The Unity Game engine has become a popular choice of late, especially with indie titles and Kickstarter projects. Many recent high-profile Kickstarter successes have opted for Unity, such as Wasteland 2, Castle Story, and of course, Project Eternity. Now after a period of beta testing, Unity 4.0 has been released.
Possibly one of the most impressive features on Unity is its reach, and that has only improved with this release. Unity supported Windows, Mac OSX, iOS, Android, PS3, Xbox, Wii and web browsers (via a proprietary plugin or Google Chrome’s NaCL), but with the latest release, it will now also support Linux, Flash Player and support for Windows Phone 8 and Nintendo WiiU is coming as well.
Support for Linux and the Flash Player are especially interesting. Linux support makes it possible for the numerous developers that are currently using Unity to port their games to the platform. Support for Flash Player too means that the games can run on a lot many more systems due to the penetration of Flash Player.
Other than that, Unity has a number of new features in this new major release. This includes an entirely new animation system called Mechanim, and support for DirectX 11.
For those looking to develop a game, Unity seems to be a good choice right now. The base product is actually free, and includes a large number of the features of the Pro version including support for the desktop and web platforms (including Linux). Targeting platforms such as Flash Player, iOS, or Android require purchasing a license for that platform. The free licence is only available to developers making less than a certain amount though.
If you are looking to try out Unity, the following resources should be handy:
