Recently, we have been looking into technologies that allow integration of Flash animations in Unity3D prototypes and games. This seems to be very useful to create complex 2D animations in Flash, and play them in Unity.
Technology
Unity 4 Announced
Unity 4 Announced
Announcements about updates of Unity3D, our primary working tool, are always a big thing. We’ve taken a quick look at the additions the company is planning to make and although most big changes are targeted at studios who make full quality games, there are some elements that can be of interest to us as well.
ActiveCollab 3.0 Timer Issue: Resolved
ActiveCollab 3.0 Timer Issue: Resolved
To monitor the exact time we spend on a project we use a system called ActiveCollab 3.0. A planning tool with a broken timer however is no good at all, so we’ve looked into a solution to solve a cumbersome timer issue generated by an automatic update of the software.
Augmented Reality: Our Findings
Augmented Reality: Our Findings
It’s impossible to estimate how useful a certain technology will be to us without first exploring the technological boundaries. We spent the last few weeks stretching augmented reality to its limit in order to assess the possibilities the tech offers. Here’s some things we found out.
Dartboard AR Prototype Video
Dartboard AR Prototype Video
What to do when you want to play a quick game of darts but there’s no dartboard in sight? You whip out your smartphone and use the digital dartboard prototype that’s brought to you by the combined power of PreviewLabs and augmented reality of course. Video inside!
Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality
A recent trend in game development is augmented reality. In AR games, the real world is blended with a virtual world. This certainly is something that sounds very cool and triggers imagination. However, until now there hasn’t been a breakthrough, as the first mainstream AR game still needs to be developed.
2D Game Development in Unity3D: Overview
2D Game Development in Unity3D: Overview
To conclude our series on 2D Game Development in Unity3D, we’ve made a nifty overview of the different methods and when you should or shouldn’t use them. If you haven’t checked out the previous posts, we highly recommend you read those first.
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D: Orthographic Projection
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D: Orthographic Projection
Continuing our series on 2D Game Development in Unity3D we’ll take a look at the final method we’ve utilized so far. When the use of a GUI Class or Sprite Manager System doesn’t cut it, you might want to look at the game through another camera angle, thus using ortographic projection.
GDC Europe and gamescom 2011: Day 3
GDC Europe and gamescom 2011: Day 3
It’s the final day of GDC Europe (and the first of gamescom) which means we hardly can’t feel our feet anymore. Our tongue works fine though, so we chat up one of the lead developers of Game Maker and walk away with some intriguing intel we can use in the future.
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D: Sprite Manager Systems
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D: Sprite Manager Systems
The simplest way to create 2D games in Unity3D might not always be the best way. In this post we take a look at the possibilities and drawbacks of Sprite Manager Systems and compare them to simply using the GUI Class.
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D Using the GUI Class
2D Game Prototyping in Unity3D Using the GUI Class
For many of our prototypes we’re using Unity3D. Even when the gameplay is actually 2D. There are several different ways to create 2D games and prototypes in Unity3D. We’ll go over them in the coming weeks and are starting out easy: using the GUI class.
Unity Roadmap 2011: Three Features we’re Most Wild About
Unity Roadmap 2011: Three Features we’re Most Wild About
As we’re working with Unity3D a lot, we’re closely following the company’s every move. They just published a roadmap of short term adjustments they will add and we’ve listed the three features that we want to see most.
Ürban Pad
Ürban Pad
We’re constantly on the lookout for new ways of quickly building environments to use in our prototypes. Ürban Pad prides itself on being one of the fastest ways to rapidly create a 3D city. Let’s find out if reality can match their claims.
GameSalad
GameSalad
PreviewLabs houses a team of proficient programmers. But wouldn’t we be able to prototype even faster when we had no use for code whatsoever? To answer that question, we took a look at GameSalad, a game engine for people with no prior programming knowledge.
Unity and PlayMaker: The best of both worlds
Unity and PlayMaker: The best of both worlds
In a previous post we talked about the severe limitations of Playmaker but since we’re quite charmed with the possibilities of the technology, we devised a workaround approach that enables us to profit from the best aspects of both Unity3D and Playmaker.