Unity Free Tutorials

This week I've continued on in researching Unity tutorials on youtube that would help benefit my game. I've recently come across a video that teaches me to create a gorgeous terrain that's supposedly "super easy" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQUJ9qMMhlQ). I find this tutorial much easier to work with than others, and I can now create a much more complex terrain for my map without spending a long time trying to perfect it. Unfortunately, the majority of the tutorials I find, such as this one, use Unity's recent version (the 2019 one), while I still use the latest 2018 version (yes they are actually slightly different and take a while to find certain buttons/tabs). This tutorial inspired me to create mountains aren't the middle so the player has the option to climb and see a terrain in the horizon (which I will definitely rob from by the way), and creating pathways with the terrain tools. I also really like how he places the grass in sections to create clear pathways, and I much prefer the trees used in this tutorial as they have a much harsher contrasting in their shadows, and have much more detail added. I've also learned about including a fully functional lake, with edging and detailing, that I'll also be including into my game. 

I've also come across another video that teaches me about fade-ins and fade-outs animations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oadq-IrOazg). I've really wanted to start off my game with an easy black fade-in animation, and this video teaches me just that, through the inspector image scripting and animator tabs, and how I can prevent the animation from consistently looping. Although I do hate scripting through Unity, this tutorial made it much easier to create the animation, however this YouTuber uses Microsoft Visual Studios which is not supported by Macs. 

Image from Pixabay.

Games Stories.

This week, I've went onto read various articles on stories & games, where they explain the different storylines, different objects/items they used, etc. For example, Gamasutra's "The Blue shell and its discounts" (https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/218696/the_blue_shell_and_its_discontents.php), features everything wrong with the Blue Shell from Mario Kart, yes, that spiny blue shell power-up that's taunted players since its second iteration in 1996 (as you can tell I'm also a victim). It's a pickup item sometimes given to players who are far behind in a race, which hones in on the leader, bringing delight to any player that's far behind. While all of us refer to the Blue shell as such, it's actually called "Spiny's Shell" as explained so in the Mario Kart 64 manuals.

⤷ Another article I've read in relation to this topic is how Nintendo has doubled it's first-party game sales in 2019 compared to 2018 during the same six-month period (https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/353259/Nintendo_has_nearly_doubled_its_firstparty_game_sales_in_2019.php). According to Nintendo, they've sold approximately 14-15 million copies of first-party titles during the period between April and September of 2018, but in 2019 however, that number of games sold in the same time period has spiked to over 20 million! In the briefing, Nintendo's credited games like Fire Emblem: Three houses, Super Mario Maker 2, and the remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening for spiralling its growth.

⤷ And lastly, I thought I would mention this article aswell and also coming from Gamasutra, Nintendo has launched a monthly subscription for its free-to-play mobile game Mario Kart Tour that offers players to earn more in-game rewards in exchange for 5 euros a month! (and you are certainly right to assume I have that pass too)(https://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/351131/Nintendos_freetoplay_mobile_Mario_Kart_now_offers_a_monthly_subscription.php). Those that buy into the Gold Pass receive access to a faster, 200cc mode in-game and can earn additional in-game rewards while playing the tours for the duration of their subscriptions, such as limited-edition characters/skins, more karts, gliders, or even its currencies! (coins and/or diamonds).

Source; Pixabay