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LIMINAL PHASE: A Horrific Apartment Design

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Written for the VIVEPORT Blog . In our latest game LIMINAL PHASE, players assume the role of a character named Frank, who is trapped in a dark and eerie apartment that serves as a gateway to other realms. A Lonely Man in a Lonely Place Initially, LIMINAL PHASE wasn’t about a lonely man in a dimly lit apartment. One of our earlier concepts revolved around an infinite train with compartments that lead to other worlds. However, as the concept evolved, we eventually landed in an apartment where the blinds remain drawn, where an eternal rain falls, and where a depressed and mentally unstable man called Frank resides.  A few of the reasons why we decided to use a small apartment setting as the base for our game were: it’s relatable for many of us, it would allow us to keep the project at a manageable size and, most importantly, we were excited to work on a claustrophobic and atmospheric indoor environment. This concept underwent many iterations until we finally landed in the game that we end
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How To Set Up a Steam Broadcast With RoboStreamer

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You should definitely use RoboStreamer if you are going to be broadcasting your game during a festival like Steam Next Fest. RoboStreamer is made by a guy named Chris and it's fairly easy to setup. Chris is also very helpful should you run into any problems. On his site he has a couple of great guides, which I will link to here as well. Why should you use RoboStreamer you may ask? From Chris's website: "With RoboStreamer, you can upload videos and have them streamed in loop as long as you wish. Forget about fiddling around with OBS to set up your stream. Forget about leaving your computer on and don't worry if your internet may break down. Marketing automation is king, because as a game developer your time is very limited." Now let's get to it! Video Preparation 1) This is not a guide on how to make your video, that you will have to take care of yourself. A tip, however, is to use the free video recording and live streaming software "OBS" . I recor
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How to Export an Optimized Blender Rig with Animation to Unity

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I've spent a lot of time wrapping my head around animation in Blender and understanding how to optimize and export animation from Blender to Unity. Without going into too much detail, here's a break-down of the steps I take and my learnings so far. I will say this, animation is hard. It's very hard. I do not consider myself an animator. If you have any feedback on my process, please share it with me. ⚠  WARNING  ⚠   THIS IS NOT A TUTORIAL FOR ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS 💀  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED  💀 I want to give a big shout-out to CGDive. The CGDive YouTube channel is a must watch if you're struggling with exporting animation to a game engine. His Blender add-on " Game Rig Tools " (GRT) is what has kept me sane when dealing with animation, and I highly recommend it. I will link a few videos and playlists to check out for more in-depth information (bottom of the page). The GRT add-on is part of my workflow, and though you can do it manually, save yourself the trouble
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Start Doing 2D Art

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Can you barely draw stick figures? Do you want to change that, and are you ready to put in the work? Well, if you want to and you are, then read on.  I believe that anyone who has the motivation, focus, and determination to do the work, can learn how to draw. It will take time to get good though — as it is with most stuff. Learning to draw is no different than learning any other skill. If you don’t believe me, then please go ahead and check out Jonathan Hardesty’s “Journey of an Absolute Rookie” . Warning, it might blow your mind! Remember, you don’t have to become the most amazing illustrator that ever lived who can paint magical landscapes with her eyes closed…in the dark…with her feet. Jonathan Hardesty’s “Journey of an Absolute Rookie”. Listed below are a bunch of tips, exercises, and resources that I have tried out and used (for the most part), which I recommend you also check out. The most important advice though, is DON’T GIVE UP! Always the Fundamentals Ten years from now when
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Some thoughts on finishing a game

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We recently finished our first VR experience called DunDun VR and published it on Steam. Here are some tips that I think really helped us bring our project to completion and hopefully these tips can help you out if you are struggling to finish yours.  A little background for context: We’re a three-man team consisting of me (art), my brother (code), and our close friend (SFX and music). We decided quite early on to go for a casual and weird type of experience, give it away for free, and try to finish it within a year or so. We were also learning game dev while developing our VR experience. Tips for getting it done (in no particular order of importance) Know your strengths. The fact that we could all focus on our respective areas of expertise helped a ton, no doubt about it. This is also about keeping it simple. For example, if character animation is not what you are best at (I certainly am not), then keep that to a minimum. Perhaps consider no characters at all if possible, or pay someo
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7 Unity Tips for a Beginner 3D Artist

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Unity can be quite tricky. Here are seven tips for Unity (plus a bonus one) that I have found very helpful when working on our VR project. Hopefully, these tips will make life a bit easier for you if you are just starting out. Camera easing and acceleration. These settings were turned on by default, but I find them quite annoying. Disable “Camera Easing” and “Camera Acceleration” for more responsive navigation, via the Settings for the Scene view camera. Then, in the scene view: click and hold the right mouse button and navigate with “WASD” + “Q” and “E”. Adjust your speed with the scroll wheel. Camera Easing and Camera Acceleration. Snap to objects in the shaded wireframe mode. Placing objects in Unity can sometimes be a bit of a hassle. Use snapping to make it easier. Just hold “V” while the move tool is active, and then select a vertex on the object you want to move. I usually turn the scene lights off and also activate Shaded Wireframe mode. Hold "V" to activate snap. L
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The Logo Design Process

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Designing a logo for your game is not something I’ve seen covered too many times, even though the game logo is an important part of marketing on platforms like itch.io and Steam. A well-designed game logo can convey the mood of the game and make it stand out in a crowd. In this post, I will share my logo design process, as well as link to some great resources for learning about graphic design. I want to point out that this is not a software tutorial. I’ve been working professionally as a graphic designer and illustrator since 2012. The Process of Designing a Logo for Your Game This article is about the necessary steps to produce a logo for your game. When dealing with clients there will obviously be more steps involved, from the initial background check to time plans and contracts. I’m not writing about those things as my intentions are for you to get started designing your own game logo, not someone else’s. At the very least, I want to help you understand and better communicate with
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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