Coding for Dummies: Enter Playmaker

Playmaker is a visual scripting tool for use with Unity. Highly recommended by UK developers, Ninja Theory (when I attended Appsworld '13).


A great article over on Gamasutra provides inspiration for any of those games designers out there who don't have strong coding skills: Suck At Coding But Make Games That includes me!

Sketch on a Plane

A couple of biro sketches while on the plane to Sweden. I stumbled across the bearded guy in a magazine. Think he's a music composer. Totally forgotten his name :/

Monetisation Funnel and Pyramid

Funnel and Pyramid concepts that show how to successfully monetise your game and game business.

Game Dev Inspiration

Lovely story from a Ukrainian breakdancing games developer - Inspirational.

Zero to Hero

A teaser of some character designs for a potential mobile game. A bit of a Tiny Thief influence here.

FPS Gesture Controls: The Drowning

The Drowning's clever control system creates a more intuitive and smooth FPS experience on the iPad.

I'm not sure these controls would translate so well on the smaller phone screens though. Sniping accurately with a two-finger gesture would be more difficult to pull off and probably frustrating.

The Evolution of Game Tutorials

A collegue at work linked me to this interesting article about how in-game tutorials have changed over the past 15 years:


They Don't Make Tutorial Levels Like No One Live Forever Anymore


From my experience, most gamers are too impatient to follow games tutorials unless they're forced into one. Like intro cutscenes, they are more likely to skip them, get straight into the action and use trial and error.

I like how many games nowadays integrate tutorials into the gameplay more seamlessly without it feeling boring or disjointed. Gestures or button graphics will flash up on screen to aid the player through the beginning of the first level and not bombard them with too many instructions. That's how it should always be. But it can be difficult to balance, especially in this new world of casual app gamers where attention is short and gaming trends change like the seasons.

In recent memory, Portal 2's tutorial was so seamless and playful that you hardly noticed it. All the best teachers have a sense of humour!

Canabalt HD: Desperado

The Godfather of endless runners, Canabalt HD, has a new update which includes new levels, two player competition and a female character.

I've just had a play and 2-player mode is ace but the female character, apart from longer hair, is void of femininity and looks like Antonio Banderas in Desperado.

Corona Templates

Handy websites for Corona templates I have found on the web.

Deep Blue Apps:
http://www.deepblueapps.com/category/corona-sdk-templates-so…


License My Code:

Don't be fooled by the app icons and graphics! These are true stripped down templates with quality 2D gameplay.
http://www.licensemycode.com/


T and G apps:

Not as good as the templates on deep blue apps but could still come in handy.
http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/28977-corona-templates-fo…

Unity partnership with Microsoft

Unity has recently announced a partnership with Microsoft and support for Windows 8, Xbox One, and Xbox 360. Windows Store Pro publishing add-on will also be free once it is released.

The future is looking ever brighter for Unity developers.


http://blogs.unity3d.com/2013/06/27/build-conference/