Unity 2017.1 goes subscription based

Unity Technologies announced that Unity 2017.1 is now available to download from their Store. The update is the start of a new cycle that will evolve their popular game engine. 2017.1, which is the company’s first fully subscription-based product, focuses on helping teams work together more collaboratively by equipping artists and designers.

“Unity 2017.1 is a one-stop creation powerhouse that will allow teams of artists and designers to unlock their full creativity. With incredibly open choreography tools like Timeline, smart procedural cameras in Cinemachine which follow your direction, and a built-in world-class color grading suite plus the ability to edit and output all from within, we’re unleashing a content creation game changer that will improve collaboration across the board,” said Adam Myhill, Head of Cinematics, Unity. “Working in an environment with so much power and flexibility doesn't just save a huge amount of time, it allows you to experiment, iterate and collaborate in ways which are the key ingredients of so many great things.”

Timeline and Cinemachine

Timeline and Cinemachine empower artists to create cinematic content and gameplay sequences without the need for coding. Timeline allows artists to easily blend and tweak animations, allowing for freedom to experiment and refine their creations. Cinemachine optimizes the artist workflow and gives room for experimentation by eliminating hours of hand animation, camera programming, and revision by using smart cameras for shot composition in cinematic sequences and gameplay. Engineers can also easily integrate sequences created with Timeline through the powerful scripting API and extend Timeline with the Playable API to create custom track types. Everyone will benefit from these new creative tools as it gives them access to artist tools that are intuitive, powerful and easy to use.

Data-driven Live-Ops

The 2017.1 update gives users the power to take action on insights using a suite of Live-Ops analytics tools. Remote Settings is a powerful new feature that gives users the ability to make changes to their games in real-time, all without deploying a new version. Underpinning this is Standard Events which gives teams a window into how players are using their creations so they can make adjustments that will optimize enjoyment. Teams can also further maximize their success with Unity 2017.1’s built-in revenue generation solutions, bringing more opportunities to creators to optimize the performance of their content.

Robust Ecosystem

Unity’s ecosystem helps accelerate time-to-market and decrease production costs through the Unity Asset Store, a massive catalog of free and paid off-the-shelf content created by the community, for the community. The Asset Store’s all-new redesign is rolling out this summer and is home to art, models, scripts, sound effects, editor extensions, productivity tools, and more - anything an individual creator or team might need to make development easier and get their project to the finish line faster. Custom work and additional collaborators can be sourced through Unity Connect, the professional network and talent marketplace for all Unity Creators.