what is a game hook - Braid visuals

What is a Game Hook? (2022)

With more than 600 hundred games released into the market every single day, being able to get the player attention and wanting them to player your game and no the remaining 599 ones, is key for game success. In the article we will help you understand What is a Game Hook and how you can define them to make your game unique to the eyes of the player.

Table of Contents What is a Game Hook

Introduction What is a Game Hook

When making games, there is a question that should always be on the top of your mind. Why do player buy games?

Probably to play them. But there are games on the player’s shelf that have probably never been played. But, on the other hand, most people buy games to play them and not to be a piece of decoration on shelves.

But why do they buy game A and not game B because it has a higher rating on the principal gaming medias? Or because it has a higher rating on YouTube channels?

Generally, these are the things that draw my attention to a game. But they are not factors that compel players to buy a specific game. Every game must have something special, something that makes it unique at the eyes of the player, something that people who are interested in games, or the games genre, will immediately understand and excited about. Something that makes them want to play the game, something memorable.

In game development, we call this a “hook.” A good hook can make the difference between a player buying the game or not. In this article, we will try to give you some insights on how to find a good hook and how to create one that is so mind-blowing that no one will ever forget your game.

So, what is a game hook?


Although we have somewhat already started to answer the question the previous paragraph, let’s start to refine a little bit more the topic before getting into more details.

A game hook is something new, something that makes your game unique. It’s something that makes your game stand out in a crowded board game market.
In marketing, this is called the unique selling proposition. Hooks are therefore used as a key element in marketing your game.
The goal is to get people interested in the game and get them to try it out. And we want to get that message across as quickly as possible.

In an elevator pitch, the hook is used to explain what’s special about your game. After all, a hook is an interesting difference between you and your competitors.
We will get into some more examples below, but let’s get one example quickly out of the way: The unique idea of Jonathan Blow’s game Braid is a very good example of a hook:

A game where you can rewind the game to try different approaches to overcome the game challenges.
What is a Game Hook – Jonathan Blow’s rewind mechanic


This is the kind of idea that sticks in the mind and triggers player’s interest.

Can you get away with something like this? Is it really possible to rewind game player?

Why does the game need a hook?


To make it stand out from the rest, to make people interested and compel them to buy the game.
No matter how good a game is, it cannot succeed if no one plays it. Therefore, games need something to promote them. This can be one of many things. It can be unique game mechanics, an original theme, or a novel presentation.

The most important thing is that the designer makes sure there is something in the game that makes the player stop and learn more. I look at many games every week, but only a few make it to the next stage where I take more time to get more information about them.

These games have a strong hook that suits my taste. The hook may not work for everyone, but it should work for the target audience.

Press and media to cover your game


If you want people to remember, talk and write about your game, you also need a hook.
If that hook is something that makes your game unique and can easily be presented in a few lines of text, an image or a short trailer, all the better.


A good hook is an element of the game that players, press and retailers will instantly recognize without much explanation.
Put yourself in the shoes of a game critic or journalist. Your goal is to capture the attention of your audience and generate many clicks and visitors.

To achieve this, it makes sense to offer provocative and prominent topics. It doesn’t necessarily have to be an exciting topic or an innovative business model. Sometimes it is enough to be something completely different.

Take, for example, the case of “exploding kittens.” The marketing message for this game is: A card game for people who like kittens, explosions, and laser beams. Normally these things don’t go together, but somehow the idea of exploding kittens resonates with people.


It keeps people coming back.


The hook is not only important to sell the game. It’s also important to get customers to become regular customers.

For many games, this can be broken down into two aspects: Progression and personalization. For me, these are the most important motivators to keep playing a game.
And these motivating elements are often part of a good hook.


How to create a hook for advertising to get people interested in your game.


One important point should be made clear up front. The hook is most important in the sales phase of the game, but it is not enough to solve the problem just then. Already during development, you need to think about how to make the game special. How to make it stand out.

1. Define your target audience


As mentioned earlier, the hook is only as good as the target audience. Therefore, it is very important that you first have an idea of the target audience you want to address in your game. The goal should be to combine the hook, the target and the target audience as closely as possible. If this expression makes sense. Give an example.

2. Identify the hook area


To find great hooks for a game, you have to be good at evaluating hooks. A good way to do this is to study the hooks from other successful games. That will allow you to get used to successful hooks and how they are defined/integrated within the boundaries of the game. Below is a list of areas where other games have provided excellent hooks.

New perspectives on theme and setting.

Darkest Dungeon looks at dungeon games from a different angle.

  • The design explores what it’s really like to spend all day in a terrifying dungeon, and how this affects the protagonist’s mental state.
  • The uniqueness of this hook comes from the game’s setting, but is also supported by the very good art, the narrator’s voice, and the soundtrack.


Special components of the game.

  • Minecraft merchandising ( Swords, Cubes, etc)
  • Figure and miniatures

New Mechanic

Angry Birds

  • board games,
  • comics,
  • Motion pictures
  • serie tvs,
  • and other games.


New Technology

  • Blockchain ( Exploding Kittens)
  • Promotion of new production methods ( Esports – Clash Of clans)

New distribution models

Pokemon

  • Boosting games from other consoles generations
  • Storylines developed in many expansions
  • card games
  • augmented reality Pokemon Go.

Overall Features

  • Art and Design. The box art, logo and cover image of a crowdfunding campaign are very important for the first impression; the Name of the game.
  • Narrative & IP, IP can be helpful. Some people are encouraged to buy just because it says Star Wars, Marvel or Lord of the Rings on the product. This is a tactic used by Fantasy Flight Games with great success.

3. Make it clear and digestible

The key to a good hook is that it’s simple and easily understood. A hook has to grab a person’s attention and to do that it has to have a clear and digestible message. As they say you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. Remember that your hook doesn’t have to explain much. Its role is not to educate but to tease. Its job is to make the potential player interested in learning more.

When describing your hook think about the experience it will create for your players

Again the Braid’s example of the game replay mechanic.

4. Check if you can create more than one hook:

Coming again to the Braid’s example, there is a second hook associated with the game that was the incredible look and feel based on classic paintings and that made the game some thing impressive to look at, as it was really very beautiful and poetic game.

What is a Game Hook - Jonathan Blow's painting visuales in Braid
What is a Game Hook – Jonathan Blow’s painting visuales in Braid

5. Be fast

Sometimes it is enough to be the first one in a certain genre that goes to market.

What are some tactics to hook users once they played your game


Progress:


People who feel they have made some progress toward a certain goal are more committed to achieving that goal.
⇒ The theory of fun – the Flow of Fun

What is a Game Hook – The flow of fun

Loss Aversion:


As human beings, we strive to avoid pain. If you somehow manage to transport this kind of progress and customization across multiple sessions, it can also create another feeling. The feeling of losing something when you would stop playing the game. All the things you’ve achieved so far.

That is called loss aversion. A very powerful emotion. Because people really don’t want to lose something they invested a lot of time and effort in.

Envy:


Envy is an emotion which occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession
Game Example: Some player skins that will appeal to all players with low skillset.

Scarcity:


Not all items are created equal! Create unique items and make sure that players understand the different rarity levels.


Example: Crowdfundings Campaigns, Random items that appears on a very low probability.

Some references

Some references that you can use to know more about game hooks.

Clark Tank DEEP DIVE | How to Make Video Game Hooks: Part 1.
What is a Game Hook – Clark Tank DEEP DIVE | How to Make Video Game Hooks: Part 1

Chapters: 0:00 Setup 0:30 Introduction 0:52 Breakdown 1:18 Definition of a Hook 1:49 Component Parts 2:59 Example of a Hooky Game 3:32 How to Know What is Desirable 5:17 Two Types of Hooks 7:23 Choosing Which Game to Make 7:53 Evaluating Player Testing 9:05 Closing Remarks

Clark Tank DEEP DIVE | How to Make Video Game Hooks: Part 2
What is a Game Hook – Clark Tank DEEP DIVE | How to Make Video Game Hooks: Part 2

Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:19 Breakdown 0:39 How to Use a Hook 2:18 Hooks and Anchors 2:49 Anchor Example 4:20 How to Generate Hooky Game Ideas 4:38 Mashups 6:48 Evaluating Genre Overlap 7:49 Genre Twisting 9:05 Closing Remarks

Finding you game’s “hook” and more marketing tips

Not visible from here, you have to go to youtube.
What is a Game Hook – Finding you game’s “hook” and more marketing tips

51 Game Design Tips! 
What is a Game Hook – 51 Game Design Tips! 

Conclusion

The hook isn’t specifically a bit of text or an advertising claim, it’s just the special thing about your game that people remember.

black and white dartboard

Keys to indie game success: how to choose the right design

What do successful indie games have in common and how can developers choose a more successful design? In this article we will discuss some of the Keys to indie game success that any indie game developer can try as an overall strategy.

Keys to indie game success

The difficulty of getting visibility

In this industry, it’s hard to succeed without learning from others. But who should you learn from? We believe that the smartest thing to do is to learn from successful developers. Successful developers are less likely to attribute their success to luck every time they develop a new game. Only a small percentage of indie games break even. So what are the odds that developers like Jamie Cheng, Edmund McMillen, and Cliff Harris have multiple successful games? The likelihood of this being the case is probably low. There must be something other than luck involved here. So maybe it is these people (and many others) that you should research and listen to.

Keys to indie game success - Indie game developer
Keys to indie game success – Indie game developer- Photo by Darlene Alderson on Pexels.com

Just because someone has been successful many times doesn’t mean they know why. There may be something hidden in the person’s game process that is affecting their game. Study their game and look for patterns, but always take anything written, including this article, with a grain of salt. Regardless of who the author is.

When Good is just not enough.


The methods used by many beginners generally lead to a “good game.” It is common to look at a successful “Game X”, see all the possible mistakes, and decide to “Game X, but BETTER!” or “Game X, but IN SPACE!”. Some are also try the ideas arithemetics, if “Game X” is great and “Game Y” is fantastic, then if I do “Game X + Y” then the game will double in fun and attraction. This a dangerous approach where most of the game developers we know have somewhat fallen into. Don’t fall yourself into it.

To increase your chances of success, you need to make your game stand out. But how? Here’s how I go about developing a game.

  • Assess the quantity and quality of the game’s “hooks.”
  • Evaluate the marketability of similar games.
  • Consider how to describe and promote the game.

Each of these elements is explained below in the next sections.

Keys to indie game success - Game Player
Keys to indie game success – Game Player – Photo by Matilda Wormwood on Pexels.com

Game Hooks

Any game needs a hook – you want people to remember your game, talk about your game, write about your game, etc. For this to happen, you need to think of particular aspects of your game that can catch the attention of the player.

What is a gaming hook?

There isn´t a single definition but rather a group of different possibilities that have been used by game developers:

  • A hook is something new, something that makes your game unique.
  • It’s something that makes your game stand out in a crowded board game market.
  • In marketing, this is called the unique selling proposition.
  • Hooks are therefore used as a key element in marketing your game.
  • The goal is to get people interested in the game and get them to try it out.
  • And we want to get that message across as quickly as possible.
  • With an elevator pitch, the hook is used to explain what is special about your game.
  • After all, the hook is the interesting difference between you and your competitors.

In games, the hooks are often effective before the game is played. Hangers are interesting information that makes you want to try the game or talk about it.

For example, the game “Crypt of the Necrodancer” was able to become a hook due to the term “roguelike rhythm game” as it sounds so unlikely or crazy that it immediately grabbed people’s attention; A lot of people thought , “A roguelike that’s a rhythm game?” What an interesting Idea, I should try it!”
The game has other different set of game hooks, like:

  • The excellent music composition by a well-known composer. It has a soundtrack. Star power is the hook.
  • The graphics are pixelated, yet unique. Skeletons dancing and wiggling their hips are often commented on.
  • At conventions you have another hook – you can a lot of people trying to dance the game characters moves.


The more hooks you have and the more attractive each hook is, the more likely you are to catch player’s interest. It is therefore advisable to wait for a design that stands out on as many axes as possible. Ideally, every aspect of the project should be unique and attractive in some way. Gameplay, graphics, audio, name, story, development team, everything.

So the question that you should be trying to answer for your own game should be, What’s your hook like?

To answer it, you need to review all the different elements in your game and try to answer the question “how strong is this hook?” The more you will do this exercise the better you will become in defining the correct hooks for your game. If your game is still far from allowing this exercise then, you can practice by analyzing the hook of a newly launched game’s and following the subsequent sales results to check if your instincts were correct, and you’ll get a feel for it.

Market Analysis

When game developers hears or reads the word market or marketing, they usually become very stressed out. But, no need to panic. Market analysis doesn’t have to be a nightmare! It’s all about playing games in the genre you like and think about who will probably playing them and for what reasons.

Keys to indie game success - Marketing
Keys to indie game success – Marketing Analytics – Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com

Here is a simple checklist that we will apply in our games and maximize your Keys to indie game success:

  1. Find 10-20 games that you think are most similar to your game. Even though it’s hard to find similar games, you can look at the “most similar” games. Play them all, examine their hooks, and look at their sales results. Importantly, include games that don’t sell well. Try to get a feel for these games and come up with an explanation for why each game sold or didn’t sell. If you don’t have confidence in explaining why your game was a success or why it wasn’t, then you don’t have confidence in your game’s potential. If so, you may need to practice analyzing your hooks.
  2. Look at the size and composition of the market. Are there enough fans for these types of games to generate the sales numbers needed to survive? Are the top-selling games generating sufficient revenue? If not, you could be in trouble, or you could get lucky and be the first to popularize the genre or discover a new one – that’s how mega-hits are created, but don’t count on that happening to you.
  3. Analyze the kind of competition you would be up against. Sure, the MOBA market is huge, but do you really want to take users away from LoL or DOTA? To beat the giants, you would have to offer a very good gaming experience, one that you would be willing to abandon your friends who play LoL or DOTA for. Do you think it is within your reach? In contrast, there are many genres of indie games where individual games are played for 5-20 hours and then players move on. If you can provide a unique new experience in a genre they like, maybe that player will move on to your next game.

Entering the monogamous gambling market can be dangerous. It’s much safer to court monogamous players who love numerous games. So be wise in the taking the decision about the type of game you will be trying to make.

Keys to indie game success - Sales Perfomance
Keys to indie game success – Sales Performance – Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

Calculating Sales performances

When analyzing a game’s sales performance (via SteamSpy, for example), don’t simply multiply the number of owners by the game’s price to estimate total sales.

If a game has been on sale for some time, there is always a significant discount somewhere, and it may even be offered in a somekind of bundle that will distort the sales volume. Do your homework, Google and sites like steamdb.info can tell you how much a game has bee discounted and if it was included in bundles.

Take these factors into consideration when creating your offer.

If the market is big and there are a lot of players, you may be able to make a profit even if the hook is weak.

Promotion

Most game developers hate game promotion!” And most of them will say: “I want to make games, not sell them.” But if game design and advertising were compatible, the difficulty would be greatly reduced.

If you have a game with a hook, you have to think about how to communicate to your players that hook in the trailer or in the digital store text. If the game’s hook is not conveyed well in either of them, then you are basically only relying on people to play the game, experience the hook, and spread the word about the game through their own enthusiasm and delegating that capacity to your players. If they are unable to experience the game’s hook then the game won’t spread and you find yourself facing a failure.

The industry’s biggest hits certainly spread by word of mouth because they are probably coming from very well know indies, or because they a very powerful ( and invisible) marketing campaign, but for the real game developer, it’s unwise to base your promotional strategy on indie hits virality.

The importance of festivals, awards, and the press is often downplayed by developers these days. I disagree. Sure, the awards and reviews themselves aren’t an important factor in sales, but many people need to hear about your game from a variety of sources before they watch a trailer or buy your game. Quotes from praise and reviews are also very useful to use on store pages and trailers. They can give viewers the impression that the game will be well received. If the movie has all those awards and great reviews, I might as well watch the whole trailer. And you can show a great hook while making the viewer feel good.

Game Trailers

Speaking of trailers: After the main game itself, trailers are the most important tool. Don’t put off planning your trailer until the last minute. Trailers are important and should be given enough time and attention. Don’t let the trailer become an afterthought after you’ve struggled to get to launch.

When you release your game on Steam or consoles, your trailer will be the first thing people see. If you do a poor job of communicating how great your game is, it will hurt your sales. If your trailer doesn’t communicate, it doesn’t matter how great your game is. Here are a few things you can do when planning for a good trailer.

  • Start early. When you’re creating a design for your game, think about what kind of trailer it could be. If you can’t think of an effective way to express the hook of that design in a trailer, it may not be the right design.
  • Keep it short We see a lot of indie trailers that are longer than two minutes. They should show the most exciting and thrilling parts of the game as quickly as possible and then stop. Preferably less than a minute. If the excitement wears off, people may stop watching. You don’t have to show them all the features of the game. You don’t have to show them all the features of the game! Show them some great things and then stop to make them want to know more.
  • Take Action People don’t want to see your company logo. They want to learn about the game. If you want to include your logo, IMO you should do it last.
  • It’s wise to show quotes from reviews and praise at the beginning, so viewers know they should pay attention to this trailer. But even then, keep it to a few seconds. The worst trailers are those that bore the viewer and make them stop watching.
  • Also, think carefully about the music. In general, players want to be energized, not put to sleep. (Unless you have a clever plan with slow music).
  • Be creative. As a game developer, you must be a creative person, right? Use that creativity to design a unique pendant with your own hang tag.
  • Hire a professional. Trailers are important to sell your game, so it makes sense to hire someone who can really make your trailer shine.

The value of ideas

They say game ideas are a dime a dozen. It’s true, most ideas are a dime a dozen, but what if you had a design that

  • Has a great hook.
  • Has marketability.
  • Is easy to promote.
  • Is something you’re excited about; and
  • You have the skills and resources to create it.


If you do, you’ll have something that might have some potential. Always remember, the hardest part is not only developing the game but also getting it right. Being a talented game developer is certainly a prerequisite for success, but it’s not enough.

The general rule of thumb, says that 80% of the game development process is set in the 20% of the game production process. Off course, coming up with a design idea that meets all of the criteria is difficult but we you have to be able to make it excellent. Because if not, the other other rule of thumb is that 99% of the time you will fail. In the indie world, the technical barriers have been disappearing and more and more games are being released every day, which makes it no longer a technical competition, but rather a creative competition.

Some general recommendations


Be honest with yourself when evaluating your hooks and comparing them to other games’ designs – is your core concept as appealing as Shovel Knight, Braid, Darkest Dungeon’s, or as brilliant as Hyper Light Drifter? Is there art, music, and atmosphere there?

Games like these are a good benchmark and can help you put your own designs in perspective. Of course, you don’t have to be as good or better than these games, but if your own designs resemble them, it would be wise to return to the starting point.

It is very important to analyze the viability of an idea before starting to develop a game. To some people, this method may seem tactless or lead to a “soulless” game.

But this method doesn’t mean that you will be making games that you don’t want to make. But rather make games that you will like to make and that will be profitable. The key to indie game success is blending your passion on making games with making sure that the games will be attractive and discoverable by players. If you are able to blend both perspectives, then you will be able to be in top 1% of successful game developers and leverage your capacity to make great games for years to come. If not, then you will be probably ending up in the great cementerry of indie game developers.

This is only a view and it doesn’t mean that it is 100% correct, there are many people in the world who create 100% of what they love without worrying about profitability and marketability, and they deserve all the respect.

But, if you want to rule out from the equation the luck factor, then you shouldn’t start developing games until you are sure that the design meets all the above discussed criterias.

Developing a game takes a lot of energy, time and money. If you choose the wrong idea, a lot of these critical resources will be wasted and will get you probably dead as a game developer.It is far less costly to wait another month while you search for new ideas and inspiration that will match your passion and your reason as to make sure that you have the most possibilities to have a great and profitable game..

3D+ Pandora Games Arcade Game Console - 8000 Games Installed, WiFi Function to Add More Games, Support 3D Games, Search/Save/Hide/Pause Games, 1280x720P, Favorite List, 4 Players Online Game

3D+ Pandora Games Arcade Game Console – 8000 Games Installed, WiFi Function to Add More Games, Support 3D Games, Search/Save/Hide/Pause Games, 1280x720P, Favorite List, 4 Players Online Game

Price: $259.99 - $229.99
(as of Apr 10,2022 14:55:24 UTC – Details)

Product Description

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Resolution 1280x720P HD graphics. Fully compatible with all HD TV/Monitor screens and Projectors. Pause Games Stop or start games whenever. Save/Read 2D game You can save the 2D game you are playing at any time, and you can continue playing next time (Some 3D games are not supported). Hide Games Avoid kids playing inappropriately games. Search Games Quickly find the game you want to play, English/Japanese/Spanish search by first letter. Korean search by radical. Chinese search by pinyin. Image Enhancement Users can select [HD] / [Scan Line] / [Normal] and other image quality according to their individual needs. Favorite List Go to Setting Page > Enter Game Setting > Edit Favorite List > Select Game to Favorite or Unfavorite. WIFI Function Upgraded 1. Press Setting Button (near to USB port); 2. Choose “WiFi” option, connect your home wifi name and password; 3. Then back to choose “Enter game market“ to download extra 2d /3d games from the machine itself. Multiplayers Game Online Buy 2 gamepad and USB hub (connect to the bottom USB port) to enjoy 3/4 people to play at the same time; Or buy 2 same game box to enjoy 3-4 players games. Customizable Buttons Adjust the definition / order of the buttons for whatever they want. Language Mode English/Japanese/Korean/Spanish/Simplified Chinese/Traditional Chinese are supported. Multi Emulators MAME/FC/SFC/PCE/GBA/GBC/MD/PSP/PS/N64/DC/WSC/FB A 13 emulators supported. Compatibility TV/PC/Screen/Monitor/Projector/PS3 Need Game List Please click on “HAAMIIQII Direct”; then “Ask a question” for full game list of 3D+ Pandora Games. Game System 3D+ Pandora Games with wifi function Game Quantites 250*3D Games + 7750*2D Games = 8000 Games

WIFI Function to Add More Games

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1. Go to SETTING page (near to USB port).

2. Click on “WIFI” option, connect to your home wifi with password;

3. Click on “Enter game market” option, then you can choose “CHART”or “CATEGORY” or “SEARCH” to download more 2D/3D games.

4. There are 1.2G big enough capacity for you to download games.

5. If not enough big capacity for use, you can buy a new bigger USB drive to download, please see the below steps how to store the games.

(1) 3D game extension steps:

>1. Prepare an empty USB drive and choose your own size according to the game size.

>2. Create a new folder with the name [games] in the USB drive root directory; games directory, create a new folder with the name [download].

*For PSP and N64 etc emulator: For example, in USB drive Bomberman, the full path should be: games>download>Bomberman.iso

*For PS emulator: For example, in USB drive 5000029, the full path should be: games>download>5000029.img

(2) 2D Game Expansion Steps:

>1. Prepare an empty USB drive and choose your own size according to the game size.

>2. Create a new folder with the name [games] in the USB drive root directory; games directory, create a new folder with the name [download].

For example, in USB drive Super Mario World, the full path should be: games>download>Super Mario World.zip

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HAAMIIQII arcade console is a nice entertainment gift (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day, Birthday, Father’s Day), for your kids, friends, husband, it will be an unexpected surprise!Plug and Play: 3D+ Pandora Games connect to the HD TV to play games.About Game Language: 3D+ Pandora Games not only sells to United States, but also sells to other countries, so we collect global retro arcade games from differnt countries’ languages.About Game Duplication: Some games are upgraded/extended version, or different regional versions, or some games are different emulators, you can ask for full game list before purchase, please understand.If you need any technical support, please click on “HAAMIIQII Direct”, then “Ask a question”, please give us a chance to make things right for you, thank you so much!

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Multi-type Games

HAAMIIQII 3D+ Pandora Games includes several game types such as fighting games, action games, shooting gaems, racing games, sports games, and puzzles games.

Wide Compatibility

Console output is compatible with HD TVs, Monitors, Projectors, etc via HDMI and VGA.

USB connectivity to PCs, laptops, and other devices/PS3 controllers.

1280×720 HD Video

Fully compatible with all HD TV/Monitor screens and Projectors.

720P HD via HDMI or VGA: video resolution is 50% greater vertically and nearly 80% greater horizontally than previous 600P Game Box versions.

Support to Play 4 Players Games

Buy two gamepad and extra USB hub, you can enjoy playing 3-4 players games, or you can buy 2 same game box to enoy 3-4 players games, please send message to ask how to connect them.

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Save & Search Games

Search Games:

Search games by first English letter, you can easily find out a game to play.

Save Games:

When you pause games, you can press “Save File” option, the games will be saved; Press “Read File” option, you can continue to play next time.

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Do you remeber when you were a kid and used to go to the arcades?

Buy HAAMIIQII arcade console includes lots of 80s and 90s arcade games, brings back the happy memories of joystick gaming with friends.

Endless Entertainment

Endless amounts of fun!

It is a good chance to have a game party with your kids or friends.

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Plug and Play:

3D+ Pandora Games connect to the HD TV to play games.

About Game Language:

3D+ Pandora Games not only sells to United States, but also sells to other countries, so we collect global retro arcade games from differnt countries’ languages.

About Game Duplication:

Some games are upgraded/extended version, or different regional versions, or some games are different emulators, please understand.

Package Content

1 x 3D+ Pandora Games Arcade Game Console

1 x 12 Volt AC Adapter

1 x 3m VGA Cable

1 x 3m HDMI Cable

1 x 3m USB 2.0 Cable

2 x 30mm replacement control buttons (extras)

1 x User’s Manual

[8000 Games in 1]: HAAMIIQII 3D+ Pandora Game has 7750 classic retro 2D arcade games and 250 3D games. If you need game list, please Click on “HAAMIIQII Direct”, then “Ask a question”, thank you.
[GREATEST 3D SYSTEM]: Upgraded Wifi Function to download additional 2d or 3d games; Search Games with the first English Letter; Save/Read 2D Games; Pause Games; Hide Games; Favorite List; Multiplayers Game Online; Customizable Buttons; Game Classification; One Key Switch Language; Image Enhancement; Game Setting etc. This Game Box is more functional than any other game box in the market.
[PLUG AND PLAY]: Only connect to HD TV/Monitor screens and Projectors (1280×720 resolution supported), you can enjoy playing games with your family or friends. Built in to our greatest Retro Arcade Console, this advanced technology delivers an amazing, high quality video and audio experience.
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web3 game development

What is web3 game development?

Web3 not only creates a whole new kind of game, but in creating new opportunities and new business models. In this article we will introduce you to web3 game development.

Web3 and gaming

Web3Games (GameFi) has transformed the crypto world and is responsible for 49% of blockchain usage in the industry. By 2021, more than 1.4 million active wallets will interact with blockchain games, and venture capitalists have invested more than $4 billion in GameFi. Below is a summary of the findings.

The growth of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) over the past year has accelerated GameFi’s development: In 2021, revenue from game with support for NFTs exceedeed USD 4.5 billion, representing 20% of total NFT revenue in 2021 Much of thisdriven by the rapid growth of P2E (play-to-earn) tokens, and in one particular game, Axie Infinity, that was the inspiration for many others.

The rise of Web3 is changing the entire gaming landscape, introducing , not only and non-fungible tokens (NFT) , but also new and innovative ways to play and new technologies as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, .

But what is Web3’s biggest impact on this new world of gaming? It democratizes many aspects of gaming and offers players entirely new ways to succeed. We’ve never seen a model like this, where players are given a lot of power and that power can be leveraged across many games in the ecosystem, rather than concentrated in a single game.

web3 game development
web3 game development – NFT Character sets

What is Web3?

How Web3 creates a successful environment for gamers before …. . what exactly is Web3?

Web 3 stands for Web 3.0 and encompasses a new idea of a version of the Internet that operates in a decentralized, quasi-anonymous source. Instead of all the power being in the hands of giant technology companies, it is distributed among users.

Web 3, as its name implies, follows Web 1 and Web 2, and let’s look at the key features of each stage of development.

  • Web1: the prototype of the World Wide Web, which was based on open source and open standards;
  • Web2: which focused on user-generated content and ushered in the era of blogs, wikis and social networks;
  • Web3: the new Web3 is not just an information exchange, but a value exchange model characterized by self-reliance and the massive decentralization of the Internet.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get back to the game.

Self-reliance and interoperability

The biggest opportunities for players in the Web3 metaverse come from the ability to realize true ownership and interoperability in the game, which is enabled by blockchain and NFTs.

NFTs are the new face of Web3 gaming, and their popularity has grown exponentially recently because NFTs offer something that previous gaming models could not – the ability to truly own almost any type of unique asset and item in the game.

In traditional games, players buy game-specific goods. But what happens when that player moves on to another game? The item or multiple items they purchased all go down the drain. Have you ever experienced such a situation? This is how countless game items are wasted in the virtual world.

Web3 Games has the perfect solution to this problem: interoperability. Players no longer have to lose money on these items as they can be moved between multiple games. Players can now freely switch between multiple games, giving them more control and freedom.

And if a player doesn’t want to take the item with them or no longer has a use for it, they don’t have to worry. In-game NFTs can be used as an investment rather than a one-time purchase.

Merging with the past

Every player has a title that they are drawn to. It may be a game they are good at, or a game they played as a child, for a variety of reasons. Games are personal. It would be tragic to throw away all the existing titles that have entertained generations.

Fortunately, the Web3 ecosystem listens to gamers and enables the transition by moving existing titles to a new in-game commerce model. Imagine if all your favorite games expanded into the metaverse. Web3 not only creates an entirely new type of game, but also enables integration with games from the past.

Player-centric games

The new capabilities offered by Web3 allow gamers to find an ecosystem that fits them as well as Big Tech. In particular, there are many new opportunities to earn and win through the ecosystem’s promise of digital assets and interoperability. It also makes room for the past, rather than wiping it away, and strikes the right balance between the familiar and the new.

In the Web3 environment, the role of games will be to return true decentralization and power to the player

web3 game development
web3 game development

What is web3 technology?

Web3 is the next-generation Internet based on blockchain technology. Compared to the previous Internet known as Web2 or Web2.0, where data and content were in the hands of a few companies known as “big tech,” Web3 gives end users more options and decentralizes control.

The future of gaming will be shaped by Web3, it is the next evolution, just as mobile and free-to-play were paradigm shifts for gaming. Players today are familiar with in-app purchases in battle royale games like BGMI, but they have no value beyond the scope of the game. This is where crypto gaming helps changing the concept and allow the player to take part in the game’s economy.

What are WEB3 games?

We could say that Web3 games are games that use the web3 protocol and blockchain technology. They are mainly games of chance, but there are also games of skill.

History of WEB3 games

Web3 games are a relatively new genre of video games that utilize the capabilities of the web 3.0 platform. These games allow players to interact with each other and digital assets using blockchain technology. However, this is only one aspect of what makes these games so unique.

One of the most important features of these games is that they can be played using any device or browser. This makes them perfect for mobile platforms as well as desktop computers. Additionally, many game developers are working on creating versions of their games that can be played on virtual reality headsets.

Because these games rely on web 3.0 platform, developers have been able to create very intricate and engaging storylines. As a result, players are often drawn into the world of these games and become invested in its characters and plotlines.

How WEB3 games work

Web3 games are a type of online game that uses a blockchain decentralized networks (like  Ethereum , BSC , Polygon, Avalanche and others) as their platform.

One of the most popular web3 games is CryptoKitties. CryptoKitties is an online game that uses the Ethereum blockchain to store and manage the digital assets of the players. Players can buy, sell, and trade CryptoKitties with each other, and they can also earn rewards by playing the game.

CryptoKitties was created by Jeremy Liew, a venture capitalist and entrepreneur who is also the co-founder of BitAngels, a venture capital firm that invests in bitcoin and cryptocurrency companies. Jeremy Liew is also a member of The Bitcoin Foundation, which is an organization that promotes bitcoin technology.

web3 game development
web3 game development – Blockchain technology is at the center of Web3

Advantages of WEB3 games

WEB3 games are gaining popularity because of their advantages. They use the power of web3 and blockchain to create innovative gaming experiences. Here are a few reasons why they are popular:

  • Secure: All game data is stored on the blockchain, which ensures that games are tamper-proof.
  • Transparent: Players can see all game transactions and data on the blockchain. This makes cheating virtually impossible.
  • Rewarding: Players can earn tokens and other rewards for playing games. These tokens can then be used to purchase in-game items or services.
  • Interactive: Games often feature complex mechanics that require players to make decisions quickly. This makes them challenging and fun.

Disadvantages of WEB3 games

Web3 game platforms are becoming increasingly popular as a means of creating and playing games. However, there are some disadvantages that should be considered before using web3 game platforms.

First, web3 game platforms are not as widely supported as traditional gaming platforms. This means that not all devices can be used to play games on these platforms, and some games may not be available at all. Second, because blockchain technology is used in these games, players must have an understanding of blockchain concepts in order to participate.

Finally, crypto-based economies may present risks for players who do not understand the risks involved.

Five criteria to evaluate the potential of Web3 games

Here are five criteria we propose to evaluate the long-term potential of Web3 games.

1. The nature of the game world.

Factors to consider.

How rich is the game world? Quality of graphics and animation, interesting story Is the game entertaining even without making money? Although subjective, it is important to ask about “fun,” and this applies to both the game and the money-making strategies. It’s not an absolute requirement, but it’s definitely a plus in terms of user retention. There are many options for newcomers to the Web3 game mechanism. Defi Kingdoms, for example, has been praised for simplifying difficult cryptographic concepts through gamification.

Why is this important?

Originally, the blockchain gaming ecosystem consisted mainly of MMOs, RPGs, card games, and strategy games with simple gameplay and graphics. However, game developers are now experimenting with more graphically elaborate and complex game mechanics, and the upcoming Star Atlas is a good example of a game that will make some jaws drop.

By offering a richer experience, Web3 games that previously targeted the crypto-savvy will likely become more appealing to the “traditional” gaming community and increase sales.

Speculation is a legitimate part of the business, but creating meaningful engagement, particularly through the ability to co-create game assets and worlds, will be key to reaching the mass market. When it comes to blockchain-enabled UGC, native Web3 studios have a technological advantage over their predecessors, and this should be leveraged to the fullest.

2. Business Model.

Factors to consider.

Is there an F2P element? Can this game be purchased right now? This has a direct impact on the mass market potential of the game. Revenue streams: Does the game combine multiple revenue streams? As a rule of thumb, the more, the less risk to the overall model. Token: Does the game have truly smart tokenomics that are interoperable in the real world and in other games? How has the value of tokens evolved so far? Are there luxury NFTs that are collectible and can be used in the game, or are they derivative jpgs? And what is their utility? Partnerships: High-profile partnerships can maximize brand awareness and appeal and enhance the reputation of native tokens. Merchandise (physical/digital): do studios partner with major brands and designs, especially for merchandise? Advertising: if present, is it tastefully integrated into the game or could it be distracting to players? Markets: are there marketplaces for acquiring assets inside and outside the game? Maintaining the value of digital assets purchased/acquired as part of the game mechanics: how much can players lose?

Why this is important.

There are many hurdles to entry into Web3 gaming, such as obtaining cryptocurrencies, creating wallets, paying gas bills, etc. Not to mention the general information asymmetry associated with the blockchain. This is not to say that “free-to-play” is always the way to go, but the higher the cost of entry for players, the harder it is to democratize Web3 games. An expensive purchase should be justified.

The sustainability of a Web3 game is based on a) accessibility and attractiveness, which determine how quickly the player base grows, b) meaningful content inside and outside the game, and c) strong partnerships. Multiple revenue streams make the project more stable and serve as a safety net in case one of the revenue streams fails.

3. Quality of the Team.

Factors to consider.

Is the team publicly available (doxed)? This is not always the case in the crypto sector. What is the size of the team? The size of the team should be proportionate to its ambitions and the scope of its roadmap (see #4 for more details). Do key members have relevant backgrounds? You need the best and brightest from a range of disciplines, including product development, games (especially top-tier studios), finance, crypto/tokenomics experts, marketing, and community building.

Why it matters.

This is about analyzing how well equipped the team is to execute the larger vision. This is similar in logic to assessing the core team of a startup by looking at the background of the founders and their complementarities.

Why this is important.

The point here is to analyze how well equipped the team is to implement the larger vision. This is similar in logic to evaluating the core team of a startup, looking at the background of the founders and the complementarity between them. However, the chief economist is a key asset for Web3D because of the additional need for expertise in conversational economics. A key member with experience in the games industry is also a great asset, especially for a studio that wants to reach a broader target audience.

4. Funding and roadmap.

Factors to consider.

Previous funding: Have you raised significant dollar/cryptocurrency amounts through venture capital (or otherwise) to realize your dream? Quality of venture capitalists: are they backed by Sequoia, a16z, etc.? Financial stability: is the game profitable in terms of business model, with multiple revenue streams and minimal risk? Or is there no funding and no corporate support? Ambitious + realistic roadmap: Is it visionary and ambitious or is there no roadmap? How detailed is the action plan? Frequency of updates: Does the project communicate regularly and transparently about all of the above?

Why this is important.

Ambitious projects with detailed roadmaps are encouraging. However, you need solid financial information to back them up. Studios with solid financials will want to promote them publicly – if they have any. Note: Many projects have big names on their websites, but may not yet have established specific partnerships with future significance. They may have simply used their platform to complete the project and then repurposed it as a marketing tactic.

As mentioned earlier, the same is not necessarily true for Web3 projects when it comes to funding. Some are basically avoiding traditional venture capital structures, opting instead for alternative and more community-driven methods.

5. Community

Factors to consider.

Social media following and engagement: is there a safe, active, and organically growing Telegram/Discord/Twitter community? Are they patchy? Do they exist? Project DAO: If there is a DAO, is it an active and intelligent DAO? If so, is it enabling progress on its roadmap? Or is it slowing down and becoming a distraction?

Why this is important.

Games with strong communities have an advantage over other games. Ideologically, the Web3 is all about communities, and social media is where those communities meet. A strong social media presence is an indicator of the potential to sustain hype and increase a project’s reach.

Telegram, Discord, and Twitter (also known as Crypto/NFT Twitter) have become the epicenter of web3life; other social media channels such as TikTok, Instagram, Twitch, and YouTube have been a source of inspiration for the project and its community. As a beacon of connection, DAOs will play a central role in fulfilling web3’s promise to create a truly decentralized and thriving community. Therefore, those who do it must do it right.

Frameworks and game engines available

Here are some frameworks and engnes that you can use to start making games for the web3.

https://www.game3js.com/

https://github.com/Nethereum

https://moralis.io/metaverse/

Conclusion

WEB3 games are an innovative new way to play video games. They offer a more immersive and social experience than traditional video games. WEB3 games are still in development, but they are sure to revolutionize the gaming industry and could be a good opportunity for game developers wanting to differentiate its portfolio of projects and looking into something that become the mainline of games for years to come.

Do you have questions or doubts? What do you think about this concept? Why don´t you leave your opinion on our comments? For more articles check our blog.

Retro Effect Tutorial with Unity Shader Graph

Unity Shader Graph – Retro Effect Tutorial

Table of contents

Unity Shader Graph – Retro Effect Tutorial

Now you can easily add a Retro feeling to your game with this cool Shader Graph and Render Feature combination.

With a few Post-Processing effects on top and that’s it you got yourself a CRT / Old TV feeling.

Retro Effect Tutorial with Unity Tutorial chapters

00:42 Intro

00:42 Pixelated Camera

03:03 Cyan Blit Render Feature

04:21 Retro Shader – Scanning Lines

10:08 Retro Shader – Adding Noise n Color

12:45 Post-Processing Effects

13:22 End Result

RETRO PROJECT FILES:

https://www.patreon.com/posts/unity-s…

OR HERE:

https://www.gabrielaguiarprod.com/pro… ————————-

Retro Effect Tutorial with Unity Shader Graph video

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reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game

13 reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game ( First or Next)

One of the main problems when starting game development is the learning curve that the overall takes. Not only from a point of view of the technology but the view of the experience/feeling/sensibility required to make a game that is fun to play. In this article, we will be looking at 13 reasons to use DEVELOP in your game ( First or Next).

Although both points seem unrelated, the truth is that they are, and you cannot gain experience in making fun and pleasant games, without having the ability to master a tool that allows you to make quickly games without compromising on the quality and the features of the game.

When you think about beginner game engines, you usually think about tools like scratch, which are very easy to take on, but that limits you in the complexity and quality of the games that you can develop.

Develop is a solution that allows you to start quickly developing your games, but that won´t limit your capacity to make great games and will enable knowledge and complexity of the game to go hand in hand, to a point where professional games could be done.

So, here are 13 reasons why you should use GDevelop for your next game, or to make your first game in case you are beginning.

13 reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Table of Contents

1.  Gdevelop is open source

GDevelop is a free and open-source, cross-platform 2D game development tool designed to be used by anyone, GDevelop is a general-purpose, and the game engine is powerful enough for any 2D game.

The bases of the project are one of the first versions of the Construct 2 source code which was released at the beginning of the game engine life cycle, and from then has grown into a full-blown game engine that shares some similarities with its parent, but that has also major differences.

reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Lil BUB’s HELLO EARTH, a retro, 8-bit game made with GDevelop

2.  Gdevelop is easy to learn.

reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game
reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – GDEVELOP is easy to learn for all ages

Gdevelop is very easy to learn and doesn’t require any programming knowledge. The paradigm that lies behind the pair condition-action is very easy to understand and to start applying to making the games, but, at the same time is powerful and won´t limit the capacity and creativity of the development team.

You can create any kind of game: platformers, puzzles, shoot ’em up, strategy, 8-bit games, or just about any type genre of game that you want.

3.  Visual programming as its best

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Gdevelop Visual Scripting through its events System

The Events system is a powerful way to express the logic of your game, without having to learn a programming language. Events are super easy to learn and are designed to be just as powerful and flexible as any programming or scripting language.

Events support statements, conditional and logical operators, groups, links, and loops such as For Each and Repeat… You can even create functions, to reuse and share your events across projects.

If you feel like you do need to use a more traditional scripting language, you can use a JavaScript block inside an event. It’s perfect for reusing a complex algorithm or 3rd-party library.

4.  Built-in editors for quick prototyping and creation

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game
Gdelvelop comes with third-party tools

GDevelop is embedding third-party editors like Piskel ( Must be installed on the system) for creating sprite and pixel-art assets, as well as a sound effect generator. It’s ideal for fast prototyping in game jams or making 8bit games!

The editor comes up with an integrated Debugger to inspect your game while previewing it, a Profiler to measure performance, and a Preview over wifi to quickly test on mobile devices.

5.  Gdevelop is extensible

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Gdevelop Extensions System

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Gdevelop Extensions System

Apart from being open-source, MIT licensed. The game engine supports the concept of. Extensions that can be developed and shared/distributed to enhance the game engine – all built-in features are provided as extensions from the extension system.

6.  GDevelop is bundled with tons of features, out of the box

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Hyperspace Dogfight, a game on Steam made with GDevelop

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Hyperspace Dogfight, a game on Steam made with GDevelop

Objects define what is displayed on the screen: 

  • Sprites with multiple animations – supporting rescaling and tinting,
  • Texts,
  • Tiled sprites and 9-patch objects (useful for background, platforms, etc),
  • Particles emitters,
  • Shape painters to draw arbitrary shapes on screen,
  • …

The game engine supports multiple layers, time slowdown/speed up, custom hitboxes, and is including a collision engine. You can also enhance your objects with pre-defined behaviors: 

  • platformer engine, 
  • physics engine, 
  • pathfinding,
  • automatic clean up of objects outside the screen,
  • and more!

7.  Gdevelop supports only 2D.

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – GDEVELOP is 2D game engine

2D is still easier and faster to develop than 3D. This could be seen as a problem, but if you think about the problems generated by game engines that support both 2D and 3D, due to its availability, you will that just having one option will make the development more straightforward and more performant as everything is optimized for 2D.

8.  Gdevelop have multiplayer and network features

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -Gdevelop multiplayer and network features

Through the extension systems, Gdevelop enables multiplayer, network, and server features that you can use for your next game. It is simple with plenty of features to enable a multiplayer version of your games.
You can use Google Firebase to create and manage all the virtual elements that you want on your game or to save and load information from your users to improve the analytics capacity of your game.

9.  Gdevelop is multilanguage

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Integration of events with Javascript edited in the Engine.


We are certain that you wouldn’t be expecting this one in a visual tool, but, Gdevelop allows you to inject Javascript code into your game to have some of the functions to be coded in a regular coding language.

10. Gdevelop is multi-platform for mobile, desktop and Messenger 

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – GDEvelop is a multiplatform game engine

With Gdevelop you can Publish your games to the web (HTML5), iOS, Android, Windows, macOS, Linux, and even Facebook Messenger. Games created with GDevelop run anywhere and you can do a one-click export to Android, Windows, macOS, and Linux from the app.

11. Gdevelop has an active support team

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – Gdevelop has a large development and support team

Sometimes the fact of being open source could be more of a problem than a benefit if the number of developers is insufficient to keep the project moving forward. Gdevelop has a large and active community of developers that are constantly fixing bugs and pushing new features that make the engine grow in quality and ability to support more demanding developers.

12. GDevelop is well documented and plenty of tutorials

Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game -
Reasons to use GDEVELOP in your game – GDevelop is well documented and plenty of tutorials

Learn step-by-step how to use GDevelop or get help with a specific feature: the wiki has tutorials and complete documentation for the software. Tons of examples are also available and ready to be tried in one click.

GDevelop has a community forum and a Discord to get help.

13. Gdevelop has a large community of developers and users.

Gdevelop as a large community very active, that will allow to get answers and help for some of the problems that you could find while developing your games. This will make your progress easier and more stable as you will not spend large periods of time blocked due to the lack of knowledge on solving some problem with the engine or with a particular aspect of your game.

Who is GDevelop not suitable for?

So far we’ve seen a lot of good reasons to use Gdevelop, but who is GDevelop not suitable for? Well, Gdevelop isn’t what will make the next big AAA game, or the next 3D best mobile game ranking on the top lists.

Just like the case of Godot, GDevelop will not “officially” generate games for the consoles ( although some workarounds exist) because the tools required to export the game to the consoles will not integrate with Gdevelop.

Gdevelop although being fun to develop due to the event systems and the visual scripting has some limitations associated with it, and visual scripting can have its bottlenecks when trying to make large changes at once.

What are your thoughts on Gdevelop Engine? Share it in the comments, we would like to listen to your opinion. For more interesting articles on the game development industry check our blog.

Reasons tu use Godot Engine

12 reasons to use Godot Engine in your game

You are Looking for an open source tool for game development? And you don’t know which to choose? Here are 12 reasons to use Godot Engine in your game.

Game development has never been more accessible. With many tools available for free and an explosion of online tutorials, game creation has become accessible to everyone.

Unity and Unreal Engine are big names in game development. Both are free to use, but it doesn’t end there – Godot is a free and open source game development platform. Here are 12 reasons why Godot is perfect for your next game.

12 reasons to use Godot Engine Video
reasons to use Godot Engine Youtube Verson

Reasons to use the Godot Engine in your game Table of Contents

1. Godot is good for programmers

reasons to use Godot Engine
reasons to use Godot Engine – Good environment for programmers

Most game development environments require programming skills, but some are better suited to people with a programming background; Godot is a perfect example of a tool designed for programmers.

The Godot API exposes almost every element of the engine, and it is rare to find a feature that is not directly accessible in code. Godot is praised for its excellent documentation and ease of use from a coding standpoint.

2. Godot has a dedicated language

reasons to use Godot Engine
Reasons to use Godot Engine – Example of GDScript (the language in the Godot engine)



The Godot engine comes with a programming language called GDScript. For some, this is an immediate turn off. Often, internal languages are either unnecessary or poorly thought out.

GDScript is the result of internal testing by the Godot team: rather than creating a new language for the sake of it, GDScript came about as a result of iterating through other languages, such as Python and Lua. As such, GDScript was created to be as readable as Python, but retaining the necessary elements for development, such as strict typing, integration with better editors, and simpler speed optimization.

Many developers who start using Godot are surprised at how quickly they learn the language. However, if learning a new language is a chore, there is another way.

3. Godot has its own IDE

reasons to use Godot Engine in your game – Godot has its own IDE


Godot has a built-in IDE that, while it doesn’t have the cool features of other IDEs, such as VSCode’s Live Share feature, is ideal for use with Godot.

Of course, you are not tied to an in-engine IDE and can use your favorite IDE or text editor for programming in godot.

4. Godot supports multiple languages.

Reasons to use Godot Engine -
Reasons to use Godot Engine – – Multi language

Choosing a game development environment often means choosing a programming language. No matter how familiar you are with your preferred language, if the development tools you need are not supported, you have little choice.

Godot currently directly supports C++, C# and GDScript. It is also working on VisualScript, a node-based, code-free programming system similar to Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system.

5. Godot supports language binding

Reasons to use Godot Engine -
Reasons to use Godot Engine – Multi languafe binding

If the officially supported languages still don’t fit, there is still an option: the GDNative API allows other languages to be linked directly to the Godot engine. This allows access to the Godot API in the language of choice.

There are currently experimental bindings for Go, R, Nim, Rust and Ruby. Given Godot’s reputation among programmers and the demand for more languages to add, expect this list to grow quickly!

6. Godot have Visual Scripting

Reasons to use Godot Engine -
Reasons to use Godot Engine – Visual Scripting

Most game engines employ scenes, usually to represent levels in the game. There are objects within this scene – GameObjects in Unity and Actors in Unreal Engine.

In Godot, a scene is a collection of nodes. Each node is an object, and each node can inherit from other objects. A group of nodes is called a scene. Scenes can inherit from each other as long as they have a common root node.

Godot’s node system offers a different approach to working with objects, one that takes time to understand (it is beyond the scope of this article to explain in detail here). Those who master it will appreciate it as an intuitive and scalable design tool.

7. Godot supports 2D and 3D game development

Reasons to use Godot Engine -
Reasons to use Godot Engine – Godot 3d


Godot supports 2D and 3D game production; independent developers who make 2D games like the workflow Godot offers. Instead of pseudo-2D (a 3D world represented in two dimensions), Godot works in a real 2D space represented by pixels. This greatly simplifies the creation and optimization of 2D games.

The 3D support is still new and lags behind Unreal Engine and Unity. However, unless you are creating AAA games with high-end graphics, you will not have any limitations using Godot.

Godot has 2D and 3D specific nodes, some designed to work with both, and support for 2.5D is coming soon.

8. Godot is open source

Godot Engine Github Open Source

Godot is an open source software. The editor and all associated tools are compliant with the MIT license. Godot is free and anything created with it is yours.

The open source nature of the Godot project also makes it extremely extensible. If you’re a programmer working on this platform and you find something that isn’t implemented or doesn’t work the way you want it to, you can change it.

Godot has many community-developed tools, and many users have added their own elements to the engine as part of their game development.

9. Godot is lightweight

The standard godot executable is just over 60 MB and requires no installation. Just download it, unzip it and you’re ready to go. Not only is the file size small, but the engine itself runs comfortably on systems with light loads.

One problem is that the Godot engine is a Godot game. This means that the performance within the engine is reflected in the performance of the finished project that uses it.

The memory footprint for the executables is also very small which means that engine introduces less overhead on the memory management of the native system, resulting in a performance more stable.

10. Godot is cross-platform

reasons to use Godot Engine – Godot is available for PC, Mac and Linux.


Godot is truly cross-platform, targeting Mac, Windows, and Linux developers. Many alternative tools were developed for a specific operating system and have problems when ported to another.

It’s unclear if Godot is cross-platform by design, but users on all platforms have reported similar experiences, and all Godot games are designed for multiple environments. Godot also has a server designed specifically for multiplayer games.

There is also a Raspberry Pi version in development, which of course makes us very happy.

11. Godot has huge and growing community

One of the biggest hurdles in open source is to find the tool that you chosen to use is not well supported, mainly because the community backing the project is very small or not very active. Godot has a large community very active that are constantly fixing bugs, releasing new features and making sure that the game engine keeps developing forward.

12. Godot has large base of documentation and tutorials

Reasons to use Godot Engine -
Reasons to use Godot Engine – Godot Engine youtube tutorials

Similar to the previous point, not having enough and good documentation, or not finding tutorials that can help you understand how to implement certain functionalities at different levels ( beginners, intermediate or advanced). Godot has a large collection of very good documentation, and you will be able find plenty of tutorials of levels to help you getting started with the engine.

Who is Godot not suitable for?


So far we’ve seen a lot of good reasons to use Godot, but who is Godot not suitable for? Well, Godot isn’t what makes the next big AAA movie, and it’s not the kind of people this engine is aimed at either.

Perhaps more importantly for indie developers is the fact that there is currently no direct way to produce Godot games for consoles. This is because the tools for publishing to consoles are closed-source, which contradicts Godot’s commitment to open-source.

However, with third-party tools for console publishing in development and the increasing use of Godot, opportunities for consoles will continue to grow.

What are your thoughts on Godot Engine? Share it on the comments, we would like to listen to your opinion. For more interesting articles on the game development industry check our blog.

Handheld Game Console and Portable Charger, 416 Classic FC Games with 8000mAh Fast Charge Power Bank, 48H Play Time, 2.8” Color LCD Retro Game Player, Built-in Cables for iPhone, Samsung More, Black

Handheld Game Console and Portable Charger, 416 Classic FC Games with 8000mAh Fast Charge Power Bank, 48H Play Time, 2.8” Color LCD Retro Game Player, Built-in Cables for iPhone, Samsung More, Black

Price: $26.99
(as of Mar 27,2022 14:48:30 UTC – Details)

Product Description

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Built-in 416 Retro Handheld games，Brings back childhood memories for the 80s 90s kid.

Built-in 416 Super Classic Games: Bring you and your children back to the fun of your childhood. To play varieties of games what you like.8000 mAh Large Capacity Power Bank: Can be used 48 hours playing game only, or give 2-3 charges to your Phone as power bank.High-Resolution Screen: Compact and lightweight with 2.8 Inch Full-Color Screen. You could bring it everywhere with slim design.Perfect Companion: To keep your children occupied and have a good time playing.

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Specifications: Outer Shell Material: ABS plastic Input: DC 5V/2.1A (Max) Output: DC 5V/2.1A(Max) Max 5V/2.1A output, charging at high speed Package Includes:

1 x Portable Charger & Retro Game Console1 x Charging cable

Portable Charger & Handheld Video Games

Product Type: Portable Game ConsoleBuilt-In: 416 FC Retro GamesBattery Capacity: 8000mAh BatteryScreen Type: 2.8″ Color ScreenBuilt-in Cables: Lighting/Type-C/MicroSpeaker: Adjustable VolumeLanguages: English and ChineseSuitable for: Gameboy, Girls, Couples

The slim retro handheld game is a professional mini handheld arcade, designed for children and adults, with 416 video games.You also can play games and charge your phone at the same time. Suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.

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Built-in 416 Retro FC games

This FC handheld games console will give you a fantastic experience of gaming, relieve stress from your life or work. It will brings back a lot of fun memories from childhood playing with your kids or friends.

8000 mAh Power Bank

8000 mAh large capacity durable battery, can be used 48 hours playing game only, or give 1.5 charges to your iPhone 11/ iPhone X/Samsung 10 as power bank,enjoy your game without worry about the power.

Built-in 3 Type Cables

Built-in Lighting/Type-C/Micro cables, universally compatible with all kinds of electronic devices. You don’t have to worry about forgetting your cable and not being able to charge your device.

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Tips For the Handheld Games & Portable Power

For Battery (Warm prompt): For the sake of transportation safety, and the product in the process of placement, the battery itself loses part of the power, so the battery is not fully charged after received, it needs to be charged for more than 8 hours to ensure the battery is fully charged before using the product.NOTE: !!! This game console does not have the function to save the progress of the game.(When you quit the game, all progress will be zero.)The game console & Portable Charger Support only one player game mode.

Product Feature
416 Games & 8000mAh Power Bank STEM Learning Kits Engineering Building Blocks Multifunctional Portable Wireless Hand-Held Microphone

【Game Console With 416 Classic Games】This product is uniquely designed game player and power bank in one device. 2.8 inch color screen, built in 416 classic retro FC games, including kinds of the current popular puzzle games. Perfect nostalgic gift for adults, or great puzzle games for kids.
【8000mAh Large Capacity Power Bank】8000mAh large capacity durable battery, can be used 48 hours playing game only, or give 1.5 charges to your iPhone 11 as power bank. Supports max 2.1A output, the power bank charges your phones, tablets and other electronic devices faster than 5V/1A chargers. Portable and convenient when you are taking the subway, on your way to a business travel and more occasions.
【Built-in Cables of Wide Compatibility】Configured three type of cables – Lighting/Type-C/Micro cable, the power bank is capable of charging many common electronic devices, including iPhone, Samsung and Google phones, iPad, Kindle, cameras, etc. No problem if your devices are running out of power when you forget to bring your own charging cables!
【Certified Safe】Adopts highly intelligent IC chips, ensuring all games run smoothly while providing all-round protection during use. Offer over-charge, over-discharge, over-heat, and short circuit protection for your devices.
【What You Get】(1) Portable handheld game console and power bank; (2) USB cable. Please feel free to contact us if your have any problems or concerns, we’ll reply within 24 hours.

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How to use correctly Singletons in Unity

Even if you are new to Unity, you will probably already heard about a mysterious entity in c# and Unity called Singleton. What You will probably not know is that there are both advantages and disadvantages to singletons in Unity and how to use correctly.

We already somewhat covered singletons but for the flax engine, as in one of our first tutorials, we implemented Singletons in the Flax as to show its similarities with Unity.

Singletons in Unity Table of Contents

Introduction

There are plenty of opinions about it, some say that singletons are useful, but should never be used.

Some says, that you should use them, but that they are very difficult to manage and can increase the complexity of your code and how to debug it as it grows in size.

Singletons in UNity
Singletons in Unity – Unity Game Engine – Source Wikipeda

But, if you are trying to finish a game, singletons can be a useful and easy way to connect scripts without going nuts with linking references between the scripts in your project folder..

And it’s not just beginners, there are many Unity developers who like to use singletons, including ourselves.

So what is a singleton?

Is it helpful or harmful? Is it easy or is difficult and complex’

And can you use it in your project? Or should you avoid it at all costs?

The answer is not blowing in the wind my friend, and it is neither yes or no, it is, It depends…

In general, many of the problems that can arise when using singletons are not actually caused by the singletons themselves, but by the way they are coded and used in your project.

Some singleton implementation methods can be problematic, but what problems you end having will depend on your project and its fundamental design.

Singletons in Unity
Singletons in Unity – Coding

The reason for this is that in many cases, the consequences of using singletons only become apparent when the project grows or when you decide to make some changes its structure.

Unfortunately, this means that the risks of using singletons can be unclear at the beginning of the implementation process and only start to show its face later along the game development.

In this tutorial ( and video) we will try to show you the different ways you can use singletons to simplify game development, as well as the possibles risks you could be facing, so you can make the right decision about whether or not to use singletons in your game.

Table of Contents

What is a singleton in Unity?


In general, a singleton in Unity is a class that exists in a scene and is only globally accessible once.

The idea is that any other script can access the singleton and connect objects to important parts of the game, such as the player or other game systems.

It’s also useful for connecting unrelated objects or scripts to global systems like the audio manager.

So how does it work?

Unity singletons are regular classes that can be added to objects in the game.

Singletons differ, however, in that the class contains a public static reference to an instance of its own type.

It looks like this.

public class MyClass : MonoBehaviour 
{
    public static MyClass instance;
}


Static references provide global access to the singleton, so this means that any script can access the singleton by its class name without having to refer to that variable first.

MyClass.instance;


This means that other scripts in the game can easily access the public methods and variables of the Singleton class.

However, since any script can access them, it is generally a good idea to protect instance variables with properties. This simply means that they can be read by other scripts, but can only be set within their own class.

public class MyClass : MonoBehaviour 
{
     public static MyClass instance;
     public static MyClass MyInstance
     { 
         get´{
           if(instance == null)
              instance=this;
          return instance;
          }
      }
}


A reference to a script is static and the same for every instance of the class, but the instance it points to is not static. This means that the reference points to only one instance of the script, but there may be multiple instances of the singleton in the scene.

It is therefore important to check that the static reference matches the instance of the script and that there is only one instance of the singleton.

These are the two basic requirements for Singletons.

A globally accessible class, but with only one instance.

But why create a singleton and what can a singleton do?

Why use singletons?


Singletons are very useful because they allow parts of the game to be more easily connected.

Singletons can be used, for example, to make the player’s position visible to the enemy or the player’s values visible to the user interface.

For example, like this.

float healthValue = MyClass.MyInstance.Health;


You can also call a sound effect function from anywhere in your game.

For example, like this.

MyClass.MyInstance.PlaySound(SoundFx);

If a variable or function exists on the singleton and is publicly accessible, other scripts can use it without having to set up a reference to it first by passing a reference to it.

This just makes it easier to link the different parts of the game together.

But, as said earlier, the same way it can help you linking different classes to be used throughout your game, Singletons can also cause problems.

Using a singleton to solve one problem can lead to other problems later. So you need to be aware of what can happen when you use a singleton in your project.

So what is the worst thing that could happen to you and to your game?

What could go wrong with singletons?


In general, singular projects can be difficult to manage as they grow in size.

This can make it difficult to make changes or additions to the project, which in turn makes testing difficult.

If you are planning to use a singleton, you may have heard these objections.

What exactly are the problems with using a singleton?

The biggest risk of singletons lies in what makes them useful in the first place: global access.

For example, allowing all scripts to access a Game Manager singleton can be very useful.

How is this a problem?

Let’s take an example, you want to implement an audio manager to be used consistently across your game.

Trying to manually connect all objects that want to play sound to an audio manager script is usually undesirable, complex and heavy for the coder.

Likewise, trying to find an audio manager in a scene every time a new object is created that needs an audio manager can be very bad for performance and the functions that searches for objects in the memory are very demanding on CPU and memory accesses and will penalize you heavlly in a drop of the frame rate…

In this case creating a Singletons for the audio managers could be useful

Let’s say you create an Audio Manager singleton with a Play Sound Effect function.

It looks like this.

public void PlaySound(AudioClip clip)
{
audioSource.PlayOneShot(clip).
}

Now, if you want to play a sound, just call the audio manager and pass it the sound effect.

For example like this.

public AudioClip soundEffect;
void Start()
{
     MyClass.MyInstance.PlaySound(SoundFx).
}


Simple and convenient…

But are there any problems with this method?

If affirmative, how a simple piece of code can lead to problems?

The problem with using singletons like this is that you have to change the way sound effects are triggered.

For example, if you start with this method, you can add sound effect triggers as needed and call sound effect functions from different scripts.

Depending on the size of your game, you may find yourself calling scripts in dozens or hundreds of different places, all in exactly the same way.

When you add sounds to your game, you may find that some sounds are louder than others and some sounds are more repetitive.

So you might consider adjusting the volume when a sound is triggered so that clips can play at different levels, or adding more variation to the sound when it’s triggered so that it doesn’t repeat, which will mean making some modifications to the functions in the Singleton, by adding also a couple of extra parameters to manage the sound volume and other sounds characteristics..

But, the problem is that all those functions, which are simple to code, are now spread all your code across the game, so you will have to find all of them and make the changes on by one to adjust the new parameters that you have included

It would probably be difficult to do this now, since all the sound triggers in the game are connected directly to the audio manager, which just passes the audio clip reference and calls the function as is.

This means that you have to modify all the scripts that call the audio manager to change the current behavior of the manager.

This is a very important tasks, especially if your game is quite large..

How could we avoid this complexity? Welll, by using instead Event Triggers.

Modular event triggers in Unity


When using singletons, it is easy to specify certain functions early on, making it difficult to change them later.

Events, however, are by design a convenient way to change the response to an event in the game without changing the trigger.

For example, you can create a simple event system and trigger a sound effect event for any object, but the response to that event (what sound is played, how it is handled, etc.) is done in the audio manager and can easily be changed without changing the trigger changes.

This is possible with singletons, but events are more forgiving if you want to change something later because the trigger can easily be removed from the response.

It’s not easy to create a singleton and then change its behavior, but that’s not necessarily a big problem.

For example, it is difficult, but not impossible, to change the function of a sound effect after the fact.

However, it makes sense to treat all public functions and variables that are accessible to other objects through a singleton as immutable.

By including the functions you think you need early, you minimize the risk of having to change those functions later.

Audio managers may be suitable for singletons because of their global access and presence in the scene.

In short, the main benefits of using singletons are consistent with the problems of the task.

But.

Just because a singleton seems like a good solution to a problem doesn’t mean it is.

And as before, how you use the singleton now will affect how the game develops later.

This is especially true when using single players.

Singleton player objects


A common use of singletons is to communicate certain characteristics of the player to other scripts in the game, such as the player’s position and current fitness.

If you think about it, this makes a lot of sense. Almost every object in the game will respond in some way to the player’s actions, so it seems like a good idea to give these objects easy access to the player and his scripts.

But what problems arise from using Singleton specifically in the player game object?

In general, deciding whether or not to use a player object singleton is similar to deciding whether or not to use a static variable.

Static variables (essentially global variables) are generally fine if you intend to have only one variable of that type in your game.

Singletons have similar weaknesses.

Scripts that need to refer to singletons refer to them directly, so each script is essentially closely tied to the player.

This means that it can be very difficult or impossible to add a second player later, depending on how tightly integrated the player’s singleton is with the scripts that need to access it.

In general, using singletons to manage single objects such as players is riskier than using singletons to manage the game system.

Also, using singletons in this way can lead to serious problems if it is not clear what kind of game you want to make or what features you want to add in the future, even if it is not a problem now.

What is the right way to use singletons in Unity?


There is no single right way to use a singleton, but the problems that can be caused by its use usually depend on the project and what you plan to do with it.

This is because the risk of using a singleton is more related to the way it is used and less to the singleton itself.

For example, if you use a singleton for a player object and have the option of adding more players later, you’re likely to run into big problems.

Also, global access to the file storage system could cause problems if two scripts try to save the game at the same time.

Also, if you create a singleton before you know what you want to do, it may be difficult to update it if you change something later.

But.

There will be cases where it makes a lot of sense to use a singleton.

Especially when it can make the difference between releasing a game and not.

Many people advise you to avoid singletons, and there are certainly good reasons not to use them, but if you understand the risks and use them carefully, they can be a very useful tool to help you manage your game more easily.

We have reached the end of this tutorial and it’s your turn, now to work and try it by yourself, as this is the best way to learn.
Also, we would like to hear your opinion as to keep improving our set of tutorials on youtube and in our blog.

Do you use singletons in your games?

Or does it make your project more difficult?