Seth Schneider

Unreal Engine Destruction at Runtime: No Pre-Fracturing Required! This update to my procedural destruction system extends Chaos by removing the need for pre-fracturing. Now, any static or skeletal mesh can be destroyed directly at runtime, with no additional setup. What’s new in this update: - Custom asset storage: fractured data is stored and reused efficiently. - Optimized runtime calculations: destruction runs with minimal overhead. - Multiplayer support: destruction is fully synchronized across clients. Rather than replacing Chaos, the goal is to extend it, keeping the power of Chaos physics while adding a fully runtime-driven workflow that enables more dynamic, emergent gameplay. I’m currently working on structural integrity for physical meshes, so destruction will respond more realistically to forces and support breaking patterns. Any feedback is appreciated! Please feel free to suggest new features or extensions you’d like to see. 💥 😅 💣 Also, I’m thrilled to announce I’ll be presenting a talk related to this work at #NZGDC 2025 in Wellington later this month! Come and say hi if you're in town 😃 NZGDA Epic Games Blind Squirrel Games #gamedev #unrealengine #multiplayer #destruction #procedural

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Steam Launches 'Personal Calendar' Experiment to Boost Game Discovery Valve corporation is tackling the challenge of game discovery with a new feature: Steam Labs Experiment 16, the "Personal Calendar." This new tool provides users with a calendar view of recent and upcoming game releases, but with a powerful twist. Instead of a generic list, the calendar is highly personalized. It analyzes your playtime, finds other players with similar habits, and then recommends upcoming games that those "tastemaker" players have been adding to their wishlists. Key features: 🔹 Playtime-Based Recommendations: The system focuses on games you play the most, not just titles you've briefly tried. 🔹 Visual Calendar: Provides an at-a-glance view of when anticipated games are launching. 🔹 Wishlist Integration: The calendar also automatically includes all games you have already wishlisted. For developers and publishers, this represents another data-driven path for their games to be discovered by a highly relevant, pre-qualified audience based on deep play habits. As a Steam Labs experiment, Valve is currently seeking feedback. Check out your personal Steam calendar here: https://lnkd.in/eieJTMTE

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𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘃𝘀 𝗨𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 works differently than you might expect. Unity and Unreal both simulate physics, but with fundamentally different architectures: 𝗜𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆: Adding a Rigidbody immediately activates physics simulation 𝗜𝗻 𝗨𝗻𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹: Objects remain static until you EXPLICITLY enable simulation 📩 Get all Unity2Unreal Guides and other game dev resources weekly: https://lnkd.in/g7hyF39c You'll get resources like: Unity2Unreal Guide, Unity & Unreal Cheat Sheets, Hacks, Game Breakdowns, Roadmaps, Project Ideas, and more. This architectural difference trips up EVERY Unity developer moving to Unreal. Your meshes sit lifeless because you forgot to call SetSimulatePhysics(true). Key translations: • Unity's Rigidbody → Unreal's UPrimitiveComponent with simulation enabled • AddForce() exists in both but needs different vector types • Unity's impulse/force modes → Unreal's separate AddForce/AddImpulse methods • Unity's damping properties → Unreal's SetLinearDamping/SetAngularDamping 💡 Pro tip: In Unreal, check simulation in the Details panel during prototyping, then write the C++ later! *** Mayank Grover, Mridul Agrawal, Aryan Saxena #games #gamedev #cpp #unity #unrealengine 

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Client:  "How do we get spend depth above $100k for a hybrid-casual game?" Wittle Defender (Habby) is the latest, and arguably most casually-packaged example of the AFK Arena-inspired ‘Idle RPG’ economy. For anyone who hasn't worked on 'Idle RPGs', the most defining features of the genre, from the economy perspective, are: 1) DEEP reliance on gacha duplicate fusion. 2) A reasonably small pool of heroes (20-40, not 200). 3) Automation of nearly all inventory management. 4) Economies that are VERY generous to players who engage consistently, while being VERY extractive for whales who are impatient enough to pay 'retail price' to progress. In these games, gachas are pulled thousands of times.  Most pulls yield duplicates of heroes already owned, and dupes are instantly converted into currencies (often element and rarity-specific). The result is a casual, accessible experience with extraordinary spend depth. In WD’s case, just 8 Mythic Heroes (so far) generate $𝟰𝟮𝗸 of ‘gacha fusion’ spend depth alone, by virtue of needing 37 copies* ea. at a 2.5% drop rate from primary gacha, at $3.60 per pull. How can one achieve similar spend-depth design for games without character collection? WD’s treasures (account-level gear) system uses gacha duplicate fusion similarly to add $𝟴𝟳𝗸 more spend depth.  Each of WD's 36 common treasure types can be fused all the way through the tree to max-rarity, but each requires 𝟭𝟬𝟴𝟬 𝗰𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗲𝘀 to do so. While WD has about $170k spend depth today, the economy systems convert new content into additional spend depth very rapidly. If WD releases one new Mythic hero (with corresponding 2 treasures) weekly (+$10k), the game will cross $300k spend depth in just 3 months. That said, we expect that Habby will do much more, both on the systems and content front. FWIW, I'm not saying that this game is guaranteed to succeed.  As a player, my initial reaction was that the gameplay was too automated and repetitive for my tastes. But when it comes to basic economy design, WD is yet another Habby exemplar that hybrid-casual developers can study and model.

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🚀 New Video: Unity Asset Transformer Toolkit – Powerful New UV Tooling and AO Bake to Vertex Color! Unity Industry just got another big boost for technical artists and environment creators. The latest update to the Asset Transformer Toolkit introduces UV workflow enhancements and the ability to bake Ambient Occlusion (AO) directly into vertex colors — all inside Unity. In this walkthrough, I break down how these new tools can help you: 🎨 Streamline UV workflows and manage multiple UV sets 💡 Bake AO into vertex channels for richer lighting and depth ⚙️ Optimize assets for HDRP, URP, or custom rendering pipelines 🚀 Prepare production-ready assets with higher visual fidelity and performance Whether you’re focused on real-time environment art, shader workflows, or asset optimization, these features make your Unity pipeline more powerful and efficient. 🎥 Watch the full tutorial here: https://lnkd.in/gDWCPr-s #Unity #UnityIndustry #AssetTransformerToolkit #AmbientOcclusion #UnityTutorial #GameDev #3DArt #HDRP #URP #TechnicalArt #UnityTools

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I am seeing lots of indie devs freaking out over Matthew Ball’s deck. Remember while he can speak big industry trends, he has zero data from Steam and loses entire classes of games like Rust, lethal company, project Zomboid etc I mention project zomboid in particular as that decade plus old game has over 40k concurrent this morning but Matthew has no insight into those numbers so it doesn’t exist in any of his data. Plus Matthew has a history of making up facts to fit a thesis. See his almost yearly metaverse book release which each year seems to predict it is coming next year. My favorite “fact” was on a podcast he claimed as proof it was coming that Tesla is building a virtual San Francisco with all their Lidar data from cars driving in the area… teslas don’t use lidar… but what are facts when you are trying to grab attention with wild claims? So while yes, it is rough out there. Yes some players are sticky to decades old games but would they just bought their new yearly game or all of a sudden start buying indie games? Is there still space for niche indie titles? Sure but it’s competitive, but not nearly as bleak as Matthew makes it out. So make your game, build your audience and when it hits like Manor Lords or something, just don’t tell Matthew.

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Meta just unveiled the next evolution of Project Aria, and while these aren’t consumer AR glasses, they’re an exciting glimpse into the future of spatial computing, AI, and robotics. This new research hardware has some fascinating updates: 📷 More powerful sensors – Higher-res cameras, an improved depth sensor, and advanced IMU for better spatial awareness 🍪 Custom-built Qualcomm chip – Boosts on-device AI processing for real-time egocentric research 🤖 Tighter integration with AI & robotics – Paving the way for AI-powered spatial experiences 😎 New design & improved comfort – Sleeker form factor for long-term use While these are not AR consumer glasses, they showcase tech that could easily find its way into future Meta XR headsets. Enhanced AI-powered scene understanding, improved hand tracking, and real-world object interaction are all stepping stones toward the next generation of AI-infused AR experiences. This is another sign that Meta is playing the long game with AR—bridging AI, XR, and robotics to push spatial computing forward. Exciting times ahead! What do you think? Could AI-powered vision be a game-changer for future XR devices? #Meta #ProjectAria #AugmentedReality #XR #AI #SpatialComputing

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Chapter 7 of my book, Data-Oriented Design for Games, published by Manning Publications Co., is now available in the Manning Early Access Program (MEAP). This chapter discusses how to reduce code complexity and enhance the game development workflow by separating dynamic and static asset data. The example in this chapter is how to add a menu system to a survivor/bullet-heaven style game. You can check out the book and read the first chapter for free in the link below: https://lnkd.in/dYvM32zc

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🔮 "What if Portals Were Real-Time Windows to Another World?" How NetEase Engineered the Impossible in Marvel Rivals Doctor Strange's portals in Marvel Rivals are not just visually stunning — they are a work of real-time rendering art. Tieyi Zhang, a Senior Graphics Engineer at NetEase, spoke at GDC 2025 of how they overcame tremendous frame-rate losses brought on by Unreal Engine's integrated Scene Capture 2D. The mission? Design seamless, real-time portals that visualise precisely where you're going to end up, without killing performance in gameplay. 🎮 The unexpected answer? Taking a lead from It Takes Two, the group employed lag-free split-screen rendering methods, retooling local co-op logic to mimic the view of the portal cost-effectively. Throw in frame-skipping optimisations within the portal, and you have one of the most popular (and now tested-in-real-wars) mechanics in the game. 💡 It's a shining illustration of how problem-solving skill combined with mastery of the engine equals gameplay magic. Interested to see how gaming studios are innovating through real-time rendering? Let’s talk! 👇 #GameDev #UnrealEngine #RealTimeRendering #TechInGaming #MarvelRivals #DoctorStrange #Innovation #GDC2025

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