Preorders for the new version of the Unity engine, Unity 4.0, are exceeding expectations, according to the firm’s CEO, David Helgason.
The update, still in its beta phase, features a dynamic animation system, as well as support for linking Unity-made games with the Adobe Flash Player.
In an interview at this year’s GameHorizon conference in Gateshead, Helgason said that bigger studios were starting to take an interest in the tech, and that it was no longer just the domain of small indie teams.
Helgason espouses the democratisation of game development and has suggested that Unity 4 will empower small developers to create games which can compete with those backed by big-hitters.
But just days before the announcement of Unity 4.0, Epic Games unveiled Unreal Engine 4, the latest version of their own blockbuster tech, pitched at high-end PCs and next-gen consoles.
Helgason said: “The stuff Epic do is very cool, but it’s not what we do. However we do want to produce high-end content. Our focus is on current hardware.
He said: “3.5 was a great release but probably a mistake. Some things were not done so we delayed the release. Unity 4 will have more regular updates.”
And while Helgason is reluctant to commit to forthcoming improvements, he hinted that the long-awaited upgrade to Unity’s GUI is not far away, labelling it a ‘horrible project’ in terms of the effort involved of bringing it to fruition.
“We’re about to talk about the new GUI system. The expectation was that it would come out in 3.0 - but we caveated that. In the end we failed; we couldn’t do it.”
As for the future of games, it seems clear that console platforms – which in the latest generation have hardly been awash with Unity-powered titles – are not what excite Helgason. Instead, he pinpointed cloud gaming as an aspect of the game industry about which he is particularly excited. He said: “I’m an avid OnLive gamer. It’s an awesome service.”