I thought this could be useful for others as I see a lot of posts regarding the software prices and what alternatives there are and I had already spent some time searching for the information on my own. I only do this to help others get a feel for costs so that they can budget accordingly for this MMO or for their own future projects.
The list:
(* means it will be used in the class)
1) Unity*
- $1,500 for Unity Pro (Not absolutely required but you will be missing out on certain things)
- Free alternative:
- Unity Indie
2) Visual Studio*
- $1,199 for 2010 Professional with MSDN
- $549 for 2010 Professional with MSDN Essentials
- Free alternatives:
- Visual Studio Express
- MonoDevelop (already included inside unity)
- Khann pointed out Microsoft's WebsiteSpark which provides Visual Studio Professional, Windows Server 2008R2 and various other tools for free for up to 3 years.
2b) Visual Studio extension: Resharper
- Classroom and Open Source: Free
- Academic: $49
- Personal: $200
- Free alternative:
- nbyloff mentioned CodeRush which is free for visual studio customers. Does not work with Visual Studio Express though. Stackoverflow has a discussion on the two here.
3) Autodesk Maya
- $3,495 for 2011 w/o subscription
- $4090 for 2011 w/ subscription
- Cheaper alternatives: (be forewarned that some of these might not export to .fbx format)
- AC3D: $79.95
- Milkshape 3D: $35
- Free alternatives:
- Blender
- Both jimmiduff21 and darkmobius pointed out that if you are a student you can go here to get a free 3 year license of Maya 2011 (also available for most other Autodesk software)
- phrenzy84 mentioned wings3d
4) ZBrush
- $699 for 4.0
- Free alternatives:
- Sculptris (currently free, Pixologic bought this - and hired its creator - and are now developing it)
- Blender (has sculpting tools as well)
5) Photoshop
- $699 for CS5
- Cheaper alternatives:
- Paint Shop Pro X3: $69.99
- Photoshop Elements: $99.99
- Free alternatives:
6) RavenDB* (this is free for open source projects but you need to pay for commercial ones)
- $25 / month subscription or
- $599 one time payment
- Free alternative:
7) Photon Indie*
- free for 100 ccus (concurrent users), per app/server
- $450 for 500 ccus
- $950 for 1000 ccus
- $1450 for unlimited ccus
8) Novamind
- express: $49
- pro: $149
- platinum: $249
- Free alternatives:
Addendum:
9) Sound
- Free alternatives:
That should be it; I apologize in advance for any errors on my part. I saw mention of tortoiseHG as well for version control but I don't know if we will be using it and in any case it's free. I'll add more software and alternatives as they show up if you guys are interested.
EDIT: Stickied this for when the forums start to get busier... Good job on this, Crash.- FatGav