unity3dresources

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What has Changed? Multiple agent sizes are now supported. And the workflow is now based on components New High Level Components: • NavMeshSurface - Describes a volume where the NavMesh will be built, you can have multiple volumes, at any orientation • NavMeshLink - Allows to connect two NavMeshes with a wide link • NavMeshModifierVolume - allows to change the area type of the NavMesh which falls inside the volume • NavMeshModifier allows fine grained control of area types per Game Object. These components are open-sourced (MIT license) – see link below Everything above is built on top of a simple public API which allows you to pass in the geometry that will contribute to the NavMesh building. Low level script API: • A method to quickly collect render or physics geometry for building NavMesh. • method to build NavMesh Data from the sources, optionally asynchronously. • method to incrementally update the existing NavMesh data locally • you can pass in your own data: Meshes and simple primitives. • instances of NavMesh Data can be added and removed at any time for any position and orientation. • The query API has been extended to support query filters based on agent type as well as area mask/cost. Supported Use Cases Bake NavMesh and store it in a prefab. Bake NavMesh at runtime (i.e. for user generated content). Bake NavMesh for multiple agent sizes. Bake NavMesh on a surface for any orientation. Bake NavMesh only within a specified volume. Continuously update the NavMesh around a moving character. Instantiating and connecting NavMeshes with different positions. Update NavMesh locally at runtime. Everything to get started is available here: https://github.com/Unity-Technologies/NavMeshComponents

[unity3dresources]

The second volume in the Game AI Pro book series (published April 2015). 

All chapters are available to download as of April 2017.

[unity3dresources]

Great blog post by Nikola Damjanov showing how to use Shader Forge to achieve the following:

Pool water: refraction, foam, caustics, fresnel

Sea surface: waves, turbulence, colour gradient based on vertex colours

Height-based texture blend: moss, snow, sand

Tree growth

Tree wind

Splat (texture combination): moss/dirt on rock tiles

[unity3dresources]

Turbulent Planet Textures

One of the images above is from the amazing photos of Jupiter that have been captured by the Juno mission. The other is from a presentation by Stephen M. Cameron, about procedurally generating textures for gas giants that look appropriately swirly.

This effect is tough to replicate with some of the common texturing approaches. And it’s not just for Jovian planets: Earth’s clouds look wrong without it, and there’s a whole host of smaller-scale texturing (like water or flames) that looks better with it.

Perlin noise is a common basis for a lot of texturing, but despite looking a bit like puffy clouds it isn’t all that great for representing textures that are swirling or turbulent. Especially on a large scale, the swirls and flows form complex patterns that are beautiful and appear information-dense. Having a way to replicate that opens up another class of texturing options.

Stephen’s presentation (which he developed as part of his open-source game Space Nerds in Space) and this Junkship dev blog post about texturing planets looks like a good starting point for using a flow map created with curl noise via procedural fluid flow to create the swirling textures.

No doubt there are other methods out there, but I’m mentioning this one to point out a couple of things:

First, the common procedural generation tools (Perlin noise, in this case) aren’t always the best choice. There’s still lots and lots of new techniques that can be discovered.

Second, try combining processes and information (in the technical sense) from other sources: use flow fields and slime mold growth and plate tectonics and earthquake data and traffic noise into your generators.

Third, one reason why I think this looks better is that turbulent textures have an implied history, and that history is extra information. And the appearance of having denser information makes for better-looking, more convincing generation. It gives it another layer of meaning.

[unity3dresources]

Rogue Process - changelog #1: BOOST & AEGIS Augs

[unity3dresources]

a strange voyage

This is one of my favorite new Twitter bots: @str_voyage, by @joebaxterwebb. It tells the story of a sea-going community, and what they encounter.

What impresses me the most here is the effectiveness of the storytelling. Entries seldom feel robot: the repetition that is there feels like the rhythms of the voyage rather than the tick of the machine. Characters emerge as if from a fog and recede again: elders telling stories, children playing pretend. Strange sailors, deserted towns, lost islands. The cry of a sea-bird.

I think that one reason why it works is the sheer variety of different things to talk about: each message is unique among its neighbors. It also uses cycles and events to give a sense of time, as sunset is followed by the stars emerging, or a storm engulfs the ship. Though the most important aspect may be the framing: a voyage brings a narrative along with it, and even brief entries can be evocative and in-character.

The bot feels like Earthsea, like The Quiet Year, like one of  Marshall Miller’s Dungeon World starters: community, poetic vignettes, and the sea.

https://twitter.com/str_voyage

[unity3dresources]

Encyclopedia of Generativity

Kate Compton’s latest zine is a super-practical encyclopedia of generative methods.

It talks about subtractive methods, constraint solving, fractals, distribution, parametric generation, interpretive generation, making an artist-in-a-box, and techniques to improve any generativity.

There’s a ton of great advice in this super-dense zine. If you’re stumped for ideas for your next project, picking any one idea from this and exploring it will keep you busy for weeks.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3116524/encyclopedia-of-generativity.pdf

[unity3dresources]

Another fun tool for creating 8 bit sound effects for games or music

[unity3dresources]

Finally I’ve released the first version of Skinner. Emit tons of particles and trails from a skinned char.

https://github.com/keijiro/Skinner

[unity3dresources]

My First Game Jam Winter 2017 will run from January 7th through January 21st!

🌱 Fill out the sign-up form sometime before you start!

🌱 Official Blog - Check here for news and updates!

🌱 “What’s a jam?” and Other Frequently Asked Questions

🌱 Official Discord chat - Join us!

My First Game Jam is an online game jam for people of all skill levels to learn something new. Never made a game before but always been curious? Set aside two weeks to join the jam and learn how to make a game along with others. Absolute beginners encouraged to join!

Our goal is to organize resources and make game development more accessible. We hope to foster an online space where you can share your progress with other first-time game makers and get help from experienced devs. By the end of two weeks, you hopefully will have some working game or prototype to share—it’s an exciting first step to making games! Individuals and teams are welcome, and we encourage you to both play to your strengths and try something new.

Our first two jams had 500 signups and over 100 games submitted each! We look forward to seeing your games this winter!

[unity3dresources]

Shaders Case Study - No Man's Sky: Topographic Scanner