Topic

Game Development

Odyssey - A new animation software powered by Unreal Engine

Odyssey is a new animation software primarily designed for 2D artists who may have limited experience with 3D software. It facilitates the creation and integration of artworks and animations into 3D scenes. According to Praxinos, the company behind the project, Odyssey combines the benefits of 3D real-time technology with the spontaneity of traditional 2D animation. Odyssey was developed as a standalone application built on the Unreal Engine, allowing artists to access a diverse set of features. These include lighting, post-process volumes, and the ability to modify the composition of both 2D and 3D scenes — all within a user-friendly and straightforward interface.

Published: 18. Dec. 2023

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GeoGen has been released – An anticipated terrain and planet generation tool

JangaFX, the creators of EmberGen, a real-time fluid simulation software, have now launched GeoGen, a highly anticipated terrain generation tool. The software, initially announced in early December last year, is now available in alpha, and enables users to create 3D landscapes, terrains and planets in real-time. JangaFX describes GeoGen as a fresh approach to terrain and planet generation, emphasizing that no other terrain editor on the market offers the ability to create planets with such ease.

Published: 11. Dec. 2023

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GameMaker introduces new and more accessible pricing for game developers

GameMaker, presented as the ultimate 2D game engine by its developers, has recently unveiled a new pricing model. The change makes Game Maker free for non-commercial use on all platforms, except consoles. For commercial projects, a new one-time payment license has replaced the existing Creator/Indie subscriptions. This marks a surprising shift, with the company deciding to transition from a subscription-based product model to a single upfront fee.

Published: 27. Nov. 2023

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Unity releases new sample resources for mastering Shader Graph

The Unity Shader Graph team has recently released new Node Reference Samples, comprising a collection of over 140 graphs representing a large majority of the nodes available in Shader Graph. Each graph includes a description of the node, an explanation of its functionality, and provides examples, illustrations, and helpful tips. Just a few examples of available node samples include Dot Product, DDX, Normal Vector, Lerp, and Normal Blend. Samples are categorized across various domains such as Artistic, Channel, Custom Render Texture, Input, Math, Procedural, SpeedTree, Utility, and UV.

Published: 20. Nov. 2023

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Reallusion introduces AccuFACE - An innovative facial animation tool

Reallusion has released a new facial animation plugin named AccuFACE for their 3D animation software iClone. AccuFACE is an AI-powered facial tracker designed to deliver high-quality real-time facial animation. Reallusion describes the tool as revolutionary, emphasizing that in the past, users would have needed expensive hardware or paid subscription fees to achieve such results. In contrast, AccuFACE makes top-tier facial mocap accessible to most users.

Published: 13. Nov. 2023

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GDevelop 5.3 has been released with native 3D support

GDevelop, the free, open-source, and easy-to-use game engine, has been updated to version 5.3. This release marks a significant departure from being a 2D-only game engine to a versatile engine also capable of creating 3D games. While 3D game development was previously achievable through community extensions, it is now supported natively. This further increases GDevelop's appeal, making it an even more attractive choice for those seeking an intuitive game engine with a “no-code” approach for both 2D and 3D game development.

Published: 6. Nov. 2023

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Valve releases SteamVR 2.0

Valve has recently released SteamVR 2.0, a major update to its virtual reality (VR) platform. According to Valve, this is the first major step in an ongoing effort to unify the Steam ecosystem for all users, ensuring a consistent experience across devices. With this update, Steam's objective was to seamlessly integrate the latest Steam features into VR and make it easier to add future ones in a faster and more frequent way.

Published: 30. Oct. 2023

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SideFX presents a sneak peek of Houdini 20

Houdini is a popular procedural 3D software for VFX, motion graphics and game development. SideFX, the company behind the product, has recently released a sneak peek video showcasing the new tools and features in the upcoming Houdini 20. The video highlights updates to the most important aspects of the software, covering the Karma renderer, simulation tools, character rigging, and animation.

Published: 23. Oct. 2023

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Kenney releases a first-person shooter starter kit for Godot

Following the recent release of City Builder, Kenney now presents us with a new starter kit for first-person shooters (FPS). As usual, the new kit maintains a charming low-poly art style consistent with the other starter kits. The FPS Starter Kit is a basic template for a first person shooter type of game and includes features such as a character controller, weapons, the ability to switch weapons, enemies, sprites and 3D Models.

Published: 16. Oct. 2023

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QuadSpinner announces version 2.0 of the Gaea terrain design tool

Gaea is a versatile terrain design application designed for VFX, games and virtual productions. It offers features like geological shapes, advanced erosion, snow and river simulations, rock tools, and an extensive texture generation toolkit, all within an artist friendly and easy to learn package. QuadSpinner, the software studio behind the project, has recently published a comprehensive introduction to the upcoming 2.0 version, scheduled for release in late Q1 2024.

Published: 9. Oct. 2023

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Kenney releases a city builder starter kit for Godot

The well-known developer and asset creator Kenney, recently released a new starter kit for Godot. This tool facilitates the creation and customization of stylized 3D cities and joins the existing Godot starter kit named 3D Platformer. The latter was designed to streamline the development of 3D platform game projects.

Published: 2. Oct. 2023

News

CloudScapes V2 for Blender has been released

CloudScapes is a photorealistic 3D volumetric cloud library designed for use with the 3D software Blender. It is compatible with both Cycles and Eevee rendering engines as well as with Blender's Asset Browser. The new version introduces 8 additional cloud categories, including aerial explosion, chimney smoke, fire, fireball, fireworks, ground explosion, polar light, and tornado. It also comes with over 180 new cloud assets. The library categorizes clouds into 18 distinct types, offering more than 390 unique variations that closely resemble real-world clouds.

Published: 25. Sep. 2023