Issue #207 - Improving Fun, Performance And More

This article was originally published on GameDevDigest.com

Back for another week. Hope you enjoy!

MMO Architecture: Source of truth, Dataflows, I/O bottlenecks and how to solve them - The main purpose of this post is to explore the limitations that we find at the data I/O level in the design of MMO systems, the interactions that the system makes with the data, its derived problems and how to solve them.
prdeving.wordpress.com

Magma Shader - Here's a simple tutorial about how to create a magma shader in the style of Super Mario.
@ushadersbible

Hex Map 2.3.0 - Each cell of the hex map has its own game object, which in turn stores its data in fields and arrays. This is fine for small maps but for larger maps the memory size of cells becomes problematic. In this tutorial we're going to drastically reduce the memory footprint of cells, with the ultimate goal of entirely doing away with cell game objects in a future release.
catlikecoding.com

The Art of Game Marketing: Speak to Your Audience's Desires + The Intangible Value of Events - Today I wanted to share with you one of my favourite work-related things of all time. It’s called “The Quantic Foundry Motivational Model”. I absolutely love this resource to bits as it tells me why certain players play certain games and what these players look for in a game.
32-33.co

How to survive as an indie developer in mobile games - This is not a recipe for instant mobile success, but I hope it’s an inspiration for anyone who is passionate about making mobile games
Bart Bonte Bart Bonte

14 Reasons Why Every Indie Game Developer Should Make At Least One Horror Game - Look, indie game development is hard. Really, really hard. We get 0 visibility and they are very hard to make. So I am making a plea to all indie game developers who want to do this full time, please please please make at least 1 horror game.
howtomarketagame.com

BatchRendererGroup sample: Achieve high frame rate even on budget devices - In this post, we describe a small shooter game sample that animates and renders several interactive objects. Many demos are made for high-end PCs only, but the goal here is to achieve a high frame rate on a budget phone using GLES 3.0. This sample uses BatchRendererGroup, Burst compiler, and the C# Job System. It runs in Unity 2022.3 and doesn't require entities or entities.graphics DOTS packages.
Unity

Videos

Programming a BETTER state machine - Take your programming skills to the next level and learn how to build a better state machine in this brand new tutorial and break down!
iHeartGameDev

Stylized Explosion VFX in Unity Engine - A simple Stylized Explosion VFX made in Unity Engine using Shader Graph.
A Bit Of Game Dev

Diablo-like movement in Unity using NavMesh P2 - Jumping - Learn how to make your NavMesh agent Jump by playing the jump animation and moving on a curve. We will set up a NavMesh that uses NavMeshLinks so that characters can jump between platforms. We will also implement a custom Spline implementation to represent the Jump path.
Sunny Valley Studio

[Unity] VFX Tutorial: Make a Dynamic Ring Effect - Learn the basics of how to create a dynamic ring effect in this fast intro tutorial.
OccaSoftware

What makes older games more unsettling? - Like many of you, there are some games from my childhood that still give me the creeps when I see them. Is it just "creepy nostalgia," or is there actually something to it?
Tough Martin

The World Design of Banjo-Kazooie - Boss Keys returns for a look at Rare's dynamic duo: Banjo-Kazooie. Their debut game was a standard collect-a-thon platformer with disconnected worlds, but the sequel is more of a Metroidvania with interconnected levels and backtracking. Let's dig in!
Game Maker's Toolkit

How Can You Make Backtracking Fun? - It takes forever to make a location in most video games. It sure would be nice if we could reuse it. Maybe even a few more times… Careful! You might be falling into a backtracking trap. Excessive backtracking is so easy for a game to add in, but it can be so painful for players. Turning backtracking from a chore to something that players want to play takes some work, but it's totally possible. Let's talk about the game design approaches that can make backtracking fun.
Design Doc

Mastering Blender for Epic 3D Modeling - 80 Level Podcast - Dive into the world of 3D modeling and video game development as we chat with Josh Gambrell from Blender Bros. Discover how he went from a beginner to an expert in Blender and how you can too. Learn how AI is shaking things up in the industry and how to embrace these changes for success.
80lv

The Best Game Development Frameworks - In the world of game development, game engines such as Unity, Unreal Engine and Godot tend to take up a lot of the spotlight. For those out there that prefer to work at a bit lower level or want to roll their own game engine built on existing technology, this is the realm of the game framework. Today we look at about 2 dozen of the best (arbitrary statement for sure... most popular might be a better choice) game frameworks available for a variety of programming languages including C#, C …
Gamefromscratch

Doom Guy: John Romero Discusses His New Autobiography, His Legacy - Legendary game designer John Romero joins PCMag on this episode of The Pop-Off to discuss his new autobiography, Doom Guy: Life in First Person.
PCMag

Assets

The Best Of Synty Game Dev Assets Remix - Incredible 3D game art by Synty

Prepare to embark on a game development journey like no other with this bundle from Synty Studios, a leading asset publisher creating 3D low poly art game development assets for Unity and Unreal. Synty creates asset packs that share cohesive art styles, allowing you to mix and match modular 3D models to create the game of your dreams. Their packs also come compete with demo scenes to help get you started. Whether you’re a beginner or seasoned developer, this bundle can help elevate your projects and bring your game to life—and you’ll help support Girls Who Code, too!

Bonus! Get $10 off Synty assets at SyntyStore.com, where you’ll find dozens of asset packs with similar visual styles to add even more variety to your library. Coupon expires October 31, 2024.
Humble Bundle Affiliate

kDecals - kDecals is a system for definition, placement and rendering of projection Decals in Unity's Universal Render Pipeline. It comes with Lit and Unlit Decal types by default and supports custom Decal shaders using a predefined Shader Library. kDecals supports Decal creation in Editor and runtime and supports pooling of runtime decals by default via kPooling.
Kink3d Open Source

ulox - A scripting language and language playground, in C#, in Unity.
stevehalliwell Open Source

KayKit : Restaurant Bits - This pack has a bunch of cooking and food game assets for building kitchen and restaurant interiors, or making chaotic cooking games. There's multiple foods broken up by ingredient and in different states (raw/cooked/chopped etc.)
kaylousberg.itch.io

UniFlux - Typed Event Driven with Flux for Unity.
xavierarpa Open Source

Unity-Audio-Scripts - Collection of C# scripts that executes general audio functions in Unity
CaioMJ Open Source

Unity-Collider-Optimizer - Optimizes Mesh & Polygon colliders in Unity.
aniketrajnish Open Source

mangofogunity2d - MangoFog2D is a 2D/3D mesh rendered fog of war system for the Unity Engine. It's based off TasharenFogOfWar except it can use a MeshRenderer, SpriteRenderer, or render directly to the GPU. Plus several other features.
mkwozniak Open Source

Stereoscopic-3D-system-for-Unity-2019- - Stereoscopic 3D system for Unity 2019 and 2020 with default render + Post Processing Stack v2, URP, and HDRP + Direct3D 11.1 native S3D
Vital-Volkov Open Source

XiDebugMenu - An easy to use debug menu with little memory requirement. Influenced by the Emacs menu system. The basic concept is the minimum number of lines to add items to the menu (one line per option) and the procedural generation of menu items.
hww Open Source

UnityDynamicPanels - Draggable, resizable, dockable and stackable UI panel solution for Unity 3D
yasirkula Open Source

Data Visualization book Bundle - Turn raw data into tangible insights. Transform your data into visual models that spark new insights for your project or organization with the help of the experts at Taylor & Francis. The library of 20 ebooks explores multiple facets of data visualization. Learn to tell stories with your data, and uncover graphics techniques to aid in analysis. Explore the world of modern input devices, and derive meaning from your data using R visualizations. Translate your data into more human terms, and help support Direct Relief with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

Game Asset Compendium - Cosmic Sagas And Urban Legends Bundle - Creatures, heroes, and locations for your game. Create science-fiction worlds, fantastical adventures, and much more with this vast and varied collection of game assets! This far-reaching library features 2D tile sets for retro-styled role-playing games, character creation kits to help assemble your cast, monsters ready-made to slay, UI elements, music, and more. Gear up to make games from a range of genres, and help support JDRF with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

Unity-2D-Context-steering-AI - How to implement context steering behaviours for a 2D top down Unity game
SunnyValleyStudio Open Source

scriptable-scenes - Simple scene loading and management system for Unity Engine, implemented via Scriptable Objects.
chark Open Source

animation-auto-assignment - Unity Editor Extension that tracks changes on hierarchy and automatically repairs animation property paths.
natsuneko-laboratory Open Source

Capture, Edit, Create! Video & Gameplay Tools Software Bundle - A content creator’s workshop. Bring your ideas for videos, gaming streams, and other creative content to life with this bundle of software from Movavi! Make movies with filters, transitions, and style using the powerful Movavi Video Editor Plus 2022, plus 9 sets of effects. Capture your best gameplay moments and share them with the world using the lightweight Gecata game recording software. Take your photo editing to the next level with the AI-powered Picverse. Bring your creative vision to life, and help support Oceana with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

AudioFX Plugins & Royalty Free Sounds Mega Bundle - Take your sound to the next level. Create music, craft SFX, and make your sound even more spectacular with this awesome audio bundle! This eclectic collection features plug-ins like Obsidian and Outlaw designed to make it easy to transform your sound with spectral delay, reverb, gain leveling, and more. You’ll also get a library of dozens of royalty-free sound packs, including music samples and loops for K-pop, hip-hop, synthwave, or EDM styles. Get the sound you’re seeking, and help support Child’s Play with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate

Spotlight

#Drive - #DRIVE is an endless driving videogame inspired by road and action movies from 70s and 80s. As simple as possible, allowing the player to pick a car, pick the place and just hit the road. Just be aware not to hit anything else.
Pixel Perfect Dude

You can subscribe to the free weekly newsletter on GameDevDigest.com

This post includes affiliate links; I may receive compensation if you purchase products or services from the different links provided in this article.