Game Dev Digest Issue #91 - Shaders and Math, Oh My!

This article was originally published on GameDevDigest.com

A shader deep dive you never knew you wanted till now! Plus learn some math, test and debug and other cool stuff. Enjoy!

Run Pong on the GPU with Compute Shaders in Unity - This article is about adding interactivity and game logic to Compute Shaders. We’ll do this by writing a version of Pong that runs on the GPU through Compute Shaders.
Bronson Zgeb

ShaderQuest Part 5: Shader code syntax & Colors - The first part is going to cover some stuff around the syntax of shader code languages while in the second part we’ll take a look at how colors work in the context of shaders. In the second part we’ll finally start modifying a shader and seeing stuff changing on our objects!
halisavakis.com

Holofoil Card Shader Breakdown - Lately I’ve been experimenting a bit with holographic foil shader effects.
Cyanilux

Supermassive black hole tutorial - Due to the interest in my supermassive black hole (SMBH) shader I’ve decided to write a tutorial on it.
Kelvin van Hoorn

How to speed up 2D art workflows with 2D PSD Importer - 2D games are made from hundreds or even thousands of sprites. The 2D team at Unity is continuously working to improve round-tripping workflows, including the steps needed to import, and iterate on, assets. A major improvement is the 2D PSD Importer package. Read on to learn how to import Photoshop PSB files into your project and explore real use cases that can boost your productivity when working with 2D assets. [Check out the video as well]
Unity

The Simplest Trailer to Make For Your Steam Page - If you're a first time or hobbyist developer, Chris Zukowski from HowToMarketAGame.com recommends you make your Steam page as soon as possible. This is backed up by an official recommendation by Valve. [For more, read I made a trailer that got 7K organic views and 1K wishlist in 3 days. Just wanted to share my techniques! by Rotorist, and When demos can radically expand your game's discoverability by Simon Carless]
Derek Lieu

How to add subscribers to Mailchimp within your Unity game - Mailchimp is one the most recommended mailing list management software/website out there. Thankfully, it has an API and I’m sure there’s a way to access it via C#. I’m writing this article to show you how so you don’t have to suffer like I did.
Coffee Brain Games

On-Demand QA Testing with Unity Automated QA - The Automated QA package enables users to record and playback touch or drag interactions with the UI of a Unity Project and optionally use recordings to drive Unity Tests – in the editor, on an iOS or Android device.
Unity

NG Unity Versioner - Working on tools for the Editor? Not sure if the API you are using is available in latest versions? Use NG Unity Versioner to instantly check API range availability
ngtools.tech

Auto compile-time support for Unity Tags - I think anyone who has used Tags or Colliders in Unity will know that feeling when you are about to write code to utilize a tag and you are not sure of the spelling or case of the tag in question.
Paul Marsh

Data Persistence in Unity without using PlayerPrefs class - If you've been using Unity for a while there's a high chance you've already used PlayerPrefs class to store data persistently across different game runs. In this post, I'd like to share with you a different solution.
blog.gamedev.tv

Game Development for Total Beginners - Free Unity Course - We just published a 7-hour course on the freeCodeCamp.org YouTube channel that will teach you how to create games using Unity. This is the perfect course for a complete beginner.
freecodecamp.org

Creating Environments Using Unity's AI-Assisted Creation Tools - Juuso Voutilainen speaks with us about his Ai-assisted Creation Workflow and how Unity ArtEngine has become the backbone of his creative work. [For more, read From tiling to styling: Discover the basics of ArtEngine for your animation assets on the Unity blog]
80.lv

Unity Future .NET Development Status - We’ve had a good bit of interest on various forum threads about Unity’s plans for C# and .NET in the future. Microsoft has been pushing the .NET ecosystem in a number of beneficial directions, and we at Unity want to bring those improvements to our users as soon as we can.
Unity

Unity 2021.2.0 Alpha 14 - Unity 2021.2.0 Alpha 14 has been released.
Unity

Videos

How To Use Every Node in Unity Shader Graph - Shader Graph ships with over 200 nodes in the base package. With such a vast array of features at your disposal, it's easy to get lost when you're searching for the perfect way to make the shader you have in mind. This video shows every single node in action, complete with examples, explanations of what every input and output does and a few best practices for certain nodes!
Daniel Ilett

Unity Shader Graph - Grow Vines | Trees Tutorial - Did you know that you can grow anything with Unity Shader Graph? Like an animation. A shader that can procedurally grow geometry. It's a very practical effect, used to grow vines for example. Or other 3d objects.
Gabriel Aguiar Prod.

Everything you need to know about prefabs in Unity | Prefabs Explained ft. Lego Microgame - In this detailed breakdown, you will learn everything you need to know about prefabs in Unity! With this 12 minute guide, prefabs will be explained in a step by step process, and the knowledge gained will save you time and headaches as you develop your own games. It will even help you implement better game design!
Nicky B

The Basics of Dot Product in Unity URP. Vectors, Angles, and Lighting! | Game Dev Tutorial - The Dot Product is a useful vector function which has many uses in shaders and gameplay programming. You can use it to calculate lighting, know when a projectile has reached it's apex, or calculate when a creature sees an object. In this video, I'll show you how to use it in various ways!
Ned Makes Games

Local Multiplayer UI with the Multiplayer Event System - Unity Tutorial - In this video we will use the Multiplayer Event System from the new Input System in Unity to separate the UI for local multiplayer games.
samyam

How To Make A Multiplayer Game In Unity 2021.1 - Syncing Variables - This Unity Multiplayer tutorial will teach you how to implement Network Variables to sync data between Clients and the Server.
Dapper Dino

Potion Liquid Wobble Shader Graph - Easy Unity Tutorial - In this video we will show you how to create a Potion Liquid Wobble Shader Graph.
Binary Lunar

Simple Shader Graphs - 2D & 3D Distortion/Heatwave Effect [Refraction, What Is That?] - Check out this very simple yet FUNKY Distortion Shader Graph tutorial with in depth explanation made in Unity 2019 LTS.
Seth Funk

Make a Level Editor in 2 MINUTES in Unity! Tiny Tutorial #01 - 6 lines of code for a functioning level editor.
Robert Thomson

Assets

Sprint into Spring Sale - Save 50%: Sprint into Spring Sale is on now!

500+ of our most popular assets at 50% off. Plus, get an extra 5% off on-sale purchases of $100 or more and 10% off on-sale purchases of $150 or more with coupon code SPRING2021. Check out the sale now!

We are also bringing back our popular Daily Deals, one high value asset each day that is available at 70% off.

Demystify for Unity - High performance understanding for stack traces in Unity
needle-tools Open Source

EcsRx - EcsRx is a reactive take on the common ECS pattern with a well separated design using rx and adhering to IoC and other sensible design patterns.
EcsRx Open Source

RightStatsMonitor - Useful tool for displaying FPS with high precision. Very lightweight and fast. GC-free.
inc8877 Open Source

Timeline-Scene-Clip - Provides the ability to dynamically load/unload scenes with Timeline using the Scene Clip Track. You can also just snatch the Scene Name Picker, which is a handy attribute to slap on a string, allowing you to pick a scene name so you don't accidentally misspell (or try to load a scene that is not in the build settings)!
lordubbe Open Source

Math-For-Games-using-Unity - Mathematics for Computer Games Development using Unity.
Javilingys Open Source

UI Accessibility Plugin (UAP) - [now free!] The UI Accessibility Plugin (UAP) allows you to make your UI accessible to blind and visually impaired players with only a few clicks.
MetalPop Games Affiliate

HUMBLE BOOK BUNDLE: HEAD FIRST PROGRAMMING BY O'REILLY - Get a head-start on learning to program with O'Reilly in our newest bundle, Head First Programming by O'Reilly! Dive into ebooks like Head First Java, 2nd Edition, Head First Python, 2nd Edition, and Head First C#, 3rd Edition. Plus, your purchase helps support Code For America!
US$772 WORTH OF AWESOME STUFF
PAY $1 OR MORE
Humble Bundle Affiliate

HUMBLE SOFTWARE BUNDLE: VEGAS PRO - DISCOVER YOUR ENDLESS FREEDOM - Everything you need to produce stunning videos with epic soundtracks: Enter the big screen with VEGAS Pro 16 Edit plus Hollywood effects like proDAD ReSpeedr and FXhome Enhance Ultra. Create your own songs with the Music Maker Score Edition, produce videos with VEGAS Movie Studio 16 and record & edit audio with SOUND FORGE Audio Studio 13. Discover your endless freedom with one of our best selling bundles ever! Plus, your purchase will support Stop AAPI Hate.
US$756 WORTH OF AWESOME STUFF
PAY $1 OR MORE
Humble Bundle Affiliate

Announcing our Deprecated Books Repo! - We’re excited to announce that we’ve made our older, deprecated books free to everyone. Come see which books we’re releasing for all to enjoy! [github repo includes Beat ’Em Up Game Starter Kit - Unity, Unity AR & VR by Tutorials and more]
raywenderlich.com

Spotlight

Against the Storm is a roguelite city builder set in a fantasy world where it never stops raining. Develop technologies that will help your beaver, human, and lizard citizens tackle destructive storms and extend the frontier of your civilization.

If you'd like to get some advice on how to develop city-building games in Unity, message us on Reddit where we like to share coding tips.

Eremite Games

You can subscribe to the free weekly newsletter on GameDevDigest.com

This post includes affiliate links; I may receive compensation if you purchase products or services from the different links provided in this article.