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Humble Math Books By Mercury Bundle

There is a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, the Humble Applied Math Productivity by Mercury Learning bundle is a collection of mathematics related e-books. As with all Humble Bundles, this one is organized into tiers, including:

1$ Tier

  • · Dimensional Analysis for Unit Conversion Using MATLAB
  • · Numeric Methods in Engineering and Science
  • · Algebra Essentials
  • · Mathematical Physics: An Introduction
  • · Foundations of Physics
  • · Research Methods for Information Systems
  • · Linear Algebra

8$ Tier

  • · Essentials of Modern Algebra
  • · RFModule
  • · The Special Theory of Relativity
  • · Foundations of Mathematics: Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry and Calculus
  • · Mathematical Methods for Physics
  • · Excel Functions and Formulas
  • · Applied Linear Algebra and Optimization using MATLAB
  • · Finite Element Analysis A Primer
  • · Optimization using Linear Programming

15$ Tier

  • · Multivariable Vector Calculus
  • · Structural Steel Design
  • · Mathematics for Computer Graphics and Game Programming
  • · Geometry Creation and Import
  • · Flight Science
  • · Direct Energy Conversion Technologies
  • · Cluster Analysis and Data Mining
  • · Commutative Algebra
  • · Comsol: Heat Transfer Models

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

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Ct.js 2D Game Engine

Today we are checking out Ct.js, a cross platform open source 2D game engine/editor.  Available for Windows, Mac and Linux, Ct.js is a surprisingly full featured and easy to use game engine with a modular full level editor, easy programming and excellent documentation.  It’s source code is available on GitHub under the MIT open source library, along with complete building instructions.

We go hands-on with Ct.js in the video below.

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Microsoft MakeCode Game Engine

Microsoft MakeCode is a game engine aimed directly at getting people started with game development with an easy to use game engine.  MakeCode can be run directly in the browser using MakeCode Arcade requiring no login or signup to get started.  Programming is done using a Scratch like visual programming language, but at any point in time you can switch over to JavaScript that is being generated.   There is also the ability to extend the capabilities of MakeCode with extensions, that can also be written as JavaScript.

In addition there are several simple consoles and projects that can be used to run your generated games, which can also be simply saved and shared in the form of a custom encoded PNG image file.  If you are looking to start game development, or are interested in getting a child involved in game development, MakeCode is a great option.

Additionally MakeCode Arcade is an open source project available on GitHub under the MIT license, if you wish to contribute or simply run the server locally.

We go hands on and show creation of a simple game in the video below.

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Inkscape 1.0 Release Candidate 1

Inskscape, the open source cross platform vector graphics application, just released the first release candidate on the way to a full 1.0 release.  Along side the RC1 release, they also released version 0.92.5 of the stable branch.

Details of the two releases from the Inkscape news pages:

Inkscape 0.92.5

While we are working to release Inkscape 1.0 in the very near future, we have addressed some bugs in the stable 0.92 series. Most notably, an issue for Windows 10 users that prevented Inkscape from discovering fonts that have not been installed system-wide has now been fixed. Inkscape extensions written in Python will now also run with Python 3, while compatibility with the (deprecated) Python 2 is maintained.

Read all about the changes in the latest stable Inkscape version and download it from our website.

Call for Testing the 1.0 Release Candidate

Inkscape 1.0 will mark a major milestone for the project. This upcoming release is loaded with features and polish! You can find a draft of the release notes that lists all the goodies in our Wiki.

For macOS, the 1.0 will feature the easiest installation and best macOS integration that Inkscape has ever offered. There are, however, unique issues that will require additional testing and improvement for our Apple fans.

Please get involved by downloading and testing the Release Candidate for Linux, Windows and macOS.

Report Bugs

If you run into any bugs, especially with the Release Candidate, please help us by reporting them promptly, so we can try to fix them before we release the final 1.0 version.

You can learn more about Inkscape RC 1.0 in the video below.  The car SVG graphic used in the demo is available here if you want to compare performance results.

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GitHub Free For Teams

In the aftermath of Microsoft purchasing GitHub there have been several changes for the better with the popular code repository.  The first major update was creation of a free tier with unlimited private repositories, with the limit of 3 users per private repo.  Today, that limitation has been removed, officially making all major GitHub features available for free to all users.  At the same time, GitHub also announced price changes for existing customers.

Details from the GitHub blog:

We’re happy to announce we’re making private repositories with unlimited collaborators available to all GitHub accounts. All of the core GitHub features are now free for everyone.

Until now, if your organization wanted to use GitHub for private development, you had to subscribe to one of our paid plans. But every developer on earth should have access to GitHub. Price shouldn’t be a barrier.

This means teams can now manage their work together in one place: CI/CD, project management, code review, packages, and more. We want everyone to be able to ship great software on the platform developers love.

Teams who need advanced features (like code owners), enterprise features (like SAML), or personalized support can upgrade to one of our paid plans.

We’re also reducing the price of our paid Team plan from $9 per user/month to $4 per user/month, effective immediately. Existing customers will have their bills automatically reduced going forward.

Learn more in the FAQ, or compare plans on our pricing page.

The pricing now breaks down as follows:

image

You can learn more about the changes in the video below.

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Unity Spring Sale

The annual Unity Spring Sale is on now.  The Spring sale features over 500 of the best selling assets from the Unity Asset Store for 50% off, starting today April 15th and running until April 29th.  Additionally each day of the sale there is one asset that is 70% off for a single day only.

The daily 70% off deals are as follows:

April 15: POLYGON – Sci-Fi Space Pack

April 16: City & Terrace Pack

April 17: Dark Creatures Pack

April 18: Pro GIF Universal

April 19: Omnity Projection Mapping for Immersive Environments

April 20: Landscape Auto Material

April 21: Sci Fi Characters Mega Pack Vol 1

Keep in mind, for these items the sale only lasts for a single day, then the price will revert to normal.  All of the above links contain a code that pays GFS a small commission, so thank you if you use them.  You can learn more about the Unity Spring Sale in the video below.

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Pixelbox.js Game Engine

Pixelbox is a brand new all-in-one 2D game engine perfect for game jams or other small projects.  Combining an easy to use JavaScript API with a complete set of editing tools including a map editor, sprite tools, palette tools, sound FX and music tools in a single >60MB download.  Pixelbox is open source under the MIT license.

Documentation for Pixelbox coding is available on the GitHub page.  There is also a beginners tutorial available over on Itch.io.  Pixelbox also includes a stand alone music tracker application called Pata Tracker, documentation for which is available here.

Pixelbox is available for download on Windows and MacOS right here.  Since it is an electron application, it should be possible to build a Linux install, but no binaries are currently provided.  You can learn more about Pixelbox in the video below.

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Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Bundle

Humble have launched a new Humble Bundle of interest to game developers, this one is the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning bundle, a collection of e-books from Morgan & Claypool Publishers.

As with all Humble Bundles it is split into tiers:

1$ Tier

· Human Computation

· Data-Intensive Text Processing with MapReduce

· Essentials of Game Theory: A Concise Multidisciplinary Introduction

8$ Tier

· Introduction to Intelligent Systems in Traffic and Transportation

· Metric Learning

· Statistical Relational Artificial Intelligence: Logic, Probability, and Computation

· Data Management in Machine Learning Systems

· Natural Language Processing for Social Media, Second Edition

· Covariances in Computer Vision and Machine Learning

15$ Tier

· Introduction to Semi-Supervised Learning

· Algorithms for Reinforcement Learning

· Active Learning

· Adversarial Machine Learning

· Lifelong Machine Learning, Second Edition

· Detecting Fake News on Social Media

· Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining

· Neural Network Methods for Natural Language Processing

· Creating Autonomous Vehicle Systems

· A Guide to Convolutional Neural Networks for Computer Vision

With Humble Bundles you can decide how your money is allocated, between Humble, charity, the publisher and (thanks so much if you do!) to support GFS if you purchase using this link. Learn more about the bundle in the video below.

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Unigine 2.11 Community Launched

As mentioned earlier this week Unigine are launching a community version of their Unigine game engine, traditionally used in engineering and simulation industries.  The new Community version has much more indie friendly licensing terms, including free usage up to $100K USD annual income.

In addition to the new Community version, Unigine 2.11 was just released with the following new features:

  • Community Edition, free for non-commercial/academic projects and enthusiasts.
  • Optimized performance: async node update, optimized bounds calculation.
  • Better input handling and window management via SDL.
  • Improved particles shading.
  • C# Component System updates: renaming, simple inheritances, parameter conditions.
  • Significantly improved multi-channel rendering, revamped Syncker system.
  • Usability improvements and performance optimizations of UnigineEditor.
  • Fox Hole archviz demo with both desktop and VR modes.

You can learn more about the 2.11 features on the Unigine forums available here or by watching the Unigine launch trailer available here.  You can sign up for Unigine Community right here.

As always we do a deeper dive on Unigine 2.11 and Unigine Community in the video below.

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Humble 7000 Game Dev Icon Bundle

Humble are running another bundle of interest to game developers, this one is the 7000 Game Dev Icon Bundle a collection of thousands of icons from inventory items, to weapons to match-3 style game icons.  Be sure to check your purchase history on Humble though, many of the icons in this bundle were in previous bundles.

As with all bundles, this one is organized into tiers:

1$ Tier

  • Fantasy Weapon Icons
  • Blue Loot Box
  • Jewelry Icons
  • Armor Icon Pack
  • Flat Skills Icon

15$ Tier

  • Spellbook Page 01
  • Spellbook Page 02
  • Spellbook Page 03
  • Spellbook Page 04
  • Sci-Fi Icons Pack
  • Sci-Fi Skill Icons Pack
  • Pirates Icons Pack
  • Witch Craft Icons
  • Fruit and Vegetables Icons
  • Gems Icon
  • Trading Icons
  • RPG Armor Sets
  • RPG Weapons Icons
  • Loot Icons
  • Herbal Icons
  • Prehistoric Age Icons

20$ Tier

  • Bags and Boxes Icons
  • Scrolls and Books Icons
  • Magic Items
  • Potions Icons
  • Resources and Craft Icon Pack
  • Weapon and Armor Icon Pack
  • Fishing Icons
  • Hunting Icons
  • Forest Icons
  • Necromancer Icons
  • Sci-Fi Armor Icons
  • Mining Icons
  • Trophy Icons
  • Barbarian Icons
  • Engineering Craft Icons
  • Food Icons
  • Spellbook Page 05
  • Spellbook Page 06
  • Spellbook Page 07
  • Spellbook Page 08
  • Spellbook Page 09
  • Skill Icon Pack
  • Sci-Fi Flat Skills
  • Strategy Game Icons

As with all Humble Bundles, you decide how your money is allocated, between charity, humble the publisher and if you so choose (and thanks if you do!) to support GFS if purchased using this link.  You can learn more and see inside one of the icon packs in the video below.

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