Unity CloudBehaviour ☁️, Defold 1.14.0 ⚙️, Box2D Contacts 💥
Engines, Platforms and Tools 🧰
Sasquatch Inspector 1.2 Adds No-Code Unity Inspector Layout Tools
In a tutorial, Sasquatch B Studios demonstrates Sasquatch Inspector, a Unity tool for designing custom inspector layouts without writing editor code. Its drag-and-drop designer supports reusable style presets, conditional fields, custom buttons, tables, previews and live debugging; layouts can also be exported as standalone editor scripts. The video says version 1.2 has released, adding layout history, custom icons and sprites, an AI-agent skill, a condensed preview and a formula drawer.
Defold 1.14.0 adds Xbox support for approved developers
The Defold Foundation announced on October 12, 2026, that Xbox development support is available in Defold 1.14.0, joining existing support for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Xbox functionality, documentation and developer support are free for approved developers. Access requires Microsoft approval and a verified request through the Xbox middleware page. Resources include integrations for user management and game saves, plus build and testing instructions. Additional console development tools remain subject to NDA restrictions and cannot be distributed by the foundation.
Stride 4.4 released with rendering and cross-platform build updates
Stride 4.4 updates the free, open-source C# 3D game engine with overhauled Vulkan and Direct3D 12 renderers, removal of OpenGL, and a SPIRV-centric shader compiler. Asset compiler changes make macOS and Linux project builds work like Windows builds. The release also adds a command-line management tool, strongly typed asset URLs and replacement assets. Linux can run Game Studio through Proton; native Linux and macOS editor support remains under development through a WPF-to-Avalonia port. The launcher already uses Avalonia.
Architecture and Systems 🏛️
Contact recycling improves physics performance in Box2D and Box3D
Contact recycling reuses collision contact points across simulation steps when bodies move little relative to each other, avoiding expensive recalculation. Updating the contacts’ separation values keeps the solver’s distance estimates current; the author reports faster simulations and improved stacking stability. Cached transforms must stay fixed until contacts are recomputed to prevent drift, and rotation limits help avoid errors. The technique requires cached contact sets computed in one pass; its compatibility with incremental contact manifolds remains uncertain.
Refactoring a Unity shop prototype into focused C# classes
Code Monkey refactors a Unity shop prototype by improving names and separating inventory, gameplay, UI, audio, and visuals into focused classes. The walkthrough replaces string item identifiers and numeric states with enums, groups related data, and uses events to let presentation scripts respond to gameplay changes. It also demonstrates preserving Inspector references when renaming fields and checking gameplay after small changes. Although behavior preservation is the stated goal, saving and loading are removed to limit the tutorial’s scope.
Unity introduces experimental CloudBehaviours for server-authoritative game logic
Unity introduced CloudBehaviours in Cloud Code package 3.1.0-experimental.1, generating server code and client bindings from C# classes. Public methods become remote calls, while public fields synchronize state to clients. A Battleship walkthrough moves player profiles and match logic into the cloud, adds matchmaking and turn timers, filters hidden fleet data, and records results through server-only calls. Developers can test on a local server before deployment. The experimental feature targets event-driven games and metagame systems, with traditional game servers remaining the suggested fit for fast-paced competitive gameplay.
Design and Launch 🚀
Survey finds lower Steam sales per wishlist but continued predictive value
How To Market A Game’s survey of 160 reader-submitted Steam games found that 2023–2025 releases sold roughly half as many first-month units per launch wishlist as 2020–2022 releases, with wide variation. Total wishlists remained strongly correlated with sales: Spearman correlations were 0.87 and 0.89, respectively. Wishlist additions in the final 30 days did not outperform total counts, although combining both slightly improved the fit. The samples were uneven—126 newer games versus 34 older ones—and 2026 releases were excluded because comparable sales histories were unavailable.
Making games readable, responsive, and complete
BiteMe Games argues that a good game is readable, responsive, and complete. Developers should study genre conventions, including input buffering, control rebinding, and camera settings, and check visual contrast by viewing screenshots in grayscale. Feedback should accompany core interactions from the start; the author describes spending the first day of Silicon Architect prototyping placement sounds and screen shake. The video also advocates cutting dull stretches to sustain enjoyment throughout a shorter experience and includes a sponsored asset-library segment.