[alert]Sorry for the long break I have been very busy with college and other events the last couple months hopefully we will return to at least one post a month. Also I hope everyone one had a good new years unfortunately I missed the 1 year anniversary of the website but I do have something planned that will maybe be done in the future.[/alert] Recently with the problems we have seen with the trustworthiness of Unity, many have escaped to the game engine that is Godot. Today I am going to take a look at it, compare it with Unity, and look at some code examples with it.   Understanding Godot Godot is an open-source, cross-platform game engine that boasts a user-friendly interface and a powerful set of features. Developed by a passionate community, Godot has gained traction due to its transparency, active support, and the absence of licensing fees. With support for 2D and 3D game development, Godot provides a robust foundation for developers to bring their visions to life. Differences There are many…

The recent events of Unity in which they have decided to prioritize their short term income versus the long term income creates a dangerous expectation where Unity can continue to increase their prices without needing to check into the community and taking its feedback properly. After the introduction of their install fees many game developers have been complaining about not only the extra fee (which punishes those who run on a free to play model, or who works with a subscription service) but also violates the trust of the community. Here's a quick look at the policy: Some have mentioned that the install cost may go over their estimated revenue for their game. The Risks Many may be thinking why it would matter to make a small addition to the pricing change of games but you may remember that this system is based off installs of a game. This means that game developers are at risk for: Piracy: Pirated copies are likely to still count as an install. Subscription Services: Joining a subscription service means…

DLC lately have been seeing a decline in quality. Many have noticed that lots of DLC have been just skin packs, or highly hated by the community. As James Thomas writes on the Cultured Vultures, "Many times I have found myself shaking my head at the sheer cheek of some of the gaming companies that charge you £10 just to buy an additional outfit for your character to use in-game. As anyone who knows me can attest, they are constantly reminded by me that I genuinely hate that aspect of the gaming industry today." Some of these DLC don't only do that but make the game actively worse. [caption id="" align="alignnone" width="965"] This DLC is $20 without sale which is half of the game's cost.[/caption] That does not mean we need to lose our hope for DLC done right. There are instances where downloadable content has successfully enhanced games and provided meaningful additions that resonate with players. When DLC is thoughtfully developed and offers substantial content, it can greatly enrich the gaming experience. DLC done…

Co-op games are a more underground type of multiplayer experience nowadays. Especially with the advent of the internet, couch co-op games lost their advantage of only needing one copy to play. The internet did revolutionize multiplayer though as each player had their own screen and it allowed for a more detailed (and secret) multiplayer experience. As MakeUseOf puts it, "it is much more difficult for developers to make a game that has more than 30FPS, high-resolution graphics, expansive content, and includes split-screen... it is much more financially beneficial to developers, publishers, and console manufacturers if they don't include a feature that allows you and your friends to play with each other on the same console." Some games add non-split-screen multiplayer as an afterthought and one of those games seems to be Risk of Rain 2. The problems with multiplayer in Risk of Rain 2 highlight the generic problems with co-op multiplayer games. Slapped in Modes Lots of single-player games in the current era have slapped in multiplayer modes. These are commonly unbalanced or do not…

I'm sure many have heard the famous phrase, "Those video games are going to rot your brain." A famous argument for why people should play fewer video games. But is that argument baseless? Well, many have turned out for the worse with video game addiction. As the APA puts it, "research demonstrates a consistent relation between violent video game use and increases in aggressive behavior, aggressive cognitions, and aggressive affect, and decreases in prosocial behavior, empathy and sensitivity to aggression," but it is important to recognize that this is not the only thing videos games can do. Video games can instead be an incredibly powerful tool for education: helping to develop critical thinking skills, foster creativity, and even teach social skills. And these benefits aren't just limited to educational games - even popular games like Minecraft can have educational value. Critical Thinking in Video Games Many games require players to analyze situations, make decisions, and other problem-solving skills. This helps to develop those abilities and encourages players to think critically about the choices they make.…

Factory-style games are renowned for their addictive gameplay. These types of games typically involve starting with nothing, then building up to a factory that builds things millions of times faster than you can do by hand. But the main problem that happens with them is that you start at 9 am, build a few things, look up, and it's 8 am! How does this happen? The core of the game lies in its game loops, which are defined as the parts of the game that make up the central gameplay experience.   The Game Loop A game loop is defined as the parts of a game that make up the core of the game. An example of a gameplay loop would be in Pacman, you try to gather all the dots in a stage while avoiding the ghosts. There can be more than one game loop in a game and games that are more complex typically have more than simpler games. A popular staple of the factory-type game is Factorio. The game loop in Factorio…

Some ideas randomly filter in and out of my head. One of them that would not go away was the procedural generation of materials. I wanted to create a way that a computer would consistently generate the same material, with a random name, toughness, sharpness, and some fantasy stats like magic conductivity. The Beginning Starting out I had to define all of the variables I wanted to use. These changed over time, but this is what I have currently: Code snippet of all defined variables. Created in Carbon. I needed a lot of variables that are static. These are all of the lists from prefix to sentenceAddatives.These allowed me to choose random phrases and mash them together for the description generation. Or mash syllables together for name generation.From top to bottom, the variables do: tier alters values to become bigger, basically if something a higher-tier material, it will be better num is currently not in use due to its use being moved to another file (I need to grab the information from the other file)…