Unity 5 Personal Edition

The Unity 5 Personal edition is an amazing tool for those who are interested in creating independent video games. There are so many aspects to this program and its community. The software is capable creating both 3D and 2D video games with an overall very high performance. The user is able to create games on every platform including portable devices and also use virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift.

The Unity 5 interface is very user friendly. The main window is divided into four main sections. The middle section is your scene workstation where you can edit and customize levels and other assets as well as test out the game. The left section is the hierarchy, this area lists where every object is in the game and their specific groupings be it textures, animations, sound effects etc. The bottom section lists all of your favorite materials and assets as well as lets you check the coding during testing. The right section of the window lets you manipulate selected objects. The top section of the window lets you play, pause, and stop playing your game and has the tool bar. The program has a huge catalog of assets from their store, some of which are either free to use or a real bargain to purchase. In fact people have actually made a decent living just creating assets to sell on the store. Unity also comes with a wide array of packages of various tools and effects that you can use in your games. For example most beginners want to create a first person shooting video game but either aren't sure exactly how or just want to hit the ground running. They've developed an entire control kit to allow for very easy use and customization for those who really want to quickly want to make their next game or prototype. The tutorials on Unity’s website, along with the overall community, are great to use if you have the time and are very straight forward to learn. This is great considering most of the tutorials found on YouTube are usually outdated or very slow in the making.

The rendering engine, particle system, shading system, and physics system in Unity 5 are far superior to its predecessor and most of the competition on the market with perhaps the exception of the Unreal Engine. It’s very similar to the Unreal Engine, but the quality is just slightly better on the rendering aspect. The work flow of Unity 5 is great and very simple to get a hang of when creating levels and terrain. It is also compatible with other various programs such as Maya and Blender.

The flaws for Unity are very few and are very minor. As helpful as the tutorials are on their website, it’s all about the Unity Engine and their tools. Most people who want to jump into making a video game usually have an idea of what genre they want to work on. Because of this, you’ll have to turn to YouTube. YouTube’s tutorials are useful in principle, but are mostly very out of date and low quality. Although there are weekly tutorials from some of the best users and creators of the program, if Unity had specific series on some of the types of games that could be made, or even very popular genres, it would greatly increase user interest. Another suggestion would be to add 3D modeling capabilities into the program. Although you can create different terrain, weather, effects, shading textures, particle physics, and import other assets, it would seem simple enough to be able to create basic assets as well in theory.

There are two versions of the software, a more recent personal version and a professional version. Both of these versions have the same capabilities. The professional version comes with a few more tool kits, analytics tracking capabilities, cloud saving, prioritized bug handling, and beta access. Overall the program has quickly evolved since its initial launch. The personal edition is free to use and is capable of publishing on every platform. The professional version is a requirement when the creator retains one hundred thousand dollars in profit, and is a team license with the aforementioned capabilities. The professional version isn’t strikingly different than the free version. Overall the program is great for what it is, a very high performing level and game engine.