Hi, we’re Na’Tosha and Levi, a couple of the developers responsible for Linux publishing in Unity 4. We’ve seen that you’re happy about Unity 4.0′s Linux publishing preview – so are we!
We worked very hard to include this feature in Unity 4.0, so we’ve made a video explaining why supporting Linux publication is important to us, and how it can benefit Unity game developers.
If you have questions we didn’t address in the video, please feel free to post them below and we’ll do our best to answer them.
Na’Tosha & Levi
Whitie
September 29, 2012 at 1:00 pmI’ve been a Unity Dev for the past 5 years. Noting, not the iPhone addon, the Android addon nothing I have bought for Unity makes me as excited for the future as the new Unity 4 Linux port. I for one cant wait to get elbow deep into this version.
Jamin Collins
September 21, 2012 at 9:09 amI find myself feeling very mixed about Linux support being an “export” from development done in either OS X or Windows. I have no desire to run OS X or Windows to do development, and I suspect I’m not alone. This may actually make me rethink using Unity for upcoming projects.
Linux user from Russia
September 21, 2012 at 8:43 amThank you very much for Linux-port!!!
It would be great to run Unity Editor with help of WINE…
listener
September 20, 2012 at 2:59 pmIt would be so nice to see the editor running under linux.
Maokei
September 20, 2012 at 10:44 amIf the web player and the editor got ported to linux to at some point, well simply amazing! Anyways you guys rock!
Na'Tosha Bard
September 17, 2012 at 2:53 am@Jorge, We don’t have anything on our roadmap regarding an ARM port of the player, but, the of course future is never certain.
Jorge
September 5, 2012 at 11:37 amWill other platforms (ie ARM) be supported in the near future, along with GLES? I’m thinking about tablets/embedded systems that runs linux instead of android. Tks!
Jamie
August 30, 2012 at 7:52 amAwesome! This is fantastic. We use Linux here at Blue Sky Studios, and at every other major studio I’ve worked, and the lack of general support from large hardware and software companies is very frustrating. Major offenders include Wacom and Adobe.
Expanding the user base is crucial to getting better proper support and drivers, and making Linux a viable (and the fastest) gaming platform is one of the best ways to do this.
So huge thanks to you two, and Unity, for pushing this!
Leandro
August 29, 2012 at 8:12 amThank you , You guys ROCK²!!!!
Aras Pranckevičius
August 28, 2012 at 4:18 am@incognito: you’re assuming it’s the GUI part that’s the hardest thing to port. It’s not. 99% of Unity editor UI goes through UnityGUI, which is already very much cross platform.
incognito
August 26, 2012 at 9:32 amIf I could make a suggestion – would you consider redoing the Unity IDE using a powerful crossplatform toolkit, such as Qt, so that in the future you could easily offer Unity IDE on all the main platforms from largely the same code base? I take it it would significantly make your lives easier and keep the Unitoids of all major platforms happy by not having to switch from Linux to Windows/OSX, or vice versa, or fire up a virtual machine just so they can check if that small change they’ve made works well on the intended system.
In fact, since Digia has now completely snatched the Qt from the hands of the uncaring stepmother Nokia, they’ve pledged to add official exports for iOS and Android (alongside a long list of officially supported ones) so it wouldn’t be hard to imagine that, if the Unity IDE was made with it, you could actually do game development on an iPad, Android, MeeGo or a W8 tablet. Sure, not the most optimal form for hard core development, but with a redux UI it could be a great addition to an already great tool, allowing for fun brainstorming sessions and on-site presentations / on-the-fly changes for which we have to carry laptops around now.
And while I’m at it, if I’m allowed to dream further and potentially spread some blasphemy, why not ditch Mono completely? Marry the Unity engine with Qt and even the sky won’t be a limit. To me, the ultimate development platform for pretty much anything out there would be some Frankenchild of Qt (for system / general app stuff and close-to-metal programming), Flash (for the 2D stuff and basic 3D) and Unity (for the hard-core 3D and composition), all with exposed APIs and hooks for pretty much any language out there (directly compiled, or through Scratchbox, or LLVM…)
Oh, well, one can dream, for now I’d be a happy penguin if the Unity IDE was to come for desktop Linux in the foreseeable future no matter of the underlying technology.
Na'Tosha Bard
August 25, 2012 at 12:17 am@Matthew – yes.
Matthew
August 24, 2012 at 11:44 pmDoes this mean we can have headless Ubuntu based multiplayer servers?
Felis Catus
August 22, 2012 at 2:50 amEven though not a lot of people want to use the Unity Editor with Linux, a “headless editor core” would be very useful to deploy services like auto build on a Linux Server, which would be very useful for larger teams.
Jason Wu
August 19, 2012 at 3:29 pmI think the Unity3D IDE would be the logical next step to bring to Linux. It would really be awesome! The only things keeping me from booting into Linux Mint 100% of the time is Team Fortress 2 and Unity3D Editor! :P
kamepl
August 16, 2012 at 1:04 pmI also want to beg for Unity3D IDE for Linux ! Please !
Na’Tosha & Levi – you’r ussing running Linux as your desktop system as we all here. Please ask your BOSS to make a supprise for us and develop the IDE for Linux for next christmass :D PLEASE !
Braffe
August 16, 2012 at 11:42 amThanks so much for supporting linux :)
But please make editor linux-(or at least wine-)friendly…I would definitely buy pro version if you do!!!
macuso
August 13, 2012 at 12:58 amP.S. A lot of peoples using Linux-es are using they machines for programing and software development, so have sense to have Unity3D IDE for Linux, since this already is running on OSX (UNIX OS).
macuso
August 13, 2012 at 12:54 amNow, we just need Unity3D IDE for Linux. Please make this, or at least make it as Wine friendly as possible.
X
August 12, 2012 at 3:31 pmLinux Editor support please :-)
Ali Goli
August 12, 2012 at 12:48 amI don’t think people on linux really want to play games on it
They want to program, develop and make.
I think it was better to make an editor for it instead of a player
anyone wants to play, should go to Windows not linux
Linux is for is more developing than playing
They’ll pay for an editor than a game
Robert Masengale
August 11, 2012 at 7:58 amI actually care far more for a linux IDE than for the web player, but that’s a personal opinion. I’m trying to use the IDE with WINE and it’s taking me some effort, but I’m also pretty new with Linux.
Na'Tosha Bard
August 3, 2012 at 2:20 am@Chuck, the money required to invest in the development of a new platform is not really a blocker for us as a company, if it’s a platform we believe in. However, there is an ongoing cost of maintenance and a support burden that comes along with any new platform — and the webplayer adds additional complexity and requirements on top of the player we have now. A webplayer for Linux is simply a task we have not decided to undertake at this time.
Chuck Lanman
August 3, 2012 at 2:10 amOr do we have to start a kickstarter in order to get the Unity Webplayer to linux?
Chuck Lanman
August 2, 2012 at 10:41 amUnity Webplayer would be insanely awesome. This way we could play any current games on the web that require this plugin, without having to wait for a linux publish of that game. Makes sense to me. I think it should be done.
Jason Wu
July 19, 2012 at 12:57 pmfor all of you guys asking for Unity3D web player linux port, you can already “kind of” do that. Just when exporting, click the checkbox that says “Chrome NaCl”. Then, install chrome/chromium on linux and you should be able to play it (some additional configuration might be required, but it still works :P)
Na'Tosha Bard
July 19, 2012 at 12:11 pm@ohad, Linux publishing will be available soon in Unity 4. Those who have pre-ordered Unity 4 will have early access to this feature via the beta.
ohad
July 19, 2012 at 11:44 amcan you at least give an unstable preview by now?
Nathan
July 18, 2012 at 8:00 pmPure awesome. Finally some realization that, although the linux market share is obviously small, the developer influence is high. I can only hope it does well for you and a linux web player will follow. Great work!
Javier Alfonso
July 16, 2012 at 9:25 amOMG! You are from that few companies that said “It will be on linux some day but not now” and really do it. I’m thinking this world become better every day although a little slowly (and only in computer terms).
Ricardo
July 11, 2012 at 11:25 amReal life heroes!
Yuri
July 10, 2012 at 12:24 amThank You
polytropoi
July 9, 2012 at 12:25 pm@Pete – Native Client export for Chrome runs on Linux, though, IIRC – that’s kind of like a webplayer…
Na'Tosha Bard
July 9, 2012 at 10:52 am@Pete – We don’t have any current plans to support the webplayer on Linux, but as is always the case, the future is never decided.
Pete
July 9, 2012 at 10:46 amWill the webplayer support linux? Are you guys considering it?
Na'Tosha Bard
July 8, 2012 at 10:36 pm@dlnix – Unfortunately, BSGO would require a Linux webplayer, and we are only shipping a standalone player.
dilnix
July 8, 2012 at 4:00 pmis BSGO (by Bigpoint) will be able to play on linux platform?
Eduardo "Trialforce" Bonfandini
July 6, 2012 at 9:44 pmThanks people!
It’s a happy notice. With this addition Unity3d will start the linux as a real games platform.
You don’t imagine how much this make me happy!
Thanks a lot!
carlos santos
July 6, 2012 at 8:51 pmThank you for this.
I wold suport some crowdfounding for the linux ide.
Gus
July 5, 2012 at 9:16 amThank you guys! It’s a great step I hope others to follow.
lingyired
July 5, 2012 at 6:04 amplay unity 3d game on ubuntu unity
bob
July 5, 2012 at 2:19 amThank you for your efforts. Your work is appreciated.
Linux News Here
July 5, 2012 at 12:52 amLinux games. Go you beautiful thing.
Scott
July 4, 2012 at 9:10 pm(((Love)))
Na'Tosha Bard
July 4, 2012 at 2:17 pm@loky – You are welcome to read the practical details about Linux support in the Linux section of the Unity 4 FAQ: http://unity3d.com/unity/4/faq
loky
July 4, 2012 at 1:59 pmanything ontopic? i dont care how long have you been using lumix, but I would love to see some facts about the work done. i might be alone in this fapping community with these needs?!?!
SplinterCDO
July 4, 2012 at 1:19 amAwesome, you guys rock!!!
John Milton
July 4, 2012 at 12:38 amVery happy with Linux support in Unity3D. Considering switching to this engine just for this feature!
Na'Tosha Bard
July 4, 2012 at 12:00 am@Blue Wall — No, the Editor does not work in Linux.
@Martin — No, not as far as we are aware; it should support all Unity features.
Martin
July 3, 2012 at 6:50 pmWill Linux exports have any limitations like Mobile building or will it support all the unity features.
BlueWall
July 3, 2012 at 3:53 pmOops! Read the answer above: “@Nevat 2. We currently have no plans or commitments to port the editor to Linux.”
Thanks for making the player, dev. tools would be pretty awesome too.
BlueWall
July 3, 2012 at 3:46 pmHi, do the development tools work in Linux as well?
Ashkan
July 3, 2012 at 3:02 pmYou rock,
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 2:34 pm@sENSEr – Actually I was running the profiler from the editor inside OS X and connected to the Linux player remotely. As for Rochard, well, we have a large number of user-submitted games and projects that we use for testing/debugging/optimizing.
Jakob F
July 3, 2012 at 2:28 pmthank you for bringing unity3d to linux!!!! :D Linux is such a great platform and im very very happy!! steam and later this! i must be in the computer heaven! Linux is the reason i got interested in computers “software, hardware” im so happy!
Bastian
July 3, 2012 at 2:25 pmHow much money, you nedd (crowdfunding) for a linux editor? :3
sENSEr
July 3, 2012 at 1:28 pm@Na’Tosha
Did I just saw in the video Unity3D Profiler running in the Ubuntu while you were testing Rochard level :)
Tom
July 3, 2012 at 12:03 pmThis is a step in the right direction. Looking forward to trying this out!
Thanks!
thibsert
July 3, 2012 at 11:18 amGood start ! Next one, the linux webplayer… then the linux editor… pleaaase….
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 11:12 am@Adam – Fedora Core 5 is quite old (released in 2006 and end-of-life’d in 2007); likely the system C/C++ libraries on that system will be too old to run a player exported from Unity.
However most players will likely work fine out of the box on a *recent* installation of Fedora.
Adam
July 3, 2012 at 11:09 amDo you think it would be much work to get a published linux game to work on, say, Fedora? (legacy core 5, kernel 2.6.x)
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 11:03 am@Nate – It is a free feature.
Nate
July 3, 2012 at 11:02 amWill this be a new add feature that requires a purchase? or will it be a free feature?
varomix
July 3, 2012 at 8:38 amThis is amazing!! thank you guys and keep pushing for Linux
hail the penguin!!
slayer29179
July 3, 2012 at 7:58 amYou guys are awesome!!! :D Thank you for doing this! I am a big fan of Linux but all the programs I use (Unity, 3DS Max) are not compatible now you are making that happen thank you! :D
massa
July 3, 2012 at 7:58 amWhat about Unity3d IDE in Linux? It would be great to develop games inside Linux enviroment
dletozeun
July 3, 2012 at 7:45 amGreat work !
@Na’Tosha Bard: webplayer support on Linux seems to be the next logical step, I’m looking forward to it ! ;)
toni
July 3, 2012 at 7:26 amThank you guys!! Linux for home users need this!! thank you! :)
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 7:00 am@ZJP — Yes, we’re aware. It’s quite an unfortunate name collision, but I suppose the confusion might be entertaining for awhile :-)
ZJP
July 3, 2012 at 6:56 amNice works,
Btw, Unity3D on Ubuntu Unity (http://unity.ubuntu.com/). Much confusion to come. ;)
Juan Sebastian Muñoz
July 3, 2012 at 6:42 amI just have to say that I LOVE YOU BOTH !, thanks for this linux player!!! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 6:31 am@q4a – We don’t have a current plan to ship a webplayer for Linux, but the future is always uncertain.
Sepehr Aryani
July 3, 2012 at 6:31 amThank you very fucking much. We (linux community) really appreciate it. Keep rocking. (BOW)
q4a
July 3, 2012 at 6:30 amThanks for standalone desktop Linux support!
When Unity web player plugin will support Linux?
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 5:52 am@Nevat:
1. Players exported from Unity will run out of the box on most modern Linux systems, but we are only providing *official* support for 64-bit or 32-bit Ubuntu Linux with vendor-made graphics drivers.
2. We currently have no plans or commitments to port the editor to Linux.
Nevat
July 3, 2012 at 5:49 am1. When you say “Linux”… what distributions are supported ? Only Ubuntu ?
2. Well be possible, in future versions, to work with the Editor in a Linux system ? (aka “port the application).
Chris
July 3, 2012 at 5:29 amThanks guys :)
Levi Bard
July 3, 2012 at 5:16 amChris: Yes.
Na'Tosha Bard
July 3, 2012 at 5:16 am@Chris – Yes, we are providing export options for native 32-bit (x86) and native 64-bit (amd64) players.
tripu
July 3, 2012 at 5:15 amThat is great news indeed! I and so many other Linux enthusiasts are looking forward to giving it a go ;¬)
Chris
July 3, 2012 at 5:13 amwill this have a native 64bit client?
Chris
July 3, 2012 at 5:08 am*big smiles*
Jess
July 3, 2012 at 4:47 amYou fucking rock!