Issue #191 - Stateful Systems, C#, Animation, and more

This article was originally published on GameDevDigest.com

A grab bag of great content, from stateful and reactive UI and other systems, animation libraries, C# fundamentals, and more. Enjoy!

Where are Objects Allocated in C#? Understanding Heap and Stack - In the world of C# programming, understanding where objects are allocated is crucial for optimizing memory usage and ensuring efficient code execution. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the two primary memory locations for object allocation in C#: the heap and the stack. By grasping these concepts, you’ll be equipped with valuable insights that can help you write high-performance C# applications.
itnext.io

Reduce heap allocations by using static anonymous functions - As a C# developer you got used to apply anonymous functions everywhere. Everytime you write a LINQ statement or use a lamdbda expression, you are creating an anonymous function. But what you maybe are not aware of is that anonymous functions have a performance impact and don’t come cheap.
ajmmertens.medium.com

Why it is time to start thinking of games as databases - In the previous blog post, Building Games in ECS with Entity Relationships, I talked about the benefits of treating relationships between entities as first class citizens in a game. In this new blog post I’ll dive deeper into one of those benefits, and the futuristic capabilities it could unlock.
bartwullems.blogspot.com

Impostor Syndrome: The Hidden Challenge for Game Designers - iLogos' Lead Game Designer Sergei Belkov explained how Impostor Syndrome can affect Game Developers, discussed the reasons that might cause the syndrome to appear, and detailed some tips and tricks on how to avoid it.
80.lv

How to add VR support to your Universal Render Pipeline project - To those who haven’t developed for VR before, it can be daunting to figure out where to get started. Whether you’re just starting your project or have an existing URP project that you’ve published on other platforms, we’ll go over the steps to add VR support so that it can run on multiple VR platforms with minimal effort.
Unity

Shader Graph for Compute Grass System - I have a little update to the URP version of the Grass System. In order to make the Compute Grass more compatible and stable with the changing URP versions I’ve converted it to Shader Graph using some Custom Nodes. This will benefit both you and me because it's easier to edit to your style, and will result in a lot less API bugs for me to solve!
Minions Art

StatefulUI: A Unity UI Library Based on States and Markup - In this article, we'll talk about developing a user interface in Unity based on states and markup of elements.
Dmitrii Ivashchenko

Videos

Unity Shader Graph - Intersection Effect Tutorial - Let's see how we can make an object glow when intersecting geometry around it. Very useful technique for shields, barriers, force fields, among other effects!

[If you love Gabriel's work be sure to check out the Publisher Sale where you can get 50% off their work!]
Gabriel Aguiar Prod.

Three types of UI masks and their uses - In Unity UI (uGUI), there are different ways to use masks.
Unity Japan

Unity Retro Effect (PSOne) shader tutorial - Decompiled Art - Tools: Unity Universal Render Pipeline (URP), High Definition Render Pipeline (HDRP), ShaderGraph
Decompiled Art

Physics Based Floating Character Controller in Unity with Unity's New Input System - Everything you need to recreate this is shown in this video and supplied in the 1.0 project which is available to all to download for free via the links provided on the 1zed1 community Discord server. This full 2.0 project shown in this video is available for Patreons to download as a complete package.
1zed1 Games

Proximity Vertex Distortion | Unity Shader Graph - Proximity Vertex Distortion | Unity Shader Graph
Omar A. Balfaqih

Build Anything In Unity Using DSA | How Programmers Think - Have you ever wondered how programmers actually think and make decisions? It's not magic, there is a structured pattern that we follow in order to write the best code. In this video, I will guide you through a thought process of how programmers think. I will go over Data Structures, Algorithms and Design Patterns and talk about their importance in Unity C# Programming.
Darko Tomic

Assets

Unity Worldbuilding Sale - Create immersive and engaging worlds with stunning environments, toolkits, weather systems. Develop a world that gives life to your characters and fulfills their purpose. With this sale customers can save up to 50% off on 250 assets which will be suited for building worlds in games, including Toolkits, Particles, Effects & Simulators, Terrain, and VFX.

Customers can also receive an additional 10% off on all orders over $50+ USD by using the coupon code JUNE10.
Unity Affiliate

50% off Gabriel Aguiar - Get 50% off Gabriel Aguiar assets – now until June 22.

Inlcuding Unique Toon Projectiles Vol. 1, VFX Graph - Weapon Effects - Vol. 1, VFX Graph - Ultra Mega Pack - Vol.1 and lots more!

PLUS, Get VFX Graph - Stylized Smoke - Vol. 1 for FREE with code GABRIEL.
Unity Affiliate

UniFileOpenDialog - FileSaveDialog in Untiy . With Topmost Fuction for Windows os.
Bian-Sh Open Source

TinkState# - Reactive State Handling for C# (and Unity!) - An uncomplicated library for dealing with mutable state in a nice reactive way.
nadako Open Source

Scriptable States - Scriptable States is a ScriptableObject based implementaton of a Finite State Machine. It's main purpose is to create reusable behaviour bits like the ScriptableAction and the ScriptableCondition, and be able to create and edit a ScriptableState using those actions and sequencing those states with a ScriptableStateMachine setting transitions with those conditions to create unique behaviour through the editor.
luisoliveiras Open Source

ElementAnimationToolkit - This package began simply as a small collection of helpers methods I created across my last few projects to make animating editor elements much easier and finally put into a single place.
instance-id Open Source

Animation Library - The Animation Library package contains assets and scripts for animating Unity objects. Animation behaviors include Blink, FollowPath, Move, Orbit, Rotate, Scale, SmoothFollow, SmoothLookAt, and more. The package also contains several animation-related data structures and predefined avatar masks.
zigurous Open Source

2D Sprite Animator for Unity Engine - Tired of the "Unity Animator Hell", want more performance and faster workflow ? You've gone into the right place, this is a project i've made to replace Unity Animator usage on 2D projects, it's more performatic, simple and easy to use.
GabrielBigardi Open Source

NetworkPositionSync - Network Transform using Snapshot Interpolation and other techniques to best sync position and rotation over the network.
James-Frowen Open Source

Trove - Collection of tools for Unity DOTS. Including Utility AI, Tweens, attributes and buffs/modifiers, etc...
PhilSA Open Source

Easy Accessibility Package - The goal of the Easy Accessibility Package is to provide a free, easy to use resource to help Unity developers include accessibility features into their games.
See the tutorial for instructions on installation and use.
There are two main features included with this package: Remappable Controls and Screen Reader Support (using Tolk).
trudeaua21 Open Source

GeoJsonCityBuilder - Unity Package to recreate a 3D-city from a geojson file. Currently allows to create extruded objects (e.g. buildings) from polygons and to place prefabs on points.
ElmarJ Open Source

Lazy Builder - Lazy Builder is a procedural tool (powered by Sceelix ) designed to simplify the construction of complex 3D environments.
wafflesgama Open Source

Unity3D BSP Importer - A lightweight plugin for importing BSP maps into Unity3D as meshes. Currently only imports World and Entities and their surfaces.
wfowler1 Open Source

Polyhydra - Polyhydra is a toolkit for the procedural generation of geometric forms in Unity.
IxxyXR Open Source

Royalty Free Game, Film, Content Music Mania - Supercharge your soundtrack. Score your game, movie, or other creative project with this bundle of high-quality music! Featuring hundreds of tracks, loops, and more audio elements, this sonic library will help you craft a fitting soundtrack for your fantasy fantasy role-playing epic, arcade beat-em-up, cinematic action sequence, and much more. Plus, your purchase will help support Extra Life!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

ColorfulHierarchy - Assign custom colors to game objects' text in the Hierarchy window.
neveBr Open Source

RenderTextureExtensions.cs - Third Unity Tip of the day! Add these extension methods for RenderTexture to your project to easily save them to disk for inspection with a one-liner. Very useful when debugging! Code in reply.
Karel Crombecq Open Source

Unity Hidden Gems Bundle - Tools & art treasures for Unity creators from the Unity Asset Store.
Bring your game to life—and make dev life a little easier—with this bundle of hidden-gem tools and art assets for Unity creators. Enhance your process with tools to enhance help draw, debug, create dialogue, make AI-generated maps, and much more. Get art assets & tools to build worlds with volumetric clouds, 3D lands filled with snow and ice, or fantasy realms with pixel-art monsters. Unleash your creativity, save time, and make the game you’ve been dreaming of—and help support Girls Make Games Scholarship Fund with your purchase.
This is an official bundle created by the Unity Asset Store, supporting the asset publishers featured.
Humble Bundle Affiliate

The Complete Learn Coding Mega Bundle - Learn coding & AI by building real projects. Learn to code with the world’s most popular tools and languages! Build apps and AI with Python and ChatGPT, and discover visual coding with Scratch. Create games with Unity, Unreal, Godot, Roblox, and Phaser, build C++ apps, and make responsive websites. Learn mobile development with Java, Kotlin, and Swift, and build an AR experience—plus, you’ll support Lotus Outreach International with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

Spotlight

Duels of Fortune - Welcome to Duels of Fortune, a fast-paced 2.5D fighting game featuring a crazy diverse cast of loveable characters with unique superpowers, and an open-ended, freeform gameplay style that lets you play the game your way. It provides a simple control scheme that makes the game accessible for beginners, while keeping plenty of mechanical and character-based depth for serious players to dig into.

From intense clashes against friends and rivals, to expansive singleplayer content, to heaps of character lore to read up on, there's something for everyone in Duels of Fortune!

[You can find the game on Itch.io and follow them on Twitter]
Cosmic Hat Games

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