#gsfu

[cyberiansoftware]

Upgrade

So, the upcoming Unity 5.3 will include some features that affect Google Sheets For Unity.

Specifically, a new API for http requests, and an integrated JSON serializer: this is good news for us!

The new http api will help us have more flexibility when connecting to the Google Spreadsheets, resulting on improved and safer connections, making the asset more appropriate for released products, finally becoming a serious option for beyond development time. The awesome new json serializer, free us from external dependencies (GSFU uses LitJson), which means less maintenance, a seamless integration, and very cool Unity oriented features. On late december, I will be releasing an upgraded version of GSFU, which makes use of this new features, along with a new and more complex example: a complete CRUD implementation (for those not in the jargon, crud refers to the basic functions of a persistent storage: create, read, update and delete).

In the meantime, don't be alarmed: GSFU will still work fine with Unity 5.3, even before the mentioned upgrade.

So fingers crossed day job doesn't gets too messy so the new version gets released soon.

As always, you can get updates through the facebook page this blog, and you can follow me on twitter.

I'll keep you posted!

[cyberiansoftware]

Back On

After many months of blog inactibity, Im here again. I became father for second time, and time for blogging, twitting, and so far, was not really abundant. However I do have some comments to keep you updated about whats going on at the CyberianSoftware trenches:

A new GSFU  package is now on the Unity Asset Store. Unity 5 users, required a one time API updater operation when importing the extension. Now Google Sheets for Unity version 1.5 is up, and works out of the box with Unity5!

Some clarification for a question that has been asked: WebGL/HTML5 builds of GSFU have the same limitations than WebPlayer builds. Different approach, but a similar security approach, prevents access from web builds to Google Spreadsheets. More details can be read in the Unity docs here. 

Also, some guys have brought to my attention a small issue but can be a headache if not discovered on time: when you copy links from the GSFU pdf manual, for some reason the links are not correctly copied. Have that in mind when installing or setting up the extension. I will use another PDF writer for the the manual on the next update.

Once again, thanks to the Unity Asset Store team for a super fast submission aproval!

Check GSFU here: http://u3d.as/6Lk

Before saying bye: I will have very cool news very soon! Stay tunned for announcements ;)

[cyberiansoftware]

Updated

A short post to announce a new version of Google Sheets for Unity released at the Unity Asset Store.

Version 1.3.2 includes some fixes and minor changes.

Changelog:

Updated LitJson to latest version.

Fixed issue where empty values on the spreadsheet would throw errors on Unity console (thanks antennariagames!)

New debugMode flag in the connection object for a more verbose console output.

Replaced "sheet" by "worksheet" in the script names to avoid confusions.

Polished the manual a bit, and fixed some grammar errors (thanks Anthony!).

Placed ContinuationManager.cs and GSFUEditorMenu.cs files inside "Editor" folder.

Only thing left to say is thank you Unity Asset Store team for a very fast submission aproval!

Check GSFU here: http://u3d.as/6Lk

[cyberiansoftware]

Madness

Google Sheets for Unity, an extension asset for Unity3D that I have developed and published on the Unity Asset Store, has been since a few days, part of one of the most important sales that the store offers: the "Madness Sale".

The whole thing of developing the extension having third party, annonymous developers in mind (as opposed to users, or players), and publishing on the UAS has been a very interesting experience, that may be worth describing, so: material for a future post.

GSFU has been on the store since about 6 months now, and this is its first time on sale. The current Madness Sale lasts for 12 days (is on the 4th day at the time of this post), and offers me the oportunity to experiment with ideas to generate more traffic, and thus improve the exposure of the extension, and see how this affect sales.

Is challeging, as Im not particulary fond for spam or practices tending to consider people on the internet, a faceless crowd whose only purpose is to buy things.

So I have been following experiences from people with more mileage on this, reporting Facebbok as an important router of traffic for this sales, and created an fb page for promoting GSFU, and other potential future assets:

https://www.facebook.com/cyberiansoftware

If you're into #gameDev, give it a like, I promise not to bombard with too much marketing, but I like the idea that if you feel too invaded, you can simply unlike :)