News

January 30, 2008 -- Widget United in beta testers hands, and tons of Unity news

There is so much Unity news to bring you this month that it's hard to figure out exactly where to begin and also make sure we don't miss anyone's Unity items. That's partly due to the incredible success the Unity has enjoyed since version 2 was released, and also the superb stuff that's being developed in Unity by dozens of game developers.

Widget Monkey Games' own title, Widget United, is finally in the hands of beta testers. While there are a few things to do to add for beta 2 including adding more opponent players on field at the harder difficulty levels, final music, getting the online scoring and database bugs ironed out, but it's great to be getting feedback from our group of excited testers about the game.

Tons of Unity-related news. We've updated the Partners and Links page to include new developers Waimoo, Seth Burnette, and Three Melons. There are a bunch of new Unity games that have been released in the past month available to play free online including Off Road Velociraptor Safari, Tennis Stars Cup, and an in-development racing game.

A bunch of upcoming Unity-developed games have been announced in the last 30 days including Seth Burnette's unique game of magic and environmental manipulation called The Apartment, a top-down RPG with fantastic doodled art called Simple RPG, space strategy game StarTrackers, and an untitled adventure game by Spanish developer Waimoo.

Prolific Unity guru and generous forum member Eric Haines (Eric5h) is set to release a stunning fractal terrain generator made with Unity called Fractscape. The app features a huge list of features that'll appeal to anyone making games with terrain.

Finally, while scrolling through the list of finalists in the 10th Annual Independant Games Festival, we can't help but noticing the number of titles made by Unity developers using the best game engine on the planet. Kudos to all the developers creating cool stuff with Unity and next year we're sure there will be dozens more Unity-developed titles showing up in lots of different places.

December 30, 2007 -- ByDesign Games releases the delightful game, Make Bouncy Bouncy

Joe Schultz, known to Unity forum regulars as Casemon, has finally released his delightful new Unity-made game, Make Bouncy Bouncy.

Make Bouncy Bouncy is a cool, hip, casual online game released by ByDesign Games that lets you bounce your way through puzzling mazes of calm intrigue. Gone are health meters, simplistic "earn the points" challenges, violence, explosions and aggression. Indulge numerous levels of connected and thoughtful challenge, navigating dynamic environments designed to stimulate your focus-center while calming your mind. Play at your own pace, or set yourself timed goals for enhanced concentration and awareness. Make Bouncy Bouncy is available for both OSX and Windows operating systems and offers a free online demo. The game has an utterly delightful look and feel and it's superb game play make this title a real joy to play for almost anyone who loves great casual games.

December 16, 2007 -- Another Unity game gets released, Widget United nearly at beta stage, and more site updates

Lots of Unity news continues to happen this month so we've got another quick news round up for you all.

First up a huge congratulations to Jon Frisby, aka Mr.Joy, who has published his cool tower defense game Hordes of Orcs through Freeverse. Hordes of Orcs is a “Tower Defense” game in which you must build walls and lethal towers to defend your village from the Orcs emerging from, what the village elders call, “The Glowing Portal of Really Bad Things That We Should Have Bricked-Up a Long Time Ago.” Fun and strongly recommended.

Our own game, Widget United, is finally code complete and we are in the process of finishing the last of the graphics and music, tweaking a few gameplay variables, and pushing it out to our eagre beat-testers. It's been a slow-than-anticipated development cycle but the tremendous efforts of our one-man star programming team have helped move the game to this stage in great fashion. Look for a release sometime in January 2008.

Finally, we've once again updated a number of pages ... we've added Grayboxgames adventure game Spire, and NYGhost's interactive anatomy of the male head to the Free Stuff page. We've added Hordes of Orcs to the Unity-made Games page, updated the Partners and Links page to add DEXSOFT multimedia who create cool 3D game models, and updated the RSS news feed.

If you want your Unity-related news added to the site, drop us a line or message DaveyJJ on the Unity 3D forums.

December 8-9, 2007 -- Lots of Unity-related news

We've completed a bunch of updates to the site today, including updates to the Upcoming Games page (showing off Clan and Fight Pong), adding Wolfquest to Unity-made Games page, and updating the Partners and Links page to include new game development studio Gamepulp.

We also did a huge update to the Free Stuff page with news of a gorgeous first person shooter project being released free to other Unity developers by the generous DC Larson, Daniel Mileusnic's Blingy and Math Race, Sam Kalman's delightful Neko Dance Party, and links to the stunning Unity demo Avert Fate.

We'd highly recommend a visit to the Unity forums Showcase thread where a huge number of exciting work in progress screens and announcements have been made in the last month. Cool Unity-made games announcements, in no specific order, have included the following (and if we missed anyone and you want to be added to the list, my apologies; drop us an email here or send a PM on the Unity forums and we'll get it online):

And in a last bit of news, Australian developer Sector3 have released version 2 of StuntMania!pro. More tracks, new bonuses, and some great new gameplay modes round out this highly recommended, fast-paced and highly recommended racing game.

November 7, 2007 -- Wolfquest demo available

Steve Allison-Bunnell and the guys over at eduweb have finally released a standalone demo of their upcoming educational game, Wolfquest, for Macs and PCs. The first full version of the game will be released in December of 2007.

Wolfquest is an exciting educational game being developed by eduweb in partnership with The Minnesota Zoo. WolfQuest is an innovative new project that brings the immersive, compelling drama and action of video games to informal science learning while creating a model for nationwide distribution. Designed for players age nine to adult, WolfQuest will teach wolf behavior and ecology through its exciting gameplay and intense social interactions.

Players join a wolf pack made up of friends or computer-controlled wolves and, through trial and error, instinct, and experience, learn to maximize both individual and pack survival. Each player discovers how to compete or cooperate, challenge or submit, and defend or attack during complex interactions within the pack. Players find they must balance individual and pack needs in order to increase their collective ability to hunt, defend territory, avoid danger, and protect their young. As they respond to challenges presented by their environment, players will experientially learn about habitat quality, prey populations, and the impact of human presence on the landscape. As they explore a variety of strategies to succeed in the game, players will exercise critical thinking and inquiry skills. Gameplay will create a strong emotional connection between players and wolves, changing player's attitudes toward wolves and habitat conservation in the real world.

I'd highly recommend a visit to their website where you can download the demo and learn much more about this exciting educational game.

October 17, 2007 -- Widget Monkey Games post-Unity conference news update

We're back from a highly successful and tremendously fun Unity game engine conference that was held in San Francisco. It was great to finally meet so many of the forum regulars in person, get one-on-one advice and tips in lab sessions from the Unity Technologies guys (shouts to Aras for the shadows help!), see the fantastic games being created with Unity, and also see how far studios and developers are taking Unity in whole new directions.

There are too many people to thank and the enthusiasism for each others projects was very cool, but special kudos go out to Patrik and Jorgen of shiftcontrol (my heroes), Paul from JPL, Jeroen from Sticky Studios, Tom Phillips for his thoughts, and Steve for his great Wolfquest project. Greetings again to Jon and Matt (damn you're such Unity gurus!) of Gravek, Tom and Robert from Red Rover, Oden Torres, Clint, Vince and Snowzerko, who were all great to speak to and bounce ideas around with. And last but not least to Daniel, Forest, Marty (I'll be in touch), and Ethan and Thomas for their modeling help. If I've forgotten anyone, my apologies.

I must also take a second here to thank David, Nicholas, and Joe from Unity Technologies. It was such a thrill to finally meet you guys in person and to understand a bit more about what drives you and where you're going with this great game engine. Also greetings again to Sam and Tom, you guys are also fantastic. If there's anything I can ever do for any of you, simply ask.

So what did we learn? Lots and lots. Suffice it to say that we are on the right path with Unity and that our game development efforts will pay off in so many ways.

Finally, we updated the site a bit today. We've better organized the Partners and Links page and have added a number of studios and developers. Sorry we missed you the first time around. In addition, we've added a bunch of new web games on the Free Stuff page, including Splume, Cuttle Candy, Sky Sky Panic and Castles. There will be more titles and links added as the Top DOG finalists get their sites and games online, and as some of the game projects in development from otehr studios are completed.

Again, if we've missed anyone to thank, our apologies. And if you want your Unity-related news or website linked from WMG, simply email us via the Contact page.

October, 2007 -- Widget Monkey Games gets a redesign and a rethink

You have to give site visitors what they want when you run a website. That's not to say that a customer is always right, mind you, just that websites are visited to provide specific things to the end user.

Over the past week(s) we've been redesigning the Widget Monkey Games website with a new business purpose in mind. Since we have been embarrasingly unsuccessful at selling other developers games, but hugely successful at generating buzz for our own upcoming titles, showcasing fellow Unity-based game studios and developers, and widely promoting the Unity game engine in general, we figure that that's the way to go with the site.

So starting in early October, we will no longer be selling games made by other indie game studios and developers on the site. The focus and goal of our site has changed and is now the following three things ...

  1. Creating and selling our own games (the first one is Widget United, coming soon)
  2. Showcasing the very best examples of Unity-made games created by other indie game studios and developers, and
  3. Promoting the Unity game engine

This will allow us to do what we do best ... make games in Unity ... and to showcase what Unity is capable of in the hands of other dedicated developers. We hope you like the new goals and will keep visiting the site.

September, 2007 -- Unity Top DOG Finalists Selected

Edit ... October 9. Splume was announced as the winner among all of the brilliant entries during the Unity conference in San Francisco. Congratulations to Matthew Wegner and the crew at Flashbang!

The guys who make the Unity game engine announced back in late July an excellent contest on their website.

The theme of Top DOG contest is the creation of top-quality online casual games, which in the case of Unity means Web Player games. Why is this the theme? The Unity Web Player is the most advanced 3D engine available in a web browser and therefore Unity developers are well equipped to kick-start a profitable career in casual game development. That's especially true given the smaller size and scope of casual games as well as the available distribution channels, those combine to put casual game success well within reach of dedicated individuals or small teams of developers. Best of all, the new features and general improvements coming in Unity 2.0 will make it the quickest, most robust and easiest to use tool on the market today, all of which only further enables Unity to be the premiere casual game development tool.

The top five finalists in Unity's Top DOG competition have now been announced from a great field of candidates. You can view the list of finalists or the entire list of registered entries (both threads with extensive screen captures) on the Unity forums. Good luck to all the finalists and superb job to everyone who had the skill and energy to enter!

Update ... we've posted one screen shot from each of the five Top DOG finalists below ... remember, these are games that can be played in your web browser! (Links to follow when they've been posted.)

Top DOG finalist

Top DOG finalist

Top DOG finalist

Top DOG finalist

Top DOG finalist

August, 2007 -- Sector3 release StuntMania!pro and update Turret Wars

Sector3 are pleased to announce that they have released their newest game, StuntMania!pro. StuntMANIA!pro is a fast paced 3D car stunt driving game, where you get to perform the most amazing tricks and stunts in some really cool environments. You can select any of the stunt cars and play either timed games or just go crazy and have fun. More details can be found on the Sector3 StuntMania!pro web page.

Turret Wars has also been given another great round of updates and is now at version 1.7. A list of new features and update information can be found on the Sector3 Turret Wars web page.

July 29, 2007 - Turret Wars updated to version 1.6.

Sector3 are pleased to announce that they have released Turret Wars 1.6 with a brand new demo version with extra features.

The new version of Turret Wars included the updates:

  • Store rotation now also stores and resets your velocity
  • HUD Enemy Turret info during projectile flight ([ i ] key toggles on and off)
  • Projectile target view in bottom left camera during projectile flight
  • PLAY AGAIN menu button on stats screen to speed up game play restarts
  • Enhanced environment selection in main menu
  • General bug fixes and improvements

Sector3 have also updated the demo version to 1.6 with this release. As usual, Turret Wars 1.6 is a free update for all registered Turret Wars owners.

For more information about Turret Wars, please visit Sector3's Turret War game page.

July 13, 2007 - Mondo Robot and Freeverse release Tiki Magic Mini Golf

Mondo Robot, a Denver, Colorado-based creative and game development studio headed by Unity forum guru Charles Goran, have finally released their wildly fun mini golf game, Tiki Magic Mini Golf through New York game publisher Freeverse.

Tiki Magic Mini Golf is mini golf like you’ve never seen it! It’s a fantastic 3D adventure! State of the art graphics, compelling game play, 3D sound effects and an original score combine to create a fun and fully immersive Tiki experience! The game features support for up to 6 players. Play through 54 stunning mini-golf holes, set in three exotic locations: Lono’s Lagoon, Lost Temple and Fire Mountain.

Game features include:

  • Real time 3D game-play with state of the art physics
  • 54 holes over three fantatsic courses
  • Instant “Sweet Shot” replays
  • Anytime unlimited game saves and restores
  • Animated tiki mask player totems
  • Support for up to six players
  • Original soundtrack and more!

Buy a copy of the delightfully fun Tiki Magic Mini Golf through Freeverse website today!

July 6, 2007 - OTEE announce Unity 2.0 for August 2007 release!!!

If game developers thought the current version of Unity was great, OTEE have simply blown the doors off everything with the announcement that Unity 2.0 will be available this August! And the feature list and power available in the coming version are beyond even what I had hoped for as a long-time Unity supporter and user. OTEE have been working on version 2.0 for more than two years and their extraordinary efforts show. This is simply the greatest affordable game development tool available anywhere.

So what's new in this version? Unity 2.0 will provide developers more than 50 new features, including the following major updates that have to be seen to be believed:

  • Highly optimized terrain engine with built in map editing tools
  • Support for hundreds of thousands of trees that are rendered real-time with Soft Directional Ambient Occlusion shaders, and millions of terrain game objects
  • Real-time dynamic shadows with self-shadowing
  • Video playback including streaming
  • Robust new game GUI system that are completely skinnable simply using CSS-like code, also "single line of code" modify functions
  • DirectX 9.0 renderer
  • Double the previous frame rates for games with completely optimized engine code
  • Web player streaming and compression
  • Built in networking for scalable multiplayer games
  • Networking Layer is completely based on UDP, provides NAT punchthrough, and has support for sending packets reliably and unreliably
  • More than 40 more major features are updated
  • Hundreds of minor improvements, bug fixes, driver optimizations, and more!

Here's a bunch of links to the Unity 2.0 news ...

And even better, here are some screen shots made using Unity 2.0 that open in larger version on click.

Unity 2.0 screen shot

Unity 2.0 screen shot

Unity 2.0 screen shot

Unity 2.0 screen shot

Start saving your $ this is a must have upgrade. And for game developers not using Unity yet, I'd suggest they check out the Unity site and the very friendly user forums. License bought from now until release in August get a free upgrade. Perfect time to buy Unity and start developing.

July 5, 2007 - Shooter in the Abstract now featured on the Widget Monkey Games.

Shooter in the Abstract, an unusual (in a very good way!) simple little shooter arena game created by Warren over at Wanton Hubris, is a oddly cool, addictive game whose goal is basically just try to stay alive. You can play it online on the Shooter in the Abstract page, and alsodownload standalone Mac or PC versions.

June 6, 2007 - Major update to Turret Wars brings it to version 1.5.

Sector3 have released a major new version of Turret Wars (1.5) with lots of new features and updates including full scoring stats.

The new version of Turret Wars included the following huge list of updates:

  • Shield Bunkers that enable Turret Shields
  • Collect Mega Blast power-up bunkers and use when desired
  • New extra difficulty level - "Bring it on"
  • Drop ships that re-spawn new enemy turrets during game play ("Bring It On" feature only)
  • 2x fantastic new environments (Dark Monoliths & Ring Arena) - 8 Environments now!
  • Set and Restore your current Turret rotation
  • Revised and expanded scoring system with full game statistics
  • Filter the highscores ladder in-game to see ALL or just YOUR scores
  • Turn music on/off during game play

For more information about the game and to view screen shots, please visit Sector3's Turret War game page.

June 3, 2007 - Award-winning Chocolate Castle by Lexaloffle now on Widget Monkey Games.

I am happy to announce that Chocolate Castle, the latest award-winning game from New Zealand developer Lexaloffle (Jospeh White), is now available for sale on Widget Monkey Games!

Munch your way through 120 rooms of delicious puzzles with your team of hungry animals. Chocolate Castle has a variety of styles of puzzles made out of turkish delight, snakes, ice cubes, magic walls, and sliding blocks. Oh, and there's also a fair amount of chocolate involved.

The object of Chocolate Castle is to eat all of the chocolate in each room. There are four types of chocolate and four types of animals to eat them with. To eat some chocolate, click and drag an animal into it and both of them will disappear.

Other features include:

  • 120 rooms of puzzling fun
  • full room editor to create and share your own rooms with other players
  • move rewind and replay options
  • family-friendly fun
  • available for Mac and PC
  • Game Tunnel's Game of the Month and Gold award winner

Chocolate Castle is no longer for sale on the Widget Monkey Games website but I highly recommend a visit to Lexaloffle to buy a copy of Chocolate Castle and their previous great game, Zen Puzzle Garden.

May 25, 2007 - Turrent Wars updated to version 1.2.2. Version 1.5 features hinted at.

Sector3 have released another quick maintenance update Turret Wars. Version 1.2.2 includes the following updates and fixes:

  • Game timer has been fixed for out of time games
  • MegaBlast carry over from game to game has been fixed
  • Incorrect environment textures in Canyons and Arctic Fortress have been replaced
  • Extended characters have been included in registration screen for non-us keyboards/OS
  • You can now filter names in the web high scores list to find yours/anyone's scores

The next planned update for Turret Wars will be 1.5, with some cool new features and environments. The developers have listened to (and encourage) user feedback, and will be adding some user requested features as well. Multiplayer game play will not make it into the 1.5 release, however. It is something Sector3 are planning and working on, but have no specific time frame for multiplayer support at the moment. But it IS coming.

May 23, 2007 - Turrent Wars updated to version 1.2.1

Sector3 are pleased to announce that they have released their first maintenance release of Turret Wars. The main update in version 1.2.1 is that the environment maps have been increased in size to reduce texture stretching. While this increases the file's download size, they look much prettier! Other bug fixes include:

  • Speedup bug that was reported by several customers has been fixed
  • Registration system not working in WindowsXP Home has been fixed
  • Player preferences not being set correctly if version 1.0 was played previously has been fixed
  • Environment texture seams in Caynon and Arctic Fortress levels now fixed

May 17, 2007 - Unity Invaders now online. RSS news feed online.

Unity Invaders, a delightful recreation of the 1970s arcade classic, has been posted on the Showcase page. Created by Eric Haines in Unity, it's a simple and maddingly addictive version of the classic game, compete with scoring, retro sound effects, and immersive gameplay. Drop a coin in the slot and go play a game of Unity Invaders now! Thanks to forum member Eric5h for the opportunity to share this with everyone.

I have put the finishing touches on an RSS new feed for Widget Monkey Games. The URL to subscribe is http://www.widgetmonkeygames.com/feed.xml. The RSS news feed will work with all standard RSS news readers and browsers and will allow Widget Monkey Games fans to get their daily fix of news without even firing up a browser!

May 16, 2007 - Megapixel now online.

Forest Johnson has been kind enough to allow me to point to his award-winning game Megapixel on the Showcase page. Megapixel is a wildly fun, techno-beat abstract first person shooter that features exciting and challenging gameplay, crazy-awesome abstract graphics made out of particles, and 8 bit type sound effects. It won first place in the recent 3DU Game Development Contest and is also featured over on Shockwave.com. Thanks for letting me help spread the Unity love, Yoggy!

May 6, 2007 - Turret Wars Updating to 1.2

Sector3 Games has announced that they are working on an update to Turret Wars. Features planned for version 1.2 include armour power-ups, megablast power-ups (with instant kill effects), bonus point targets, two extra levels (making a total of six), varying special features for each turret type's projectiles (one has self destruct, one has flight nudging, one has increased destructive power and one has increased speed), and a special bomber flyover dropping bombs on the play field at random intervals, that you are able to shoot (if you have time, and are good enough).

The extra two levels planned for 1.2 are even more exciting than the standard four ... one being a lobbing level, with no visible enemy turrets until you are airborne, and the other is ... being kept secret for right now but they promise it's very cool. Finally, 1.2 will include a revised scoring system, with clearer scores at the top of the interface, prettier graphics, improved visual damage cues, response from impacts, more sound effects, and a few bug fixes.

Version 1.2 is expected to be released on May 18, 2007.

May 5, 2007 - Website Launch

Widget Monkey Games has launched! I hope to make this a premiere website that a develops, publishes, and distributes casual, creative, fun-to-play family-friendly games for Mac and PC. Many thanks to everyone who have supported the idea over the past few months, especially everyone online in the Unity forums.

Special thanks go to Marc Trudel for the outstanding website design (Merci, Marc!), and to Sector3 Games for jumping on board so enthusiastically.