Month: December 2022
How has Vilnius Established Itself as Europe’s Newest Gaming Hub?
“Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, is quickly establishing itself as the gaming industry’s newest hub, with acclaimed titles such as Human: Fall Flat and Cooking Fever under its belt. The sector generated €200 million in revenue in the past few years, largely due to the efforts of businesses such as Nordcurrent, Wargaming, Belka Games, Melsoft, and Unity, to name a few. The main drivers of this expansion include a supportive business climate, a thriving tech and IT industry, and a highly trained workforce, which even passes Poland and France in the number of women employees.
Video games are currently played by over 3 billion people worldwide, with the industry surrounding them evolving faster than it ever has before. Video games and mobile apps are increasingly permeating everyday life and reaching new cohorts, with the average age for a gamer now rising to 35. Against this backdrop, Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, has emerged as a central hub for developers and publishers.
The GameDev industry in Vilnius presents opportunities for further growth — it generated over €200 million in revenue over the last few years, includes around 115 companies, and employs over 2,500 people, according to data from Invest Lithuania, a public sector agency that provides free support for international companies. As more gaming industry giants relocate here, new professional opportunities arise, and the entertainment business burgeons even further.
Around 90% of the companies in Lithuania’s gaming industry are located in Vilnius, including several business giants. Nordcurrent — an international publisher and developer of casual games such as Cooking Fever, Happy Clinic, and Pocket Styler — continues to grow despite an already successful history as Lithuania’s biggest game studio. Wargaming — a developer that partially relocated to Vilnius in 2020 — develops the wildly popular games World of Tanks and World of Tanks Blitz for smart devices, as well as servicing other Wargaming projects out of the office in Vilnius. The company also plans to increase the number of employees in their new facilities to several hundred. Furthermore, the game development ecosystem Unity — currently valued at €5.5 billion — chose Vilnius as the first city outside of Denmark to set up operations. Other notable companies include Belka Games — which attracts over 100 million players monthly — and No Brakes Games, which developed the hit game Human: Fall Flat. While these are but a few examples, they portray that each GameDev company in the country offers something unique.
“We founded our company in Vilnius back in 2002, when video games were a niche sector here. Interest in the gaming industry has since grown every year and especially recently. The main reason is the accessibility of games to much wider audiences than it was in the early 2000s before the pervasion of 4G, mobile app stores, and free-to-play models. Mobile games are quickly becoming a media channel outperforming television and cinema production,” said Victoria Trofimova, CEO at Nordcurrent.
Some of the main reasons for gaming companies relocating to Vilnius are its favorable business environment, leading tech and IT sector, as well as growing gaming scene. In addition, with GameDev courses offered in 3 institutions, a talent pool that has the highest ICT literacy in the EU, along with almost 100% English proficiency among young professionals, Vilnius’ workforce meets most of the criteria modern businesses look for.
With just 9% of employees engaged in administrative tasks and the other 91% of staff members actively participating in game production, Lithuanian gaming businesses are mostly concentrated on game creation. Local game studios are continuously seeking to employ budding talent, with specialists in technology, engineering, animation, and game and sound design in especially high demand.
A key driver for the expansion of Vilnius’ gaming industry is a large amount of collaboration that takes place through its ecosystem. Around 42% of businesses are members of the Lithuanian Game Developers Association, which aims to unite and represent the interests of Lithuanian game developers at a national level. It is especially welcoming of game developers who have moved from abroad, the number of which is currently around 800.
“The gaming community in Vilnius is friendly and cheerful. There are plenty of opportunities to meet each other at events and also discuss various issues on community channels. The Lithuanian Game Developers Association plays an important role in strengthening ties between developers, publishers, and creatives,” explained Trofimova. “They also organize events and social gatherings, like Gamedev BBQ, professional meetups, and partner with international events such as the DevGamm conference, which attracted over 900 industry professionals in its first year.”
Vilnius’ GameDev industry also enthusiastically welcomes women specialists — they make up around 27% of industry employees. This statistic is quite reassuring since it shows that Lithuania is surpassing economies like France (22%) or Poland (25%), which are regularly regarded as industry leaders. Another significant statistic is that 47% of game development companies have women in managerial positions inside their organizations.
With a highly literate workforce, advanced IT and tech sectors, and a tight-knit GameDev community, it is predicted that Lithuania will continue to expand as a regional gaming hub. To pursue this growth and further the exchange of knowledge, the city’s GameDev sector became part of the Vilnius TechFusion ecosystem, where they can more actively collaborate with other leading businesses.”
+infos(oficial): LINK
Introduction To Algorithms, umas aulas online do MiT
+infos(oficial): LINK
Humble Software Bundle (várias campanhas)
Neste final de ano estão a decorrer várias campanhas no site Humble relacionadas com o desenvolvimento de videojogos. Neste momento:
The no-code GameDev Bundle
Unreal Engine Ultimate Game Dev Assets
Unity Art Bundle Holiday Encore
Unity Tools Bundle Holiday Encore
Unreal Nature & Fantasy Assets
A primeira está relacionada com o uso da plataforma GDevelop “The no-code GameDev Bundle” e da qual consta:
“Want to develop games without having to learn a programming language? Tap into the power of GDevelop, the no-code, open-source, free, and easy game-making app! This bundle features everything you need to get creating fast, including 30 asset packs with over 5000 visual, music, sound, and UI elements, plus sample games to play and provide inspiration. You can also upgrade to get up to 6 months of GDevelop Gold Premium access, unlocking even more app features. Jump into no-code game dev today, and support NPower with your purchase!”
e a lista :
3-Month GDevelop Silver
6-Month GDevelop Gold
Advanced Platformer Template
Air Hockey Game Template
Ambiances
Basic RPG Kit – Tiny Battle Edition
Battles
Black Rose 2 EP
Black Rose EP
Boat Game Template
Character Base: Short ‘N’ Stubby
Character Base: Thicc ‘N’ Juicy
Chrome Dinosaur Game Template
Division EP
Foley & Footsteps
GUI Pack: Bars ‘N’ Boxes
GUI Pack: Finger Click ‘N’ Good
Hamlets
Hand-Drawn GUI Kit
Handheld Character Pack Top D
Handheld Town ‘N’ Around
I Know Now, That I will Never Be OK
In Transit
Knife Hit Game Template
Platformer Starter Pack
Red String EP
Rescore
Rescore II
Retro
Spells 2.0
User Interface
Visual Novel Char. Creator
Visual Novel Megabundle
Wasteland Love Notes
+infos(a campanha): LINK
+infos(): https://gdevelop.io/
A segunda tem como titulo “Unreal Engine Ultimate Game Dev Assets” e da qual consta:
“Build fantastic worlds in your games with this bundle from Sidearm Studios, curated for Unreal Engine developers! This collection features a wide range of art assets for a variety of genres, including medieval towns, Wild West cities, dark dungeons, and horrific space prisons. You’ll also get a library of visual effects for spells and explosions, along with icons for equipment and characters, to help bring your game to life.”
e a lista:
Ancient Ruins
Ancient Temple
Arabian Palace
Cathedral Of The Dead
Fantasy Forest
Fantasy Magic Forest
Fantasy Stylized Megapack/Open World
Hand Painted Armor & Equipment Icons
Hand Painted Character Avatar Icons – Fantasy
Hand Painted Weapon & Equipment Icons
Horror Cafe
Medieval Castle – Castle/Village Environment
Modular Dungeon – Depths Below
Modular Medieval Stylized Town
Modular Stylized Dungeon
Modular Stylized Medieval Castle
Modular Stylized Medieval Village
Modular Stylized Underwater World
Modular Town: Saint Michel
Niagara AOE Magic Abilities
Niagara Explosions
Niagara Magic Projectiles
Restaurant/Diner Environment
Stylized Forest Pack
Stylized Graveyard
Stylized Trees & Rocks
The Vault: Horror Space Prison
Wild West Sky City
+infos(a campanha): LINK
A segunda tem como titulo “Unity Art Bundle Holiday Encore” e da qual consta:
“Bring your game to life with this bundle of incredible art assets & artists’ tools—specifically curated for Unity creators! Featuring characters, environmental elements, SFX, music, animations, and prefabs, this library of thousands of assets and creative utilities will help you realize game worlds for a wide range of genres.
Build a low-poly 3D dungeon, or craft a lush natural world with an anime-inspired look. Discover loops and tracks to score your horror game, and add the sounds of battle to your fantasy epic. Get menageries of creatures, a fantasy realm’s worth of level-building blocks, and lots more, and help support Gameheads with your purchase!”
e a lista:
Basic Motions
BIRDS PACK
Boing Kit: Dynamic Bouncy Bones, Grass, and More
Brute Force – Snow & Ice Shader
Character Creator 2D
Eternal Temple
Footsteps Sound Pack
Forest animals
Little Dragons: Tiger
Magica Cloth
Map Graph
Meadow Environment – Dynamic Nature
Monster Sounds Pack
Monsters Ultimate Pack 02 Cute Series
Party Monster Rumble PBR
Pixelate
POLYGON Dungeons – Low Poly 3D Art by Synty
ProPixelizer
Quibli: Anime Shaders and Tools
Quirky Series – Animals Mega Pack Vol.1
Quirky Series – Animals Mega Pack Vol.2
RPG VFX Bundle
Seamless Texture Generator
Toon Fantasy Nature
Total Music Collection
Ultimate Sound FX Bundle
+infos(a campanha): LINK
A segunda tem como titulo “Unity Tools Bundle Holiday Encore” e da qual consta:
“Back for a Holiday Encore! Build the game you’re envisioning with this massive bundle of versatile tools for Unity, the world’s leading platform for real-time content creation! Featuring more than two dozen utilities, systems, and other assets built with game creators in mind, this bundle will help you:
Design levels faster and build 2D and 3D worlds more efficiently
Manage animation and motion more easily
Create effects ranging from lighting to weather-filled skies
Add systems for dialogue, destruction, and more And many more…
Whether you’re dreaming of building a role-playing game, top-down shooter, or sci-fi mech sim, this bundle will help you turn your vision into a reality”
e a lista:
Archimatix Pro
Better UI
Blocks Engine 2
Bones Stimulator
Broccoli Tree Creator
CCG Kit
DestroyIt – Destruction System
Dialogue System for Unity
EndlessBook
FluXY – 2.5D fluid simulator
Fullscreen Editor
Magic Light Probes
Mech Combat Kit
Performance Tools
Prefab World Builder
Procedural Circular Health Bar Pro
RPG Cameras & Controllers
Script Inspector 3
Smart Lighting 2D
Storyteller
TopDown Engine
Train Controller (Railroad System) ULTIMATE COLLECTION
True Shadow – UI Soft Shadow and Glow
UniStorm – Volumetric Clouds, Sky, Modular Weather, and Cloud Shadows
Very Animation
+infos(a campanha): LINK
A segunda tem como titulo “Unreal nature & Fantasy Assets” e da qual consta:
“Looking for a library of art assets to build your game world in Unreal Engine? Create mountains, meadows, and forests, and populate them with dragons, goblins, rock monsters, and more with this game creator’s bundle!
This collection features high-quality, realistic environment sets for a variety of outdoor locales, including meshes, blueprints, and materials from the artists and developers at Nature Manufacture. You’ll also get a variety of fully animated, high-fidelity, customizable fantasy creatures from Infinity PBR. Get the art you need to start building in Unreal today”
e a lista:
Bone Dragon
Environment Set
Fish Man
Forest – Environment Set
Giant Worm
Goblins
Graveyard and Nature Set
Ice World
Landscape Ground Pack
Meadow – Environment Set
Mountain – Environment Set
Mushroom Monster
Nature Set
Park Photo Scanned Assets
Plant Monster
Rock Monster
Scorpion
Spiders
Treant Monster Creature
Winter Ground Pack
Young Dragons
+infos(a campanha): LINK
The Rules We Break : Play games. Solve problems. Design better.
Vai estar brevemente disponivel o livro The Rules We Break : Play games. Solve problems. Design better de Eric Zimmerman. De acordo com o autor o livro:
“Games and exercises to help designers understand how people think, how systems work, and how a design process can unfold.
Exercises in Play, Systems, and Design is a collection of hands-on, real-world exercises for designers of all kinds. Games and play can help designers understand how people think, how systems work, and how a design process can unfold. The exercises are sometimes played on a tabletop, and sometimes are physical and social games, but they are all thought-provoking and (of course!) very fun to play. The book is divided into three sections, games that can be played in 30 minutes, 2 hours, and a day or more. They are valuable for anyone who wants to know more about how people think, how systems work, how to create meaningful experiences, and how to redesign the world for the better.
Short, inspirational essays begin each section, where readers learn about productive collaboration, creative problem solving, how to communicate ideas, and analyzing how systems work.”
O livro tem um site do qual se podem retirar alguns documentos para serem impressos. Tratam-se dos extras/tabuleiros para serem jogados porque quem vai ler o livro :)
+infos(oficial): https://theruleswebreak.com/