GDC 2014WITH A LITTLE UNITY

THE HIGHLIGHTS OF GDC 2014 THROUGH UNITY...

Who is this crazy African?

● Roger Miller● Lead Developer / Owner Collective Mass● Currently working with Amorse Inc on

Notespace!● Love making games, love mobile● Worked in many different industries● Focused on Mobile games● 5 years Unity, mostly saving failed projects● Mostly fast turnaround games● Cant spell to save my life!

OVERVIEW● Unity 4.5, 4.6 and 5● Games

○ Monument Valley○ Last Tinker○ Counterspy○ Fract

● The new Google Analytics (Oh sooooo good)

● Unity Services & announcements○ Everplay○ Playnomics○ UNET: Multiplayer

● Microsoft supports indies again!

Unity● Unity 4.3

○ 2D○ New Monodevelop (which sucks on Mac)○ Blend Shapes○ New animation tools

● Unity 4.5○ Shader compilation○ 2D fixes

● Unity 4.6○ GUI (Oh please!) ○ Looks good, half done by the NGUI guy, but he left○ From what I saw, looks like they got it down○ 2D sprite packer is out of preview

Unity 5

● Physically based rendering● Whole new audio system (sweet)● Web GL (no plugin required sir!)

○ Flash might be truly dead!● 64 bit Editor

○ No more huge waits○ Multi threaded job scheduler

● 2D physics stuff● GI improvements

Physically Based Rendering

● Not new concept● Everything reflects light● Specular takes away from diffuse● Everything has specular● Reflection probes

○ baked, not real time● Could DIY● http://aras-p.info/texts/files/201403-

GDC_UnityPhysicallyBasedShading_notes.pdf

Unity Services

● Unity Cloud○ Advertising service○ Share adds○ Will include traditional advertising○ Folks are very cool and Beta program is going well

● Everplay○ Gameplay recording service○ Guys at Fuel are using it and say its “Dope”○ Sharing meaningful experiences○ Captures players face while playing

Unity Services Cont.

● Playnomics○ Analytics and heavily focused on monetization○ Has ad serving capabilities

● UNET: Unity Networking (Phase 1)○ High performance UDP transport layer support for all

game types○ Low level & High level API○ Basic Matchmaking○ Relay server firewall buster

Monument Valley

● Really beautiful● Escher game● Brilliant puzzle

designs● Flawless

experience● iOS● http://ustwo.com/

FRACT OSC

● Audio Game● Custom Audio

engine● Available on

Steam! (Mac/PC)● Really cool poly

art style● Super immersive● Interview coming

soon!

Counter Spy

● PS3 & PS4● Multi device

game. Use your vita and tablet

Last Tinker● PC & Mac● Really big and

involved● Super rich &

beautiful● Mimimi

Productions (Germany)

Oh yea… Hearthstone

It was made in Unity!BOOM!And The Room!

Google Analytics

● Whole new approach○ single provider for web and mobile

● Kills Flurry with data allowances○ 15000 unique events (not confirmed)○ string, int, bool and float data○ parameters and be compared

● Retroactive event processing○ can rename events○ segment and map new data events○ Can save your bacon!

The Price Wars

● Unreal Engine 4 (Not UDK.. I cant tell)○ $19.99 per month○ Full source○ Doing a hard Indie push○ They take 5% of gross○ They got PBS too, meh :)

● Cry Engine (as a service)○ $9.90 per month (royalty free)○ Got PBS○ Still waiting for the catch!

● Unity not dropping their price● I think everyone is late to the party!

Microsoft

● Windows 8 team Insanely supportive● Resident evangelist: Adam Tuliper● Local Events

○ http://unity3d.com/pages/windows/events● Helpful Programs

○ http://unity3d.com/pages/windows/offer● New Nokia outselling iPhone globally● Marketplace is wide open● Bizspark

○ https://www.microsoft.com/bizspark/○ Azure cloud service

Nintendo: Wii U help us?

● Dropped the barrier to entry so you don't need a bunker any more!

● Would not give me a price on a dev kit :/● https://wiiu-developers.nintendo.com/signup/● Support Japanese!● Rumoured support for 3DS● Over 60 Unity games in the pipe for Wii U● Unity folks very helpful with Nintendo

connections.

Playstation

● Receptive, but no special treatment.● People seem to be making money though● http://us.playstation.com/develop/● Forsaken Planet: easy port (some shader

issues for PS3)● Showcase: CounterSpy

Ouya

● Good push● Ouya exclusive titles (Mostly Unity driven)● Not monetizing that well

○ #1 Towerfall only sold 7000 copies○ PC and PS4 80% of $500,000 rev

● They did hire Kellee Santiago...● http://freethegamesfund.com/

○ 2X your kickstarter○ Allows you to release on PC

● Rumours of an Ouya 2 ● Still a great way to play NES roms :)

Amazon TV

● Can Play games!● Ouya killer… mebbbe!● Has a gamepad● Has an existing customer base who likes to

spend money● Has tons of existing titles● Sounds like Ouya might be using it as their

platform● $99!● Supportive of Unity!

Other stuff

● Steam box looks cool○ Indies making money on PC, this could be the new

way● Oculus Crystal Cove

○ its now totally worth it○ Really immersive experience○ No motion sickness○ Great Unity Partner, Can get Unity SDK○ And they are hiring Unity devs!

● ProBuilder & ProCore asset creation tools

Sensus

● New breed of controllers hitting the market● iOS only right now but working on Android● Get a free dev kit● http://sensusxp.com/● @SensusDev

Advertisers, Pimps & Pushers

● Advertising community is growing● More custom ad solutions● Pandora, who would have guessed?

Tips and tricks

● Layer Locking for layout● 2D Toolkit Sprite Dicing

○ Saves runtime memory○ Saves footprint○ Multi resolution support○ Build your own image resizing tool

● [MenuItem("Core/Snap %\\")]public static void SnapToUnit_Menu (){

● SizeUp: For when you lose windows

Tips & Tricks: Shotcuts [MenuItem("Core/Snap %\\")]

public static void SnapToUnit_Menu (){

SnapToUnit ();

}

public static void SnapToUnit (){

//*** Variables

int i;

//*** Loop through selection

for(i=0; i<Selection.gameObjects.Length; i++){

//*** snap Object

Selection.gameObjects[i].transform.localPosition = new Vector3(

Mathf.Round(Selection.gameObjects[i].transform.localPosition.x),

Mathf.Round(Selection.gameObjects[i].transform.localPosition.y),

Mathf.Round(Selection.gameObjects[i].transform.localPosition.z)

);

}

}

UNITE 2014

● Dont Forget to come to Unite!● Call for Submissions for Unity Awards● http://unity3d.com/unite/unite2014● August 20-22● Seattle● Come keep me company!

Call Me Baby, Yea!

Emain: roger@collectivemass.comTwitter: @dj_roeezeBlog: blog.collectivemass.comPodcast: Collective Mass Radio (itunes)