In this tutorial, I will show you how to create a simple input manager to handle directional input via the keyboard, a gamepad, or on-screen touch controls. Though this tutorial only covers directional movement, it can easily be extended to add extra functionality, such as a jump button. As always, if you get stuck on … Read moreA Simple Input Manager for Keyboard, Gamepad, and Touch
In this dev blog, I like to tell little stories about the development process rather than focus on the progress of my game. I hope this gives readers a peek inside the world of making a game. In the course of making a video game, features come and go. In this article, I discuss two … Read moreThe Making of Mouse Dreams Part 4: A Tale of Two Mechanics
Here is a timelapse video I made of building a level in my game Mouse Dreams. It’s sped up (otherwise it would be very long and boring), and this level was already designed on paper before I started building it in the Unity editor. You can see how the layout was tweaked and improved as … Read moreDesigning a Mouse Dreams Level Timelapse
Since I work on my games as an amateur, I don’t have a budget. I work on the assumption that I will probably not make back any of the money I spend on my games, so I consider all costs carefully.My game, Mouse Dreams, has more graphics and animation than anything I had done before, … Read moreThe Making of Mouse Dreams Part 3: A Whole Game’s Art for $100
In this article, I examine Mouse Dreams’ evolution of by following a single level from its initial design through to the final game. 1: Sketch That sketch is from the very first time I sat down to create what became the final design for Mouse Dreams (if you don’t count the discarded game from whose ashes … Read moreThe Making of Mouse Dreams Part 2 – In One Level
For my upcoming game, Mouse Dreams, I need to support gamepad input as well as keyboard and touch. It turns out this is not quite as simple as I first thought. The big issue with supporting UI with different input methods is how it will appear to the user. With touch or mouse input, the … Read moreSimple Script for Gamepad UI Navigation
The article details how I went from wanting to make a game – but with no idea – through to finding and developing an idea through the process of development and prototyping. After finding myself with the time to make a new game (my third), I lacked one thing: an idea. I had prototyped a few … Read moreThe Making of Mouse Dreams: Part 1 – Getting Game Ideas
I’m currently polishing my 3rd game, Mouse Dreams, and I wanted my UI to fade in and out smoothly for a polished look. Fading a canvas requires that your canvas has a Canvas Group component, so make sure it does! Look at that first property in the Canvas Group component – Alpha. To fade this canvas … Read moreFade your UI In and Out
Raycasting is one of those topics that everyone seems to struggle with at first, so here is a tutorial covering everything you need to know about raycasting in Unity. In this post I’ll explain what a raycast is, how to use a simple raycast, and point out a few potential problems and pitfalls people run … Read moreRaycasting Part 1: Everybody Loves Raycasting
You can use RequireComponent in your Unity scripts to save yourself some work and avoid errors. When your script requires a component, Unity will add a component of that type to your GameObject automatically when you add your script (if a component of the required type is not already there). You also cannot remove this … Read moreSave Time and Hassle with RequireComponent