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Applied Math & Statistics Book Bundle

The Applied Math & Statistics Toolkit by Morgan & Claypool bundle is now live on Humble. While not directly books about game development math, they are more on math fundamentals and that is the underpinning of game development. As with all Humble Bundles it is organized into tiers:

1$ Tier

  • Essentials of Game Theory
  • Matrices in Engineering Problems
  • Statistics is Easy 2nd Edition

8$ Tier

  • Introduction to Logic 3rd Edition
  • An Introduction to Proofs with Set Theory
  • Discrete Distributions in Engineering and Applied Sciences
  • Analytical Performance Modeling for Computer Systems
  • Probability and Statistics for STEM

15$ Tier

  • An Introduction to Multivariable Mathematics
  • C Programming and Numerical Analysis
  • Essentials of Applied Math for Engineers and Scientists 2nd Edition
  • Fast Start Advanced Calculus
  • Fast Start Differential Calculus
  • Fast Start Integral Calculus
  • Introduction to Statistics Using R
  • An Introduction to Partial Differential Equations
  • An Introduction to Numerical Methods for Physical Sciences

As with all Humble Bundles, you decide how your funds are allocated, between the publisher, charity, Humble and if you so choose (and thanks if you do) to support GFS using this link. You can learn more about the bundle in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbcjGYTXLf8?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Video: Why Survios builds new tech for games like Battlewake

In this 2019 XRDC talk, Survios’ Alex Silkin discuses how the company makes VR innovation a key component of game development in games like Battlewake.

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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Capcom says personal details of 350,000 potentially compromised after recent hack

Capcom says the personal information over 350,000 business partners and customers may have been compromised following a recent ransomware attack. 

Earlier this month, the Resident Evil and Monster Hunter developer explained an unauthorized third party had accessed its internal systems, but said there was no evidence that any customer information had been breached

Now, however, the company has confirmed that the personal information of a small number of employees, including names, addresses, signatures, and passport information, has been leaked. It also noted that a variety of details belonging to approximately 350,000 customers, business partners, and former workers has “potentially” been compromised. 

That potential leak includes email addresses, names, and other details from the company’s Japanese customer support department, its North American esports operations, the North American Capcom Store, and more. 

It also includes confidential corporate information like sales data, business partner information, sales documents, and development documents, although Capcom has stressed that “none of the at-risk data contains credit card information.”

The company has apologized for the breach and said it continues to investigate the matter with assistance from a third-party security company and relevant law enforcement authorities. It has also reassured players that it remains safe for them to play its various online games and access its websites.

“Capcom will continue its investigation, beginning with contacting those individuals and other stakeholders whose information it has verified as having been compromised, while continuing to look into what other information was potentially taken,” reads a Capcom statement

“Investigation and analysis of this incident took additional time due to the targeted nature of this attack, which was carried out using what could be called tailor-made ransomware, as was covered in some media reports, aimed specifically at the company to maliciously encrypt the information saved on its servers and delete its access logs. 

“Capcom regrets that this report could not be made sooner than today. The company asks that everyone potentially affected by this incident practice an abundance of caution, looking out for any suspicious packages received by mail or messages that could potentially be received.”

Moving forward, Capcom will continue its investigation, and has also pledged to establish a new security advisory board with the help of external experts to prevent another attack. You can read the company’s full statement here.

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Zynga launches new studio to work on its upcoming Star Wars mobile game

Zynga has announced that it’s opening a new mobile games studio, based in Austin, Texas, to work on its upcoming IP set in the Star Wars universe. The studio is on the lookout for 25 employees, and is headed by industry veterans, Jeff Hickman and Matthew Hemby. Though unnamed as of yet, the studio is also set to collaborate closely with Brighton-based BossAlien, who will also work on the Star Wars game.

“As a longtime Austin-ite, I know firsthand the immense level of talent and creativity that resides in this beautiful city,” says Jeff Hickman, Senior Vice President at Zynga. “We believe that the Austin talent market is highly compatible with our mission of bringing AAA console visuals and deep, compelling gameplay to mobile platforms.”

Zynga is well-known for games such as CSR Racing, Empires and Puzzles, Merge Dragons, and Words With Friends, and its games are playable in over 150 countries. Zynga also recently acquired Istanbul-based studio, Rollic, the maker of popular titles like Repair Master 3D, which sees the company dipping its toes further into the hyper-casual games market.

If you want to see a recent Zynga adaptation of a popular franchise, check out the trailer for Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells below:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ayjtNjiB1Q?modestbranding=1&rel=0&feature=oembed]

Though we don’t know the name of the Star Wars game yet, or when it might release, it’s exciting to hear that Zynga is soon to be working on an IP in the popular sci-fi setting.

If you want to try a Zynga game for yourself, Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells is available on Google Play and the App Store. We also have a handy Harry Potter: Puzzles and Spells guide to help you get started!

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Blockbench 3D Modelling Application Review

BlockBench is a free 3d modelling, texturing and animation application for creating Minecraft style models. Blockbench is available on Windows, Mac and Linux, as well online.

Blockbench features include:

  • Blockbench is an all in one 3D Editor and Animator for Minecraft and other games and applications
  • Blockbench comes with a powerful animation editor. Animations can later be exported to Minecraft: Bedrock Edition, rendered in Blender or Maya, or shared on Sketchfab.
  • Customize Blockbench with the built-in plugin store. Or create your own plugin and add a new feature or new format.
  • Collaborate with your friends on models, textures and animations – in real time, over the internet!
  • Blockbench is available in 12 languages, and the number is growing.
  • Create, edit and paint texture right inside the program. Create or import palettes, paint, draw shapes or automatically create templates.

You can learn more about Blockbench and see it in action in the video below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emhdpVv0Gx8?feature=oembed&w=1500&h=844]
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Epic Games Invest in Houdini Maker SideFX Software

Epic Games have just made an investment in SideFX Software, the maker of the procedural graphics powerhouse software Houdini.

Details of the investment from the SideFX blog:

We’re happy to share an exciting update: Epic Games is now a minority investor in SideFX. In Epic, SideFX gains a strong partner whose passion for the industry closely aligns with ours.

Kim Davidson remains the majority owner of SideFX, as well as President and CEO. He continues his strong, unwavering commitment to SideFX’s staff, customers, and partners.

SideFX and Epic are both committed to SideFX continuing its work with other industry partners – including all other content creation applications and game engines. This new development will have no impact at all on the Houdini development roadmap, as SideFX will continue to define its own path as an industry-leading procedural 3D platform for the film, TV, advertising and games sectors.

Dollar values of the investment were not disclosed. From the announcement it appears the investment should have minimal impact on neither Houdini or Unreal Engine. Epic Games have been making more and more investments of late including their $15M investment in Manticore Games.

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New League of Legends character not based on real person, says Riot

Riot Games, the developer of League of Legends, has denied a claim that a new playable character was inspired by a real person.

Yesterday a former college student named Stephanie posted a blog on Medium describing her relationship with a former Riot Games employee that linked her to the creation of a new champion named Seraphine. Stephanie alleged that during a brief relationship with an anonymous Riot Games employee (only referred to as “John”) in 2019, he repeatedly said that the company was working on content inspired by her.

John dropped a number of hints to Stephanie about an upcoming character skin or project related to K/DA, Riot’s alternate K-Star girl group comprising several League of Legends champions. He also used his access at the company to encourage her to visit him in Los Angeles, partly on the premise that she might “voice act” for an upcoming project.

Since ending that relationship Stephanie noticed a number of uncomfortable connections between the release of Seraphine and John’s comments. Seraphine’s rollout included included a Twitter account for a version of the character who lived in our world, making her own first visit to Los Angeles to join K/DA. Stephanie alleged that some of the art on this account resembled her own Instagram posts.

Now Riot is saying those similarities are superficial. “Seraphine was independently created by Riot Games and was not based on any individual, including Stephanie,” the company told Gamasutra in an e-mailed statement. “Additionally, the former employee Stephanie is referring to left Riot more than a year ago and was in a department and role that has no input whatsoever into the creative design process.”

“We take all claims of misappropriation seriously and immediately investigated Stephanie’s allegations after receiving a legal demand letter from her attorney last month. We confirmed that her claim of being the basis for Seraphine lacks merit, communicated this to her attorney, and invited him to further discuss the facts with us. We are still waiting for a response.”

Though Riot Games disputes that its champion design team drew inspiration from Stephanie, it lent credibility to Stephanie’s description of John’s untoward behavior. A company spokesperson wrote to Gamasutra that “the behavior she describes would have been a violation of multiple policies.”

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Police say ‘hoax’ emergency call prompted Ubisoft Montreal studio scare

Update 12:46 PST: Employees are being safely escorted out of the building and a heavy police presence remains. Montreal Police say “no threat has been identified,” while a group of people remain on the building’s rooftop.

Update 2:01 PST: According to Journal de Montreal, those on the rooftop were being evacuated one by one with hands raised. Police sources speaking to Canadian media confirm the 911 call that prompted the emergency response was a “hoax.”

Original story follows

News reports are emerging that a possible hostage situation is underway at Ubisoft Montreal.

The news outlet Journal de Montreal has reported that a “possible hostage situation” is taking place in the building that houses Ubisoft’s Montreal offices in Canada. Their reporting states that “dozens of people” are being held hostage.

The Journal’s reporting was quickly corroborated by Ubisoft employees working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community developer Eric Pope tweeted that he was on a call with several employees from the office, who had to leave abruptly before the Journal’s report emerged.

Aerial shots (via the Journal) show numerous people on the roof of the building, which houses other businesses aside from Ubisoft Montreal.

Some Ubisoft Montreal employees have tweeted that they were at the building and were able to leave and are safe, while still stating concern for the colleagues still in the building.

A Ubisoft spokesperson told Gamasutra the company is “aware of the situation and working with local authorities.”

Update 12:30 PST: Police have told Radio-Canada’s Kim Vermette that the operation near the Ubisoft building in Montreal seems to be related to an armed robbery.

Montreal police also tweeted that there are currently “no injuries” and it is inspecting the building.

Update 12:46 PST: Employees are being safely escorted out of the building and a heavy police presence remains. Montreal Police say “no threat has been identified,” while a group of people remain on the building’s rooftop.

UPDATE 4:30 PST: Ubisoft issued a statement on today’s incident via Twitter: 

This is a developing story, we will update it when more details are confirmed by Ubisoft and the Montreal authorities.

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Video: Using AI to create interactive digital actors

In this 2019 XRDC Session, Deepmotion’s Kevin He discusses the challenges of building an interactive character authoring tool, and as how developers can integrate intelligent character simulation into their own applications.

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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Epic releases thousands of What Remains of Edith Finch assets for free

Epic Games has added a huge number of free assets from acclaimed narrative adventure What Remains of Edith Finch to the Unreal Engine Marketplace. 

The company has partnered with developer Giant Sparrow and publisher Annapurna Interactive to release the asset collection free-of-charge, and hopes it will help creators “expedite their own projects with freely accessible, high-quality content.”

The collection is available to download right now, and includes over 3000 stylised meshes with unique textures and materials, the Finch family home, a low-poly fantasy kingdom with townspeople, stalls, and castle building blocks, a rustic family kitchen with appliances and kitchenware, and more. 

Epic explained the Edith Finch collection is the “first in a series of new, free content coming to the Unreal Engine Marketplace,” suggesting more will be added in the near future.