koobas.hobune.stream
When to drop support for older versions of Unity with my asset store plugin
I am the maker of Bluetooth Low Energy and Bluetooth networking assets on the asset store.
Currently whenever I do an update I build and release for Unity 5.6, 2017.4, 2018.1, 2018.2 and 2018.3.
This is starting to become a bit of an issue because of the differences with the older versions and how much it updates things when I move to each version.
I have asked the Unity asset store team if they can give me any information about how many people still use older versions and so far they have always responded that they don't have that information.
I am asking here to see if I can get some idea on when it would be safe to stop supporting older versions of Unity with my plugin.
Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Is there a valid reason why you cannot auto-detect and make it backwards compatible if necessary?
Very good question. $$anonymous$$y plugin really isn't different between the versions. I release the different packages so that my customers don't have to go through the "this project needs to be upgraded" process when they open it.
Technically I could just release the 5.6 package and make users go through that. I just want to be nice and help them out.
At the same time if no one is even using 5.6 any more, then it would be helpful to me to drop it.
That is why I am asking....does anyone even use 5.6 anymore? how about 2017.4? How about 2018.1 or 2018.2 when 2018.3 is free to upgrade too?
Just trying to get a feel for what people actually use and when a good time to stop supporting something really is.
Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Hmm... There are so many parameters to consider, I feel your pain!
I might not be experienced enough to properly comment, but for myself, I have bought some complete projects on the asset store that are only available in a 5.x flavour. In order to avoid the inevitable errors that usually pop up in those projects if I open them in 2017.x, or 2018.x I go for 5.6 as a starting point.
And on the occasion where I STILL get errors, I download and install the EXACT version of Unity that the asset store lists for that asset, verify if everything works, then move on to fixing it to work in 5.6.
THEN I make the decision on whether or not I need any features or improvements of 2017 or 2018 to validate whether or not I should bother spending time fixing/upgrading the project to a newer version. Since I'm an indie and my time is limited, it's often not worth upgrading.
All this to say that I do have some projects that I've kept in 5.6 until I find a valid reason to update.
LAST thing I will say is, check out what popular asset providers are doing. There may be a reason why popular assets like Corgi Engine: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/templates/systems/corgi-engine-2d-2-5d-platformer-26617 ...are only available in the oldest version, yet was updated as recently as Feb 18, 2019 ... ??
I love when assets seamlessly work across versions. I hate it when updates break things and make changes without fall-back support (I'm looking at YOU Vuforia!! grr)
