In this blog, the creators of Skul:The Hero Slayer explain how they leveraged Unity’s full suite of 2D Tools to create sharp pixel perfect 2D artwork.

The Unity Academic Alliance, a program for postsecondary institutions, now features valuable new additions including competency-based curricular frameworks, deep discounts on Unity products, and Unity Certifications. Read on to learn more about how these updates can benefit your school.

As the world’s leading platform for creating interactive, real-time 3D content, Unity is used for everything from game development to augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications in fields like architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC), automotive, transportation, and manufacturing (ATM), and media and entertainment. Because of its broad application across a variety of high-tech roles, real-time 3D development skills are in high demand. Jobs using these skills are growing over 600% faster than the overall job market; AR/VR and gaming engineering roles had the highest job growth in 2019. Real-time 3D skills are invaluable for students interested in a rewarding, high-growth career.  

Since launching in 2018, Unity Academic Alliance (UAA) has helped over 100 postsecondary institutions start and expand innovative programs in real-time 3D development to prepare students for these in-demand roles. UAA members have benefited from professional development and upskilling opportunities to support their faculty in teaching Unity. They have also had access to Unity Certification materials. 

The Unity education team has spent the past few months gathering member feedback to ensure that UAA provides the tools and resources to make their programs a success. Today, as a result of this feedback, we’re excited to share three major updates to the UAA program.

The Unity 2021.1 beta kicks off this year’s Tech Stream with a continued focus on quality and productivity, plus integrated visual scripting. Read on to learn what’s available for you to try out today.

Unity 2020.1 and 2020.2 included many improvements to existing functionality that make Unity workflows even more intuitive to boost your productivity. With the 2021.1 beta, we’re building on this foundation while also introducing the first iteration of the new key features announced in our 2020 roadmap blog post.

Some of highlights in 2021.1 are ready to be tested – and we’d love to hear your feedback:

Visual scripting: Create scripting logic without coding
Graphics: Point Light Shadows on for the Universal Render Pipeline (URP) and static shadow casters for the High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP)
Editor: Performance improvements, including quick search and global variables for localization
Scripting: Faster IL2CPP, incremental C# script compilation, precision time API, and Code Coverage features
Profiler: Can now profile multiple players and servers from one machine, plus improvements to Memory Profiler 
Artist tools: ProBuilder’s point-to-point cut, Cinemachine support for physical cameras, and Timeline improvements, plus greater stability in cinematic tools and Python for Unity
2D tools: Tilemap UX features, Sprite Swap workflow
Platforms: General improvements
Package lifecycle: Changes to how we roll out and classify new features and packages

You can get the latest beta from the Unity Hub or on our download page. As of today, it includes  over 1700 fixes and more than 240 features and changes. Remember, the beta is not intended for use in production-stage projects, and you should also make sure to back up your existing projects if you plan to use them with the beta, as always. That said, we would love to know how Unity 2021.1 works for you – submit a bug report to qualify for your chance to win one of four ultrawide IPS 34” 144 Hz monitors. Also, don’t hesitate to visit and post in the beta forum, where Unity staff across teams are monitoring and considering your valuable feedback.

Finally, make sure to sign up for the webinar on February 25, where the Creator Advocacy team will demo many of the new features in Unity 2021.1 beta. You can learn more about the webinar and sweepstakes below.

 
Join the hands-on 2021.1 webinar

Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is one of the most ambitious projects Respawn has ever undertaken. An action packed, incredibly immersive VR experience set in World War II with a deep single player campaign and full-feature multiplayer, MOHAB is testing the limits of Virtual Reality.

Players step into the boots of an agent of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in war torn Europe. The game takes you through historic events on land, air, and sea, sabotaging Nazi bases, subverting enemy plans and aiding the French Resistance.

With this ambitious campaign and a full multiplayer experience to balance, the agile team at Respawn tasked with bringing MOHAB to life had to be smart with their resources. 

Delivering the networking, matchmaking, and voice comms for top titles is what Unity Multiplayer Services does best, and so we were honored to partner with Respawn and help them focus on creating a new frontier for the beloved Medal of Honor franchise.