Resuming the distribution of the demo

In response to the announcement of Unity's runtime fee, we had temporarily halted the distribution of our demo for our supporters. However, today we are resuming it.

Our project will continue to utilize Unity for development. Transitioning to a different game engine would require us to discard all the code built over the past two years, which heavily relies on MonoBehaviour classes, as well as our knowledge of Unity. In the context of a small-scale project like ours, aiming to complete the game, this is a choice we should avoid as much as possible.

The next concern to address is the burden of the Unity runtime fee, which is applied when revenue exceeds $200,000 USD. Since we plan to distribute our game for free once it's completed, this fee is practically irrelevant. The question of whether Patreon support would be considered income by Unity remains somewhat ambiguous, but even if it were, it doesn't appear to meet the conditions for the foreseeable future. Moreover, even if fees were to be incurred, it would be my burden alone, and users would not be affected in any way.

The recent announcement was an unprecedented change in terms without prior notice, leading to sensitive reactions from many users. However, Unity itself is a reliable tool, and it's astounding that it has been free for so long. I personally believe that it's unlikely Unity would create rules that disadvantage small-scale developers and that there has been some misunderstanding.

While it will take some time during the alpha development phase, conditions for those subject to specific fees may become clearer, and misconceptions might be addressed. Depending on user protests, further changes to the terms may be possible, and we hope that such actions will improve the situation. However, if that does not happen, we will switch game engines after the completion of the alpha version. (At least until then, this project will not be subject to fees.)

What is even more concerning is the possibility of Unity Technologies going bankrupt. The recent turmoil has caused a significant drop in stock prices, and prominent departures from Unity have been announced one after another. This is not an impossible scenario. Furthermore, our main game, Helltaker, is also made with Unity and has already seen numerous downloads. Since it's distributed for free, I don't believe it would be subject to fees.

We hope that everything will turn out for the best.

Revise 2023/09/16--------------------
It seems the situation is more serious than I thought. Unity Technology's executives appear to be relinquishing control of the company.

It might be time to step away from Unity for a while and learn Blender.