Martin Donald

Amazing news from Germany: after 25 years at Piranha Bytes, the creative force behind Gothic, Risen, and Elex, Björn Pankratz and Jennifer Pankratz have announced the formation of Pithead Studio. This decision comes after lengthy discussions and a desire to pursue a fresh start. The news follows a period of turbulence for Piranha Bytes. The studio, a German development powerhouse since 1997, was acquired by THQ Nordic in 2019. Recent financial struggles within the parent company, Embracer, led to studio closures and project cancellations. Despite a government grant in May 2023, Piranha Bytes' future remains unclear. Undeterred, the Pankratz duo is forging their own path. Pithead Studio, named after the exit shaft of a coal mine, symbolizes a return to their roots (the Ruhrpott region) and a fresh start. Pithead Studio plans to focus on creating "unique and immersive indie games." Fans can expect dark action adventures rich with story, horror, and RPG elements. Initially, the studio will collaborate with external partners, with publisher discussions still ongoing. With the official announcement and social media channels launching today, Pithead Studio is ready to take center stage. This is exciting news for RPG fans, as the Pankratz's experience promises a thrilling new journey into immersive worlds. Wishing Björn and Jennifer all the best for their new studio! (source: https://lnkd.in/e3dDSf8r and https://lnkd.in/ewHJjeBX)

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Awesome tips from Ori! Check em out and add some layers to yours 👇 #3danimation

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Increase Shelf Height Toolbox for Maya - Free Hotfix 5 Rick requested that we should have a button to automatically fit the shelf height to the number of icons on the shelf, so I've added that feature. A special thanks to my wife for helping me figure out the math to make this work. Unfortunately there's a bug you may encounter if Maya isn't full screen. You might find the fit height to icons button may miss the bottom row while trying to automatically scale the height of the shelf. If this happens just scale the window width a bit wider or skinier by a couple pixels and click the button again. There appears to be a rounding error in the Maya UI that I can't fix so occasionally the window size lands on what feels like half a pixel and messes up the script. Most of the time it will just work though. If you're not familiar with this tool, it allows you to adjust the height of the shelf if you have more than one row of icons in the shelf and want to see them without scrolling down. It also remembers the shelf height you set after Maya restart, which the default Maya shelf can't do. See below for full release notes. NEW FEATURES IN THIS RELEASE: -Toggle shelf tabs viability button -Fit shelf height to icons button -Fixed a bug where shelf tabs would always be shown after using any button in the toolbox -Moved and scaled increase/decrease buttons to be more intuitive -Updated help file HOW TO GET THE UPDATE: If you already own the Mega Script Pack, the Modeling Pack, or the single script, this will be a free update. To get the update first delete the shelf in Maya, then use the original e-mail download link you received from Gumroad to download the same file again. Load the shelf from the file you just downloaded to get the update. FOLLOW ME: Youtube www.youtube.com/malcolm341 Gumroad www.gumroad.com/malcolm341 Artstation https://lnkd.in/gM8pJ8x LinkedIn https://lnkd.in/grfGBtPq #maya3d #autodeskmaya #plugins #workflows #malcolm341 #melscript #tutorialvideos #tutorials #3dmodeling #3dartist #3dmodelling

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📢 An article was published dedicated to my speech at #GamesGathering In my opinion, the text is quite informative. Therefore, I can advise it anyone who wants to know how AI works in games. Including #AlanWake2 #gamedev #gamedesign #AI

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Back in May at Digital Dragons conference, I shared how our design approach shaped #PhantomLiberty expansion for #Cyberpunk2077. If you're interested in the process and some behind the scenes stories from the development, the talk is now on YouTube! https://lnkd.in/dD3PYeXA

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Complete Guide to 2:1 UV Mapping for Weapons and Elongated Models 🎨⚔️ Hey everyone! 👋 Today, I’ll show you how to work with UV mapping in the 2:1 format for 3D graphics. Ideal for texturing long, narrow objects like weapons. 💥🎯 Let’s go through the process step by step 🔍 1️⃣ First, in Rizom UV, I set the UV map to a 2:1 format (for example, 2048x4096) to make the most efficient use of the texture space. 2️⃣ Then, I exported the model to Blender, where I stretched the UV map to a square format (1:1). This is necessary for proper texture baking in the next steps. 3️⃣ After that, in Marmoset Toolbag, I baked the maps with a resolution of 2048x4096, maintaining the 2:1 aspect ratio. The resulting maps look great. 4️⃣ In the final step, in Substance Painter, I set up the textures for the 2:1 format and applied materials for preview. It’s important to note that for this format, we use a 1:2 mapping instead of the standard 1:1. 🎨⚙️ This method allows you to achieve high-quality textures for elongated objects and make optimal use of texture space. 🚀 Don’t forget to join my Discord server "Weapon group" : https://lnkd.in/dvTBS6pE My YouTube channel : https://lnkd.in/dcQqjQuz There, you’ll find videos on this topic in higher quality and many other interesting materials!" 📲👾 Special thanks: 🎶 Vadym Oholiuk – For the music 🔧 Klym Yatsenko – For the model #3DArt #3DModeling #UVMapping #Texturing #GameDev #RizomUV #Blender #MarmosetToolbag #SubstancePainter #3DGraphics #3DArtist #GameArt #WeaponDesign #TexturingWorkflow #UVMappingTutorial #DigitalArt #GameDesign #3DTexturing #CGArt #TechArt #AAA #GameAssets #WeaponArt #3DModelingTutorial #IndieGameDev #3DArtistCommunity

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Animation basics https://lnkd.in/dPGharu5

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Do you want to improve your VFX Skills? Here are 6 essential steps to get started today.

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The final 5 #nodevember materials! I had loads of fun working on these mini-projects every day and learned a few new things along the way! Taking part in Nodevember definitely helped push me to keep moving and not hyperfocus so much on tweaking tiny values and instead keep thinking of the bigger picture. #Nodevember2024 #substance3ddesigner

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We are underway with our next assignment, which is local split-screen multiplayer. I had thought there would be far more complex systems for creating a split-screen game, however, it turns out it is fairly easy when using the new input system with its built-in input manager. There was no need to set up any special coding for managing the two cameras separately, or a need to set up different render planes to render each camera to an individual render texture, just select the allow split-screen option and set up keys in the control map as joining actions. And enable the option to join the game via said actions. And then we have a split-screen multiplayer, well a very basic one, now we need to focus on the rest of the systems and mechanics that need to be added to the system. #srudentgamedev #indiegamedev #madewithunity

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In today's little bit of progress, we're working with a little bit of music and setting up some Enemy Animation Blueprints- just with patrolling and idling for the time being. These are called Agonized Hunters and probably for good reason. Lore is so fun to come up with, by the way. I suppose all the stories I started to write even as a kid should've been a grand sign towards my liking of storytelling, but I definitely know about it now. I thought it would be a nice touch for the light to turn red/add in some invincibility frames when the player comes in contact with them, as well as adding in a sliiiight distinction between the breakable platforms and the ones you can walk on regularly. On a semi-related note, something I only learned fairly recently: the Nav Mesh Bounds Volume in Unreal only registers traversable ground. That's why it's only the ground that turns green when you preview it and not the air that the volume may also be in contact with. If you're working with flying enemies you won't want to rely on those or the functions related to them (like GetRandomReachablePointInRadius and co.), since they will bring those flying guys right to the ground at best. You'll want to look into the Math function RandomPointInBoundingBox instead. ✨

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Effect breakdown: using post-process effects to make it rain with a strict performance budget.

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Check out this presentation by Arvind on how to setup #UE5 for Mobile. #UE5 is quite capable for Mobile and has many improvements over #UE4, and much more coming.

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For anyone completely new to #Houdini I recommend this intro course I just completed by Fraser Shiers at Hipflask. Core Fundamentals is a free, five hour long introduction to how Houdini works. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the tutorials!

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You may not hear this during interviews, but... CD PROJEKT RED is doing amazing things for education ↓ Discover how they're supporting Futuregames Warsaw : 1. Facility Use ↳ Why it's important: Futuregames Warsaw is using one of CDPR's facilities with great support. 2. Scholarships ↳ Why it's important: CDPR offered scholarships to the top five students to help more dreamers join the industry. 3. Lectures ↳ Why it's important: CDPR offers lectures to students done by their experts 4. Advisory Board ↳ Why it's important: One of CDPR's experts has joined the Futuregames Warsaw Advisory Board. 5. And More ↳ Why it's important: CDPR continues to find ways to support and grow the industry. Education is the only way to grow the industry. More studios should follow CDPR's example.

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In this video I'll expand on my recent 'Senior Vs Jr Quality' image, but also give an example of soft skills from a high level perspective and what you can do as a junior to start building them. https://lnkd.in/e7NJzdDk

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How to Design Difficulty in Puzzle Games Based on the Playliner research, here is a guide to designing difficulty: 1. Offer multiple difficulty tiers • Easy, Hard, Super Hard — with clear visuals to indicate the level. 2. Use attempts, not win rate, to tune difficulty • Low attempts (1–3) = Easy • High attempts (20–35) = Hard 3. Follow a recommended difficulty curve • Start easy (Levels 1–20) to build confidence • Add a hard spike (Levels 20–30) to create challenge • Introduce progressive increases and major paywalls after Level 50 4. Gradually introduce mechanics • Let players master core gameplay before adding complexity. 5. Reward wisely • Scale rewards with difficulty. Tougher levels should yield better prizes. 6. Test and iterate • Track completion rates. • Adjust blocker levels. • Fine-tune using player feedback. • Alternate between challenging and easier phases. Make the game feel “just challenged enough” to keep trying. Good puzzle design isn’t just about difficulty — it’s about balance. What’s your strategy for designing difficulty in games? ---- More mobile game references at: https://playliner.com

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