CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#unity-game-enginegame-development
user5460725
user5460725

Reputation:

Updating Unity Engine or not when working on a project?

I've started working with Unity only since few months, a little before Unity 5 was released.

I remember that, when I was still using Unity 4 for a very simple project, and I updated it to Unity 5, when I opened that project back basically everything in the scene was removed, and I had to rebuild it back. Well, it was no big deal since it was just a trial, but right now I'm starting to work on a bigger project. The minor updates I've installed until now (like, from Unity 5.1 to 5.2, etc...) didn't do any harm to the trial games I was making, and they were still as I made them, but I was wondering... now that I'm working on something that I absolutely don't want to suddenly be deleted or messed up, is it a good practice to install new updates of the engine when they come out? Or should I install only the minor ones and ignore an eventual Unity 6?

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2067

Answers (1)

user585968
user585968

Reputation:

The question is somewhat similar to the problem of source code conflicts:

i.e. should I follow CI best practices and update often or should I continue to code in my own little world only to perform a SVN merge with my peers' code 6 months down the track?

Sure the latter has less problems on a day-by-day basis but in the long run will most likely result in the code merge nightmare from hell.

In the case of Unity3D, if your plan is to make a commercial game, it may be wise to update Unity3D often as one would with source code. The reason being the longer you leave updating Unity (and associated 3rd party assets I might add) the higher the probability you will encounter conflicts or incompatibilities when you do decide to update (I speak from experience as I'm sure others will attest).

Additionally, Unity3D is continually being updated for the platforms you intend to target including bug fixes; performance enhancements or other additional features.

Decouple from Unity3D Using MVVM

The general consensus with game studios and Unity3D is to de-couple your actual processing logic from Unity3D entirely by using a bridging pattern and MVVM. This allows you to write in plain old Visual Studio where you can rapidly prototype and unit test following a MVVM pattern. Only the V is aware of Unity3D usually represented as a Unity3D behavior. Tell me more

The immediate benefit for you is that the majority of your code won't be affected by changes in Unity3D, if performed wisely.

Upvotes: 1

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