UE5 winter ❄️, Windows Shader delivery ☁️, Audio Ads 🎵
Unreal Craft: Visual Fidelity & Rigging 🎮🛠️
Cracking Winter Realism in UE5 with Nanite, Lumen, and Smart FX
Senior tech artist Ihor Fridman shows how to build a cinematic winter village in UE5 that still hits 60+ FPS. He combines Nanite and Lumen with Substrate snow/ice materials, a hybrid particle system, and disciplined distance-based budgets. Concrete metrics, solved challenges (snow particle perf, convincing ice), and workflow lessons make it highly actionable—plus there’s a teaser for an even bigger project next.
Unreal Control Rig Masterclass: Eye Aiming, FK Lids, and Pupil FX
Epic’s Stéphane Biava kicks off “RIG IT!” with a practical Unreal Control Rig for eyes. Learn FK lids with an Eye Master joint, Aim Constraints with an EyeBoard for unified control, and per-eye overrides. He also shows how to animate cornea size and pupil dilation via Material Curves. The result is a clean, reusable rig that’s Sequencer-ready with space switching and helpful debug tools.
Engine Performance & Low‑Level Systems ⚙️🧠
Microsoft Cloud-Compiles Shaders to Kill First-Run Stutter on PC
Microsoft is rolling out “advanced shader delivery” for Windows, debuting on the ROG Xbox Ally lineup. By packaging shader data (SODB) and compiling it in the cloud into a Precompiled Shader Database, shaders arrive with the game via the Xbox PC app—slashing first-launch load times and stutter. In Avowed, Microsoft saw up to an 85% faster startup, with better battery use on handhelds. No studio work is needed at launch, with engine-level integration planned next.
Tagged Pointers 101: Free Metadata in 64-Bit Addresses
Modern systems often leave ~20 bits free in 64-bit pointers due to 48-bit virtual addresses and 16-byte alignment—perfect for “tagged pointers.” x64/ARM support it, and real projects use it: V8 marks ints vs objects, Linux stores rbtree color, PBRT trims v-table overhead. Tags deliver more than space savings; they enable cache-local fast-path checks before dereferencing. For pointer-heavy game systems, it’s cheap, practical performance.
IP Growth & Monetization Playbooks 📈💼
Inside Outfit7’s Global Playbook for My Talking Tom Friends 2
Outfit7’s Ante Odić breaks down how sharper iteration and player feedback shaped My Talking Tom Friends 2’s deeper sandbox, guided progression, and new voice acting. Early wins—12M downloads and #1 in 39 countries—set the stage for a live-ops push with seasonal events, brand collabs, and a Roblox presence. Full localisation and culturally tuned content underpin global growth. The IP expands this year with a kid-safe, ad-free title and a 15th anniversary remaster.
Odeeo x Wondercraft: Faster, Localized Audio Ads With Full-Funnel ROI
Odeeo has partnered with Wondercraft to bring AI-generated, multilingual in-game audio ads that are created in minutes and don’t interrupt play. Publishers gain a non-intrusive monetization option, while marketers get personalization at scale and independent full-funnel measurement. Bolstered by Odeeo’s recent Claritas collaboration, brands can now unify performance across streaming, podcasts, and in-game channels and prove ROI more confidently.
Design Wins & Experimental Mechanics 🧪🏆
How Black Deck Became SayGames’ $30M Hybrid-Core Hit
Black Deck, a card battler from Core5 and SayGames, transformed from a niche bet into SayGames’ top IAP earner—$30M revenue and 6.8M installs. A pivot to an IAP-first, RAID-like meta, plus disciplined A/B testing, built strong LTV: Battle Pass (21%), Growth Fund (+10%), and revamped subscriptions (5%). Deeper systems—guild wars, artifacts, frequent live ops—boosted retention, while 1,500+ UA creatives nailed targeting. Result: 60%+ second-purchase rates and sustained growth.
Mind-Bending Portal Physics: Mirza Beig’s Next-Level Controller Experiments
Mirza Beig breaks down the math behind “legendary” controllers—think transforms, raycasts, and projections—and applies it to a portal-driven prototype. His demos enable grabbing, throwing, and placing objects through portals, plus wild “portal surfing.” A new update flips the player’s orientation on traversal for extra mind-bend. He’s also released a fresh glass shader for devs eager to dive deeper.