I've just learned some very valuable electronics lessons, and it was helped by KiCad the free open-source electronics design software. It's a very large suite of tools but having a specific need in front of me (capture reverse engineered schematics of a circuit board) helped me stay focus and get to the "know enough to do what I need to do" point quickly. I've also been learning FreeCAD, another piece of free open-source software, but I haven't reached that point yet. And now I'm adding another piece of open-source software on the "learn enough to do what I need" list: Godot Engine.

Godot is an alternative to Unity 3D, both offering a game development environment and runtime engine. Unity has lots of learning resources online. It adopts new development paradigms like data-oriented programming, new tools like machine learning, and supports new platforms like virtual reality. It also used to have very beginner-friendly terms and conditions, letting aspiring indie game developer hobbyists play around for free and letting small startups launch. Originally the pitch was: "share your success". Only after a game studio is successful would Unity start requiring payment. Unfortunately, Unity as a business is changing for the worse.

Recently there's been an uproar in the game development industry as Unity announced new pricing policies to go into effect at the start of 2024. While price increases happen across the economy on everything we buy, this particular case was deeply antagonizing.

  1. Instead of paying royalties on successful games, it could levy a fee upon every game installation regardless of whether it is a revenue-generating context. This means, for example, successful royalty-paying game studios will be charged for every installation of a free demo whether it turns into a sale or not.

  2. Even though it doesn't take effect until next year, the new policies could apply retroactively. Games currently in development will be held to different terms than what the project started with. Even worse, it applies to games that have already been released!

  3. Before the announcement, these changes were previewed with a few game studios to get their feedback. After receiving some very negative feedback, Unity went ahead anyway.

  4. The worst part: Unity pulled this stunt once before in 2019 and got flamed for it. They walked back those changes and promised "we heard you" and won't do it again. Now in 2023, they did it again.

Why is this happening? Money, of course! Unity went public in 2020, which meant a management structure incentivized to "maximize shareholder value". And the most obvious way to do that was to squeeze game developers for as much as they will tolerate. The proposed 2019 changes were originally intended to improve Unity's financial outlook pre-IPO but backfired. And now it is obvious Unity's management has failed to learn the lesson.

As of this writing, Unity is on a damage-control footing walking back their announcement. Again. Will it work a second time? I don't know. It hasn't escaped people's notice that the same management mindset that drove headfirst into this train wreck is still in charge. [Update: CEO has resigned, but the board of directors and senior management are still there.] Notably absent from the current retraction is any legally binding obligation preventing them from trying yet again after this current storm blows over.

So "Fool me once", and all that. Unity's largest competitor is Unreal Engine whose licensing terms aren't as generous, but they also lack a history of such underhanded tactics at changing said terms. Unreal will likely pick up Unity customers who need a mature toolset with leading-edge performance and quality. For those without such requirements, like small indie game studios and aspiring game developer hobbyists, maybe none of these Unity changes affect us today. But we should all be deeply concerned that Unity's free tier may gradually become crippled in the future if not disappear entirely. Thus, alternatives like Godot Engine deserves a look.