Unity 2.5 windows compatible

Yep. It's nice that you'll be able to develop Unity-based apps on Windows, but it doesn't obviate the requirement of a Mac for the iPhone development side unfortunately.

 

Right, Unity iPhone is a separate product and only runs on Macs. You could run Unity 2.5 on a PC and import your project into Unity iPhone, but it's a lot more productive just to develop on the Mac in the first place since you can't do any testing on the iDevice with a PC.

--Eric

 

*sigh*
I know it could be expensive and all but Apple really needs to make an iPhone SDK for windows.
So many more people that want to Dev for it would be able to.

 

Sorry to say, it will never happen. The simulator runs off OS X api's. The whole app signing process is tied to the OS X keychain. And really, I don't think Apple is at all concerned with the number of devs, since they can barely keep up with the current bunch. And finally, Apple sells computers. They want devs to be working on a Mac, not Windows.

And really, the cost of a Mac Mini pales in comparision to the potential sales involved on the App Store. Nowhere on the planet can you gain such a large audience for the small price of around $700. It's a drop in the bucket. Heck, it's a drop of the drop in the bucket.

 

They said once that it was possible but it could cost A LOT to do.

And I don't care about the Mac Mini. I hat them. They really aren't very good. If you don't already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, you have have to go out and by them. and if you buy them from Apple it will add up to about 1200 bucks by the time you have everything (including the Mac Mini).

And I would rather have a laptop. I do not like desktop computers very much. But the cheapest MacBook possible to get is like $850 for a refurbished version of the old (not with the newer good specs either) white plastic one. I would even consider getting that but I can't. I'm not from the kind of family who has the money to spend on a thousand dollar laptop if you know what I mean. I want to develop for the iPhone because it seems like an awesome thing to do and a cool way to try to make some money.

Apple either needs to create an iPhone SDK for Windows (and just so you know, I prefer the Macs and Mac OS over windows, but like I said, I simply cannot afford it.) or make a cheaper Mac notebook that is capable of running the iPhone SDK. They are leaving out A LOT of people who would like to develop for the iPhone. More than you would think.

 

I used Unity to make Zombieville USA. The engine has a few quirks, but if you can work within the limitations it presents it can save you a ridiculous amount of time. Some users have had complaints of memory leaks, or certain features (like real time physics) causing problems with their apps, just to give you fair warning, but in my experience there are no real showstopping issues with the engine itself, just annoyances that can be worked around. I definitely don't regret using it, and plan to for future iphone games.

 

Yes they are. Even the older one, with the rather lame GMA 950 graphics, is perfectly fine for iPhone development. The new one is quite a bit better. It's pretty unlikely that you wouldn't have keyboard/mouse/etc. lying around that you couldn't appropriate or share. It's not like you need to go out and buy new high-end replacements.

Anyway, like LWB said, it's not exactly like Apple is suffering from a lack of iPhone devs.

--Eric

 

Used Unity to make Dead Man's Dungeon. Its a a great engine!

 

I never said they were lacking from devs. I'm just saying that there are a lot of people that are missing out on it because they don't have the money for a mac.

And no, I do not have a spare keyboard, mouse and monitor. My parents have a desktop that I used my whole life until I got a laptop. So no, I dont have any of those things. And I would rather have me computer portable anyway. (yes i know the mac mini is light and all but i mean portable in the fact that it can operate on the go without being a hassle)

I am not insinuating that Apple has a lack of devs because of this, I am simply saying that they are holding a lot of people back. there are even some people out there that want to dev for the iphone but (and i cant understand why) say they cant stand macs or the mac os so they refuse to.

 

I disagree. I developed TanZen on a 2008 Mac Mini, and it was vastly more than capable. The iPhone SDK is not what I'd call processor or memory intensive in the least. If it wasn't for the the Intel requirement, you could easily develop on a ten year old Mac.

But wouldn't you have to have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse to develop on Windows as well? And there's no requirement to buy any of these from Apple. Any old kind will do. Unless you're convinced you need a laptop, which really, will cost a lot more, and will be more annoying to code on (i.e. small screen).

Me neither. We were in a lot of debt when I made the leap and bought a Mini. A year later, I can go out and buy a fleet of Minis with the sales I made off the work of one Mini.

I have no doubt there are tons of people who want to develop for the iPhone. I'm just saying Apple has nothing to gain by spending millions to make the system Windows capable. There are about 30,000 apps on the store now. Apple isn't begging for more devs to show up.

 

The easier it is for the average Joe, I'm a PC, to make iPhone apps, the more cluttered the store will become. It can't handle the already huge number of apps available and it has only been one year. There is a lot of junk in the app store and if there are more inexperienced devs trying to get their stuff out there it will only make the problem worse. Lastly, Apple wants to sell computers, so they can do that by making the SDK exclusively tied to their machines.

Sorry for keeping this off topic.

 

I have a Unity game I'm finishing up today:



It was initially just a test to get a feel for the device and try out some techniques for lighting (most 3D games on the iPhone have pretty boring or nonexistent lighting), but it turned out to be actually rather fun, so I spent some time and polished it up. I should be submitting it shortly after I get some more testing on it, but so far I haven't had any issues, and it typically runs at 60fps.

Because of using Unity that also means I can publish to other platforms with minimal effort, so I'm also planning on making it into an OS X dashboard widget, since it seems appropriate for this sort of thing, and widgets get pretty good distribution. (I have one that's been getting 50-150 downloads/day consistently for over a year, except when it gets into the top 50, in which case it's more like 400-600. That's freeware, so I'm guessing a paid widget should get me a few extra bucks, which is worthwhile in this case since most of the work is already done and I only have to add/change a few things.)

--Eric

 

The shadows seems quite good for a mobile game. Is that a action game need to escape from a tomb?

 

Check out this topic.

--Eric