Sam Nova

The open source Unreal Engine Rest API plugin, VaRest (initially developed by Vladimir Alyamkin), was discontinued and delisted from Fab due to his personal reasons. I made contact with him, and with his consent, took over rights of further maintenance. The plugin is published again with Unreal Engine 5.5 version is now available, with Fab link: https://lnkd.in/dBjXVXhR Previous Unreal Engine versions will be added later. They're still available on GitHub, under this fork: https://lnkd.in/dUpC2Jgr

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My new Youtube video, which I explained how you can build a 2-bit computer. (with Falstad Circuit Simulator)

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Amazing news from Germany: after 25 years at Piranha Bytes, the creative force behind Gothic, Risen, and Elex, Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz have announced the formation of Pithead Studio. This decision comes after lengthy discussions and a desire to pursue a fresh start. The news follows a period of turbulence for Piranha Bytes. The studio, a German development powerhouse since 1997, was acquired by THQ Nordic in 2019. Recent financial struggles within the parent company, Embracer, led to studio closures and project cancellations. Despite a government grant in May 2023, Piranha Bytes' future remains unclear. Undeterred, the Pankratz duo is forging their own path. Pithead Studio, named after the exit shaft of a coal mine, symbolizes a return to their roots (the Ruhrpott region) and a fresh start. Pithead Studio plans to focus on creating "unique and immersive indie games." Fans can expect dark action adventures rich with story, horror, and RPG elements. Initially, the studio will collaborate with external partners, with publisher discussions still ongoing. With the official announcement and social media channels launching today, Pithead Studio is ready to take center stage. This is exciting news for RPG fans, as the Pankratz's experience promises a thrilling new journey into immersive worlds. Wishing Björn and Jennifer all the best for their new studio! (source: https://lnkd.in/e3dDSf8r and https://lnkd.in/ewHJjeBX)

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Who's ready to get started in Audio Programming with Unreal Engine and MetaSounds? Embark with me on this new journey into exploring this exciting area where audio programming meets sound design and interactive media. In this first tutorial, I guide you through the steps of forking and cloning the Unreal Engine repository. Why this method? Because it lets us peek under the hood at the source code—crucial for when we start crafting our own nodes with C++! We've also got a new dedicated MetaSounds area in our Discord community where we can learn and grow together. Link to join is in the comments below! Let's unlock these new creative possibilities! Watch here: https://lnkd.in/efvmwBpd

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Good post - talks about engineers killing solutions based on biases. This isn’t specific to engineers, I’ve found. Game designers can use this kind of thinking to shut anything down too. Game design combines both art and science. Either of which can be weaponized against new ideas. It’s destructive and unhelpful in achieving the design goals. It’s very easy to kill new ideas - they must be protected and the designer allowed to experiment and yes possibly FAIL to obtain value. Everyone should learn from failure - designers need to know why they failed so they can propose all new ways to fail. Oh, and the good news? If you didn’t fail, you just might have something brand new no one else has, with value to the right players! The best possible outcome to surprise and delight them with. “Oh, we tried that, it doesn’t work.” “Pfft no one will think that’s fun!” “But (edge case x, y, z) might happen!” “(other dismissive personal value judgment)” Support your designers. They won’t always get it right, because if they are doing their jobs right they shouldn’t be.

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"Oh, what a glorious remake." My last game at Digital Eclipse, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, has been called out by Kotaku as one of the best RPG's of 2024! Not too shabby! I am immensely proud of this game and the whole team that worked on it. I encourage everyone to check it out if you haven't already. Here's the full article (we're slide 13): https://lnkd.in/giUxwPYW #GameDevelopment #WizardryRPG #ProudMoment

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Just some random thoughts of a nervous developer. So, just a few days left until the Demo of Magical Harvest releases on Steam. It's an early-development demo that showcases a few of the main features we have. After working on the game for nearly 2 years in Unity, basically solo, then switching to Unreal and redoing it since 6 months there (with a few more people in the team!)- I'm not sure if I feel happy about it, releasing the demo or if I should be afraid. What is, if it's not fun enough? What is, if basically no one is playing the demo? What is, if the players expect more? What is, if the players don't understand that it's an early stage demo? Hah! Early stage after 2,5 years of work! But well, switching to Unreal Engine needs a lot of time, but it is worth it. The game is more stable, the graphics look much nicer without a lot of effort and it's more fun to see progress in UE. Not all features that we have in Unity are rebuild yet, but I guess 3-4 more months and the state is the same, just better. With the upcoming demo, I'm not only afraid. I'm proud that the game seems not to crash (at least not in our latest tests!). No serious bugs (hopefully). A nicer environment as 2 months ago. I hope, we can gather a lot of feedback from players to improve. The best thing would be, if everyone is happy and we can just continue. So, the game is available during the Farm-Fest on Steam and then - in May - you can play it on the Nordic Game Conference! The plan is, to have the Character-customizer ready till the NGC! Beside all the Business work that needs to be done... If you are interested in having a look, feel free: https://lnkd.in/eW55sMZd #gamedev #indiegames #indiedev

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Every month, Epic Games chooses 20 items from their Marketplace to showcase where they have up to +47K items they have there. Today, on the Marketplace, Epic Games saw my product Optimization Debug Tool, and they chose to showcase my item after a short period of being there, in addition to that I'm giving you a discount of 30%! Maybe another good update will be that now there is a live Discord server for support. https://lnkd.in/d8duDKwB #unrealengine #unreal #unrealengine5 #unreal5 #optimization #debug #quality #marketplace #indiegamedev #indiedev Epic Games Unreal Engine

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Want to try out Procedural Content Generation (PCG) in Unreal Engine ? you can now download the Cassini sample from Fab https://lnkd.in/eKvc82rF #unrealengine

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How we scaled from 12 to 85 developers in 3 months. Client Project: Merge3 game. KPIs: We did better than expected. They wanted 160 days of content ASAP. We grew from 12 ➜ 45 ➜ 85 developers. Without losing quality, we delivered. Many thanks to Olga Zagorskaia, our partner's Head of Project Management. She has taught us a great deal and helped streamline processes during our scaling phase. Here are 5 key lessons I learned: 1) Process and structure are key for fast growrth - Grew to 45 developers through internal reallocation, and an additional 40 people were added to the structure by our partners. Built a synergy of individuals from different companies to function as one cohesive mechanism. - Only possible with structured communication. 2) Clear roles make decisions easaier. - Gave team members specific features to own. - Made a hierarchy with leads and sub-leads. 3) Effective tools and regular reviews maintain quality. - Completely redesigned our business processes to make them simpler but structured, transparent and introduced new review checkpoints. - Implemented new collaborative tools to streamline communication (Figma, Miro, Coda). 4) Adapt Reviews as you grow. - Held project team and lead calls twice a week. - Held art review calls three times a week. 5) Review and Improve often. - Held big retros after each milestone. - Used team feedback to get better. Continuous improvement is key to success. This project was a huge moment for us. It showed us what was possible. Moving internal developers? Working with partner studios? Where there is a will there is a way. P.S. If you’re looking to scale your Unity Project fast, reach out. We’ve been there and know what it takes.

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Check out this presentation by Arvind on how to setup #UE5 for Mobile. #UE5 is quite capable for Mobile and has many improvements over #UE4, and much more coming.

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EA lays off 5% of their workforce and then showcases to investors how to make games just using AI instead. How is this a positive message to devs and those aspiring to work in the industry exactly? Once AI figures out how to do your job, you'll be fired and replaced by a machine, all those years of education, training and talent no longer matter 🙃 If this is truly the way forward for video games, which I know companies with common sense won't take on, then we're looking at some very boring (and very buggy) games releasing in the next few years. Very tired of seeing AI used for all the wrong reasons. AI doesn't replace actual talent and it never will.

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Been focusing on the creation of automated systems for basic level layout, which I can then modify at any scale. I hope it saves time in the long run and lets me focus on the unique elements. Here's an example of spawning a new level room (assets not final):

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You know the most about what it takes to deliver the feature you are working on, only when you're about finished. Many of the decisions made at the start of your project will be the ones that need to change. Unfortunately, as you get closer to the end of your project, it also gets more expensive to make changes. Hence, you need to find the balance between making the minimum amount of decisions to get started, but still giving yourself enough flexibility to make changes. How do you balance between making decisions and having enough flexibility to make changes as your project nears completion?

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I did a talk during Devcom in Cologne. So many young faces with "Student Tickets" (they made me feel a bit older) But honestly, I love Gen Z ❤️ Before my fellow industry veterans start grumbling... Let’s be real: We’ve had our time as the pioneers. We’ve seen the gaming world evolve in ways we couldn’t have imagined. Examples: 1. We REMEMBER the days of pixelated art. ↳ So we value how far the tech has come. 2. We KNOW what it’s like to build a game. ↳ So we value the craft and the hard work. 3. We SEE the new generation stepping in. ↳ And they’re bringing fresh energy & ideas. I could keep going... But the point is: We led the way, but now it’s Gen Z’s turn. They grew up with gaming as a way of life. ↳ It’s in their DNA. They dream big. They are fearless. They are creative. They are ready to push the boundaries. And I’m here for it. SO many of the students I met at Devcom are the future of the gaming industry. They’re the ones who will take what we started and run with it. The future of gaming is in good hands. Cheers to Gen Z. Cheers to the bright future of our industry. P.S. Tag your fav Gen Z talent in gaming. ↳ Let’s show them some love ❤️

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XOCIETY's First Spotlight Test Wrap-Up Story During the initial test with 3,000 participants, we focused on basic level testing. However, for the upcoming tests leading to early access, our goal was to spotlight the main features of #XOCIETY. That's how the name "Spotlight Test" was conceived. The inspiration for the name came from an advertisement I saw while walking, but that's a secret. The official final metrics for this playtest are as follows: - Unique users: 29,543 - Peak DAU: 18,115 - Peak Concurrent User: 9,199 - D+1 retention rate: 83.2% - D+7 retention rate: 73.4% More than the high user metrics, the most enjoyable part of this test was seeing the positive impact of smooth asset transfers between on-chain and off-chain in the new main game mode, POP-Extraction. Additionally, the appeal of a casual Extraction Shooter was effectively demonstrated to our target audience. "Swicy Gameplay" For this test, the #XOCIETY team aimed to see if our gameplay cycle could deliver a Sweet & Spicy experience to players. (like the taste of Buldak Bokkeum Myeon) Although it was rough and unbalanced, these core pillars emerged: - PVE and Farming: Sweet 🍰 - PVP and Death Losses: Spicy 🌶 - Licenses & Skills to Close Player Skill Gaps: Sweet 🍰 - Score Streaks and Item Randomness: Sweet 🍰 - Off to On-chain Currency Conversion: Swicy 🌶🍰 Despite missing auxiliary systems (e.g., matchmaking), balance, and content expansion, the potential was evident. The team is now ready to move forward. Check out players feedback: https://lnkd.in/giZhGsjn

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Hi LinkedIn, Here's the second demo, showcasing real-time GC step length combined with local blendspace. The second part of the demo demonstrates basic interaction with the landscape itself. As always, it's all procedural and real-time, changing with a single walk cycle animation. Cheers! Give us your feedback and thoughts here: https://lnkd.in/djatAHRn #proceduralanimation #VayoTech #characteranimation

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Afternoon everyone! We're still on the hunt for a hands on QA leader to help us launch our first cloud game. This is the perfect opportunity for somebody who wants to help build something from the ground up, and doesn't mind rolling up their sleeves and doing some of the work themselves. If you're interested read on for a "Cheat Sheet" on the types of things we are looking for in an ideal candidate Key skills we are looking for... * Experienced being deeply embedded with a game development team, especially at the early 0 to 1 stages of making a game. This is a role where you will be shoulder to shoulder working in the trenches with developers. We want people that invested in the project, and capable of building strong collaborative relationships. * Technically capable of navigating your way around game development tools with strong familiarity with game engines (Unity is ideal), developer workflows / tools, build processes, etc. We're a small team so we're counting on you to be able to do forensic investigation and help us find the root cause of issues. * Knows their way around QA process & workflows. Our first QA lead will work with production to set up our QA reporting process including but not limited to; Bug workflows, JIRA setup & management, Test plan processes, Smoke & build testing, etc... * Comfortable with leading a small team (eventually). We fully expect to need to bring additional folks online for the project. But it will never be a massive team everyone on our team is a working manager. So we're looking for folks that are capable of managing a few high functioning individuals or a solid external outsource partner. Still reading?! Awesome here is even more information to help you stand out! You might be our unicorn if you... * Work on a larger development team as part of embedded QA. Ideally as a Sr Tester or Lead.. You focus on a specific area of game development have built a deep understanding of how the game works, the tools to make it and how to best partner with your developers to nip issues in the bud early. You're looking for a broader role, but you love development and you don't want to just be a people manager on a large team. * Are the QA equivalent of a Swiss army knife.. You've spent your time in the trenches of smaller startup teams or medium sized game teams. You didn't have an army of testers, or all the fancy toys.. and you didn't need it b/c you and your crew were basically the QA version of Seal Team 6 * A grizzled veteran of many a game launch.. You've been there done that, and have the tradeshow T-shirts to prove it. Day to day you manage a large crew of amazing QA folks, but secretly you wish you can go back to the glory days and roll up your sleeves and get your hands deep in the guts of a game again.

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2 Kommentare