Category: News

Audio Manager 3.x Release!

by Jonathanin Asset Store, Game Development, News, Tools, UpdateLeave a Comment on Audio Manager 3.x Release!

Audio Manager 3.x Release!

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A post annoucing the release of Audio Manager 3.x & an update to the Save Manager as well.

Audio Manager 3.x

Its been a long time coming, but today the new Audio Manager version is released. Unlike previous releases I’m going to stagger this one to release on the Unity Asset Store next year. This is mostly due to the asset’s stability not being great and the high likelyness of bugs from the total re-write. The new version has a lot of new features that have been teased before, but a quick rundown of some of the features:

  • Automatic scanning of audio clips in the project without any user input needed.
  • Dynamic start time for each clip to start where it starts playing audable audio, cutting out deadspace on clips and saves editing out of Unity.
  • Flexiable API for playing audio clips or groups of clips. The setup is more modular than before for easy debugging and fixing.
  • Editor to manage the library, assign groups of clips together and music track lists. Saves workarounds that were needed in the 2.x version of the asset.
  • No setup needed, just import and go. Before you needed to setup the inspector the use it.
  • Entirely static API, no scene references needed. As the static instance was the more common setup, this change makes it way easier to access the API without needing lots of scene references.
  • Music playing setup. Still a simple setup, but plans to make it better with further updates.
  • Inspector players for quick prototyping without needing to write any code. Like the old audio player class, but allowing for edits to be applied in the editor at will instead of needing a messy inspector with all options avalible.

So as of this post the asset is avalible from its Github repository and the Itch page. With the asset store coming early next year, partly for stabilty fixes, partly due to the review process which will likely take longer around this time of year as is. Links before:

Github: https://github.com/CarterGames/AudioManager

Itch: https://carter-games.itch.io/audio-manager

Save Manager 2.0.15

Along with the Audio Manager release, there is a small update to the Save Manager also coming out at the same time, more or less. This update will go live to all stores and mostly fixes some editor stuff that I worked out in Audio Manager 3.x this week as well as some issues with the save editor not refreshing to the latest data.

Links can be found here: https://carter.games/savemanager/

That’s all for now xD

~ J,

An Update

by Jonathanin Game Development, News, Update

An Update

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An update on the whole Unity situation for Carter Games.

Just a quick post to update y’all on the whole Unity thingy. So as you’ll have likely seen by now they have announced they were reverting pretty much every change with the runtime fee thingy. The news is pretty good actually. Had they announced that to start with everyone would’ve liked it for the most part. Sadly they didn’t and the damage in trust is done. The fact that the original plan was what they though was good, despite their insiders from the community & staff supposedly warning them it wasn’t, just shows what matters to Unity as a company. Money & greed.

I’ve never been a fan of public companies & shareholders etc. Being a shareholder should mean taking the risk of paying out when a company is doing bad as well as getting some extra money when its doing well. Not just free money which it seems to be treated as today. I could rant about that for ages, but you get the idea.

As for Carter Games and its future developments. I’ll still be working in Unity for now with the assets I’ve made. Sadly other engines don’t quite have the things I like about Unity in them in quite as nicer setup. I’ve given both Unreal & Godot a go over the last few weeks. Godot certainly has promise, but its missing some key things for me currently. Those being a more in-depth inspector for exposing data classes, world space UI & some 3D bits that are early days. I do like the whole node setup though, that is nice. As for Unreal, looks good, but like 0 docs for C++ code which is a bit annoying. Blueprint is good and all, but I’d prefer to do the C++ a little if I went that route.

So future plans. I do plan to keep with Unity development stuff for now. So Audio Manager 3.x is still on the books to be released this year with an update to Leaderboard Manager sometime early next year. Next year is still in the air for what I’m doing, I do have some active side projects I want to finish as well as a game idea or two to flesh out and maybe prototype. But more specifics will be posted in the year in review post for this year. As for porting asset and stuff to other engines, some of them may be portable in a slightly different setup to Godot. But I’d need to do a lot more research. I’m also not sure I’d be able to make the same quality of asset automation in other engines, but we’ll see, it’s not totally off the table in the future. Audio Manager 3.x will likely be a bit delayed again…..I know, its a pain, but I want to get it right. That and it just takes time to develop, just like how games take a long time to make. I’ll keep y’all up to date on how that’s going.

That’s all for now xD

~ J,

Common Library

by Jonathanin Game Development, News, UpdateLeave a Comment on Common Library

Common Library

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A new release of my personal code library that I’ve been using in some assets and had public for a while.

What is this?

The common library contains a load of useful scripts for game development in Unity. Previously known as Scarlet Library. I’ve been adding to it as and when I found a feature I needed, wrote a solution for and found that I could use in other projects. Some bits are complete systems to aid with a specific problems while others are just helpers to save writing loads of lines of code. The library is a work in progress and will have some scripts not written fully occasionally in the code. But features are tested before they are added so it should be stable enough to use in projects.

Used in assets

I’ve been using some of this library in the asset store updates I’ve been making recently. You’ll notice the events system & serializable dictionary are in the latest Save Manager updates for example. I also use the same settings setup for storing the settings for the library as I do with assets.

Get the library

Only on GitHub: https://github.com/CarterGames/Common

Key elements

Some of the key features of the library so far include:

Data Setup
A setup that allows you to reference a scriptable object at runtime without a direct inspector reference. Handy if you are working with a lot of data. You just inherit from a base class that is just a standard scriptable object and your good to go.

Events System
A well used system that essentially just handles unsubscribing from a standard system action when you subscribe to it, helping to avoid over-subscription by mistake. The system also allow you to add identifies to anonymous listeners so you can remove them as well when needed if you don’t want to match the method params for the event etc.

Runtime Timers
A handy setup to let you run logic after some time. Can be used even in static classes without any issues. Handy if you can’t write a coroutine or just want some logic to run after a short pause.

Game Ticks
A handy optimisation feature that lets you run logic on update but not every frame. By listening to the tick instead you get updates every x frames instead of every frame. Helping with performance. You can use a global tick or instantiate instances for different systems.

Custom Time
Make instances of time, instead of using delta time for everything, you can set systems to use a custom time setup. Making things like pausing your game trivial without needed to pause the global timescale for everything and running into further issues due to that.

Random
A system to help generate random numbers, with options to choose a provided from Unity Random.Range, System Random and Alea PRNG.

Referencing
A handy helper setup to reference object in a scene or all scenes. Also comes with a CacheRef class to help making properties that are ensuring a reference is made if one isn’t already. Saving some typing.

Static Instancing
Love it or hate it, its handy to have some things static. You can have a class have a static reference without the whole class being static, use a base singleton class or run coroutines from a static instead generated at runtime.

Hierarchy Headers
A small editor tool to add header/separators to your hierarchy. These are really clean and easy to setup, making it easy to organize your hierarchy.

Panels
An easy way to have a popup in your game. Just inherit from panel and you’ll have ways to listen to when the panel is opened/closed and be able to track all open panels in your game.

And lots more!

There is a lot more to the library including extension methods galore, string formatting help and more. But if was to cover every script I’d be hear like all day writing this post. There is documentation some systems, but as this library is still in development, only some sections have links to documentation. When the library hits 1.x all setups will have docs, but its takes a while to write it so bare with as it gets written.

I am still working on Audio Manager 3.x as well. Currently testing to core logic as I refactored how it worked to accommodate different playing options for groups. I have also got some life admin to do over the next week or so as my car broke down… A bit stressful to deal with so I’ve been taking it easy the last week or so. But Still hoping to reach that end of September deadline if I can….

I’ll update you’ll soon on the progress of the Audio Manager update when I have more the share. Speak to y’all soon

J,

C.W.I.S Devlog #8 | Prototype Release

by Jonathanin Devlogs, Game Development, NewsLeave a Comment on C.W.I.S Devlog #8 | Prototype Release

Summary

Its been a long time coming but I have finally gotten a build out for C.I.W.S. I will pre-face this as the build is just an early prototype and has a few bugs in it, but I hit burnout on the project again and didn’t want to just abandon it as it was in a good enough place to release something. If there are really game breaking bugs then I’ll give them a fix if reported, but otherwise the game will remain in this state unless there is mass interest in it. There is definetly more that could be done on this project but I needed to move for now.

Where can I get the build?

The prototype build is free to all and can be downloaded from the following pages:

What now?

With the release done, I’ll be moving to the A plan I mentioned here, working on some major updates to some of the tools/systems I’ve released. Both major releases are massive improvements over their older versions and bring them up to standard with what I’d use in a project these days. From there I have a few smaller projects I’d like to do, plus actually playing a few games as well for a bit of fun xD

Year In Review 2022

by Jonathanin NewsLeave a Comment on Year In Review 2022

Welcome back to another year in review. This is now the third year running that I’ve posted a summary of some of the stats behind the scenes and expressed what I plan to do in the upcoming year. If you want to see the previous years, you can access them below:

New Releases

This year has been a quite one for new releases. The main release on the assets side was the experimental Multi-Scene asset which is currently only avalible on GitHub & Itch.io.

On the games side there was some decent progress on both projects. Project Tilly ended up hitting a major roadblock with some of the 3D assets I’d need to make. This is still a project I plan to go back to once I’ve gotten better at 3D modelling a bit & when I’ve sorted out the story a bit as well.

C.W.I.S has been the main project for the majority of the year with slow but steady progress throughout. Just before Christmas I managed to get the some new features in such as an online leaderboard, a chaft mechanic & several fixes to some of the minor but annoying bugs with the game. I’m hoping to manage a release of the build around the end of Jan 2023 but like every other deadline I’ve set its not in stone.

Downloads

The download stats this year are about what I expected. I got a bit of an increase on Itch.io due to a few game jams but nothing significant. The asset store remains the best for downloads as a whole getting around 100-150 per month dependant on if there are updates released that alert users or not. Google play saw a drop in downloads from 2021 but this is mostly due to my own neglect of the platform this year. I do hope to put out a few more products on google play in the future though.

Upcoming in 2023

The plan for 2023 is a bit more fleshed out that in previous years because I wanted to make it achievable and while also having a clear plan of what I was doing for the year. I’ve split this into three plans:

Plan A

The A plan is the plan I am committing to completing in 2023. These are goals I will be hitting next year first, and are the aim for the year at a minimum. This also includes the release of the C.W.I.S build but with any luck that won’t be much longer down the line.

  • Audio Manager (3.0.0)
    • A fair amount of progress has already been made on this update.
    • A new static only version of the system.
    • Automatic library management.
    • Play from estimated start time removing blank space at the start of a clip.
    • Library search.
    • Automatic variance to vary the volume & pitch without any extra work.
  • Save Manager (2.0.0)
    • New save structure for better modularity.
    • Save editor to edit the save in the engine.
    • Custom save path option.
    • Migration system from 1.x to 2.x.
  • Leaderboard Manager (2.1.0)
    • Extra display options such as same position options (show as the same with gap, same without gap, etc.).
    • Custom save path option.
    • Settings panel to match the other assets.
    • Audit of the existing code to match the latest standards.

Plan B

The B plan is mostly a load of smaller projects or updates to existing projects that need a little work still. This includes:

  • Multi Scene (0.3.0)
    • An update to the experimental asset to add some better scene loading options as well as an attempt to improve the performance a little where possible.
  • Build Versions (1.1.1)
    • Just a small updtae to correct a few bits, but its nothing urgent hence it been in the B plan instead of the A plan.
  • Detective Notes (1.3.0)
    • This update would be a bit change, but most of the setup would be the same.
    • The UI & feel of the app would be improved
    • I’d look into having the app run better over longer time periods.
  • Game Prototypes
    • I’d use some of the time in this plan to prototype a few games idea’s I’ve had. I would release these builds for people to try out and give feedback on.
    • More on this if/when I get to it.
  • Personal Projects
    • Blood on the Clocktower app
      • A little side project to make an app that helps an ST run a game as well as lets a player take notes in a game. I have started this project behind the scenes, but needs a few weeks of dedicated time to actually make it work.
      • The idea is to automate bits as well as remind the ST of bits they need to do with a kind of checklist before letting them continue. As well as applying reminder tokens to players automatically based on the context.
      • This wouldn’t be made public out of respect for the games creators as they already have an online app which is great for running games online. My app is more for personal use if I want to try and introduce new players to the game without having a copy of the game to hand.

Plan C

This is the stretch goal plan where any extra bits I’d like to try would take place after all the bits from the A & B plans were done. These indluce a few additional personal projects that are mainly focused on making game mechanics from games I’ve played both old and new to see if I can make them. It would be with programmer art and more of a test of my skills for a bit of fun.

Closing Thoughts

While 2022 didn’t go as well as I’d like, a though I’m sure many feel with the current state of the world. I’m hopful 2023 will go a little better. I’ve spent the Christmas period mostly relaxing & plan to continue until the new year as I havn’t really had any kind of break in a while. So I’m playing some games and taking it easy until the new year. See you all in 2023.