FWD: col000r: Unity: Have scripts run while the game doesn’t

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Unity: Have scripts run while the game doesn’t

There’s a way to force scripts to run even if the game is not running in the Editor:

In Javascript, simply put this on the top of the script:

@script ExecuteInEditMode()

And for C#:

[ExecuteInEditMode()]

via col000r.blogspot.com

Thanks to @col000r for this tip! Source: http://col000r.blogspot.com/2010/08/unity-have-scripts-run-while-game.html

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Getting a Game Prototype Done in 13 Hours? Quick Notes on My Experience with 360iDevGameJam #360iDevGJ

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Tuesday afternoon, I noticed quite a few game developers I follow on Twitter mentioning the #360iDevGameJam that’s happening that night, a game jam session for the 360 iDev Conference. I have never done a Game Jam before, and the idea of only having 13 hours to come up with an idea and create a working prototype was very appealing to me. “It’ll be a good break from the multi-month project I’ve been working on” I thought.

 

 

Concept
So a few hours later, I got started. The theme of the Game Jam was “Change the World”. I knew I didn’t have all night to come up with an idea, so I quickly started sketching out different ideas that came to mind. A few criteria that I had when developing ideas:
  1. Small in scope: The scope of the game needs to be small enough for a solo team to finish within the short amount of time.
  2. iOS control: It needs to  fit the iOS interface (touch/click, drag, pinch, or swipe).
  3. Minimum art required: I am VERY slow with art.

 

So I eventually decided to go with a simple idea that has players grow trees while juggling three different elements of life – water, air, and the sun. Since the earth is constantly shaped by these three elements, I thought it would fit the theme as well.

 

 

 

Tool
A few things I used to work on the prototype.
  1. Inkscape
  2. Gimp
  3. Unity (Unity 3D)
  4. Notebook (Hiroshige Sea by Piccadilly)

 

Making of the Prototype
Once the idea is finalized, I wanted to first get the basic controls down. But after spending almost two hours on trying to make a “swipe” control, I realized to make it work smoothly and exactly the way I wanted it to work, it could take all night. So I decided to change my focus to other areas of the game – creating the three elements, and the basic gameplay of balancing them. Instead of working on the player interface, I went with creating the mechanism that controls the game behind the scenes. This went on to take another 4-5 hours, during this time ideas were added, removed, and re-adjusted.

 

After the mechanism of the game is done, I went back to dealing with controls. I decided to use a click-and-switch control rather than the originally planned swipe control to make sure I can finish in time and still have a control that works with the game. Not the perfect solution, but good enough for a prototype. The control took another few hours to finish.

 

After the basic mechanism and control is done, it’s time to make some art. I had less than 10 art assets to make with the simple design, and quickly after the simple images were made, a few more scripts were created to handle simple animation of the images.

 

(work in progress screenshot)

 

The final step was testing. This took much longer than I wanted, as bugs were found and gameplay problems were discovered. I had to go back to changing some of the basic mechanisms as a result, and had to “hack” together solutions to a few problems that I knew I wouldn’t be able to solve quickly if I want to code it properly. This lasted for a few hours until 4:30 am in the morning, at which time I decided it’s time to wrap up.

 

Result
Here it is. “Water, Air, Sun” – The prototype I created. It took 11 hours and I was very pleased to know that I participated in a game jam and successfully made a prototype within the time allowed. I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on it and I might eventually turn it into a fun side project. But for the mean time, here’s the prototype you can play in your browser. Let me know what you think! :)

 

Play it here or click on the image below.

 

 

 

Cheers,
Brandon Wu

Founder, Studio Pepwuper: http://www.pepwuper.com
Blog: http://www.plinan.com | Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/plinan | Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/wubrandon

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Reference: switching ON/OFF a C# script with a javascript script during runtime. #unity3D

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make sure you’ve put the files in the right places per this document:
http://unity3d.com/support/documenta…dvanced29.html

Next, try this code. It works with both scripts are components on the same object:

C#:

Code:
using UnityEngine;
using System.Collections;

public class FrameCounter : MonoBehaviour {

	public int frameCount = 0;

	// Update is called once per frame
	void Update () {
		if ( (++frameCount % 100) == 0) {
			Debug.Log( "frameCounter = " + frameCount );
		}
	}

}

UnityScript:

Code:
function Update () {
	if ( Input.GetKeyDown( KeyCode.S ) ) {
	   var fc : FrameCounter;
	   fc = gameObject.GetComponent("FrameCounter");
       fc.enabled = false;
    }
}



via forum.unity3d.com


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A lesson in BRANDING. FWD: Oh No They Didn’t! – A Look into Pixar and Dreamworks Logos

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via community.livejournal.com

via @momo

A great lesson in logo design, or branding for your hardwork! Which one is your favorite logo?

A Look into Pixar and Dreamworks Logos.

 

 

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Handy Tool: Right Triangle Angle And Side Calculator

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For those of us who’ve long forgotten the in’s and out’s of high school math, here’s a handy tool to calculate angles and sides for right triangles if you ever have the need to when developing your games. Just enter the angles to find out the lengths of the sides, or enter the lengths to find out the angles. Especially great for 2D games!

Right Triangle Angle and Side Calculator

 

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National STEM Video Game Challenge is Now Open!

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Joan Ganz Cooney Center - Advancing Children

Inspired by the “Educate to Innovate” campaign, President Obama’s initiative to promote a renewed focus on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education, the National STEM Video Game Challenge aims to motivate interest in STEM learning among America’s youth by tapping into students’ natural passions for playing and making video games.

 

via cooneycenterprizes.org

 

The National STEM Video Game Challenge is now open to game developers big and small. If you have a game that promotes education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, don’t forget to apply!

 

 

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Fight! – Competition in The Indie Game Industry #indiegames #gamedev

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Fight!



Competition. If you are in the private sector, you know what I am talking about. Coca Cola vs Pepsi, Activision vs EA, Toyota vs GE. And I am all for having a healthy dose of competition. After all, without competition, there would be no need to improve, and no room for innovation. And the world would be a lot less interesting without different companies one-upping each other trying to impress you, the consumer.


But the benefits of competition only exist when the competition is healthy, meaning that companies compete for your dollars by improving the quality of their offerings, solving a new problem, or providing you with better and better customer service. Unfortunately, not all industries fight the right way. Copying competitor’s products, bad-mouthing the competitor, lying to the customers…etc. These vicious behaviors are infectious. If one company does it in your industry, wait for it to spread until everyone is doing it.


The best way to compete is to increase the value of your offering, while the worst way to compete is to do the exact opposite – to create an illusion of value for your products, and blind customers the value of competitors’.


I’ve been in a few distinctively different industries – foreign exchange, investment banking, books, machines, electronics, PC / console games. Not all of these industries have healthy competitions.


Good thing is, the indie game industry is different, at least from what I’ve seen so far in the last six months. From Indie Fund, Indiecade, to all the forums and blogs dedicated to the indie game industry, indie game developers compete by supporting each other and sharing resources, ideas, and opportunities. Maybe it’s the nature of being small, you know in order to compete with the big guys, you need to work together with other small guys like you. Maybe it’s the nature of games (without the huge corporate structure and pressure to please shareholders), it is a playful industry full of people who love to have fun after all. Or maybe I’ve just been very lucky to not see the dark side of indie game competition yet.


Build better games, attract more people to enjoy games, and discover new ways to have fun. There, our healthy does of competition.

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3 Quick Lessons from My Failed Project on Kickstarter

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(Optional Reading: backstory) I’ve known about Kickstarter – the crowd-funding website for a few months and always thought it’s a cool platform for creative projects to raise some money to get them started. A few months ago there was a Kickstarter Meetup in cities around the US, and I attended the one in LA where I chatted with people who have successfully funded their projects on Kickstarter and the co-founder Yancey Strickler. All the people I talked to are producing films (well it is Los Angeles after all). People who had experience with Kickstarter all had a very positive experience. The platform provided them with a tool to 1. get financial support to finish the projects and 2. to gain some visibility to their projects. Yanchey gave me some good feedback and intro to the platform. So after all these encouraging conversations, I decided to give it a try and submitted my application. (/Optional Reading Ends)

 

Even though close to $1000 was pledged in 4 weeks of time, I was unable to raise the initial $3456 funding goal. (And on Kickstarter terms, it means the project owner doesn’t get any of the pledged amount and none of the backers were charged.) Here are three things I learned from this experience. If you want to avoid a failed project like mine, read on:

 

1. Network
Having a large fan base or network connected to your project, your organization, or YOU personally is one of the key to success on Kickstarter. Kickstarter.com will bring in some traffic and some backers to your project, but don’t count on it to be a major source. Your college friends, work associates, family, fans, readers, audience, followers… are extremely important for your project. They will be your backers, forward your projects on, and tell their friends about your projects. Understand this early and realize the fullest potential of your network.

 

Studio Pepwuper is in its infancy. And I am a recent corporate convert who’s learning the ropes in a new field. Lesson here: start letting the world know what you are doing early and continue building relationships with people who are interested in you/your organization/your projects.

 

2. PR
Get your project mentioned in popular forums/blogs/magazines/news sites can bring in traffic and backers. But you need to do your research early and contact them before your project starts, or at least make sure there’s enough time to get PR done within the funding deadline. My project was eventually mentioned on a few popular blogs, but if I can do it over again, I’d start the process of PR much earlier to make sure it’s properly done and the journalists/editors have enough time to write about it.

 

3. Management
You NEED to actively manage your project on Kickstarter. I started the project right after my application was accepted without considering my own schedule. I already had a 4-week trip (for my own wedding) scheduled in August, but I was too excited to wait until after the trip to start the project . I overestimated my ability to manage the project while traveling and ended up not getting as much done as I had hoped during the funding period. End result? Not having time to continue pushing for the fund-raising. First you need to have an idea how long it would take for you to reach your funding goal. This depends on the size of your network. The smaller it is, the longer a time period you’ll need to reach your funding goal. Second, you need to make sure you can actively manage your campaign during the period you are fund-raising on Kickstarter – continuously reminding people in your network of your project, working with bloggers and journalists to get your story out, updating backers regularly…etc.

 

Now even if your Kickstarter project fails, that doesn’t mean you don’t gain anything. I managed to finish a prototype of the game project in time and received many valuable feedback from people who’s played it on Kickstarter. It’s also a good exercise in marketing for the project, and I can use the works I produced for this Kickstarter project in my future marketing efforts.

 

Hope this is helpful for people who are interested in crowd-funding for their creative ideas. I recommend two more articles:

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Some words of wisdom – Baz Luhrmann “Everybody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)”

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BAZ LUHRMANN

EVERBODY’S FREE (TO WEAR SUNSCREEN)
12/06/1999 – 1 week at #1 – 16 weeks on chart

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of ’97
Wear Sunscreen If I could offer you only one tip for the future,
sunscreen would be it.
The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists,
whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience
I will dispense this advice now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh nevermind,
you will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they’ve faded.
But trust me, in 20 years you’ll look back at photos of yourself
and recall in a way you can’t grasp now, how much possibility lay before you
and how fabulous you really looked,
you are not as fat as you imagine.
Don’t worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing everyday that scares you
Sing
Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts,
don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss
Don’t waste your time on jealousy, sometimes you’re ahead, sometimes you’re behind,
the race is long, and in the end, it’s only with yourself.
Remember the compliments you receive, forget the insults,
if you succeed in doing this, tell me how.
Keep your old love letters, throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch
Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your life,
the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22
what they wanted to do with their lives,
some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don’t.
Get plenty of calcium.
Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone.
Maybe you’ll marry, maybe you won’t, maybe you’ll have children, maybe you won’t,
Maybe you’ll divorce at 40,
Maybe you’ll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary
What ever you do, don’t congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself either
Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else’s.
Enjoy your body, use it every way you can, don’t be afraid of it,
or what other people think of it, it’s the greatest instrument you’ll ever own
Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions, even if you don’t follow them.
Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly.
Brother and sister together we’ll make it through
Someday a spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you’ve been hurtin, but I’ve been waitin’ to be there for you
And I’ll be there just helping you out whenever I can
Get to know your parents, you never know when they’ll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings, they are the best link to your past
and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but for the precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle because the older you get,
the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard,
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths, prices will rise, politicians will philander,
you too will get old, and when you do you’ll fantasize that when you were young
prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don’t expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund,
Maybe you have a wealthy spouse; but you never know when either one might run out.
Don’t mess too much with your hair, or by the time you’re 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but, be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia,
dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off,
painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it’s worth.
But trust me on the sunscreen
Brother and sister together we’ll make it through
Someday a spirit will take you and guide you there
I know you’ve been hurtin, but I’ve been waitin’ to be there for you
And I’ll be there just helping you out whenever I can
Everybody’s free oh yeah
Everybody’s free oh yeah 

 

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