Issue #267 - Game AI, Multiplayer, Marketing & More
This article was originally published on GameDevDigest.com
Some great content on AI in games, marketing and much more. Enjoy!
AI 101: Introducing Utility AI - The player is running towards a non-player character, they could go to cover, they could attack, throw a projectile, run away, what do they do? One of those actions might seem like a good idea in some situations, but in others it could be suicide. How do we know how good this idea is at a given point in time? In this AI 101 we're going to take a look at Utility AI - a process of scoring just how good that idea is, before you try and do it. [Also check out AI 101: Managing the Experience with Director AI]
aiandgames.com
I saw the algorithm, looks matter, and (in marketing) it’s all connected - Over the past few months, I’ve had some moments that completely shifted how I think about marketing. From standing at a booth and meeting the people behind the stats, to curating a Steam festival and sifting through hundreds of games, here are three recent marketing thoughts that made a bit of a dent on me.
32-33
Maze 4.0.0 - Unity Maze 4.0.0 tutorial, about upgrading to Unity 6 and using UI Toolkit.
catlikecoding.com
Circle Dashed Decal - I needed to create a configurable dashed circular decal to mark some units in my game. I will describe the solution I used:
Julio Cesar
Do wishlists get old? - In today’s blog I am diving deep into a case study for the 2021 game Song of Iron, a beautiful action game that underperformed a bit despite collecting almost 90,000 wishlists pre launch. The game’s solo developer, Joe Winter, wondered whether the softer sales were due to his game’s wishlists “getting old.”
How To Market A Game
I emailed over 400 content creators. Here are the results. : r/gamedev - There’s an important symbiotic relationship between indie devs and content creators. We all know that. And so I spent a lot of time reaching out to creators as part of a promotional effort, and recorded the results to share with ya’ll.
reddit.com
Videos
I Tried Putting my Fluid Simulation on a Planet - Until today, the Fluid Simulation has been confined to a tiny box. Let's set it free on a planet, with a little orbiting moon, and see what happens!
Sebastian Lague
The First 30 Years of 'Warcraft': The Making of a Game Universe - Warcraft General Manager John Hight shares insights into his history at Blizzard Entertainment and with the Warcraft team in particular to provide a deep dive into how the Warcraft universe has evolved over decades through multiple games, genres, and changing player habits and perspectives into the storied world we now know.
GDC 2025
How Space Marine 2 is Designed to Punish Heretics | AI and Games #77 - Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine 2 revels in the chaos brought by having literal waves of enemies descend upon the player. We explore how Space Marine 2 is designed to force players into the fray, how it rewards those who stick it out in the toughest of encounters, and punishes cowardly heretics who don't submit to the designer's philosophy of 'power-through combat'.
AI and Games
Everything in Unity - 23 Advanced Coding Topics - This advanced Unity coding tutorial reveals the professional coding topics used in the industry. We’ll cover 23 essential advanced coding topics, including generics, abstract classes, delegates, SOLID principles, design patterns and more. Our goal is to help you program clean, scalable code to boost your coding career. Whether you're starting out as a beginner or aiming for professional mastery, we try our best to make you covered.
PracticAPI
Creating Standout Style with CATS - Cat Detective Albert Wilde Creator Spotlight - Join your Unity Host Jackson as he sits down with the brilliant minds at beyondthosehills to discuss their incredibly unique game about a humanoid cat detective, Albert Wilde set in a film noir world!
Unity
How I added voiceovers to my indie game | DEVLOG - It’s sure been a while, but I’ve been pretty busy! Here’s how I went about hiring voice actors and adding voiceovers to my game.
The Point & Click Devlog
Two developers built a game that sold 1M copies. How? - In today’s episode of The Pragmatic Engineer, I’m joined by Jonas Tyroller, one of the developers behind Thronefall, a minimalist indie strategy game that blends tower defense and kingdom-building, now available on Steam. Built by just two developers, and priced at $12.99, the game sold 1M copies in its first year.
The Pragmatic Engineer
Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering - I invented a new form of dithering I call Surface-Stable Fractal Dithering. I've released it as open source along with this explainer video of how it works.
runevision
Make a VR multiplayer game, Part 1 | Unity - In this 3-part video series you’ll learn about how the VR Multiplayer Project Template for Unity 6 can be used to make your own VR game by reusing prefabs and creating new gameplay.
Unity
All about the Unity Slider | Get set values by script, auto resize and more - Learn how to create an auto resize slider based on the space around it! You will also learn how to get and set values either by script or through a UnityEvent. I also cover how to play a sound once you release the handle of the slider.
Christina Creates Games
Pondering Orbs: The Rendering and Art Tools of 'COCOON' - This talk details the graphical techniques developed for COCOON, the debut title of Geometric Interactive, founded by Jeppe Carlsen, lead gameplay designer on LIMBO and INSIDE.
GDC 2025
Programming for Unity's NEW Multiplayer Services API - Multiplayer in Unity just got a major upgrade with the new Multiplayer Services package, streamlining the now-deprecated Lobby, Relay, and Matchmaker packages into a unified solution. This video dives into how the package introduces the concept of a Session, making it easier than ever to manage player connections, matchmaking, and session properties in one place.
git-amend
Making of Time Ghost: Using DOTS ECS for complex environments - Take an in-depth look at how Unity’s Demo Team approached the environment work in the latest Unity Originals production, Time Ghost. We break down the workflows and tools that made this possible.
Unity
Assets
Elites Creator's Super Bundle - 4000+ Assets - So many assets—it’s mind-bending!
Game developers, build your worlds with this amazing bundle of 4,000+ assets! Crafted from the top Unreal Engine market sellers’ best-selling products, this high-quality collection features massive environments, prefabs, blueprints, tools, props, animations, SFX, and more for use in Unreal Engine, Unity, and beyond. Highlighted by the Gothic Interior Megapack and Pharaoh's Legacy: Egyptian Temple Megapack, this bundle has everything you need to bring your game to life.
Plus, your purchase helps support Make-A-Wish America!
Humble Bundle Affiliate
Fresh Assets sale - Start the new year with fresh inspiration! Save 50% on top new tools, stunning art, dynamic VFX, versatile templates, and more. Upgrade your projects today!
Unity Affiliate
UnityURP-InfiniteGrass - Fully Procedural and Dynamic Grass for Unity URP. It meant to be a fast to implement grass system that doesn't need any baking or having any static environemnt. Just enable it, give it the LayerMask of the objects where you want it to be, and everything gets drawn procedurally.
Youssef-Afella Open Source
ReferenceFieldTweaker - Reference Field Tweaker lets you use the [EditableRefs] attribute to expand and edit object reference fields directly in the Unity Inspector. Customize the visual hierarchy and field layout to suit your needs.
AbdrahmanSoliman Open Source
ShadeView 2 - Ultimate Shader Tool - ShadeView for Visual Studio Code provides the first-ever comprehensive support for writing HLSL (High-Level Shading Language) and GLSL (OpenGL Shading Language), along with ShaderLab in the VSC IDE. Designed specifically for developers working with shaders, especially in Unity, this plugin enhances your workflow by bringing advanced features for these languages directly into your favorite code editor.
marketplace.visualstudio.com
RealityShaderExtension - RealityShaderExtension reproduce 80+ Shader Graph nodes from Unity, and Unreal. It will be very useful if you convert shader effects from Unity or Unreal to visionOS.
XanderXu Open Source
unity-buildplus - Semver utility for Unity projects with changelog / release notes generator
Hermesiss Open Source
PathfinderTextToSpeechMod - A mod that introduces text to speech in various parts of the game.
Osmodium Open Source
Unity-Code-Style-Guide - A inspirational C# code style guide for Unity projects
thomasjacobsen-unity Open Source
unity-material-symbols - This project simplifies the usage of Google's Material Symbols (Icons) on Unity.
convalise Open Source
unity-tinybvh - An example implementation for tinybvh in Unity and a foundation for building compute based raytracing solutions.
andr3wmac Open Source
Shop up to 50% off CartoonVFX9x - Publisher Sale - Provides you with a huge number of effects. Helps you develop and perfect almost all of your genres of game quickly and beautifully. I believe that the huge number of effects will satisfy your expectations! PLUS get Fireworks Effect 2D for FREE with code CARTOONVFX9X
Unity Affiliate
Ocean-Simulation-Unity - Realistic Ocean Simulation using Fourier Transform Thesis
Biebras Open Source
The Complete Learn To Code 2025 Bundle - Learn to code games like a pro Achieve your New Year's resolution and learn to code! This comprehensive curriculum will help you level up your skills with courses like Unreal Engine 5.5 Game Developer's Toolbox - Essential Templates and Assets, Godot 4 Game Creator's Pack - Essential Templates for Instant Game Development, and many more. Our collection of 40+ courses includes Humble Bundle-exclusive content available only to our community. Familiarize yourself with popular tools like Python and Unreal Engine, all while supporting Direct Relief with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate
The Complete Concept Art Training Bundle - Art training from the pros at Learn Squared Reach new heights in concept art and more with our latest bundle from the experts at Learn Squared. This bundle is perfect for artists starting their journey and experienced creatives alike—learn essential skills and workflows, and advanced training. Bring 3D sequence illustrations to life using master tools like ZBrush and Photoshop. Standout courses include Concept Art for Video Games, Concept Art in Unreal Engine 5. That’s right—learn to develop original art in the uber popular game engine Unreal Engine 5! Don’t wait, get this curated collection of courses and help support Girls Who Code with your purchase.
Humble Bundle Affiliate
Royalty-Free Music, SFX, & More - Bundle - Pitch perfect sounds, loops & more. Create the perfect audioscape for your next game with this bundle of professional quality sounds from GameDev Market! This massive library features over 40 hours of audio tracks and more than 6000 individual sound effects to bring your game to life. Craft exhilarating boss battle music with the Boss Battles & Combat Music, excite players with addicting loot tunes with the Game Music Treasury, and bring explosions and more to life with the Urban Destruction Demolition Debris & Explosions. Get the assets you need to achieve the sound you’re looking for, and help support Hilarity For Charity with your purchase!
Humble Bundle Affiliate
Spotlight
Felbound - Felbound is an action-adventure roguelike with a dose of RPG. Explore the abyss of the ancient temple and fight the shadows with a combination of weapons, spells, potions and ephemeral blessings. Uncover a myriad of secrets, save friends and become powerful as a god of destruction yourself!
[You can wishlist it on Steam]
Poink Games
My game, Call Of Dookie. Demo available on Steam
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