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Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

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Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#181
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you do have to redo everything, why the hell would you switch to another proprietary technology?! Why not use OpenSceneGraph, OGRE, Irrlicht, Cube2, or one of the hundreds of other free game engines / frameworks out there instead?

Based on your comment it seems like you haven't looked into or used a game engine since the late 90s (Cube 2 and Irrlicht?). The only real open source competition for Unreal and Unity is probably Godot, and it's not really competitive. Many of the engines you mentioned (OSG, Ogre) are not full game engine, but renderers and scene graph implementations. For that something like bgfx or even three.js if you're targeting…

Then put your money towards improving them (or writing your own, if that's cheaper/better?), rather than feeding yet another proprietary hog.

By continuing to buy UE you're just digging yourself a deeper hole for when things inevitably turn sour (as they just did for Unity).

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#182
post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's likely they have both. What they're shipping right now is the latter. What they're selling to investors is the former. Planet scale.

Why do you think that they have what they are selling to investors?

That is a very good question. Has anyone tested the scaling and load limits of the thing yet? I haven't seen any reports.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#183
Forum post on the Unity forums from the Unity CTO:

"We are preparing a blog post because there is a lot of mis-information but the short summary is that using Unity as a game developer or game studio in a generic cloud (GCP, AWS, Azure) or on your own servers is perfectly legal."

https://forum.unity.com/threads/recent-tos-update-blocks-the...

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#184
post #37

> You may not directly or indirectly distribute the Unity Software, including the runtime portion of the Unity Software (the “Unity Runtime”), or your Project Content (if it incorporates the Unity Runtime) by means of streaming or broadcasting so that any portion of the Unity Software is primarily executed on or simulated by the cloud or a remote server and transmitted over the Internet or other network to end user d…

I don't know why people are still using unity instead of UE4 except for historical reasons where users of the engine are hesitant to switch and have to relearn some things. Unity is not open source, it does not come with batteries included (so you end up buying a bunch of poorly maintained unity assets/plugins to do stuff that UE4 does out of the box), and I think they're struggling as a company more than people real…

> I don't know why people are still using unity instead of UE4

How about not having to use the dumpster fire called C++ for game code? C# is far nicer to use. Also, in Unity code hot-reloads instantly and reliably.

> Meanwhile, UE4 is a really good deal and keeps getting better with every release.

So does Unity. I think people underestimate how much more development effort went into Unity in the last years. UE4 has more fanboys, less actual success. On the other hand, with the Fortnite windfall, maybe UE4 will pick up pace now.

> It's really just a better put together engine all around.

It's still a godawful pile of C++ that takes forever to compile. I'm sure the same is true for Unity's core, but they're moving to a subset of C# that can be compiled more efficiently.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> For rapid development of mobile games, Unity is basically the only choice. Why? Unreal Engine has targeted iOS + Android phones for 5+ years now, successfully. (Fortnite, PUBG, Dungeon Defenders, Horn, etc). More mobile developers are experienced with Unity over Unreal today , but that's largely inertia more than anything else.

UE4 has always pushed high-end rendering tech hard and not prioritised mobile. There’s little awareness of the current state of its mobile capabilities, with few big UE4 hits on the App Store (and hundreds of Unity success stories including Pokemon Go and Hearthstone) F2P mobile dev is also very UI heavy, and UI work with Unity/C# is easier than dealing with C++/Unreal. And Unity has a wealth of ready made plugins th…

Unreal has a new UI system and designer that feels really really good to use. And has visual blueprint code support.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#186

Tim Sweeney (Founder of Epic Games) reacted strongly to this in a thread on Twitter. https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/108340746025221734... "We specifically make the UE4 EULA apply perpetually so that when you obtain a version under a given EULA, you can stay on that version and operate under that EULA forever if you choose."

In fairness, that's easy for a guy sitting on Fortnite to say. That said, I do agree with his point. Unity should consider making these new TOS provisions apply from today forward instead of making them apply to everything . (That probably won't happen, because it would kneecap their upcoming cloud offerings, but I think ideally that's how it should work.)

This was their pitch with UE4 even back when Fortnite was just some weird survival game they demoed at an Apple keynote.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#187
post #37

> You may not directly or indirectly distribute the Unity Software, including the runtime portion of the Unity Software (the “Unity Runtime”), or your Project Content (if it incorporates the Unity Runtime) by means of streaming or broadcasting so that any portion of the Unity Software is primarily executed on or simulated by the cloud or a remote server and transmitted over the Internet or other network to end user d…

Or Godot, a highly capable free engine!

Also free as in freedom of speech, not just free beer.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#188
post #37

> You may not directly or indirectly distribute the Unity Software, including the runtime portion of the Unity Software (the “Unity Runtime”), or your Project Content (if it incorporates the Unity Runtime) by means of streaming or broadcasting so that any portion of the Unity Software is primarily executed on or simulated by the cloud or a remote server and transmitted over the Internet or other network to end user d…

[deleted]

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#189

Tim Sweeney (Founder of Epic Games) reacted strongly to this in a thread on Twitter. https://twitter.com/TimSweeneyEpic/status/108340746025221734... "We specifically make the UE4 EULA apply perpetually so that when you obtain a version under a given EULA, you can stay on that version and operate under that EULA forever if you choose."

In fairness, that's easy for a guy sitting on Fortnite to say. That said, I do agree with his point. Unity should consider making these new TOS provisions apply from today forward instead of making them apply to everything . (That probably won't happen, because it would kneecap their upcoming cloud offerings, but I think ideally that's how it should work.)

A retroactively-changeable EULA sounds totally radioactive and not doing that seems more like table stakes than a luxury. But I guess that's what we get with a game engine specifically aimed at less-professional developers.

Re: Unity Engine ToS change makes cloud-based SpatialOS games illegal

#190
post #175
post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you think of https://xenko.com/ ?

And Godot?

I think Godot is a bit behind in 3d offerings. But I think it's close enough for most games that don't want AAA next gen graphics.
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