Over the past few weeks, I have been working in the (now) free-to-use game engine 'Unity3D'. There is always a lot of speculation when delving into the use of 3D game engines and their usage for 3D applications, and the first of many initial thoughts that sprang to my mind before I dove in head-first were mainly that of confusion and/or distress. I had no idea of what to expect from this software, let alone how hard it would be to get used to...

However, once I had re-acquainted myself with my love for game-designing, and read a few (very helpful) Unity online tutorials in order to get my head around the interface, I can say, whole-heartedly, that it is most definitely NOT as horrifying as I first imagined.

Unity gives designers and developers the power to create almost anything they wish, and the interface and real-time feedback it provides allows for even more control over what is created. The possibilities for game, e-learning and any other 3D environment applications is endless, not to mention the interface customization included with the engine, thus allowing for an even broader spectrum of creative solutions.

In fact, I would even go as far to say that it is one of THE MOST ENJOYABLE GAME DESIGN EXPERIENCE I have had to date, and that I wish more online games and 3D environments were created using this engine!

Yeah that’s right… I went there…

That being said, I am now determined to find anything I can on the development of Unity games, environments and even e-learning courses that are being made with this glorious and powerful toolset…

My first of many posts of any note-worthy Unity developments comes in the form of a little game called ‘Feist’ - http://www.playfeist.net/

An original game concept (albeit a tad on the ‘Little Big Planet’ side) with a unique style and aesthetic that is sure to make a sizeable difference to the gaming community.

Watch this space, and I will keep you posted with any new updates on all that is interesting with Unity3D...

 

Draw a car and hurl it down a steep track, only powered by gravity and - obviously - Red Bull http://www.redbullsoapboxracer.com/

I played this ages ago when it was just a short demo, but they've since released the full game. At $10.99 it's high price point for a simple flash game in today's climate imho, but still a great play.

auditorium

I want one, slight problem in that my hands might be a little big though... I'm sure it'll be fine.... maybe! :D

SF Keychain

Try this little exercise!

10 years in development, and it seems Spore doesn't quite deliver in the final product.

It's a pretty sad story as Spore is a great concept, and for the first time in a while my attention was actually drawn to a game due to it's uniqueness and potential.   For a hardcore gamer a little over 30 hours gameplay is not much return in change, and will leave you slightly disappointed with the lack of depth in the game despite its several stages of evolution to complete.

What's more surprising is the once again badly thought out and poorly implemented DRM that's wired into the game.  Does anyone seriously think this is a good idea?  Pirates will (ironically again) have the best copy of the game free of this DRM and play it how they wish, whilst a paying customer can quite easily be frustrated and locked out of a game they paid with their hard earned money!   DRM might seem a good idea on paper but I've yet to see a version that's acceptable and would rather see the idea consigned to history that allow companies to install various rootkits or any other software activation just to prove I've bought something. 

Such a decision has actually spurred on quite a backlash, where angry gamers have been deliberately rating spore 1 out of 5 on amazon leaving it sitting at around 1.6/5 in overall rating, surely enough to deter the casual gamer and make them skip over this title

I'm a developer too and naturally I would like to protect my IP, but some things are just taken too far when your legitimate customers are the ones who are suffering most. EA are not exactly in my good books having swallowed up most of the good game developing talent in the world in the last 10 years, and they see fit to churn out the same games with updated squads for an extortionate amount.  I hope some common sense returns to this world before the PC gaming industry goes the way of the dodo.

- Scott