So I woke up this morning to some interesting news on the inter-tubes on my phone. It seems that Unity Technologies has released a developer preview of 3.5. This includes the long awaited export to Flash capability (indeed, this will alleviate some of the concerns around my previous post regarding Linux export) which will let us as devs target some new markets with a higher user base.

To show off this functionality they’re hosting a short competition with some rather nifty prizes. The Flash in a Flash Creation Contest is a two week competition running from Dec 22 to Jan 5, with the goal of creating the best Flash game or interactive application using the new 3.5 build. The prizes are quite nice, including a large cash prize, and several pro licenses, and some Apple hardware. The only thing that worries is me is whether the submissions will all be created in this two week period (ala the Game Jams, forum competitions, etc) or if people are likely to just quickly port the projects they’ve been working on for months. I think the former will really serve to showcase  the power of the tools as well as the creativity of the developers, while the latter doesn’t really seem as true to the spirit. I suppose we’ll find out when the results are released!

It’ll be interesting to see how people navigate the tricky holiday season with their entries to the competition. I have no plans for Christmas day, maybe I should get stuck into this myself!