HTML5 Ports 💸, 18k NPCs 🧍, Epic anti-cheat 🛡️, N-Body Gravity 🌌
Business and Strategy 📈
Frost Giant’s Tim Morten: AI Is Inevitable—and Good for Game Dev
At Gamescom 2025, Frost Giant CEO Tim Morten argued generative AI should help teams ship bigger visions on tighter budgets—not replace jobs. Despite a survey showing developers increasingly skeptical of AI (only 13% positive), he says most studios already use it in some form. Frost Giant used genAI to animate Stormgate’s character portraits after testing with and without. Morten urges training models on in-house assets to respect IP and improve consistency as tools mature.
HTML5 Ports That Pay: How Two Mobile Games Hit 1M Plays
The web market is smaller than mobile but offers “almost effortless” user acquisition—and it’s growing fast. In a Playgama–StoreRider case study, two Android games were ported to HTML5, optimized for WebGL, localized, and shipped to MSN, Facebook, Yandex, VK, and more. The result: 1M+ sessions in three months, 20% D1 retention, and a #1 spot on MSN. If you’re ignoring web, you’re leaving money on the table.
Live Ops and PvP Retention 🎯
12 Years of Minion Rush: Live Ops, Unity, and Player-First Strategy
Minion Rush’s 12-year run and 1.2B downloads were built on a live product mindset, not just a famous IP. Gameloft leaned on disciplined live ops, fair monetization, and app store alignment to sustain trust and retention. A migration to Unity boosted visual fidelity and streamlined workflows for faster, safer iteration. Community-driven testing and feedback ensured meaningful evolution without losing the game’s core appeal.
Beating the Death Spiral: Mechabellum’s Playbook for Indie PvP
Mechabellum’s lead dev “Bearlike” explains how equal income, reborn units, and Go-inspired constraints curb RTS snowballing and keep matches fair. The chat covers low-latency Unity netcode, spreadsheet-driven tuning, and using win/pick rate signals to decide nerfs. Expect candid lessons on live-service risks—why one bad patch can sink an indie PvP game—and why starting with PvE or offline PvP might save your studio.
Engine Tech and UI 🔧
18,000 NPCs, 1–2 FPS Hit: Trakonius’ Crowd Tech
Animatolog breaks down how Trakonius renders 18,000 spectators using fully static lighting, precomputed AO, and contact shadows—no dynamic lights. Crowds are placed via Unreal’s Foliage tool and optimized with three LODs and Vertex Animation Textures, costing just 1–2 FPS on an RTX 2060. The gladiator roguelike features god-granted powers, weapon variety, and blacksmith upgrades. Watch the trailer and try the Steam demo.
From 2D Overlays to 3D UI: Unity 6.2 Tutorial
Unity expert Cam Ayres demonstrates how to build world-space UI with UI Toolkit in Unity 6.2. Design in UI Builder, organize reusable Style Classes, and add interactions with pseudo-classes like :hover. Then deploy the UI into your scene using a UI Document to turn flat overlays into interactive 3D menus. Perfect for in-game interfaces, AR overlays, and industrial dashboards.
Security and Simulation 🛰️
How Fortnite and 2K Use EOS to Fight Cheating and Toxicity
Recorded at Unreal Fest Orlando 2025, this session breaks down Epic Online Services’ Anti-Cheat, Sanctions, and Player Reports—and how to integrate them to protect your own games. See real implementations from Fortnite and hear 2K’s approach to combating bad actors using the same tools. You’ll learn what’s required to get started, how to wire up reporting and sanctions, and how EOS scales moderation across live titles.
Orbital Mechanics for Games: Algorithms, Anomalies, and Code
This deep dive bridges physics and implementation for game devs building space systems. It contrasts N-body gravity sims with Keplerian orbits, explains true/mean/eccentric anomalies, and shows how to convert from perifocal to world coordinates. You’ll get a step-by-step algorithm to predict positions, a Newton-method Kepler solver, and Unity/C# snippets. It even covers hyperbolic/parabolic trajectories, patched conics, and pitfalls like numerical drift.