Unity games now on an Android platform

A piece of news of interest to mobile developers which I left unreported; as of early March Unity has now made available an Android plug-in, enabling interested parties to deploy Unity-based games on this platform. It also comes with a remote similar to the iOS one, allowing for tests of the game on the fly.

This retains the same pricing model with the iOS too, with Unity Android being $400 and Unity Android Pro $1500. For more information (and also a trial) please visit the official site here.

SupaBoy, a portable SNES

It looks like Hyperkin will be releasing a new product called SupaBoy, which essentially be a portable Nintendo SNES console capable of running ordinary SNES cartridges, styled after the controller of the original console. The obvious difference will of course be that it will also have a 3.5" screen (see picture below).

Also equipped with controller ports, AV-out for use on a television and a rechargeable batter lasting for (reportedly) five and a half hours, this looks like a really cool proposition for mobile gaming and retro-gaming fans.

Dream:scape, new Unreal-powered iPhone/iPad game

After the phenomenal success of Infinity Blade, which showcased the great and very impressive technical potential of the Unreal engine on the iPhone/iPad, Speedbump Studios has announced a game powered by the Epic engine again, called Dream:scape. The concept of the game sounds very interesting (and different) as the player is tasked to reconstruct the past of someone who is caught in limbo between life and death.

The premise sounds intriguing but it is even more exciting to see another game attempting to utilise a resource that so far has produced the most impressive mobile gaming results ever. Looking forward to this one.

The Darkness II, another non-photorealistic game in the pipeline

Another game with strong non-photorealistic extensions is Darkness 2, to be released in late 2011 from Digital Extremes. It has a more unique perspective on cel-shading compared to other games with similar approaches in so much that it is based on high-contrast lighting and hand-painted textures, similar to a graphic novel.

As can be seen above, this results in a very good compromise betrween impressionism and realism and bodes well for a fantastic and fairly unique visual style for the eventual game. More information about Darkness II can be found here.

Ruined, a browser-based, non-photorealistically rendered Unity game

Always great to see new non-photorealistically-rendered gaming titles, Ruined is a post-apocalyptic 3D action game created using the Unity engine and running on a variety of browsers.

With very stylish cel-shading and based in San Francisco, the online game allows the player to attempt and become the most dominant killer/villain in the city.

The game is currently in beta until further notice but should make for a great proposition when finally released. There is a touch of Ubisoft's XIII there when looking at the action and the visuals which only heightens expectations! More information about the game can be found on the official site here.

Unreal 3 engine's new features

Epic Games have now released another video update showcasing new and very impressive additions to the Unreal 3 engine, made possible by Direct X version 11. These include subsurface scarrering, deferred rendering, realistic foliage, soft-edge motion blur, shadowed point-light reflections and added physics involving clothing.

Other additions (also shown in the vid above) include mobile game development features (such as a remote and mobile previewer) and also improvements on the supplied editor (UnrealEd) itself (improved content browser, new transform gizmos and others). All of these are well worth checking out for anyone interested in Unreal development, whether that is with the SDK or just with the editor.

Real-life Manhattan versus Crysis 2 Manhattan

I just got Crysis 2 yesterday (both for the PC and my XBox) and while the jury's still out on that one (I am sorely disappointed by the fact that there is no editor with the game, how can that measure up to approaches like Epic Games' UDK?!), here is a very interesting comparison to a real life scene as opposed to one depicted in the game.

Courtesy of Kotaku, the video here compares an area of downtown Manhattan where State St. meets Bridge St. in the financial district. This is a great example of how close real-time engines are getting to approximating real-world urban locations.

Cities in Motion

A game with a very strong 3D urban modelling theme is Cities in Motion, a city-based transport simulator (which is at the moment available on PC platform only). The game operates by allowing players to construct their own transportation company, building a subsequent public network with a variety of vehicle types with the ultimate objective being of course to generate a successful/efficient network.

More info about Cities in Motion can be found here, it is also worth pointing out that at the moment there is also a competition in progress with with one prize winner being offered the chance to travel to one of the cities featured in game. This would be Vienna, Helsinki, Berlin or Amsterdam and is to be won on the creation of a customized map using the in-game map editor.

CityEngine tutorial event at Escape Studios

Escape Studios will be, on the 7th of April, providing a day-long tutorial event for an application I have blogged many times in the past, Procedural's CityEngine. As one of the top automatic/semi-automatic 3D urban modelling apps around today the event will cover demos and and examples of cities you can create but also provide the participants with the opportunity to try out CityEngine themselves at dedicated demo stations.

The event takes place in London and is free of charge, more information can be found here.

TIGA 10th anniversary party

On the 14th of April I will, schedule permitting, be in London for the 10th year anniversary of TIGA, an association body which represents the interest of the game development industry in the UK (which Bournemouth University is also a member of). TIGA has so far done great work in lobbying for tax breaks, providing networking opportunities and bringing the community together on several important issues. The event itself will take place at the Channel 4 studios in Central London, on Thursday 14th of April, 2011.

More information can be found here.

Team Fortress 2 production focus

A great 3D modelling production focus (or postmortem) of one of the best non-photorealistically (and in particular cel-shaded) games can now found on the CGSociety website. This is for Valve's Team Fortress 2 and was created/uploaded a while back but is still a great read for anyone interested in games development with strong attention to both NPR and modelling.

The article covers mostly character models and environment scenes (it would be great to see another production focus article on the character animations of this title) and can be found here.

GTA design document made public

To those interested in game design, after 16 years the original design document for Grand Theft Auto has been made available online, released by DMA Design programmer Mike Daily. Dating back to 1995, the document is 11 pages long and contains both ideas that made it and some that didn't make it into the game (such as networked play). The game design document reveals the title was to be called Race N' Chase and includes three real-world cities (New York, Venice, Miami), the original top down perspective and the now infamous gameplay mechanics of car chases and heists.

It is very interesting to see the humble beginnings for what subsequently became such an iconic title, definitely worth going here to explore this.

King's Quest series reboot?

Courtesy of Joystiq comes a new story that the evergreen Sierra Online adventure series King's Quest is soon to be resurrected. This is to be attempted by Telltale who have announced an agreement of a multi-title and multiplatform deal to reboot the franchise. This will be apparently very much in the vein of the Monkey Island reboot the same company very succesfully has launched (which is also now, at long last, getting a store release rather than being exclusively DLC). More is to be revealed at E3 this June.

I have to say I am really excited by this news. Not sure if King's Quest can work without Roberta Williams and to be honest something like the Space Quest series would have worked better for a company like Telltale but since King's Quest 2 was the first adventure game I ever played (many, many years ago now!) this still sounds particularly intriguing...

Fundamentals of Computer and Video Games Development short course at Bournemouth University

In my capacity as a lecturer at Bournemouth University I teach, amongst the regular undergraduate courses, a short course in July (5 days long, with 4 hours of tuition per day) on the fundamentals of games development. This course is ideal for beginners with an interest in improving their skills and understanding of the game dev pipeline.

On this short course you will develop an in-depth knowledge of contemporary game development. Via a set of intensive lecture and tutorial sessions you will comprehensively cover the basics of the three main aspects of modern video game creation; 3D modelling and animation, level design and engine programming.

You will be taught in state-of-the-art, dedicated games development laboratory facilities at Bournemouth University’s Talbot Campus, using industry-standard software such as Autodesk’s 3D Studio Max (used to create content for games such as the Assasin’s Creed series), Epic’s UnrealEd (used in games such as the Gears Of War series and Batman Arkham Asylum) and Unity (a very popular up-and-coming multiplatform indie engine capable of producing browser-based 3D games.

More information about the course can be found here.

Centre for Digital Entertainment conference

Last week I was at the University of Bath for the first Centre for Digital Entertainment conference. The CDE’s purpose is to train the next generation of leaders in the visual effects, computer games, virtual worlds and animation industries. Funded by EPSRC (as a collaboration between Bournemouth University and the University of Bath) it offers a unique doctoral program that places researchers directly in companies to work on real projects while studying for an Engineering or Professional Doctorate.

The conference's purpose (which was incidentally the first one) was to bring together academic (I am on the supervisory team for one of the students) and industrial supervisors alongside all the current students on the scheme for a range of presentations and networking opportunities.

I also presented for one of the sessions (my presentation was titled "My experience of doing a PhD in close collaboration with industry" and based on my experiences of studying under an EPSRC scheme) and with this set to be an annual or bi-annual gathering it looks like there is great scope in turning this into a very useful event.

For more information on the CDE, current opportunities and a description of the work of the students already on the scheme please visit http://www.digital-entertainment.org/index.html.

New PhD studentship advertised at Bournemouth University

The John Kent Institute in the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University is advertising a new PhD studentship, for which I will be the second supervisor for. This is a fully-funded position to begin in October 2011. The John Kent Institute in Tourism builds on BU's research strengths and research potential, focusing on specific areas of interest within Tourism which attract national and international recognition.

Research will be encouraged to be multi-disciplinary, embodying the BU spirit of cross-school collaboration and support. There are already 4 students on the programme who started in October 2010.

More information on the studentship itself, titled "Location based services in the context of tourism from a consumer-centric perspective", can be found here while details on the scheme itself can be found here.

Kinect used by surgeons

Since Microsoft's Kinect has been released there have been numerous "hacks" for it, many of them allowing it to be used for more serious applications other than gaming. A great example of these is the one reported by the Winnipeg Free Press which describes how surgeons at Sunnybrook Hospital are using the device to manipulate images of medical scans.

This apparently saves up quite a significant amount of time with the original process now replaced by using hand gestures to call up, rotate and zoom in on images. The process has already been used on 6 procedures so far with the hospital hoping to use it in other areas as well (such as physiotherapy).

Dare To Be Digital documentary on C4

Channel 4 (in the UK) will be screening a three-part documentary about the Dare To Be Digital competition, a UK software development competition where student teams pool resources to create a video game together. The documentary will be called Crunchtime and is to focus on the arduous challenges of games development within a restricted timeline.

Crunchtime begins on Sunday March 27 at 7.25am, I'll definitely be watching this with great interest, as should everybody else in games dev education (whether they are a student or a teacher).

Skullgirls, another cartoon-shaded beat 'em up

Yet another non-photorealistic graphics driven game is to be released soon, showcasing the increasing popularity of this approach. This time in the vein of a cartoon-shaded Street Fighter IV Skullgirls is fast-paced 2D fighting game that allows players control of female warriors. Featuring the art of Alex Ahad (Scott Pilgrim, Lava Punch), this will be released in Autumn 2011 for the XBLA and PSN.

Well worth checking out in the vid above as a very impressive realisation in real-time of great 2D artwork within an interactive gaming environment.

UDK-type product in preparation from Crytek

Crytek has now been quoted to be in preparation of a similar product to Epic Games' free Unreal Development Kit (UDK), for their own particular engine CryEngine version 3. This was from Crytek co-founder Anvi Yerli who has mentioned that there is “a business model in mind” for this, while “the barriers for entry will be very low, and perhaps [it will be distributed] for free”.

This at the moment is very vague of course as the aspects such as the revenue model are not even covered, however as an educator and researcher I would be incredibly interested in an alternative to the UDK which is user-friendly and utilises/sits on the cutting edge CryEngine. Hopefully there will be some more concrete news soon on this.