For those who don’t know the tool: Unity is a realtime game engine that ships to desktop and consoles, and Platform Toolkit sits in the build and platform integration layer, so your release pipeline spends less time arguing with targets and more time making frames.

What changed and when

A Unity product update at the Game Developers Conference included two platform-focused announcements. First, official Steam support is planned, including a native solution intended to help bring games to the platform. This support should be covering Steam, Steam Deck, and Steam Machine.

Second, targeted enhancements to the engine Linux runtime are planned with the goal of native performance increases. The same update frames this work as a way to reduce reliance on running Windows builds through Proton.

https://twitter.com/unitygames/status/2031777294394552663

Steam support without the scavenger hunt

If you have shipped on Steam before, you already know the punchline: it is possible, but the path has historically depended on what you integrate and how you maintain it over time. The new message is about making that experience feel like a supported lane rather than a community tradition. The announcement describes a built-in platform toolkit that will facilitate the workflow of bringing games to Steam. That phrasing matters for production because it points to changes that sit inside your day to day build and release loop, not just documentation or a sample project you copy once and then forget until it breaks on a Friday.

So for now, the important production takeaway is narrower and still useful: the roadmap points at a native solution for Steam targeting Steam Deck and Steam Machine as part of the same effort.

Linux runtime work aimed at less Proton reliance

The second half of the update calls out targeted enhancements to the Linux runtime in Unity, framed around native performance gains and removing the need to rely on Windows through Proton.

For teams shipping to Linux ecosystems, that focus is notable because runtime changes tend to land below your gameplay code and sometimes below your rendering decisions. When runtime behavior shifts, it can affect performance, stability, input, windowing, threading, and the kinds of issues that only appear on particular hardware and driver mixes.

Still, the direction is clear enough to influence planning. If your release strategy currently depends on Windows builds plus Proton, the announcement signals that native Linux performance is a priority area rather than an afterthought. That can change how you triage bugs, where you invest profiling time, and how you communicate platform expectations internally.

What is still missing

The story is big, but the specifics are currently thin in the provided material. There is no published schedule in the sources for when official Steam support will ship. There is no description of what the native solution includes, whether it is a package, an editor workflow, a build target configuration, or a set of services. There is no compatibility matrix that spells out editor versions, player versions, or which OS targets are covered.

That means any team looking to act immediately should treat this as a roadmap signal rather than a shipping feature drop. It is a green light to pay attention, not a license to rewrite your platform plan overnight.

https://unity.com

https://gdconf.com

The post Official Steam support lands on Unity roadmap first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The open-source engine Godot hits a new development milestone with its 4.6-dev5 snapshot. As the project moves toward feature freeze (scheduled for 3 December 2025), this build bundles a wide set of changes across rendering, export workflows, patching and editor usability.

Use D3D12 by default on Windows

For Windows users the default rendering backend now switches from Vulkan (or older defaults) to Direct3D 12 (D3D12). This reflects long-standing concerns about Vulkan stability on Windows, particularly around GPU driver reliability. The change only affects new projects created in 4.6-dev5 or later. For existing 4.5 projects you must manually set rendering/rendering_device/driver.windows = d3d12.

Delta-encoded PCK patching

Content patching sees a major enhancement. Previously, patch exports compared files at a per-file level — meaning even a single-character change in a large localisation file triggered a full export of that file.
Now, the engine supports delta encoding (binary diffing) when exporting patches. Only the modified bytes are stored, potentially turning megabyte-sized patches into lightweight, byte-level edits. This must be explicitly enabled in the Patching tab of the export dialog. Note: applying such patches comes with a small runtime cost (a few milliseconds worst case).

Native Android Gradle builds via companion app

Exporting to Android gets more robust. Previously, Godot allowed injecting game data into a pre-built APK — quick but limited. Now, thanks to a companion build app providing a Linux-like build environment on Android, Godot can run full Gradle builds on-device. This enables easier use of Android plugins (for example billing, XR, ads) and closer parity with native Android builds. The companion app is planned for release via Google Play and other stores before Godot 4.6 stable ships.

OpenXR 1.1 support and improved XR export

Godot now supports OpenXR 1.1. On devices with 1.1 support, the engine will automatically enable the newer API features. Loader logic for AOSP (Android Open Source Project) platforms has been moved from a vendor-specific plugin into Godot’s core. That means games targeting generic Android distributions can now export one APK that runs across many XR headsets without separate vendor plugins. The existing first-party OpenXR vendor plugin remains available for vendor-specific extensions and permission management.

2D renderer overhaul: major performance gains

The 2D renderer, especially for scenes benefiting from batching, gets substantial optimisations. Previous automatic 2D batching already reduced CPU usage by combining similar draw calls. In 4.6-dev5 the GPU cost of batching has been reworked. Tests show that on GPU-bound scenarios performance improved between 1.1× and 7× compared to prior versions.

Editor and engine usability upgrades

This snapshot also introduces many smaller but meaningful improvements across the editor, scripting, and core engine: rotating scene tiles in TileMapLayer, improved timeline resizing for animations, better GDScript debugging, extended GUI layout options, improved file attribute support under operating systems, and more.

What, if anything, to watch out for

As with any pre-release build, 4.6-dev5 is not a stable release. The official download page warns users to keep backups or use version control to avoid data loss or regressions. Depending on your project, some changes, like the switch to D3D12 or the use of delta-encoded patches, might require manual configuration or testing before relying on them.

This build is part of a broader push toward the stable 4.6 release. With feature freeze scheduled for 3 December 2025, this dev snapshot likely represents the last major feature add before the engine enters polish-only mode. Developers should test these changes thoroughly before upgrading production projects.

Try the Webversion in your Browser!

And read more about this Release here: https://godotengine.org/article/dev-snapshot-godot-4-6-dev-5/

The post Godot 4.6-dev5 lands: D3D12 default, Delta Patching, Android Gradle, 2D boosts first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

The Open 3D Foundation has released version 25.10.0 of its open-source 3D engine, O3DE. This October 2025 update focuses on engineering stability, build performance, and developer quality-of-life rather than visual feature expansion. The release signals a steady maturation of the engine’s toolchain, with many improvements hidden beneath the surface but significant in day-to-day use.

What’s New in 25.10

O3DE 25.10 introduces a re-engineered installation and build process. The installers have been reduced in size, roughly 26 percent smaller on Windows and about 40 percent smaller on Linux. Dependency handling and installer feedback have been streamlined, making fresh installations and version upgrades less painful. Debug and iteration performance has also improved; the foundation reports faster build times and reduced editor memory consumption, with internal testing showing up to a 50 percent cut in memory use during editing sessions.

The release officially adopts the C++20 language standard, allowing cleaner, modernised engine extensions and plug-in development. While this is mostly relevant for technical directors and engine programmers, it marks an important step toward modern C++ compliance across the toolchain.

Simulation and robotics workflows have also been refined. The ROS2 Gem, central to robotics and simulation integration, has been refactored to improve modularity and separate non-core components. This makes it easier for teams building simulation or automation pipelines to manage dependencies without compiling unnecessary subsystems.

Platform support continues to expand, with improved Vulkan handling and stronger Linux compatibility. Masked occlusion culling now works correctly under Linux, and the OpenXR Gem has been re-enabled, restoring virtual-reality and mixed-reality capabilities on that platform.

Behind the scenes, the build system has undergone a notable overhaul. O3DE’s automated review workflows have migrated from Jenkins to GitHub Actions, providing faster continuous-integration cycles and simplified caching. Build-target management has been restructured to improve consistency across Windows, Linux and macOS.

The modular improvements to simulation components and the ROS2 Gem will be useful for developers, as they simplify integration with external systems and reduce build complexity. Vulkan and Linux fixes strengthen O3DE’s cross-platform credentials, making it more viable for studios using Linux workstations or cloud build servers.

No new rendering systems or visual-effects features have been added in this release, however. The focus remains on stability, build-system efficiency and maintainability: vital for production, but less visible to artists.

Cautions Before Production Use

While O3DE 25.10 is a milestone release, it remains primarily an engineering update. Teams planning migration should note that earlier 25.05 release notes already flagged breaking changes in material-shader APIs and ray-tracing descriptors, now implemented in 25.10. Existing pipelines may require adjustments to remain compatible. As always with open-source engines under active development, studios are advised to test new builds extensively before deployment in production environments.

The post Open-Source Engine O3DE Hits Version 25.10 first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Unity Technologies has released Unity 6.2, a mid-cycle update in the Unity 6 series, delivering a suite of integrated Unity AI tools directly within the Editor. This replaces the existing Muse and Sentis services with new Editor-native functions including Assistant, Generators, and the rebranded Inference Engine. Unity emphasises better integration, a broader selection of AI models, and updated pricing, although detailed pricing mechanics remain unconfirmed. Muse is now officially retired.

Unity 6.2 also introduces other features relevant to production artists, such as an automatic Mesh LOD system, updates to Shader Graph, improvements in rendering pipelines, enhancements to the 2D system, and refinements to the UI Toolkit.

Generative AI for assets—with vendor variation

The Generators feature centralises sprite, texture, material, sound, and animation generation workflows. It supports both Unity’s own AI models and third-party models from Scenario, Inc. and Layer AI, Inc., trained on foundations like Stable Diffusion and FLUX. Unity retains its proprietary model for generating tileable textures.

Assistant: an AI-powered Editor copilot

Assistant replaces Muse Chat, delivering a “project-aware” experience inside the Editor. It can answer documentation queries, batch rename assets, automate tasks, and write or run C# code. Assistant supports:

• /ask: documentation and project queries without modifying files
• /run: automates repetitive tasks, directly applying Editor changes
• /code: generates or reviews C# code snippets interacting with the Unity API

Local inference—Inference Engine replaces Sentis

The Inference Engine, formerly Sentis, offers local model execution within the Editor or at runtime. It supports various model formats and is intended to support future ML-Agents compatibility. Unlike the cloud-based AI, this component ensures local inference without data leaving the machine.

Data handling and user responsibility

By default, Unity does not use user data to train AI models. Developers may opt into sharing prompts and metadata via the Unity Dashboard—but Unity insists runtime applications or user-created media (like meshes or audio) are not used to train either Unity’s own models or third-party models.

Partner Model providers receive anonymised input—prompts, references, and other data—for processing but not to train their models. Unity shifts the legal risk to users:

“Unity users are ultimately responsible for ensuring that their use of Unity AI complies with our acceptable use principles” and that generated assets do not infringe on third-party rights.

Additional Unity 6.2 improvements

Beyond AI, Unity 6.2 includes updates such as support for Android SDK 36, improvements in XR development, and new diagnostic tools for performance monitoring and crash reporting. The Mesh LOD and revised UI Toolkit are also emphasised in Unity’s release notes.

Production implications

Unity 6.2 is now officially supported as a non-LTS (update) release and receives the same level of support as the Unity 6.0 LTS until the next release arrives. It’s intended for new or mid-cycle productions seeking the latest tools.

Summary for production artists

Unity 6.2 delivers tightly integrated generative AI tools within the Editor, replacing legacy services and giving artists multiple options to create assets and code. The local Inference Engine assures offline capabilities. However, asset ownership and IP clearance remain the developers’ burden. The release also adds practical improvements to LOD workflows, diagnostics, XR, and UI tools

The post Unity 6.2 Welcomes AI, But Pace Caution—User Liability on Copyright first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

A recent update to the open-source 3D graphics editor brings a game-changing feature: support for animated Gaussian splats. While this may sound like something out of a physics textbook, the new addition is poised to make a significant impact on game developers and real-time graphics enthusiasts. Let’s dive into what this means for the workflow and potential applications, straight from the source.

What Are Animated Gaussian Splats?

In simple terms, Gaussian splats are a method of applying splat-based rendering techniques in 3D graphics, often used to simulate soft particles or volumetric effects. By animating these splats, the editor now allows for more dynamic, lifelike rendering of such effects. This makes it ideal for real-time applications like games, simulations, or other interactive media. With this addition, the open-source tool expands its capabilities to support animated effects that respond fluidly to the scene, offering an enhanced level of realism in particle rendering.

https://twitter.com/willeastcott/status/1876589797931938126?mx=2

Real-Time Graphics Just Got a Boost

The most significant takeaway here is the ability to incorporate these animated Gaussian splats directly into real-time projects. Whether you’re simulating environmental effects such as smoke or adding complex particle effects to a game, the editor’s new support for animated Gaussian splats brings greater flexibility and realism to your pipeline. Given that real-time graphics demand efficiency and speed, this tool aims to streamline that process, allowing production artists to preview and tweak animations on the fly.

For more information, you can explore the editor’s capabilities here.

Pricing and Availability

As this is an open-source tool, it remains free to use. However, contributions are encouraged if you’re looking to support the project and its continued development.

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The post Supersplat! Open-Source 3D Editor Adds Animated Gaussian Splats first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

Version 2.19 of the Unigine engine brings improvements and new functions – the most important new features include performance optimisations, improved integration with OpenXR for immersive VR experiences and support for the widely used USD file format. With these features, Unigine aims to make the engine even more flexible and powerful for demanding projects.

Further development of the animation system

Unigine’s animation system is constantly evolving and version 2.19 offers a number of experimental improvements for ObjectMeshSkinned. The most important new features include the implementation of LookAt chains, which enable bones or objects to be automatically aligned in the direction of a target point. In addition, rotation constraints for bones have been introduced, further refining control over animations.

Another update concerns the management of morph targets. This has been adapted for ObjectMeshSkinned to optimise performance and handling. Several interpolation modes for bone rotation have also been added, giving artists more flexibility when animating characters and objects.

One significant change is that ObjectMeshSkinned no longer supports mesh geometry modification. Instead, there is a special procedural mode in which a custom mesh can be set. This change is aimed at improving performance in real-time applications.

Finally, Unigine 2.19 offers the possibility to register the animation retargeting for ObjectMeshSkinned. This is now done by using pairs of animation path and mesh path, which simplifies and speeds up the process of transferring animations to different characters.

Improved performance and new features

The update to Unigine 2.19 focuses on performance optimisations, which are particularly important for artists working in real-time environments. The engine now uses techniques to reduce latency and optimise memory management. These improvements are intended to increase the frame rate in complex scenes and make the overall experience smoother for the user.

One feature of the new version is support for OpenXR. This open interface for virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) makes it possible to use Unigine with a variety of headsets and VR setups. OpenXR standardises VR and AR development and makes it possible to seamlessly port projects to different platforms. This innovation should be particularly important for users who develop immersive VR experiences in real time.

In addition, Unigine 2.19 now integrates support for USD (Universal Scene Description), a format that is increasingly establishing itself as the industry standard in 3D production. The USD format, originally developed by Pixar, allows for efficient management of complex scenes and supports multiple layers and variations within a project. Through this integration, artists can now work with USD directly in Unigine, which greatly facilitates compatibility and the exchange of assets between different software environments.

With the integration of USD, Unigine can now natively handle this file format, which is especially important in the VFX and animation industry. USD files are known for their ability to efficiently store and edit complex scenes and animations. This makes them ideal for use in films, games and virtual reality applications.

In addition to the major new features, the update also offers smaller improvements, such as extended script integration options and adjustments to the user interface, which further simplify the operation of the software. However, users should bear in mind that, as always, these new features should be carefully tested before integration into current projects in order to avoid possible incompatibilities.

Relevant file formats and applications

The support of OpenXR significantly expands the application possibilities of the engine in VR and AR projects. OpenXR is supported by many leading VR headsets, including devices from Oculus, HTC and Valve. This extension makes Unigine an attractive choice for developers who want to optimise their projects for different platforms and devices.

Prices and licence models

Unigine offers various licence models that are geared towards the different needs of users. The Free Community SDK is aimed at indie developers and small studios, while the Pro and Enterprise licences are designed for larger teams and companies. The Pro licence offers additional features and support options, while the Enterprise licence includes customised solutions and more extensive support services. It is important to check the licence terms carefully to ensure that the option chosen meets the requirements of the project.

For more information and technical details you can visit the Unigine website.

The post Unigine 2.19: New functions for 3D first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

With the new version 4.3 of the Godot Engine, the developers have integrated numerous improvements and new functions that are specifically tailored to the needs of CG artists. The focus is on optimising and expanding existing tools to make complex digital projects more efficient and flexible.

Volumetric fog: more realism in the visualisation

The introduction of “Volumetric Fog” in Godot 4.3 offers you an improved representation of fog and smoke in real time. The engine now supports the simulation of light scattering within fog volumes, which makes for more realistic and atmospheric environments. Especially for scenes that require a dynamic atmosphere, such as in film production or real-time visualisations, this is a welcome enhancement.

The new fog function is fully integrated into the pipeline and works efficiently with the existing lighting and shading engine. However, the complex calculation of the light interactions within the fog can require high computing power, depending on the scene and project. Users should therefore test the new functions thoroughly before integrating them into production projects.

Meshlet rendering: Efficient rendering of complex geometries

Meshlet rendering is another important new feature in Godot 4.3. This technology makes it possible to divide large and complex models into smaller parts, so-called meshlets. This leads to more efficient processing and visualisation of geometries, as only the visible parts of the model need to be rendered. For VFX artists working with highly detailed scenes, this is a significant relief as it can considerably reduce render times. Especially in real-time applications, such as games or interactive visualisations, meshlet rendering can help to optimise performance on different hardware configurations. Here too, however, it is advisable to evaluate the technology in detail before using it in production.

Improved animation tools: Precision and flexibility

The animation toolset has also been revised with Godot 4.3. The new functions offer you as a user more precision when creating and customising animations. The “Animation Retargeting” feature allows you to easily transfer animations to different characters, which greatly simplifies the workflow for projects with multiple characters.

The integration of Animation Trees has also been improved, allowing you to manage and customise complex animations more efficiently. These new features are particularly useful for artists working on projects with many animated characters or objects. Improved control over timing and transitions allows for more realistic motion sequences, which is important in VFX and game production.

Extended file format support: More flexibility at work

Godot 4.3 extends support for different file formats, giving you greater flexibility when importing and exporting your projects. The engine now supports a wider range of 3D file formats, including FBX and OBJ, and improves integration with external tools such as Blender. This expanded format support facilitates the exchange of assets between different software solutions and enables smoother collaboration in mixed production environments. Although the new formats have been extensively tested, artists should ensure that all imports are correct and lossless before using them in current projects.

Further optimisations: Improved performance and stability

In addition to the major features, Godot 4.3 offers a number of smaller optimisations that have a positive effect on the general performance and stability of the engine. These include improvements to the rendering backend, which increase the general frame rate and responsiveness of the engine.

The developers have also worked on the user interface to further improve the workflow. This particularly affects the scripting and debugging areas, where new tools and options have been added. These changes are aimed at providing you as a user with an even more pleasant and productive working environment.

Licence model and availability

Godot 4.3, like the previous versions, remains available under the MIT licence, which means that the engine can be used free of charge. This openness makes Godot particularly attractive for indie developers and small studios who want to benefit from the professional features without having to pay high licence costs.

For more information and detailed instructions on how to use the new features, you can consult the official documentation. Information on downloading and installing the latest version can be found directly on the manufacturer’s website.

The post New functions in Godot 4.3 for CG Artists first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Jürgen Firsching.

When Epic Games presented the first experimental version of the PCG framework with Unreal 5.2, the excitement among UE5 users was great at first – procedural tools already existed in the Unreal world before, these were built on a blueprint or C plug-in basis, but of course they do not come close to a native PCG framework or a Houdini integration in terms of possibilities. Generating complex procedural environments was previously only possible via Houdini integration. Well-known early examples of this are titles such as Far Cry 5 or Spiderman (PS4), where gigantic maps were constructed using SideFX’s procedural tools via Houdini Connect with a direct engine connection. The first question that was immediately discussed by aspiring technical artists was: Will Unreal PCG replace Houdini in the short or medium term? Will the time investment in these tools no longer be worth it?

Houdini, Blender, or Unreal?

This is of course not the case, as Houdini will certainly remain an integral part of the pipelines of large developers such as Ubisoft in the future. The highly complex but extremely effective combination of Houdini Digital Assets (HDAs), VEX Scripting and Session Sync is far too far ahead of its time for that. On the other hand, it shows that procedural tools are gaining ground everywhere, as can be seen with Blenders Geometry Nodes. The advantages are obvious: designing complex scenes much faster, while at the same time having total creative control over the result.

The second question that was often discussed in forums in this context was: What role does the environment artist actually still play here? Or, who is in charge here: is this still biomass or already AI? This question is of course understandable, especially in view of the fact that some people can already hear the trumpets of the AI apocalypse sounding. But here, too, the all-clear can be given for the time being, because although dynamic content is generated via PCG algorithms, it is still under the full control and creative will of human brain cells.

In Epic Games Electric Dreams PCG Demo, you navigate through a seemingly endless jungle that always looks alive thanks to the depth of detail and endless variations. PCG parameters can be used to control and change density and scene detail as desired.

The Unreal PCG Era begins

Unreal’s PCG framework is similar in use to the proven Blueprint Visual Scripting System. In the node-based environment, spatial data is tapped, points with PCG properties are generated from it, which in turn are re-sorted, filtered and processed in the data flow in order to then calculate the final position of the points from the conditions of the PCG logic, at which the mesh is generated from its corresponding parameters.

The special PCG graph is also smoothly embedded in the Unreal ecosystem, it can be extended as a component in Blueprint Actors and remains scalable and performant thanks to Nanite’s Virtualised Micropolygon Geometry System. Surprisingly, PCG also works “at runtime”, meaning that PCG graphs can be executed in real time, which literally opens doors to new worlds. Procedural worlds, as already familiar in principle from titles such as No Man’s Sky, can of course also be useful in virtual production, for example to control scene characteristics in real time via user parameters. In the applications and examples from Epic Games to date, the focus has been on landscape and nature, while the complex topic of buildings, infrastructure and cities has been approached rather cautiously. Work is currently still underway to make these areas more user-friendly, as revealed during the developer streams in the Q&A.

UE 5.4: Procedurally into the future

After Epic Games opened the PCG chapter with Unreal 5.2, some details were simplified in version UE 5.3. With version UE 5.4, however, some decisive performance improvements and a whole host of new nodes have now been added to make the workflow much easier. For example, there is now a Water Spline Interop Node, which makes it much easier to sample depth and width along water splines. In order to capture river water body data in particular, mathematical contortions were previously necessary to obtain usable results. A real little surprise in the UE 5.4 preview is the new Biome Core plug-in. Once activated, Epic uses an example level map to demonstrate what the future of standardised biome creation will look like.

With the new PCG Biome Core and Biome Sample plug-in from the Unreal 5.4 preview version, Epic Games uses the new nodes to show what the standardised procedural landscape generation of the future will look like.

On the one hand, this is also a showcase for the new hierarchical logic functions such as recursive subgraphs, and on the other, an initiative for a kind of standard PCG graph template for natural elements that can be adapted to the situation without always having to start from scratch. At the GDC 2024, State of Unreal presentation (is.gd/unreal_gdc_2024), some practical examples were also shown. Lego in particular, one of Epic’s largest partners alongside Disney, demonstrated the flexible application methods for PCG landscapes in the familiar building block look. The new 5.4 PCG features are supported by other innovations that are important for environment design. Nanite Dynamic Tessellation, allows dynamic landscape displacement at runtime, i.e. in real time, for example to change surface details. The Nanite Spline Meshes function, useful for generating roads, for example, has been optimised and is now “production ready”. For heterogeneous volumes, i.e. realistic fire and smoke simulation, there is now better render integration with shadows and transparent objects. In other words, many improvements in detail for landscape themes, in addition to the big show favourites such as the new motion graphics mode and the new animation tools: Motion Matching, automatic retargeting and the great new control rig modules. Unreal Version 5.4 is an impressive update, especially in terms of performance. This paves the way for building huge and detailed real-time environments, whether for open world games or as environments for virtual production.

An overview of the Electric Dreams jungle with the alternative viewport views: Lighting only, Wireframe and Nanite Instances.

Dark calls from the forest: the Electric Dreams demo

To be able to use the new procedural tools in Unreal, the PCG plug-in must first be activated. The easiest way to get a quick overview of the possibilities is with the Electric Dreams example project from Epic Games, which was presented in mid-2023. This impressive example, which certainly makes some hardware demands (recommended minimum graphics equipment: RTX 4080), demonstrates what PCG can achieve using a seemingly endless jungle landscape. If you want to take the forest frenzy to the next level, you can also do so with a VR version, which the enterprising Youtuber JSFILMZ has equipped with additional details such as animals on Artstation (is.gd/artstation_UE_dreams_demo).

It goes without saying that you’ll need a computer with a sporty set-up, as the wild undergrowth with dense undergrowth on a huge terrain is a real challenge. Nevertheless, the jungle madness is made up of surprisingly manageable asset building blocks, as relatively few, but dynamic Quixel asset packages are sufficient to populate the green hell.

The Quixel assets in question are packaged in assemblies that can be edited by right-clicking, as has been the case since version 5.0. If you now want to customise the integrated PCG components of the scene, you can easily do this with the integrated spline curve via the Details panel. This means, for example, adding a point via Alt-Drag so that this section of the landscape is extended along the curve, or moving, copying or duplicating the points of the curve as desired. Parameters such as Seed and Density are easily accessible and additional mesh features can be switched on and off. If you want to quickly try out a different look, all you have to do is swap the scatter presets and the environment is visually customised. Conclusion of the Electric Dreams demo: A breathtaking forest expedition with Unreal’s powerful new PCG tools, which give you an idea of where the procedural journey is heading.

The PCG Engine plugins, PCG demo user parameters in the detail window and the PCG graph of an assembly.

The parametric landscape construction kit

The easiest way to get a quick “aha” experience for the practical application is to start with a fresh scene and try out a typical use case, e.g. a landscape with a building surrounded by dense forest. So, create a new modular map within the Electric Dreams project via File, add landscape material to all landscape tiles and place the Blueprint Actor in the scene via the Content Browser. All the magic now unfolds when you activate the Generate button in the Details panel of the PCG section. As expected, the terrain is now populated with the forest assets and you are free to make one or two adjustments. To generate a recess for the building, another Blueprint Actor is required, which can also be found in the Content Browser: The Actor. Placed in the desired area, it now has a spline curve in the detail window, which can be used to precisely determine the recess boundary to the forest growth.

Once the building has been placed, for example the Medieval Castle Asset from Game Asset Factory for demonstration purposes, which can be quickly assembled in a modular fashion, the landscape can now be precisely customised. The beauty of this procedure is that the spline curve can now be used to determine exactly how close the wild growth should be to the walls and how much space the walls need in the composition. Putting the PCG components together shows the productivity gain that can be achieved here. If this undergrowth had been inserted by hand or painted via Asset Painter as before, the time required would have been many times longer.

Reforesting, starting from scratch

To rebuild PCG Actors from scratch, the PCG plug-in must first be activated. A new scene with PCG Graph, which is placed as a volume in the landscape, is then created via the PCG entry in the Content Browser right-click menu, for example. The Blueprint Actor is now added as an additional element, which in turn contains a spline curve as a component that can now be addressed via a tag.

In blueprint fashion, the corresponding nodes are now linked in the PCG Graph in order to retrieve and process data from the spatial scene information. For example, via “Get Landscape Data” or “World Ray Hit Quary” (to hit several loose objects from one direction, for example), or as in the example just mentioned with “Get Spine Data” to generate landscape points from the curve information, modify them and then spit out the mesh objects at the new coordinates. This can be achieved quickly by using Get DSpline Data to call a Blueprint Actor with its own tag (here DPdemo) and using Spline Sampler to retrieve its spline information in order to then refine the points generated from it using Transform Points and then deliver them to the Static Mesh Spawner Node, where the mesh object is finally generated.

The PCG building blocks: Quixel assets as compunds and then as “Packed Level Actors” blueprints, which can be controlled via details parameters and spline curves

Fortunately, you can use a debug function with keyboard shortcut d to call up the debug visualisation for each node in the PCG graph and use shortcut e to temporarily deactivate the individual nodes. This helps enormously when using the rough debug point view to analyse exactly where the points fall so that you can quickly make improvements without having to generate the entire landscape every time.

A PCG scene setup in a quick test with assets from the Electric Dreams demo. Create forest, define recess via spline, add modular buildings. The castle with forest surroundings is finished.

There are various ways of generating and distributing the various landscape elements such as trees, bushes and tufts of grass, etc. For example, you can use filter functions to filter out points for generation, organise PCG graphs in a nested manner via subgraphs, or simply create new offshoots in the PCG graph, each of which then has its own functions and generates additional mesh types.

If you now want to incorporate additional landscape functions, this can be achieved using additional Blueprint Actors with Spline Component. For example, clear a path through the forest by calling this new Spine Actor in the PCG Graph via a tag and extending its width via the Bounds Modifier Node so that the resulting point mass can then be subtracted from the previous one via the Difference Node. The result is the aforementioned path through the undergrowth, which, like the forest section, can be dynamically modified and expanded.

BU PCG right from the start: PCG volume and blueprint actor with spline, preview of the point distribution via debug mode, Quixel Alden trees as mesh output at the point positions. Then added a branch for grass detail and small bushes. Then to clear a path in between, a Blueprint Actor with Spline and Bounds modification via Difference Node from the previous one

Other components from the Unreal landscape system can of course be perfectly combined with PCG Graphs, such as the river, lake and ocean elements of the Unreal Water plug-in. Once activated, the water landscape parts are now available and as the lake and river have inbuilt splines to shape the form, these can of course also be accessed via the PCG Graph.

For example, if you now place a lake (Water Body Lake) in the scene, you can now call it up in the PCG Graph via get Spline Data by defining All Actors of Class as the selection method and On Interior in the spline sample. The generated point mass must now be expanded slightly via Transform Points scaling and subtracted as before, so that the piece of forest in the landscape is then dynamically pushed back.

The “Basic Forest” from Hyper in the island demo. With a “World Ray Hit Quarry” the surface information such as rock or grass area is retrieved via Unreal Physical Material. In the PCG main graph, the data flow passes through the packed subgraphs, including the exclude subgraph, until the points are passed through filter transformation to mesh generation. The frequently used “Self-Pruning” node excludes overlaps. In the subgraphs shown below, you can see how the data is formed from the “Density propagation”, the custom user parameter “Density” is integrated for control and the excluded landscape parts are sorted out via Difference.

With this method, quite complex constructions can now be built, where different splines and parameters interact dynamically in a controllable way in order to control component weighting in addition to density, scale and feature activation. The Electric Dreams demo discussed at the beginning is a good showcase for this, as the PCG Graphs from Epic Games demonstrate that everything is possible in terms of complexity. Points quantity deducted. To address a lake with the corresponding spline via the Unreal Water plug-in, all you have to do is select the pond via Class Selection and move the forest back via Difference.

Also works: PCG constructions for components

Of course, PCG Graphs also work for the generation of man-made structures such as walls, roads and buildings. As the system is still quite new and the documentation is rather sparse so far, we have to rely on examples from Unreal users, who have been able to discover solutions through trial and error. As already mentioned, it is to be expected that this area will be better documented and easier to use in the near future.

In this example, the PCG Graph generates a point from the world position of the Blueprint Actor, which is then multiplied and positioned via Transform Points to form the base area. The result is merged to create a spline, from which the meshes are then generated via a spline sampler. This results in the ground floor from the meshes of the building segment. With a point offset on the Z-axis, the storeys and the top roof with structure are now created.

In principle, building structures are no different to landscape vegetation: points are generated, filtered according to parameters, multiplied and controlled, and then placed as a mesh at the end. For example, as a PCG component in a Blueprint Actor, which is positioned in the map. In the PCG graph, the first point in the world position is then generated via Get Actor Data, this is then copied several times via Transform Points, moved, merged, redivided via Spline Sampler and then generated as a static mesh component at the end positions, so that the starter content wall pieces (wall with window) become seamless building structures, which can then be set up as new floors via offset values. This principle can of course be continued by generating further building clusters and entire cities with additional offset values and variation parameters. There is certainly more to come.

Marketplace PCGs: Designer assets with benefits

You don’t always have the time to build a flexible and well-structured PCG graph yourself. One shortcut is to get concepts or inspiration from the PCG section of the Blueprint Web Depository blueprintue.com/search, or simply copy/paste your own project. Another way is to go on a shopping tour with commercial PCG providers. Exemplary structured and documented PCG assets are available, for example, from the Unreal Marketplace provider Hyper. Hyper’s Basic Forest (is.gd/marketplace_basic_forrest) is elegantly structured, with the key PCG elements packaged in clear PCG subgraphs. This means that the structure and function can be quickly understood and easily edited. The density of the individual landscape elements can be adjusted quickly and it is immediately clear how the result is achieved.

Hyper’s Basic Forest PCG in a custom environment decorated with Quixel assets. This time the building was created using Blender with the Procedural Building Generator 2.

The asset pack is supplied with the corresponding elements, trees, bushes, rocks and even small parts such as mushrooms and debris. These are distributed across the landscape according to the parametric specifications of the PCG Graph, leaving out water and rocky ground. The demo map with an overgrown island presents the full splendour of the PCG elements and a short tour is a real joy. The preset assets can of course be swapped with your own assets to customise them to your own scenes.

Conclusion

This type of user-friendly PCG asset also shows where the future lies. This applies in particular to Unreal users who need quick results and do not necessarily want to build a PCG system from scratch. At the moment, however, there are still relatively few PCG assets available in the Unreal Marketplace, which is certainly due to the fact that the system is still too new. A lot will certainly change in the future, and you can expect various landscape, building and city builder asset solutions based on PCG to appear over time. The future is procedural!

The post Procedural Worldbuilding mit Unreal first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Cornel Hillmann.

This article by Michael Krimmer originally appeared in DP 05 : 2010.

There are not many successful German games developers who survived the boom years of the 80s and still regularly bring titles to market today. One veteran of the German games studio sector is Blue Byte. And this studio is still successfully developing games 22 years after it was founded.

Blue Byte, founded in 1988 by former employees of the German studio Rainbow Arts in Mülheim an der Ruhr via Blue Byte GmbH, specialised in the development of strategy games and simulations from the very beginning.

The first major success was the tennis simulation “Pro Tennis Tour” from 1989, which sold a good 500,000 copies in total. This was followed by such successful titles as “Battle Isle”, which made its debut in 1991 and received a total of two sequels.

However, none of Blue Byte’s many titles were as successful as the first version of “The Settlers”, which was launched in 1993. To date, more than 8,000,000 copies of The Settlers games have been sold.

Today, 17 years after the release of the first version, Blue Byte launched version 7 of the Settlers series on the market in March 2010 and is expected to continue the success of the previous versions. One reason for this success, in addition to the steadily growing target group over the years, may also be that “The Settlers” is still not only being developed for Windows PCs, contrary to what has been announced in the meantime. A large fan base has also formed among users of Apple’s Mac OS, who have contributed to the success of The Settlers, episode after episode.

In 2001, Blue Byte was taken over by the French publisher Ubisoft. Ubisoft paid 26 million marks for the acquisition and also acquired the rights to all previous Blue Byte game titles. In retrospect, this investment was probably worth it for the rights to the Settlers series alone. As part of the integration into the Ubisoft studio group, Blue Byte moved to the Ubisoft headquarters in Düsseldorf in 2003.

Blue Byte was integrated into the worldwide network of Ubisoft studios. This network consists of 24 studios in 17 countries, making it the second largest in-house development resource in the world. Ubisoft employs around 5,300 people in the area of production. Well over 120 employees work on a project like “The Settlers 7”. In the case of “The Settlers 7”, external service providers also contributed to the game’s soundtrack, for example.

The Ubisoft studios in Montreal and Bucharest were also involved in the production process, working closely with their colleagues from Blue Byte on the internet connection for the multiplayer mode or supporting the quality assurance test area.

Ubisoft relies on a combination of organic growth and acquisitions and acquires studios and brands from time to time when the opportunity arises. In 2007, for example, the German publisher Sunflowers was acquired along with the rights to the “Anno” series. “Anno” is a popular economic simulation game that has been around since 1998, when the first instalment of the series, “Anno 1602”, was released. This was followed by “Anno 1503” in 2002, “Anno 1701” in 2006 and “Anno 1404” in 2009. The rights to “Driver”, a type of driving simulation previously owned by Atari, were also added to the Ubisoft portfolio.

The result was a heavyweight in the games industry that generated a turnover of 1.058 billion euros in the 2008/2009 financial year and was the number three independent publisher in Japan. And with further acquisitions, the Ubisoft project could slowly but surely develop just like a healthy city in “The Settlers”.

About Blue Byte GmbH

Blue Byte was founded in 1988 by former Rainbow Arts employees Thomas Hertzler and Lothar Schmitt. The company was based in Mülheim an der Ruhr. Right from the start, successful titles were developed, but the final breakthrough came with the building strategy simulation “The Settlers”.

In 1994, a subsidiary was founded in Northampton, England, so that the English-speaking market could also be served. Just one year later, a branch was opened in Schaumburg, Illinois. This additional branch was intended to help the company become active on the North American market.

This was followed by several successful years, but also some that went less well. in 1997 and 1998, Blue Byte had to cope with the departure of some veteran employees who founded their own studio: Funatics. The development studio Funatics is still in business today and has developed several titles for the French games developer and distributor Ubisoft in recent years, including some based on “The Settlers”. It was also Ubisoft that took over Blue Byte in February 2001 for around 26 million marks.

As part of the takeover, Blue Byte relocated its headquarters to Düsseldorf in 2003, where Ubisoft Germany also has its headquarters. Web: www.bluebyte.de

Interview | Benedikt Grindel

Benedikt Grindel, born on 6 March 1969, has been working as a producer at Blue Byte since April 2001 and was significantly involved in the production of “The Settlers 7”. In an interview with DIGITAL PRODUCTION, he talks about the production of the latest instalment in the Settlers series.

DP: Does Blue Byte develop exclusively in Germany or are games also created in your own studios abroad, in a kind of round-the-clock workflow?

Benedikt Grindel: The game is largely developed in our studio in Germany. However, we also use resources from other Ubisoft studios, such as the one in Montreal, as well as other outsourcing partners. The cut-scene sequences in “The Settlers 7” were created in France at the Chez Eddy studio. Dialogue sequences and in-game animations were made in Dresden by PiXABLE. We simply drew on expertise from the film industry to further emphasise the new graphic style. The fact that the soundtrack comes from service providers is nothing new. Very few studios have their own composer. However, our major studios in Montreal and Shanghai have their own sound studios.

DP: How long does the visual polish take in post-production once the game itself is finished?

Benedikt Grindel: It’s difficult to say, because the finishing touches don’t just start in post-production. In the last two months of development, we worked almost exclusively on the finishing touches, but this was also done beforehand, especially for buildings and characters.

DP: What software do you use to develop your games?

Benedikt Grindel: The programming mainly uses C and LUA, in graphics we used 3ds Max for 3D modelling, Photoshop for texturing and Softimage for creating the animations.

DP: What hardware equipment do you have at Blue Byte?

Benedikt Grindel: We use powerful PCs, mostly dual- or quad-core, which are also all equipped with fast graphics cards.

DP: How high is the proportion of a game’s post-production compared to the other development stages?

Benedikt Grindel: That is also difficult to quantify. One estimate: the visual polish takes up around 30 per cent of the time spent on creating the graphics.

DP: Does Blue Byte or Ubisoft outsource the post-production work or is everything done internally?

Benedikt Grindel: As already mentioned, this is essentially done internally, even for assets that we have created externally. In individual cases, such as animations, our partners have also been involved in post-production.

DP: How great is the pressure for developers when you continue a series like “The Settlers”, which is expected to be commercially successful with every sequel?

Benedikt Grindel: It’s pressure on the one hand, but it’s also a good starting point. I believe that the risk of commercial failure is greater with a new brand launch than it is with Ubisoft’s own CGI studio for a well-known title.

DP: Which Blue Byte production was the highlight of the past few years?

Benedikt Grindel: For me, THE highlight of the last few years is Settlers 7.

DP: What are you currently working on?

Benedikt Grindel: We’re still working on The Settlers 7, but I’m not allowed to say anything else here.

Interview | Odile Limpach

Odile Limpach, born on 9 March 1971, has been with Ubisoft since 1996 and is currently Managing Director & Product Development at Blue Byte.

DP: Founded in 1988, Blue Byte was acquired by Ubisoft in 2001. What is life like under the umbrella of one of the world’s largest publishers and what about studio freedom?

Odile Limpach: We are fully involved in the development processes at Ubisoft, but we have a lot of freedom in our decisions. That’s a great situation: with Ubisoft behind us, we have access to the expertise and technology of over 5,000 developers worldwide. We benefit from the methods, processes and experience of the Ubisoft Group and the studio network, which consists of 24 studios in 17 countries.

DP: Given the history of the Settlers series, was it foreseeable that “The Settlers 7” would also be a success or is it always a risk until the launch, as with any other game?

Odile Limpach: There is always a certain risk because markets change. But with the quality delivered and the brand loyalty of our Settlers fans, we were very confident.

DP: And how is the current seventh instalment in the Settlers series selling?

Odile Limpach: It’s still too early to make a real judgement because Settlers games traditionally sell for a very long time. We are satisfied with the initial sales.

DP: Is it more of an advantage or a disadvantage these days to develop computer games in Germany?

Odile Limpach: Germany still has some catching up to do, especially in terms of training, promotion and social recognition of our industry. But there are some initial positive developments. We like being in Germany and want to stay here.

DP: Many sectors have suffered from the economic crisis in recent months. How hard has Blue Byte/Ubisoft been hit and how are things looking at the moment?

Odile Limpach: The crisis has not left us unscathed, but it has not hit the industry and our company as hard as others.

DP: What were the strategies to avoid failure during the crisis?

Odile Limpach: We focussed on what we do best: Publishing good games and monitoring the market for new niches.

DP: Which three titles have been the commercial highlights of the past few years?

Odile Limpach: For Blue Byte, The Settlers and the Anno series. For Ubisoft worldwide, Assassin’s Creed I and II, probably the most successful new brand launches in our sector for a long time.

DP: Are there any international co-operations, mergers or acquisitions planned?

Odile Limpach: Blue Byte and Ubisoft have invested a lot in recent years, and our internal development resources have continued to grow even during the crisis. Unfortunately, I can’t give any details about future developments here.

The post The law of the series | Retro article first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: The VFX service provider Redefine (own spelling: ReDefine) has released a VFX breakdown for the streaming series Halo – including sci-fi-tastic battles in the air, on the ground and in the first-person perspective.

In toto: As in the original game, the Halo series tells the story of the armed conflict between humans and an alien civilisation called the Covenant. In terms of dramaturgy, Halo draws its viewers in with a mixture of action and drama. The series is set in a speculative 26th century. The protagonist is John-117, aka Master Chief, the iconic hero from the video game series. The series adaptation of the popular first-person shooter games can be viewed on the streaming service Paramount .

About Redefine: The VFX house Redefine is based in Canada; the company has three locations: in Montreal, London and Mumbai. Redefine’s portfolio includes the Star Wars series Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Ewan McGregor), the actioner Ambulance by director Michael Bay, and the slasher remake Scream by directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. The VFX experts are currently working on the sequel Scream VI and the Disney streaming series American Born Chinese. To the website of Redefine.

Click further: In the past, Digital Production has repeatedly reported on the spacey visual effects of Halo; we present them below:

• 2.08.2022: The Master Chief in Beast Mode: MPC not only plays Halo, but also means series streaming. Does John-117 pull the aliens’ teeth?
• 18.10.2022: VFX Supervisor Patrick David and VFX Producer Nancy Heller chat about Alien Concept Design.
• 24.11.2022: Rodeo FX blows up the Madrigal Tower! A colossal series entry for the Master Chief from the Halo series.

ReDefine | Halo VFX Breakdown

The post Halo | VFX Breakdown first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Since Digital Production last reported on a Blender tutorial from the YouTube channel All the Works – at that time we presented two new video tutorials, one on low-poly environments and one on portal scenes (see Digital Production from 28 October 2022) – another high-quality tutorial video has been released. It’s called “Third Person Game Project”.

In toto: The video (see end of this news item) shows how to create a game project from the third-person perspective (popularly known as the Tomb Raider perspective) using the Unity engine. Incidentally, the creative mind behind All the Works created the 3D character and the associated props using Blender and Mixamo, as stated in the video description (see Digital Production from 2 June 2015). The video tutorial is linked below.

Click further: In the past, Digital Production has repeatedly referred to the free training programme offered by All the Works. For an overview, see the list below.

• 4.2.2022: Procedural flower generator with Blender 3.0:
  Your life needs more flower power? Cultivate sunflowers, pansies and other flower wonders procedurally now!
• 31.5.2022: Geometry Nodes with Blender:
  “The back of the waterfall”: How do you create a realistic flowing waterfall in Blender?
• 24.6.2022: Recreate this beach with Geometry Nodes!
  With this video tutorial you can set up a coastal beach – populated with rocks, bushes and palm trees. The highlight: the assets continue endlessly.
• 28.6.2022: Build this picturesque medieval village in Blender! Another awesome tutorial from “All the Works”, this time with a low-poly dream castle.
• 8.8.2022: Create trees in Blender with this video tutorial! Why Mtree is probably the best Blender add-on for creating trees.
• 29.6.2022: Zombie hordes tunnel through London! Want to get your own zombie army on track?

Third Person Game Project | UNITY & BLENDER

The post How does a third-person game work with Blender? first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: The Open 3D Foundation releases Open 3D Engine version 22.05. The Open 3D Engine is based on the Lumberyard engine, developed by Amazon Web Services. Open 3D Engine is aimed at developers of complex gaming productions.

New functions of version 22.05: The most princely features in fast-forward below.

• User Defined Properties (UDP): This allows you to read metadata from source assets into the asset processor. Sounds painfully technical? It can also be more practical: UDP allows you to change your assets directly in DCC tools such as Blender or Maya. You can also save user-defined light properties, animation nodes or meshes via UDP. Meta data can also be read in that comes in the usual 3D file formats – for example: FBX or gITF.
• New motion matching system: This allows you to create new animations, even if you are working with faulty motion capturing files. The following tedious work steps should be eliminated: “Prepare motion sequences in an animation graph” or “Create transitions between different types of motion”
• New features for the Atom renderer: This allows you to add user-defined passes to the render pipeline. Also included: Debugging for Scene Lighting – with which you can overwrite certain scene properties. With the release of Open 3D Engine 22.05, Atom was defined as the default renderer in the Animation Editor viewport. This should make rendering as performant as in the in-game
• Cesium & PopcornFX plugins: These third-party plugins bring real-time particle effects and real-time geodata streaming to the Open 3D Engine

Click further: Our feature list is too superficial for you? In the official release note you can read in detail about the range of functions you can enjoy with Open 3D Engine version 22.05. Or click on the video below, which explains what the Open 3D Engine is all about in pictures, sound and colour.

click on (again): If you need a lesson in the Lumberyard engine, we refer you to our large-scale engine safari from DP 06 : 2018, which we put online for free on 9 June 2021 as part of our series of retro articles.

O3DE – What is O3DE?

The post Open 3D Engine 22.05 is released! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: Crytek releases version 5.7 of its CryEngine.

Core features of CryEngine 5.7: Here are some of the most exciting new functions in fast-forward:

• Scaleform 4 – the latest middleware for game development: includes customisable, high-performance rendering. In addition, ActionScript 3.0 is now also supported – so Adobe Animate can now be used
• Scaleform Schematyc: A plug-in that emulates functions provided by the Flow Graph. Scaleform Schematyc supports both Scaleform 3 and Scaleform 4
• GamePlatform: A plug-in that handles communication between the engine and platform services. These platform services include Steam, PlayStation and Xbox. Also included: an additional plug-in that provides Visual Scripting Nodes for Flow Graph and Schematyc
• Support for Visual Studio 2022: Also includes support for Visual Studio 2017 and 2019
• Other features: Beyond that, you can expect various bug fixes

Click further: To see all the new features, click on the corresponding release note on cryengine.com. On 2 September 2019 , we reported on the release of the previous version of CryEngine 5.7 – namely version 5.6. At the time, a beautiful tech trailer showed off the graphical innovations. If you want to understand what developments the CryEngine has undergone from version 5.6 to 5.7, you should click here.

Further highlights: In the following “Ask me Anything” from February of this year, Gabriel Yakir Ketteler, Brand Manager at Crytek, and Arto Ruotsalainen, General Manager at Crytek, discuss what the future of the CryEngine might look like.

Discord AMA with Arto Ruotsalainen, February 2022

The post Version 5.7 of the CryEngine released! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: The winners of the BAFTA Games Awards 2022 have been announced. This is according to a recent announcement on bafta.org.

Which games impressed the judges? One of the big winners was the sci-fi shooter “Returnal”, which picked up four award trophies. While “Returnal” won in the “Audio Achievement”, “Best Game”, “Music” and “Leading Role” award categories, the other two big winners at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards were “It Takes Two” and “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart”. Both titles honoured their developers in two categories, “It Takes Two” in the “Multiplayer” and “Original Property” categories and “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart” in the “Animation” and “Technical Achievement” categories respectively.

A brief summary of “Returnal”, “It Takes Two” and “Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart”: For those of you who have hung up your gaming controller: “Returnal” is a third-person shooter set in a science fiction setting with story mechanics borrowed from films such as “Groundhog Day” or “Edge of Tomorrow”. “It Takes Two” is a co-operative action adventure game that tells an educational story about a dysfunctional family. Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart” is also a third-person shooter. It is the sixth instalment in the popular ‘Ratchet & Clank’ series. To give you a better impression of the winning titles, we have linked the corresponding trailers below.

Click further: If you’re interested in finding out which other gaming titles were able to impress at this year’s BAFTA Games Awards, click over to the corresponding announcement on bafta.org . We hope you enjoy seeing (and playing) your favourite titles again!

Returnal – Gameplay Trailer

It Takes Two – Official Gameplay Trailer

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart – Gameplay Trailer

The post Winners of the BAFTA Games Awards 2022 announced! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

In nuce: If you were passionate about assembling model kits from Revell and the like as a child and now want to bring your childhood hobby into adulthood, the “Model Builder” game offers you the opportunity to set up a virtual hobby room – and create true-to-scale film memorabilia and battleships and spaceships there.

What does Model Builder have in store? In the game, you not only tinker with real-world vehicles, but also screw together Han Solo’s blaster pistol, put a saucer on the warp drive of the Starship Enterprise, or teach a mech walking robot how to pose in the showcase (in the neighbourhood of pirate ships, tank battalions and other air and space vehicles). If you want to add unique details to finished models, the Model Builder provides you with a range of brushes, paintbrushes and spray tools to give your miniature artwork that certain something.

What else does the Model Builder have to offer? The game even has a story mode in which you revive your grandfather’s passion for model kits. To do this, you compete against rivals from all over the world.

Click further: For 16.79 euros, you can buy the nostalgic, meditative game on Steam, which will get you into the next flow pretty quickly. Visit the game developer Moonlit and the publisher Green Man Gaming to fill your next evening with fun games.

Model Builder – Launch Trailer

The post Childhood dreams come true with the Model Builder! first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

This article was initially published in DP 06 : 2018.

We’ve already heard about the huge step forward that Unity has made in the last year. Coming with it are new ways of rendering. The results are impressive indeed, and it’s not just game developers who like to use this engine for their games. The automotive industry is starting to knock at the doors of Unity and others are sure to jump on the train as well.

Lightweight Rendering and High Definition Rendering – these are the two brothers who joined the Unity club with update 2018.1. It is easy to guess which one of them serves which purpose, and we had a little chat with Arisa Scott, Graphics Product Manager at Unity Technologies, to find out what makes those two rendering pipelines special and how people have adopted them.

DP: How do you like the event so far?

Arisa Scott: It’s great! It’s been very high energy, I loved the keynote. I knew a few bits of what was going to happen, but I didn’t know, for example, about the game “Harold Halibut” and listening to the guy who was thrilled about the HD Render Pipeline (HDRP) was really great. I wanted to be introduced immediately after to get some customer feedback from them as well.

DP: In your talk, you introduced Lightweight Rendering and High Definition Rendering. Of course, there are differences in performance, but what is the main difference regarding the pipeline between those two?

Arisa Scott: They are built on top of the same architecture, but they are optimized for two different things. The Lightweight Rendering Pipeline is all about being stripped down and optimized for things like mobile performance. It is also more similar to our current renderer, just with a slightly reduced feature set. HD, on the other hand, is very different. It is optimized for GPU, compute-capable, very high-end. When you open it up you have tons of options and settings which you have to dig into a little deeper to fully understand what they are capable of. If you are a graphics programmer, it is a fantastic playground, and if you are an artist, you can just open it up and create something that you have much more control over now. It is much more about creating a visually beautiful, cinematic experience.

DP: What is the main thing that is missing then in the Lightweight pipeline?

Arisa Scott: There are things that were intentionally not added, because if we were to add them, they would hit performance. For example, in our post-processing stack there are options that are not available because of that reason. We do offer some lighter versions of those, but if you have a material in HD that looks gorgeous, you can’t just add that in Lightweight, because the performance would suffer too much and you wouldn’t be able to ship it and hit with 60 fps on mobile.

DP: Is it possible after starting with Lightweight to switch to HD afterwards?

Arisa Scott: You don’t need to start all over again, but you do have to restructure things a little. If you have created your shader with shader graph, we have added a master node that works in both, so you can have your shaders move over. The lighting system is also different. Lightweight has a simplified PBR system, whereas HD is more accurate in addition to having all the shiny things, and HD acts a lot more like real lighting would. So you have to redo your lighting and you probably have to redo some of your materials as well, because you will have many more possibilities to get better quality out of them.

DP: When developing the HD Rendering pipeline, did you take a close look at other products which already support these workflows? Other engines for example?

Arisa Scott: The majority was written by Sébastien Lagarde, an excellent rendering architect who also worked on the Frostbite Engine. So it was a lot about him bringing his industry experience into the project and making sure that we could achieve this cutting-edge quality. But of course, we always keep an eye on the competition as well. Everyone has to.

DP: How did you affect the development of HDRP?

Arisa Scott: I’m bringing in feedback and the customer point of view. You can improve a lot by directly listening and reading what our customers want and need. Lightweight and HD are both in preview at the moment, so we are getting a lot of requests, feedback and wishes. It’s a huge help in terms of optimizing everything and also finding lacks in terms of features which could be better or that have been missing so far.

DP: What did people say so far?

Arisa Scott: I think “Harold Halibut” was actually a good example of the high energy and excitement around it. We are definitely getting a lot of positive feedback. There is another studio I talked to that mostly does TV shows and the most valuable thing for Unity’s new HD Rendering pipeline enables users to get much more high-quality looks. Examples like Toyota’s Lexus LC5OO campaign have proven that Unity can indeed provide the quality necessary for industry standards. them were features like color temperature adjustments and these kinds of things. They are working with directors who are used to talking in a certain language, so what it did in addition was remove those barriers and make it a lot easier for them to be on the same page.

DP: What were the biggest challenges that came up with HDRP?

Arisa Scott: The thing with HD is that we are adding so many features. We have to make sure that we are implementing these features in a way that is accessible for our current Unity users. To not have the risk that it is too overwhelming. Of course, there are a bunch of options that you still need to dig into, but you don’t have to modify anything if you don’t want to. The defaults just have to work. That’s it. Making sure that if you don’t want to change or switch anything, the default options work and it still looks good.

DP: If someone has already worked with other software, is it difficult to adapt to Unity?

Arisa Scott: We try to make it as intuitive as possible. Another thing that is very valuable to Unity is our community. I’d say it is definitely one of Unity’s strengths that we have a great community which is producing a lot of content. I think this makes it a lot easier to actually give Unity a try, because you have all of these tutorials that naturally come with it. And also we have really wonderful technical writers who are doing their best to make sure that all the available documentation for Unity is easy to understand.

DP: Are Lightweight and HD already integrated in the engine or do you have to add them manually?

Arisa Scott: They are included and completely free to use. When you open up 2018.1 for a new project, you will have a list of templates which our lovely tech art team has created. There you can find things like a 2D or 3D template and also the Lightweight and Lightweight VR template. Same goes for HD.

DP: What are your future plans?
Arisa Scott: As I said, both are in preview, so the nearest future goal will be adding more features and working on optimizing everything. Especially for HD there is probably an endless list of high-end things you can add, but basically it all comes down to offering better results and also more control. In 2018.3 we have a new reflection system that will give much better control over all of your reflection props. Minimize light leaking and that sort of stuff. So it’s about finding areas where we are currently missing control.

DP: Do you recommend Unity Rendering to beginners and do you think it can keep up with other applications like Marmoset Toolbag in terms of quality?

Arisa Scott: It depends on what this person wants to achieve. But if you want to get a nice portfolio shot, I would definitely recommend HD, because you don’t have to modify anything, just take a look at all the lights and start playing around. You can grab the “Book of the Dead” reference to see how they have set up their scene and use that as a start to make your own stuff look beautiful.

With HD we are really aiming for the highest end you can get in real-time and it is important for us that we get this top tier support. But to be fair, it’s still in preview and I think we do need to do some more optimization and add a few more features to make it perfect. For one nice shot, one nice rendered picture, I think HD definitely gives you the quality needed for a nice portfolio shot. And especially for game artists it is another plus to show that you can achieve this quality within a game engine.

DP: Is there anything you would personally like to add to the Unity Rendering pipeline?

Arisa Scott: Mhm … not something completely new, but the thing I’m excited about the most in our upcoming versions is the new VFX editor, because it gives you so much freedom and allows you to do so many cool things. It’s a brand new system and not compatible with the old one. They won’t merge, although they are both particles. VFX editor is the successor. Right now it is GPU-use only, which allows the creation of millions of particles, and it has more of a Houdini-like interface, making it much easier for you to create particles, I think.

DP: What are your thoughts on the image of Unity and the direction it is heading at the moment?

Arisa Scott: We are about democratizing development, which means allowing more people to create. When you have a strong vision and strong artists, you can definitely make something beautiful. Bringing more control into your own user space, I’d just say that you are your own limitation. I’m really excited about the direction in which Unity is going with 2018.1 and the versions after that.

The post Unity’s rendering at its finest: Lightweight and High Definition first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

The 3D engine Lumberyard from Amazon is now open source. The open source runs under an Apache 2.0 licence. According to the developer, Lumberyard is geared towards the development of AAA games and the creation of 3D worlds in cinema quality.

In DP 06 : 2018 , our author Alexandra Kaschny commented on Lumberyard as part of our engine safari : “It will probably be in beta for all eternity, but with Amazon it has a big name behind it – maybe it will make it to the actual release at some point. The engine is based on the well-known Cryengine, but has been further developed and modified during the course of development. The main trump card here is the excellent interaction with Amazon’s other services and Twitch functions. The source code can also be used by end users, at least to a limited extent. It may be customised for the game, but not released publicly. It is also not allowed to write your own engine. True to the motto: Look, but don’t touch!” (as of 27 July 2018)

Further information: However, as Lumberyard has evolved since 2018, we recommend that today’s and tomorrow’s game developers try out Lumberyard under their own guidance. You can find the Amazon own-brand game engine here.

The post Lumberyard | Release first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

New features

The latest version of the engine comes with a number of new features. These include an improved particle simulation, optimised physics performance, more control over landscape terrain details, the Airport and Industrial content add-ons and other features.

For example, with the new Visual Curve Editor, it is now possible to set up the particle parameters more intuitively. This is because the new editor can be used to directly control the different values of the particles. Some of them can be customised via curves. In addition, some new parameters, such as Particle Position, have been added.

Furthermore, Unigine now contains new motion textures. These include vectors that provide smoother animations for sprite-to-sprite transitions. The motion textures can be set up with EmberGen or Houdini.

Feature demonstration

For a list of all the new features, we recommend reading the corresponding Unigine website. One of these new features is the Earthworks demo. A demonstration of this can be seen in the video below:

The post Unigine 2.12 released first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.

60.000 photos, dozens of nights in the forest to record the right sounds, a dense network of locations in north-west America – this is what the research for Remedy Entertainment’s latest hit “Alan Wake” looked like. The Finnish development studio, which demonstrated what atmosphere can look like in a game with Max Payne II in 2001, has now trialled a new concept with “Alan Wake”.

At the very first presentation at E3 in 2005, the trade press was already enthusiastic about the first impressions in terms of controls and appearance.

The attempt to transfer the atmosphere of the gloomy concrete canyons of Max Payne to the organic environment seemed to have been successful. At the same time, Alan Wake should offer a completely new gaming experience. In an interview with Remedy Entertainment’s Managing Director Matias Myllyrinne, we talked about the development and structure of Alan Wake. The first step was a clear concept for the game to set the mood.

“When you’re developing a thriller like Alan Wake, the first thing you need is a good, realistic foundation,” says Myllyrinne and continues: “It has to feel authentic, real. This game was all about the landscape of the American Northwest. We distilled it until it became unmistakable. We explored locations from Oregon to Washington and even Canada.” Remedy looked around in several cities that are already known as film locations, including Astoria in the state of Oregon. Films such as “The Ring” and “The Goonies” have already been shot here. When visiting these and other cities, scenes were constantly found that fit into the game. For example, ghost towns, sawmills and the general vegetation with its special features, such as denser bush growth than inland. All areas were chosen because they affect people in some way. “Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller. We’ve woven intrigue around the player to make them wonder if this is really happening, creating a tense action game with plenty of challenges.”

Remedy’s desired atmosphere consisted of sadness and hopelessness. “We wanted to create our own feeling, a look back at the world. And make it more like a cinema screen than reality TV. This meant that we were careful with the lighting and carefully considered the camera and setting – as opposed to the hand-held camera, which just runs at it.”

Design and development

Alan Wake is a long way from photorealism. Even though many objects are realistic, the game is bursting with supernatural phenomena. “The foundation is realistic,” says Myllyrinne, “but we’ve built on that. Alan’s enemies have been infected by darkness and are therefore vulnerable to light.”

That’s why you destroy them with light. Throughout the game, Alan Wake is equipped with an assortment of light sources – from torches to magnesium torches and flash grenades. Enemies must first be weakened and slowed down by the light before they even succumb to a shotgun.

Light and shadow

The living shadows were too important, so Remedy wasn’t satisfied with just any smoke effect. Innovative concepts were developed for the realisation. For example, inspiration was drawn from the movement of ink in water. Huge amounts of blue and black ink were poured into the water and filmed. “If you remember the film ‘Insomnia’, those blue-black shadows,” says Myllyrinne.

This means that light was the biggest development hurdle, because in Alan Wake, light not only helps to recognise enemies, but is also a weapon. The amount of light in the situation alone should influence the player – whether they feel safe or vulnerable. The lighting engine was built from the ground up to be able to precisely control the important elements of light and shadow. “Soon after the start of development, we realised that no existing solution offered the level of control we needed. As a result, we often achieved an unprecedented level of detail and depth of field,” explains Myllyrinne.

To make the lighting look realistic, for example, small objects in the vicinity have to be sharp and precise, while anything further away can only be an abstract shape to keep the mood. However, the rendering artists have been working on this right up to the end – and continue to do so, as there is additional content for Alan Wake that will be available after the official release. An unusual game naturally requires unusual tools for its realisation. As many of these are not available on the market, Remedy had to programme many of the tools themselves. “We did some of the geometry with an old tool from our company. MaxED was already used for Max Payne. We used ZBrush for the normal mapping. We also worked with Autodesk 3ds Max, MotionBuilder and Mudbox for the design of environments, characters and game animations,” explains Managing Director Myllyrinne.

Landscape

Myllyrinne continues: “We have also developed our own editor for the landscape. For example, our world was too big – the map is 8 by 8 kilometres. With 64 square kilometres, you don’t want to adjust everything yourself, which is why the editor should react by reducing the number of trees when there is a mountain. Or that the editor builds architecture around the road – a ditch and gravel, and no big trees. The environment is also a key element for the atmosphere in the game. For example, the lighting mood should change when there is danger – the forests are then darker and livelier.”

There are dynamic environments with branches and leaves that react to the player and the wind. The complex shaders and simulations were carefully and painstakingly honed. Due to the enormous size of the game world, you might think you’re playing an open-world game, but that’s only almost the case. Myllyrinne: “We had started developing on the sandbox principle, but that didn’t really work for us. Our self-developed tools are designed for an open-world game, but the richness of detail and frame rates of a linear game were more important to us. Because if the game stutters and the gaming experience falls by the wayside as a result, even the best graphics won’t help.”

Characters

Alan Wake has also taken a different route than usual in the development of the characters. Concept art was completely dispensed with and atmospheric concept photography was used instead.

Remedy wanted to achieve an “exhausted but determined” look for Alan as the central character. This was to look as if Alan was always on the verge of freaking out and hungover at the same time. “For the other characters, we orientated ourselves on photographs rather than drawings. We worked with real actors and lit them very dramatically,” explains Myllyrinne.

“For the enemies infected by darkness, we achieved good results with distortions. We also changed the sound of the enemies. They should still be realistic, but strange. The main character Alan Wake is even a likeness of the Finnish actor Ilkka Villi,” explains Myllyrinne. Matthew Porretta was engaged as the voice. He is best known as Will Scarlet O’Hara from “Robin Hood: Heroes in Tights”.

Matias Myllyrinne also wanted a different type of enemy. No zombies and crab monsters. The enemies should not be monstrous, but appear as locals. The player shouldn’t have to face a mutant monster, but a woodcutter or the trader from the fish shop. The kind of people you meet in a small town – with their own personality. Just a little eccentric, obsessed and slightly twisted in the context of the story.

In the first draft, all the possessed characters from “Bright Falls” were supposed to wear robes with hoods, but by the end Remedy had got to the point where all the people were walking around in normal clothes – at least for this region. So the player feels that any of the people around them can become possessed. The animation is a combination of motion capture and handcrafted key animation. “For the animation, we have our own MoCap studio in the building, as we often need many attempts. The environmental animation, such as the characters’ conversations, was animated using motion capture, while fight scenes were entered directly by hand. For some scenes, you simply have to go back to the keyframes. It simply looks better when the opponents move extremely fast. In other scenes – for example the interaction with his wife – you want it to be as realistic as possible,” says Myllyrinne.

This is where Autodesk MotionBuilder came in, says Henrik Enqvist, animation programmer at Remedy Entertainment. “Creating complicated skeletons for the game characters takes a lot of time and resources for our animation team, but MotionBuilder allows us to get a working IC standard skeleton that our artists love to work with.” The game characters were initially modelled in 3ds Max, with Mudbox being used for the details.

“If we had just modelled these characters in a more traditional polygon modelling package, it would have looked more like a technical workflow. With Mudbox, our workflows are more interactive and creative,” adds Sami Vanhatalo, Lead Technical Artist. For the motion capture, R emedy Entertainment was supported by Perspective Studios in New York and metricminds from Frankfurt. But other studios also helped – for example CaptiveMotion for the facial movements and Soundelux DMG for the sound effects.

Remedy is still delivering additional content. “The Signal” will extend Alan Wake’s adventure by around 90 minutes, and a further chapter entitled “The Writer” is coming, although no date has yet been set for this.

The post Dark Awakening first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Bela Beier.

This article by Maike Thies originally appeared in DP 04 : 2014.

There really are many racing games: But in “Krautscape”, developers Mario von Rickenbach and Michael Burgdorfer give players more freedom and a say in the course of the game – thanks to procedurally generated tracks. The game project, which was created at the Zurich University of the Arts, was released on Steam.

The special highlight of “Krautscape”: By navigating his racing car, the player influences the course of the track. This is only built during the race, so the leading player decides where to go in the future. To give the whole thing even more pizzazz, the individual racing cars have been equipped with wings. This allows entire sections of the track to be skipped along with their rivals. “Krautscape” is designed as a multiplayer game that can be played in three modes. In “Snake” mode, the aim is to build as many track sections as possible in order to score points, while in “Collector” mode, the aim is to reach a floating cube, which must be collected and brought to the end of the track. In “Ping-Pong” mode, the increasingly long track is travelled alternately in both directions. For “Krautscape”, the two game designers chose a reduced visual language that combines low-poly geometry with bright colours. The sound design by Phil McCammon emphasises the gaming experience with a challenging beat.

Basic idea and concept

The idea for the project came to game designers Mario and Michael in 2009 as part of a teaching module in the Game Design specialisation at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). The parameters given were “multiplayer” and “network-orientated game design”.

Under the supervision of lecturers René Bauer and Max Moswitzer, a first functional prototype was created, built in Unity. This envisaged the following arrangement for navigating the vehicle: The vehicle travelled on a small surface, at the end of each one a trigger was placed, which generated another surface in the process of driving through it, which was aligned differently depending on the position and speed of the vehicle. For example, if the car passed the area on the left-hand side, this element was rotated to the left around the y-axis (yaw), creating a left-hand bend. At the same time, the local x-rotation (pitch) of the next element was dependent on the speed of the vehicle, so that at high speed it was slowed down by the upward inclination and vice versa. This first functional prototype was built in just one afternoon on the basis of a test vehicle that had proven itself in previous physics tests – and it worked straight away. Prior to this, the two developers had built vehicles in prototypes using the Unity physics engine to test the functions of the wheel collider implemented in the engine.

Modelling in Blender

The vehicle was modelled and animated in Blender. The development team decided in favour of Blender because it corresponds to their development philosophy: a platform-independent, compact tool with all the necessary functions and easy export to Unity, which is also available free of charge. In addition, since version 2.5, Blender’s animation tools in particular have been very clearly laid out and well designed. The ease of switching between Mac OSX and Windows was a particularly important point, because Mario, who was responsible for most of the 3D models and the vehicle, regularly switched from his main computer, a MacBook Pro, to various secondary computers running Windows for testing purposes. With 3ds Max this would not have been possible at all, with Maya there could have been licence problems – with Blender it was only a ten-second download. The entire project was also designed in such a way that it could be opened at any time within 30 minutes on a newly installed system – whether Windows or Mac – with Github access to the game repository, including download and installation of all software. Blender was also new to the two developers at the start of the project, but it proved to be very reliable and flexible during the development and production of the models. There were neither import problems nor major difficulties with the programme itself, apart from a short familiarisation phase at the beginning. Mario will probably not go back to 3ds Max, which he used to work with regularly, for his next projects: “The days of cumbersome, expensive 3D programmes that only run on one platform are finally over.”

Further development of the track construction system

Although the system developed for building the racetrack worked straight away, the lack of real bends resulted in an angular track appearance, which was also difficult to drive due to the lack of transitions. The solution: a trigger was placed on a small area at the end of each bend, which generated another area as the car drove through it, which was orientated differently depending on the position and speed of the vehicle. For example, if the car passed the area on the left-hand side, this element was rotated to the left around the y-axis (yaw), creating a left-hand bend. At the same time, the local x-rotation (pitch) of the next element depended on the speed of the vehicle, so that at high speed it was slowed down by the upward inclination and vice versa.

This first functional prototype was built in just one afternoon on the basis of a test vehicle that had proven itself in previous physics tests – and it worked straight away. Prior to this, the two developers had built vehicles in prototypes using the Unity physics engine to test the functions of the wheel collider implemented in the engine. Modelling in Blender The vehicle was modelled and animated in Blender. The development team decided in favour of Blender because it corresponds to their development philosophy: a platform-independent, compact tool with all the necessary functions and easy export to Unity, which is also available free of charge. In addition, since version 2.5, Blender’s animation tools in particular have been very clearly laid out and well designed. The ease of switching between Mac OSX and Windows was a particularly important point, because Mario, who was responsible for most of the 3D models and the vehicle, regularly switched from his main computer, a MacBook Pro, to various secondary computers running Windows for testing purposes. With 3ds Max this would not have been possible at all, with Maya there could have been licence problems – with Blender it was only a ten-second download. The entire project was also designed in such a way that it could be opened at any time within 30 minutes on a newly installed system – whether Windows or Mac – with Github access to the game repository, including download and installation of all software. Blender was also new to the two developers at the start of the project, but it proved to be very reliable and flexible during the development and production of the models. There were neither import problems nor major difficulties with the programme itself, apart from a short familiarisation phase at the beginning. Mario will probably not go back to 3ds Max, which he used to work with regularly, for his next projects: “The days of cumbersome, expensive 3D programmes that only run on one platform are finally over.” Further development of the track construction system Although the system developed for building the racetrack worked straight away, the lack of real bends resulted in an angular track look, which was also difficult to drive due to the lack of transitions. The solution: curved elements that fitted together exactly at the seams. Mario and Michael generated the track elements by extruding cutting moulds/shapes along a line. They each produced both a high-resolution mesh, which acted as a collision object, and a lower-resolution object with fewer extrusion steps, which could be displayed in the distance using Unity’s level-of-detail system to save performance.

To increase the fun of the game, the two game designers implemented the option of switching between different shapes. This means that the track has small walls on the outside at certain points to prevent the racing car from crashing. Manually designed elements are used for the transitions, which make the change from one shape to the next drivable.

The students also used special elements and obstacles that can be activated by the pursuers so that the leading player is slowed down – similar to “Mario Kart”. The obstacles are activated by switches on the ground, which regularly appear on the track. The obstacles include specially shaped elements such as loops or lanes as well as normal track sections with attachments, such as walls.

The two game designers also implemented automatically generated supports, which are occasionally built at the bottom of the track elements to give the game environment more structure. For time reasons, the aim was to create the entire environment with as little handcrafted content as possible throughout the track production process. At the same time, they were also able to deepen their knowledge of procedurally generated game content. In particular, the manual generation of the track meshes by code via the Unity Mesh API turned out to be a very powerful tool. The team was unable to use any ready-made libraries or engines because the generated track had to fulfil very specific conditions as it has a major impact on the gameplay and driving physics.

Networking & Server

A major technical issue was the development of a network-based game such as “Krautscape” at server level: How are the players connected to each other? How is the gameplay synchronised? What happens when players want to play online? Are there already existing servers or do players have to start their own? As “Krautscape” is entirely focussed on multiplayer mode, Mario and Michael decided to design the system so that the servers are provided by the game. The aim was to ensure an optimal gaming experience and performance and to minimise the usual problems with firewalls and port sharing.

The team encountered problems early on in the development of the network architecture: although Unity supports network-based projects, the tools offered proved to be rudimentary and limited in comparison with other engines. For example, it is not possible to easily start and control several instances of a game in parallel, which is necessary for the simultaneous races.

During their research into alternatives, they became aware of the possibility of building a network using the Photon framework. This server offering initially proved to be easily scalable and scored points with its integrated lobby system, which enables parallel game instances. However, the two game designers ultimately decided against it, as the server runs completely independently of Unity. As a result, they would have had to program and synchronise the entire physics calculation of the track separately on the server. This was clearly too time-consuming and costly for them, so they finally decided in favour of uLink & uLobby from MuchDifferent. The server platform offers an excellent mix of good scalability and practical application. In terms of their network structure, the system built into Unity and uLink & uLobby are very similar. Nevertheless, extensions such as the uLobby Server and the uZone Instance Manager as well as a login system with an attached database are convincing.

When switching to the uLink library, the game could almost be left in the structure of the already implemented Unity Networking. However, Mario and Michael had the extended features of the framework at their disposal with this variant – a big plus. With this solution, an instance of the actual Unity-based game could be started for each race. The race was now controlled by the uLobby server in cooperation with the uZone Instance Manager. This variant worked satisfactorily for the two game designers, although the framework is not equally well developed in all parts.

Workflow Patcher

Mario and Michael were confronted with a fundamental workflow problem in multiplayer games with online servers during their game development. During the first test phase of “Krautscape”, the question quickly arose as to how new game versions could be easily sent to testers to ensure that everyone was always playing the latest version. Of course, the servers also need to be updated regularly. The two game designers tested various options: For example, they produced a build at regular intervals and ensured that the testers downloaded this latest version immediately. In this case, the correct version had to be uploaded to the server at the same time. In principle, this variant worked well, but it took a lot of time and was anything but flexible.

Finally, Mario and Michael developed an extended automatic patcher based on the M2H patcher from the Unity Asset Store. From then on, they could create a new build for all platforms (PC/Mac/Linux) and generate patches for all versions at the touch of a button, upload them accordingly and update the respective version number online. With the help of this tool, all testers can simply restart “Krautscape” after an update and automatically find the latest version. The same applies to the server: Here, too, the version is always updated to the latest version, as this is also updated when the game is started. The patches take into account all changes to the previous version, which the “bsdiff” programme calculates for each file when generating the patch. The changes to all files are packaged together with a list of all changes in a zip file and released for download as a patch.

Each time the game is started, the system checks online which of the available versions is the latest and searches for the appropriate patches so that the latest online version can be played. Mario added that this scanning phase for minor updates would take place so quickly that the player would hardly notice it.

Programming effort

Despite the obviously well-developed basic functions of the M2H patcher, the two game designers did not show themselves to be alThe team deliberately focussed on a fictitious and eccentric environment in order to set “Krautscape” apart from realistic racing games. The project is named after a certain Dr Konrad von Krautkopf. It must have been around 1880, Karl Benz would still need a few years before he would bring his first motorised car with an internal combustion engine onto the market, when a pioneering idea sprang from the whimsical mind of inventor Dr Konrad von Krautkopf. He imagined a machine that would not only drive on the road with a high number of horsepower, but would also be able to fly over short distances. Krautkopf called this vehicle the “Krautomobile” or “Krauto”. He also envisaged a system that would equip the vehicles with a simple control mechanism that would have enabled the drivers to build roads while driving. Dr von Krautkopf conceived his system as an efficient and practical alternative to existing means of transport. He also toyed with the idea of generating unusual routes with the system for specific occasions, such as car races. If the explanations on the “Krautscape” website are to be believed, the two game designers Mario von Rickenbach and Michael Burgdorfer have realised Krautkopf’s never-realised vision in virtual space based on the highly detailed original plans. The story behind “Krautscape” The first prototype was still very rudimentary, but worked surprisingly well. Depending on where and at what speed the vehicle passes through the trigger at the end of the track, the subsequent element has a different orientation. They were missing some features that were important to them, which they ended up developing themselves: Release channels, patcher updates and various other improvements.

With the basic version, it was not possible to release builds from different computers and there was only one release channel. However, different release types with different options were planned as part of the “Krautscape” project: A beta version for testers, the internal test version for the development team as well as a special master build for the uLobby master server were planned. All of these builds are configured differently, but are based on the same Unity project.

Mario and Michael also developed a way to update the patcher programme themselves. These patcher updates ensured that the patcher application itself was updated at regular intervals, greatly increasing the flexibility of the project work. Bug fixes are possible in this variant for the patching system, which means that players never have to download the game again completely. This made it possible to release a new version of the game in just a few minutes. This solution is particularly helpful for small bug fixes and online test sessions.

Project progress

The first trailer for the game was completed in 2010 after a relatively short phase of further development following the end of their studies. in 2011, the two game designers submitted their project to the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia’s Call for Projects and were successful in the competition with “Krautscape”. It was only thanks to the funding that the two were able to continue the project after completing their studies. During the one-year production period of the Call for Projects, they reprogrammed large parts of the game. There were structural problems with the networking and driving behaviour in particular, which were easier to solve by reprogramming these parts based on the new conditions instead of improving them with incremental changes.

During this phase of the game, the two game designers benefited from project pitches and conversations with experts at industry meetings and festivals. This enabled them to gradually approach the marketable character of the game. From mid-2012, Mario and Michael were invited to festivals and exhibitions with “Krautscape”. for example, “Krautscape” was shown at the Gaîte Lyrique (Paris) as part of the Play Along exhibition and was also honoured with the Best In Play Award at the GDC Play (San Francisco). A game presentation at the Tokyo Game Show proved to be particularly profitable. There, an audience with an affinity for games engaged with the games and gave constructive feedback.

At the end of 2012, Michael left the team for professional reasons and Mario continued working on the project alone. It was only during the finalisation process of the game that he brought in fellow student Flurin Jenal as an assistant in summer 2013 to ensure the early completion of the game. At the end of summer 2013, “Krautscape” went online on Greenlight and was accepted by the community. This step brought “Krautscape” to the attention of publisher Midnight City(www.midnightcity.com). As of April 2014, you can now play the game on Steam via Early Access(store.steampowered.com/app/268360).

Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK)

The Zurich University of the Arts(www.zhdk.ch) offers a six-semester Bachelor’s programme and a three-semester Master’s programme in Game Design that focuses on the conceptual, creative, technological and practical application of computer game design.

The Game Design specialisation focuses on the culture and design of interactive games. Within the programme, students acquire fundamental subject-related knowledge in the context of game development projects and deepen their knowledge by studying analysis, planning and implementation techniques. The aim of all projects is generally the development of fully functional games or game prototypes. The BA programme has a generalist structure. The central components of game design are covered by offering learning modules that build on each other thematically.

The Bachelor of Arts in Game Design programme is a six-semester full-time course. The curriculum offers modules and courses in the following subject areas: Game Culture, Storytelling, Game Mechanics, Programming, Usability Design, Game Conception, Game Analysis, Game Business, Media Management, Visual Techniques, Game Engine Programming, Game Design Projects, Character Design, 3D Modelling & Animation.

The Master’s programme Game Design is a focus within the Interaction specialisation, which specialises in training versatile and innovative experts in the fields of interaction design and game design. The Master of Arts in Design programme offers four subject areas – Collaborative Worlds, Game Production, Ludic Game Art and Serious Games – which guarantee an in-depth practical and academic examination of areas of contemporary game design over three semesters

The post Making-of Krautscape first appeared on DIGITAL PRODUCTION and was written by Patrick Poti.