Blips Blog

Cyclops: A new level builder for Godot

Cyclops is a new free and open-source level builder plugin for the Godot game engine. This plugin makes the process of building environments easy by allowing you to interactively create blocks in the editor's viewport.

Published: 15. May. 2023

News

Steam introduces new trailer rules for game developers

Valve has recently changed the way visual content is presented to players on Steam's game pages. With this update there are now trailer limitations and an option for assigning specific trailer categories. There is also a new algorithm that arranges the sequence of trailers and screenshots.

Published: 8. May. 2023

General

The history of video game music

The evolution of music in video games throughout history is truly captivating as it is closely linked to the evolution of technology and the novelty of the medium. It's origins can be traced back to the early days of arcade gaming in the 70s. At that time, video games for the most part only had sound effects. However, it didn’t take long for the first musical experiments to take place and for video game developers to realize the many benefits music could bring to their creations.

Published: 1. May. 2023

News

Babylon.js 6 released with exciting new features and improvements

Babylon.js is an open source 3D game engine for the web. The recently released version 6 brings multiple performance improvements, rendering enhancements and new features that according to the developers will make the web a whole lot more exciting.

Published: 24. Apr. 2023

Tips

Understanding the audio import options in Godot

The Godot game engine provides us with useful options when importing audio assets into our game. In this article I'll go over what they mean and when to make use of them. The audio import options are shown in the "Import dock" after selecting an audio file in the “FileSystem”. The import options change according to audio file type selected. In Godot it's best to select the most appropriate audio file format for each purpose.

Published: 18. Apr. 2023

Tips

Audio in Unity: Demystifying the import options

The Unity game engine has some great built-in import options that can help you better optimise your audio assets for your specific kind of game. These options can however be confusing for developers who are not experts in audio. That's why I created this article. To help you understand the options available to you and when to use them.

Published: 17. Apr. 2023

News

High-performance 3D graphics API now available in Chrome

The Google Chrome team has recently announced that WebGPU is now available by default in Chrome 113 (currently in the Beta channel). WebGPU is a new web API (Application Programming Interface) that exposes modern computer graphics capabilities, specifically Direct3D 12, Metal, and Vulkan, for performing rendering and computation operations on a graphics processing unit (GPU).

Published: 10. Apr. 2023

Tips

Game audio files: A quick developer’s guide

When importing sounds into your game you may be wondering if you're using the right file format, and if that choice may impact your game. You may not yet know all the differences between formats, and what would be the best option for your needs. Fear not. I'm hoping I'll make everything clear for you by the end of this article.

Published: 3. Apr. 2023

News

Unreal Engine 5.2 Preview available for download

At GDC 2023, Epic Games gave us a glimpse of Unreal Engine 5.2 during their keynote presentation. In addition to other features, this update will introduce a new Substrate material system and a new procedural content generation framework.

Published: 27. Mar. 2023

General

Exploring the new audio features in Godot 4.0

Godot 4.0 was recently released with a massive number of new features and improvements. Even though there were not many significant changes or groundbreaking additions in the audio aspect, there are still some new things worth talking about.

Published: 20. Mar. 2023

News

The Epic Games Store now allows developers to self-publish

Epic Games has recently announced that developers are now able to self-publish their games on the Epic Games Store (EGS). With this new option, the number of games appearing on the store is likely to increase significantly, potentially causing a major shift in the industry.

Published: 13. Mar. 2023

Tips

How to choose the right audio engine for your game

A game audio engine is the underlying technology that will power your game's audio. Most game engines and frameworks have built-in features to help you add audio to your game, be it music or sound effects. Besides the audio features that are part of an engine's feature set there is also another option known as: Audio middleware.

Published: 6. Mar. 2023