Superhero or full time developer

As I said in my last post here, a lot of things have changed since our little feline boss came hand in hand with this blog. When someone is out of touch with the videogame world, is so difficult to tell how much work is needed to build any kind of videogame from scratch, but those who tried at least once knows that even the most simple game can be a challenge for a sole developer. Unfortunately we belong to a group of crazy people who prefers to put their souls and their minds in impossible projects without expecting anything in return.

But at the end of the day we need to go out of our wonderful word of art, code and melodies to pay some bills or to attend our duties. In this scenario, it’s hard to keep your hobbies, even more if it’s as time consuming as videogame development, but is it viable to do it as a full time job?

superhero

A normal life by day and a secret one by night!

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How to tell when you are stuck in gamedev hell

Game development can be extremely fun and rewarding, but this doesn’t mean that it is easy. On the contrary, developing a game in a serious fashion is a gargantuan task that must not be taken lightly. You want to plan and set goals for your project right from the start, and having a few deadlines to keep you on track is also a must.

If you don’t, you are in for a bad trip, and you will probably get to know what it is known in the business as: development hell.

This happens when a game dev project turns itself into a zombie. When you make almost no progress at all and you just can’t see the end of it. At this point, you might say it would be easier to just forget about it and set to work on something completely different. And you would be right, for the most part. Problem is, sometimes it’s not that easy to notice that you are in trouble when seeing things from the inside. Luckily for you, here at StrandedSoft we are always happy to help, even on the darkest of hours.

kirby_code

Don’t let dead projects take away your gamedev spirit!

So here are a few tips that will help you notice when your boat is starting to sink, and how to fix the situation, or at least how to leave the boat while still being afloat.

 

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Isometric assets using Hexels

Hello all again!

Our latest posts here at Stranded Soft were a bit more complex than usually, but this one is easier and also quite enjoyable.

Today I want to introduce again Hexels, a software tool created by Hex-Ray Studios. It’s designed create cool graphics using different shapes as pixels, like triangles or hexagons.

I’ll show how to work with trixels to create isometric shapes faster than ever. Give Hexels a try, you won’t regret it.

Quick example - Awesome, isn't it?

Quick example - Awesome, isn’t it?

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Creating a 3D world and a playable character in Unity3D

Today is the day! It’s time to try to do something in 3D using Unity 3D!

In the old times of XNA I tried to create a game in 3D, building an orthographic camera by myself, and since this day the third dimension is quite frightening to me. With Unity, I decided to give it another opportunity as soon as I can see where almost everything is without compiling the project ten thousand times.

So, this is my first approach to 3D in Unity, with my Unity UI series as a perfect excuse to go deeper into the engine.

First 3D attempt in Unity. Let's go!

First 3D attempt in Unity. Here we go!

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