aj_Devlog

I squeeze in making childrens apps for the awesome NosyCrow and tinkering with making my own game all around raising a family of three!!!

[aj-devblog]

Unity 4.3 and 2D

I would like to talk a little bit about the new Unity release, the one with the new 2D tools in. Previously I had been dabbling with Unity addon 2DToolkit, but once the new version of Unity landed I really wanted to have a play with its new 2D workflow.

Right off the bat the biggest problem was the lack of texture packing and alpha slicing (can’t actually remember what Unity calls it), these features are both Unity Pro only. But only the alpha slicing is a problem (it automatically slices the sprite so it matches the alpha , therefore saving on overdraw), as for the automatic texture packing, you can easily create your own texture atlases in Photoshop or using the great Texture Packer software.

The 2D workflow is fairly simple, but good, they haven’t overloaded Unity with 2D features but have added just the right amount so people can get started. One of the biggest additions is a new 2D physics engine, it is powered by the open source Box 2D physics engine. I have been having a little play and it works much like the 3D physics engine, but…2D, it seems fairly robust and has been used in LOADS of games, so it should pretty watertight.

As I haven’t done lots of in-depth dev in Unity I don’t know if there is any big downfalls or omissions in the new systems, but I guess they will keep adding to it and fixing problems over time. Personally I am still undecided about going all in with just the native 2D tools, sticking with the 2DToolkit or a mixture of the both. I think I might end up using 2DToolkit for the background sections and the native tools for characters/animated objects. A big factor in that it the new Animation window and workflow, it allows me to mix traditional animated sprite sheets with being able to rotate, scale and translate separate sprites in the same animation. I could for example have a few arm shape sprites and then flick between them whilst having the arm rotate smoothly, it adds another way of approaching animations, which is exciting.

All in all a pretty good update :D

[aj-devblog]

Who Am I?

Well, my previous post was pretty brief so I though I would introduce myself properly.

I’m AJ (Andrew James to my parents), I work as a Senior Technical Artist for the lovely Nosy Crow making iOS apps for children. Having three children means that my free time is in short supply, but when I get some I am attempting to develop a game. It has been a dream of mine for a while, so I thought I would try to document the process here, warts and all. Reading about other indie devs developing games is a source of constant fascination, gaining insight into the tools people use and the problems and solutions they face is incredibly inspiring.

I intend to be posting about how I go about doing things and the processes involved.

About me:

I’m married to my beautiful wife Charlotte and I have three children, Samuel, Martha and Lily.

I’m a Christian and hope to infuse my game with a little bit of that. Nothing overt or pushy but a personnel game will reflect aspects of the creator (me). I promise no Kumbaya based Guitar Hero mods (although now I have thought about it..;D).

Previously I worked for:

Reflections Interactive on Driver 3

Rare on Viva Pinata, Banjo Kazooie Nuts & Bolts, and Kinect Sports

Blitz working on a Kinect Spongebob Squarepants game and their first iOS game Kumo Lumo

As I have already said I now work for Nosy Crow, a small independent children’s book publishers in London. They have a small apps division making in house iOS apps for Children, I work with two guys I met at Rare Ed and Will, they run the Art and Tech sides of the apps respectively.

My Setup:

I’ll be developing the game using Unity and the 2DToolkit, I have been playing around with it and it seems really solid. I’ll try to elaborate at a later time. Obviously this means I’ll be developing a primarily 2D game, I think this helps reduce the work load from an asset point of view, and adds a creative constraint. Although it is going to be 2D it won’t be pixel art, I have nothing against it, with some pixel art games being amongst the most artistically beautiful around but in all honesty to pull it off is hard, and not my area of expertise! Art assets created in PS and hopefully going to use Spine by Esoteric Software for the animation. When I am in the swing of things i’ll dedicate a post to the workflow I develop etc.

The Game:

I think I will hold off just a little longer to talk about the project as I still have a few things to nail down but hopefully very soon I shall talk about it. Above is a piece of unused concept art from the project, but I liked it so there you go...

[aj-devblog]

Erm… Hello

Ok this is the first post of the NEW blog. I have called it a devlog as it will primarily be about my endevours to make a small game in my spare time. I’ll be dribbling out my experiences creating and building the game. Anyway I shall leave you all in peace and post something REAL for my next post… I think!