Tag: GameDev News

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Buildbox Review And Plan Pricing Changes

Buildbox is a “no code” 2D/3D game engine for Windows and Mac, capable of targeting those platforms plus Steam and mobile.  Nearing the end of 2019 Buildbox announced a free edition with the release of BuildBox 3.

Since that update they have also announced that the Plus tier of pricing is back and cheaper than before.  Details of that announcement:

This new Buildbox Plus plan will also feature easy export to iOS, Android, and Windows. Plus, AdMob and ironSource SDK integration. Although there are no in-app purchase or custom ads options, it’s a huge upgrade from Buildbox Free, without breaking the bank. You’ll be able to make professional-looking 2D and 3D games for only $9.99 per month or $75.99 per year. All of our subscriptions are set at a 1-year commitment, which you’ll be able to later choose to opt-out of or renew.

Buildbox Plus

Buildbox Plus Plan ($9.99 per month or $75.99 per year)

  • Customizable Splash Screen
  • 5 World Limit
  • Unlimited Scenes
  • Export (iOS, Android, Windows)
  • Easy Monetization AdMob and ironSource SDKs

If you’ve been wanting to upgrade from Free, but not quite ready for Pro, this plan is a great option. With Buildbox Plus, you’ll have access to the latest version of our software, Buildbox 3, which includes all of our no-code and low-code game building features from smart assets to nodes. You can create up to five different immersive 2D and 3D worlds to challenge players. There’s also 100+ preloaded assets in Buildbox 3 to help you quickly build out the levels or scenes in your game. And of course, there’s an option to drag and drop your own assets into the software to use as well.

If you are interested in learning more about BuildBox, check out our hands-on review in the video below.

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ShaderED–Open Source Shader Editor

Today we are looking at ShaderED, an open source MIT licensed cross platform GLSL and HLSL shader editor.  We previously covered ShaderED back in July and a fair bit has changed since that release.  ShaderED now includes a full debugger enabling your to step line by line through your shader code.  Additionally ShaderED added a plugin API and now ships with two plugins.

One plugin makes it simple to import shaders from Shadertoy to ShaderED.  The other plugin enables Godot developers to write shaders using the Godot shader language.  Currently only CanvasMaterial is supported.

You can learn more about ShaderED in the video below.

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GDC 2020 Postponed

Due to the outbreak of Coronavirus (COVID-19), with elevated fears of infection and quarantine, several exhibitors including Unity, Epic Games, Microsoft and Amazon all announced that they would not be attending GDC this year.  It was almost inevitable that the event itself would be cancelled or postponed, which is exactly what happened.

Details from the GDC website:

After close consultation with our partners in the game development industry and community around the world, we’ve made the difficult decision to postpone the Game Developers Conference this March.

Having spent the past year preparing for the show with our advisory boards, speakers, exhibitors, and event partners, we’re genuinely upset and disappointed not to be able to host you at this time .

We want to thank all our customers and partners for their support, open discussions and encouragement. As everyone has been reminding us, great things happen when the community comes together and connects at GDC. For this reason, we fully intend to host a GDC event later in the summer. We will be working with our partners to finalize the details and will share more information about our plans in the coming weeks.

For more information, please visit our Frequently Asked Questions page.

From the linked FAQ come important details regarding refunds:

I am a current GDC 2020 paid conference or expo registrant – now the event is not taking place in March, can I receive a refund of my pass money?

If you are a currently registered passholder, you will be receiving an email about your registration status and any next steps regarding refunds, which conference and expo attendees will be receiving in full.

What is the situation with hotels if I booked through the GDC hotel website/room blocks?

Individuals who have made hotel reservations inside the GDC room block will not have to pay penalties or fees associated with their reservations. More information will be available early next week on next steps.

As several smaller developers are going to be financially impacted, gamedev.world are organizing a fund raising and relief effort for impacted developers.  You can learn more about the postponement in the video below.

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Quixel Mixer 2020 Released

Hot on the heels of Quixel Bridge 2020, Quixel have just released Mixer 2020.  Just like Bridge 2020, Mixer 2020 has also been made completely free!  This version contains a massively updated UI, a revamped 3D brush system, the Smart Material system and most importantly, the ability to directly paint on your own imported meshes, making Mixer much more of a competitor to Substance Painter in functionality.

From the Quixel announcement blog:

The wait is over! We’re excited to share with you the first Mixer 2020 preview release introducing the first look at early 3D support.

This first release unlocks features for texturing single objects and restyling Megascans assets, with Multi-channel 3D Painting, Megascans Smart Materials, Real-time 3D Curvature, Material ID Masking, Seamless Texture Projection and so much more.

For some odd reason, all of the download links on Quixel.com currently point to the 2019 release.  If you want to try the 2020 version it is available for download here.  Windows and Mac versions are available.

You can learn more about Quixel Mixer 2020 and see the new painting functionality in action in the video below.

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Affinity 1.8 Released

Serif have released the 1.8 update for the entire series of graphical applications, Affinity Designer, Affinity Photo and Affinity Publisher, including the iOS versions (see Affinity Designer for iPad in action here).

Details of the 1.8 update from the release announcement:

Continuing with our focus on the professional workflow, our latest update adds some killer new features and improvements to the Affinity line-up, with something for everyone.

Convert and handle Adobe files better with Smart Object import in Affinity Photo and IDML import in Affinity Publisher, take advantage of the improved ability to share your work with collect linked resources, and output with confidence using the new preflight pro print feature.

Graphic designers will love the accuracy of our re-engineered expand stroke feature and massive improvements to our vector capabilities, while Affinity Photo lovers will be pleased to see the addition of manual lens corrections, much improved metadata handling as well as support for Nik Collection 2.5.

The entire Affinity suite of applications offer an economic alternative to Adobe’s line of applications without the need for a subscription.  If you are an existing Affinity customer, the 1.8 update is free!  You can learn more about the 1.8 updates in the video below.

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Natural And Digital Painting Kit Humble Bundle

Humble are running a new bundle of interest to game developers, specifically artists, the HUMBLE SOFTWARE BUNDLE: NATURAL & DIGITAL PAINTING KIT bundle.  This bundle is a collection of software and addons for creating digital art as well as replicating natural media.  As with all bundles this one is organized into tiers, if you buy a higher dollar value tier you get all of the tiers below it.

1$ Tier

18$ Tier

  • Flame Painter 4
  • Amberlight 2
  • Several particle brushes for Flame Painter 4

20$ Tier

  • Rebelle 3
  • Flame Painter Connect Photoshop Plugin
  • Several Papers for Rebelle 3
  • More Brushes for Flame Painter 4

Rebelle is a natural media painting application, Flame Painter 4 is a particle system brush based painting application (that can be plugged into Photoshop), Amberlight is extremely interest but hard to describe, while Inspirit is basically just a toy.

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

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Quixel Bridge 2020 Released

Quixel Bridge 2020 was recently released, the first major release since being acquired by Epic Games late last year. Quixel Bridge acts as a… well bridge, in between your 3D and texturing content and your games engines and tools of choice, with plugins for most applications including Blender, Max, Maya, Unreal Engine and even Unity. With the release of Quixel Bridge 2020, it is now completely free for everybody.  Even if you don’t use Megascans, Quixel Bridge can be an excellent tool for organizing and managing your graphics content, especially now that a subscription is no longer required.

Details from the Quixel release announcement:

Better, faster, and free forever

We’ve improved the 3D viewer to give you more accurate real-time PBR shaders, plus inertial rotation and zooming.

Additionally, we’ve also updated the Maya, Blender, and Cinema 4D integrations with new improvements and bug fixes. We have also finally introduced support for the Alembic file format, and you can start downloading and exporting .ABC files right away.

But most importantly, Bridge is now completely free for everyone, forever. A paid subscription is no longer needed simply to access, download or export your content at any time.

Free unlimited Megascans for use in Unreal

And finally, the entire Megascans library is now completely free for use within Unreal Engine. Just log in with your UE account and you are all set!

We’re beyond excited to offer the entire Megascans library, Bridge and Mixer completely free of charge. And, in combination with Unreal Engine, creating any world imaginable has never been more exciting!

Check out the video below to learn more about Quixel Bridge, including how to install and use Bridge with Blender and Unreal Engine 4.24.

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Unity Launch Free Student Plan

Unity have just announced a new free student plan for eligible students. You get full access to Unity Professional features including teams, Unity Learn Premium, cloud analytics and yes, even dark mode. To enrol you need to be at least 13 years old, or 16 in the EU, and have been verified as a student on GitHub Education.

Details from the Unity blog:

That’s why the Unity Student plan provides access to professional resources and tools like cloud-based collaboration which enable students to use the same workflows that teams use on real-world projects:

Cloud-based Collaboration

Work on group projects with up to five teammates, manage versions, share work with teachers, and easily move between home and school computers.

Cloud Build

Speed up build and iteration cycles on complex projects using minimal hardware. See the impact of your changes quickly, and learn more effectively.

Learn Premium

Supplement in-class learning and dive into the topics you care about most with unlimited access to on-demand, industry-specific resources to solve problems on your own, such as this popular Introduction to XR: VR, AR, and MR Foundations course. 

Student Asset Pack
Prototype and iterate your game projects quickly with free access to the Snaps Prototype pack. Beginners can create 3D worlds with ProBuilder and Snaps, without having to use additional 3D modeling tools. These assets easily snap together with ProGrids.

Dark UI theme

Develop your game or project with an easy‑on‑the‑eyes, dark UI environment for those long hours, late-night cramming sessions, and game jams.

You can learn more about Unity Student here and apply for the GitHub Student Developer program here. If you want to learn more about Unity Learn, check out our video available here and Unity Learn premium here. Finally, watch the video below to learn more about Unity Student.

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ArmorPaint Receives Epic MegaGrant

Hot on the heels of Godot’s recent Epic winfall, ArmorPaint has become the latest recipient of the Epic MegaGrant program, first announced during the Unreal keynote at GDC 2019.  ArmorPaint is an open source PBR-based texture painting application, similar in function to Substance Painter.

Details of the megagrant were announced on Twitter:

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You can learn more about ArmorPaint in our recent hands-on video.  ArmorPaint is open source and is free, but you need to build the binaries yourself.  For instructions on how to build ArmorPaint from source check out our guide available here.  For more details on the ArmorPaint Epic MegaGrant be sure to check out our video below.

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GIMP 2.10.18 Released

The long running open source GIMP, or GNU Image Manipulation Program, just released version 2.10.18.  After skipping the release of 2.10.16 due to a critical bug, there is a fair bit in this release.

Release features include:

  • Tools are now grouped in the toolbox by default
  • Sliders now use a compact style with improved user interaction
  • Vastly improved user experience for the transformation preview
  • Dockable areas now highlighted when a dockable dialog is being dragged
  • New 3D Transform tool to rotate and pan items
  • Much smoother brush outline preview motion on the canvas
  • Symmetry painting enhancements
  • Faster loading of ABR brushes
  • PSD support improvements
  • Consolidated user interface for merging down and anchoring layers
  • Update check to notify users of new releases available
  • 28 bug fixes, 15 translation updates

You can learn more about the 2.10.18 release in the release notes available here.  GIMP is available for download on Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and Solaris.  GIMP is open source under the GPL v3 license with source details available here.  You can learn more about GIMP and the 2.10.18 update in the video below.

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