Heya again. It's been ages since I've done a blog, announcement, etc. And wish I could update here with more sellable news, or demo works. But alas, it's bad news here. But one with hope if you're willing to pay the price...

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So, normally I don't like making a loose update or comment on game development. Developmment I'm currently on an indefinate break from. But given the recent doomcrier news I heard first on forums and echoed by other media outlets; YouTube and Discord wise?

Well. hate to say it. But it seems Unity is dead, by an altered deal on free game development being altered, to charge you cents per install/use/loading of a game. Which would quickly make it unviable for me to continue hosting, or endource the use/sharing of any of my demo'd or developed games on Unity.

And though I am reminded of how such a move reminded me of "The OGL Saga", right out of ye oldé Dungeons & Dragons lore, that was ultimately axed by your indie ORC Licence. And though in that case Hasbro ultimately stepping back with having to irrevocable their licence to Creative Commons...

I don't, strictly have that same faith for Unity. Given how it's customer base ain't wizards fighting against imaginary bad guys; more despairate game devs eeking out a living and all of that.

And when I looked at game developer related articles and more. I ended up encountering a quote originally sourced from insert credit (an article you should read). Here's a most relatable excerpt that I'm taking to heart.

if you're starting a new game project, do not use Unity. If you started a project 4 months ago, it's worth switching to something else. Unity is quite simply not a company to be trusted.

So, moving forward. Under how Unity's gone scorched ground, and I can no longer in good faith trust the engine's viability on even a hearsay business lens. Here's what I'm going to do, moving forward.

Indefinately, all my future game development projects. If given a chance, will not be using Unity. I'd likely instead consider giving a shot on other game engines.

Furthermore, if/when by the new year. This altered deal, isn't altered further to irrevokable benefit (and even then...). Chances are, I will be compelled/forced to remove my portfolio of any/all Unity Games, permamently.

This might lead to having a completely blank canvas. Making me unviable for being hired as a game developer. But eh, wasn't getting hired, sponsored/etc for what I've developed so far, so...

And well. This crisis will be a good motivation of an excuse to do game dev on other platforms. Such as Godot, or even Ren'py if I want to blend my passion for writing, with game development.

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Does this announcement suck, future actions and all? Magic 8-Ball quote cites "Outlook not so good".

But I find it a necessary action and promise. When you cannot rely on the actions of an untrustworthy company set to be as evil in predatory business practices, you'll have to rely on your own actions.

Which no doubt, will likely show that 2024 will be the turning point of Unity, as a creative platform will probably die 'faster than Flash'. And it took Flash as a toolkit ages to die out. Aeons, even. And so much history was lost (or archived/preserved) afterwards.

Can't say the same will happen at all for Unity. But hey, it's grim times ahead. The only boats left is other game engines that don't hate their customer base with calling them "fucking idiots" for excessive monetisation practices. Or switch tracks to an entirely new platform in media.