Corrupted Smile Studio - Website on the Way

Yesterday I began working on a basic layout and model for a website that is going to eventually going to become the Corrupted Smile Studio's website. With that being said I have managed to make quite some progress since yesterday.

It's gone from a basic layout to a fairly complete home page (there will be more than just a home page when the site is complete), fully database driven. We are hoping for a complete site by the end of November, early December. The site is aimed at providing a better look at our games, tools and updates. That doesn't mean that this blog will seize to exist or become out-dated but rather the two will live alongside each other and compliment each other to better reach out audience.

A look at the current front page.

We hope this gives you a better insight into what we have been putting our efforts into lately.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Canyon Project: Now on Wooglie

Yesterday I worked on getting Canyon project ready for Wooglie, a Unity game portal. Canyon Project is still only in development but is coming together quite nicely. There is an added new level to showcase coming vehicles and awesomeness.

You can check out the game on Wooglie.

Enjoy,
Garth (Lead)

Localising: Stats (17 Oct 2011)

I thought I would share some fairly useless statistical information regarding Localising.

Just the essentials
Comment lines: 592
Files: 10
Blank lines: 99
Code lines: 1565

With the example
Comment lines: 633
Files: 11
Blank Lines: 105
Code: 1612

So there is a fair amount of coding that has gone into making this system the best it can be.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Localising: Update 2.51

Version 2.5 hasn't even hit the Asset Store yet and I've already tackled a few bugs that I have discovered over the last day. So I decided that we need to push out a version 2.51 update to correct these bugs.

Bug Fixes:

• The way it was set up for texture and audio loading via Unity's Resources it used the PathToResources property which means it would work fine when using the LocalResources sub-class however if you used any of the others it would break. Now it is hard-coded to use a specific resources folder. This folder is created by default when setting up the audio or texture folders (check Unity's Console for location).
• An error was found in the way it clears the list of translations. This was called when reloading files in a new language, it actually deleted the list of files to load. Fixed it by adding a new method ClearCurrentFiles() that clears the file list and removing the call to clear it from the previous ClearLists().
• isLoaded() is now simply isLoaded

Additions:

• Added a new debug mode through a #define LOCAL_DEBUG added at the top of Local.cs. This will print to the console every encountered missing identity, audio file or texture only once. If you build a StandAlone it will print these to a file in the data folder called Identities.txt, this will allow you to send a debug version of your game to your testers and have them send the file if it is created, to see what you are missing. Disabled by default.
• Small edits to the internal documentation.

We hope this update will be a welcome update. Will update when 2.51 becomes available.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Localising: Version 2.5 Uploaded

After spending a couple hours writing new documentation and three tutorials for Localising, as well as testing in a clean project (in order to make sure everything is A okay), we have released version 2.5 of Localising. it is currently awaiting validation by Unity, but it should be up in a couple days.

For this release we redid most of the ReadMe PDF, to include three tutorials, one for each method of localisation offered by this system. Text, texture and audio. Scarily this is actually the first time I have ever written an in-depth tutorial, so there might be some spelling, grammar and unclear things within the tutorial but they are pretty straight forward.

We have managed to get everything we wanted into the release along with a bunch of bug fixes found while creating the tutorials. So now the editor should be slightly improved with regards to bugs and the runtime should be more smooth. So in a couple days version 2.5 of Localising should be live on the Asset Store.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Game Ads: Update - Version 0.9

We just pushed an update to Game Ads to Unity's Asset Store, we are now awaiting their approval of it. (Edit 14-Oct-2011) Version 0.91 has been released and it also includes documentation.

We made a few small changes to ensure the system works to the best of its ability and that the users will be pleased with the results.

We removed the parameter-less DisplayAds() and instead used the DisplayAds(index) to display random ads by passing in a variable initialised to -1, we then return the random generated index, therefore allowing multiple random ads without messing up the calls.

We decided to add in a callback overloaded method of displaying ads as well, thus allowing users to implement their own method of displaying ads and simply using one of our methods with the passed in callback will call the method with the ad details. Thus if users don't use/like Unity's GUI they can still make use of the system.

All methods/variables are XML documented for visual niceness in Visual Studio.

I'll update once version 0.9 has been approved.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Game Ads: Spread the Word

With a little bit of downtime in the last few days I thought I could make a very simple Unity addon which will allow a form of in game ads. This will be useful for developers with multiple games and wanting a dynamic means of displaying ads in their games.

It works via the web and allows a developer to have a text file (set up in a certain way) with links to their games and a link to an image for the game. It comes with various amount of methods for getting which ad to display. Currently it uses UnityGUI to display the ads as buttons.

Advert File Editor Window

It will be sold on the Asset Store for $2, currently it is not on the Asset Store yet but I will update when it is available. (Edit) : Asset Store Link

(Edit)I almost forgot to add the WebPlayer demo and also check it out in game in Canyon Project (Facebook App).

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Localising V2.5: Feature List

I've been working on version 2.5 of Localising for the last two to three days and so far I am pretty impressed with the results I'm getting and the features I'm adding.

Updates:

• New built in Save/Load methods for languages via PlayerPrefs
• Added a delegate method that will allow you to connect your own saving method into the system
• New save on language change, passed as a parameter (default is off)

New Features:

• Texture changing for current material or a specified material (basically changes all objects with that material to the new texture, so you can put the TextureChanger component on a single object and affect all materials)
• Audio changing with settings for auto-play, one shot play (only used if auto-play is enabled).
• If textures/audio aren't found for the language, looks for an English one, if none is found returns null (so in the event that a localised texture/audio clip gets deleted for a language, chances are that you will still be able to display/play something)
• Ability to remove AudioChangers/TextureChangers from the update list, so if you play a sound in the beginning of a level and the player will never need to return to that location or hear the sound, you can disable it from being updated, so if the player changes the language it won't load a new localised version.

Editor Updates:

• New menu item for ensuring that localised audio clips are available in all languages
• New menu item for ensuring that localised textures are available in all languages.

And the pre-alpha WebPlayer link.

Regards,

Garth (Lead)

Canyon Project: New Pre-Alpha Screenshots

We decided to do some new screen shots to show off the new, in progress, interface look and the new textures.

The new interface and textures

The new unit recruit box

Moving a character is still pretty much the same

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

First Level Pre-Alpha Demo of Canyon Project

About two days ago we released a pre-alpha first level demo of Canyon Project on Facebook, with many elements subject to change throughout development in such nothing is set in stone.

The main target for this game is not Facebook but rather a Windows standalone release. We have been hard at work improving the interface and optimising where we can, in hopes for an early 2012 release but we aren't setting anything in stone.

The Facebook app. There will be an insecure content warning that will show up, you will have to allow it as it is the game. We still fighting with where to host it.

Regards,
Garth (Lead)

Localising V 2.1 Released and Future Developments

Earlier today we submitted version 2.1 of Localising to Unity's Asset store and while we await their validation (Edit: Now validated) I thought I would go over the changes and current development plans and progress.

Changes:

• Some bug fixes with the web class to ensure that localising worked between scene changes and so on.
• Loading via Resources.
• Saving and Loading the current language via PlayerPrefs internally but not enforced so saving and loading can be done via your own methods still.
• Various other small changes and fixes.

Current and Future development plans:

• Working on loading localised audio via Resources.
• Working on loading localised textures via Resources.
• Fixing any bugs that may arise and to make it as fast as possible.

You can check out the current progress of texture and audio changing in this pre-alpha web player.

Regards,

Garth (Lead)