters.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
That explains why I didn't get it to work for me!
Apparently, the most popular modes are Capture-The-Menu and Hidden-App-Minefield. And if your PC supports 3D, you can experience the 21st century blur effect that will cause your computer to hang, that should be familiar to MS Windows users.
Please bring Unity3D web player support so we can use NASA's "Eyes on the solar system" app !
PLEASE my god please