Game Developers Conference (GDC) is termed as “An event designed to inform and educate game industry professionals on online multiplayer games, mobile and next generation game technologies.” This year it honed its roots for game developers. It’s an event which every game dev will cherish for years at least for a year from now.
Let’s jump right into all the key announcements for Game devs from GDC 2015. I am sure this will make you as a Game Developer Happy, Very Happy :).
Marmalade’s Google Chromecast Extension
Marmalade, a cross platform tools firm demonstrated its Google Chromecast extension at GDC. The new software will help developers explore some of the new game mechanics and experiences made possible by Google’s Chromecast device, which enables users to stream content from a smart device through their TV. With the growing popularity of mobile gaming, companies are looking for solutions to bring games from smart devices to Television. Chromecast is one such solution which directly plugs into the HDMI port of your TV and receives movies, TV, music and games from any smart device, whether it’s Android or iOS.
Couch Base Mobile for Unity
CouchBase, a NoSQL database provider, announced Couchbase Mobile for Unity, making it faster and easier for developers to build video games. Using Couchbase Mobile for Unity, game developers can
- Sync data across devices and platforms automatically.
- Deliver updates to a game without requiring a reinstall.
- Build games that are fully functional online and offline.
Unreal Engine 4 is now available to everyone for free
You can call this the breaking news of GDC2015.Adding more spice to this Epic Games announces that all future updates will also be free. In early 2014, Epic took the step of making Unreal Engine 4 available to everyone by subscription for $19 per month and also put all of their source code online, available to all who signed up. After a tremendous growth in the Unreal Game developer community, Epic took this step of going free with a limitation that you can download the engine and use it for everything from game development, education, architecture, and visualization to VR, film and animation. When you ship a game or application, you pay a 5% royalty on gross revenue after the first $3,000 per product, per quarter. It’s like WIN-WIN situation.
Unity 5 goes royalty free with its personal edition
Just a day after Epic games UE4 announcement, comes the epic announcement from Unity, an incredibly popular multiplatform game engine that unity 5 personal edition is completely free to developers with revenue or funding less than $100,000 a year, and which includes the full engine (but no advanced services package.). They also announced unity 5 professional edition and support for 21 platforms with upcoming support for Oculus rift.
Unity 5 Pro will have same starting price point as with Unity 4 Pro, at $75/month subscription or $1500 perpetual. Pro customers get all the power of Unity 5 plus:
As a game developer, to know what’s new in unity 5, you can go through the release notes here https://unity3d.com/unity/whats-new/unity-5.0
Valve reveals its Source 2 Game engine
Valve announced the Source 2 engine, the successor to the Source engine used in Valve’s games since the launch of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2. “The value of a platform like the PC is how much it increases the productivity of those who use the platform. With Source 2, our focus is increasing creator productivity. Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favorite games,” said Valve’s Jay Stelly. “We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers. This combined with recent announcements by Epic and Unity will help continue the PCs dominance as the premiere content authoring platform.”
Also, as part of supporting PC gaming, Valve announced that it will be releasing a Vulkan-compatible version of the Source 2 engine. Vulkan is a cross-platform, cross-vendor 3D graphics API that allows game developers to get the most out of the latest graphics hardware, and ensures hardware developers that there is a consistent, low overhead method of taking advantage of products. Vulkan, previously called Next Generation OpenGL, is administered by the Khronos Group, along with other standards such as OpenCL, OpenGL, and WebGL.
Corona SDK is now free
Corona Labs has announced that its mobile games SDK is now free to download to everyone. Anyone who now registers on the company’s website will gain access to the full SDK previously reserved to Pro subscribers, doing away with the limited Starter and Basic tiers.
Autodesk unveils Stingray game engine
Last but not the least, Autodesk, pioneer in 2D/3D Design and engineering software unveils its game engine “Stingray”, a new game engine based on the core technology behind the Bitsquid engine it acquired last year. According to Autodesk’s press release, key advances in Stingray include:
- Simultaneous Platform Deployment
A live link between Stingray and multiple target devices allows game designers to evaluate their games simultaneously on multiple platforms. - Integrated Workflow
A more efficient pipeline to export 3D content. - Modern Data-Driven Architecture and Powerful Rendering Capabilities
A data-driven core architecture makes it easier for a user to change the look of a game without having to rewrite and re-compile the engine.
Studios can learn more about Stingray and apply for beta access at http://www.autodesk.com/stingray.
Digital-Tutors enhances GDC Excitement with free training
To avail this offer, it’s not required you to be present at GDC, if you have an internet connection you are eligible and it’s valid only till march 8th.
To take advantage of this promotion, sign up at Digital Tutors’ website
