Regarding recent news about Unity and their new Runtime pricing.
Star Valor and I will be fine. Considering last year revenue (Star Valor launch), I was going to change to Unity 'Pro' subscription anyway... So I won't meet the revenue threshold (1M USD in 12 months) and won't have to pay the new fees. That's my optimistic and practical view of the situation, as Unity has been changing in all sorts of obscure ways, to say the least. I won't go into other shady details, like their install detection or whatever, as it's just confusing right now... The worst part is the uncertainty in what they are doing next and how will that affect me and other devs. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Overall I'm pretty sad about it... It was with Unity that I changed my life and was able to live my game dev dream. I love the engine itself, but I most likely won't be using it for my next projects and I won't recommend it anymore. For the next game patch, I also removed the Unity logo, which was in the splash screen as a homage since Early Access, even though it wasn't mandatory for the most part.
I won't change the engine for Star Valor, though, as it's a 7 years project and it would be a huge set back, not to mention expensive... So the game development will not be affected. I will probably be making less money for having to pay the ‘Pro’ subscription where the 'Plus' (which is now gone) would've been enough, but I'll deliver everything I promised (including DLCs) as I have the resources for it, thanks to the game sales and all my supporters: collaborators, donators and patrons. If it ever comes to a point where I can't keep the game on Unity, I'll just have to change engines anyway and move on, I guess.
So overall... Star Valor and I will be fine, and so will your space adventures.
- Laious