CityScaper! - and about the blog.

So CityScaper is a big deal for me right now, this could be a big break, or a little one that's just as welcome, either way I'm breathing a little easier with it out now. I'm very anxious and excited to get to work on updating it and communicating with clients. It's a win-win situation really. I get QA and profit, they get a great tool and service to match. Check it out on the Asset Store now if you have need for procedural generated cities.

CityScaper on the Unity Asset Store

The Interface

Results of the CityScaper with only 7 models entered

This script only uses meshes you input, giving you freedom over the aesthetic outcome. Combine this with the libnoise variables that are exposed, and you can create city scenes on the fly that are incredibly varied in only a moment, just quick enough to squeeze it in your load sequences. Now all you have to do is model the buildings, place them in this script, and modify a few variables until you get the city you like. From there you can generate it directly into the scene during the game, or save it in Unity's editor and start detailing an already detailed and interesting city. The more buildings you add, the more interesting the city becomes, and you can keep making gameobjects with new city types. This is my baby right now, but I plan on having quite a few more ... bad metaphor?

Here's a little tutorial on using the CityScaper, don't watch if you aren't interested in picking it up, I'm afraid the sound quality is quite rough at the moment, we plan on replacing it asap.

As for the blog, I plan on taking this blog not only through my own experiences, but through the processes I learn along the way, so expect the next couple of entries might be tutorials for programs you've been dying to get the hang of. Unity, of course, will be central across that theme.

Some Ketchup

I'm starting up this blog to keep track of my own thoughts, but also to share my experiences with other developers and entrepreneurs alike. So here I am, months into production on a game by myself, and after several candidates, I've stumbled onto three I very much like. Of course, these things change with people's motives, and I know any of my current trainees may one day jump ship. Until then, we've got a great artist and coder, and some fresh blood with interest in learning everything she can. The hope is to turn all of them into game making machines, but for now, I'm turning them into developers.

So far:
I started on this path with the intention of creating a larger project, but have since settled for a number of smaller project as practice and funding for the goal project. The first release we're planning is a post-apocalyptic snow RPG, which we'll release more details of as we continue its production. It consists of about six main parts, which I've completed the three major coding pieces to an extent. My current goal is releasing the first three pieces as assets on the Unity Asset Store. Step 1 is already complete, check out CityScaper now! I'll do another post on this shortly to explain it in depth. Next is a front line for this city generator, which will be sold as a separate attachment capable of multiple uses, similar to CityScaper. I've already got them working together to recognize eachother :).

I chose Unity because it's an amazing platform as an indie developer to jump right into game development with the hassle of building a game from scratch. The Unity Asset Store also helps us drive a little bit of income as we go along as well. There are a lot of success stories on the Unity Asset Store, but time will tell if this is one of them. About 24 hours in, and we've sold two copies of CityScaper, it's promising, but not bedazzling. The bright side is the Asset Store provides me with a dedicated QA team who benefits as much as I do from our cooperation. You can see how that goes on our Support Thread here.

The big goal of this company is to build procedural games and develop them to their full potential. Look to projects like the new Wraith game for Lord of the Rings, or Dwarf Fortress's Adventurer mode to understand where we'd like to go with our content in the future. For now, we're content to experiment with some of our own concepts on a smaller scale.