.@SargisSTG talked to us about the Piston Toy Gun project, discussing modeling and realistic texturing of the nostalgia-evoking toy prop using 3ds Max, Substance 3D Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, and Plasticity.Read the interview: https://80.lv/articles/modeling-texturing-a-3d-toy-gun-using-plasticity-substance-3d/

Check out this amazing fan art unveiled by 3D Artist Monkey D. Luigi featuring a crossover between Sonic the Hedgehog and Ranma , crafted with Blender.The artist skillfully recreated the beloved characters, adding a unique twist by combining elements from both franchises, as Amy Rose from the Sonic series takes on the role of Ranma Saotome.This creative blend highlights both the creators artistic vision and technical expertise.Take a look at more animations featuring the characters from the Sonic, The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario universes:Also, have a look at this dynamic animation depicting Mario and Luigi and its WIP version showcased byFollow Monkey D. Luigi on X/Twitter and dont forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Take a Look at This Sonic & Ranma Fan Art Made with Blender appeared first on CG SHARES.

EPCThe Everything Procedural Conference, an annual event hosted by the Games programs at Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas) since 2016, has become a key gathering for professionals and students interested in procedural content generation. Drawing participants from both independent and major studios, the conference explores the role of procedural techniques in AAA games and experimental projects. The event has the support of SideFX (Houdini), IO Interactive, Larian, and Unreal Engine, and it has been in the radar of major developers for some time now.Set to take place in 2025 at the BUas campus in Breda, the Netherlands, the event will feature a series of two-day masterclasses followed by a two-day conference. Attendees can expect live demonstrations, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities. This is a unique opportunity to amplify your knowledge in the area and network with experienced professionals.EPCThe two-day masterclasses, scheduled for April 22 and April 23, will cater for different levels of Houdini experience and includes one that focuses on toolmaking with Houdini and Unreal Engine 5, one that gives an in-depth look at Apexs procedural modelling and worldbuilding, and one dedicated to a variety of advanced Houdini deep dives. A fourth masterclass will go hands-on creating procedural environments using Blenders Geometry Nodes.During the two-day conference on April 24 and April 25, industry experts will present case studies and technical insights. Topics include the creation of large-scale procedural city environments in Unreal Engine 5, the procedural techniques behind Mainframes MMO Pax Dei, and an innovative approach to dynamic music composition in games. Other presentations will examine the technology behind Dungeon Alchemists fantasy map-generation tool, how a small team at Heart Machine utilized Houdini and Unreal to build a procedural world for the open-world rogue-like game: Hyper Light Breaker, a procedural reimagining of the classic game Snake, and Playerunknowns integration of machine learning and procedural generation to create realistic terrains.EPCEPCEPCProcedural content generation has become an essential component of modern game development and digital media production. By automating aspects of worldbuilding, character creation, and environmental design, procedural techniques enable developers to produce vast, intricate, and dynamic experiences with greater efficiency. The approach is widely adopted in film, animation, and simulation, offering scalable and cost-effective solutions for creative industries.As a non-profit initiative, the Everything Procedural Conference relies on sponsorships to support its operations and offer discounted participation fees for students. Sponsors receive recognition through online branding, event announcements, and post-event video materials. Depending on their level of support, they may also gain access to industry passes, meeting spaces, and exhibition booths.For further details on attendance, participation, or sponsorship opportunities, visit the official Everything Procedural website.EPCEPCAt BUas Games, you will master the latest techniques and skills to design and develop innovative games and media, preparing for a career in the dynamic world of triple-A games. Recognized as one of the top game study programs in the Netherlands and worldwide, BUas Games is a Gold Unreal Academic Partner and Houdini Educational Partner. With specialized study tracks in Programming, Visual Arts, and Production & Design, you will collaborate closely with lecturers and fellow students to build an impressive portfolio. Graduates go on to work at leading companies like Avalanche, Guerrilla, Ubisoft, and Ghost VFX.Learn more and grab your EPC 2025 tickets here. Also, join our80 Level Talent platformand ournew Discord server, follow us on Instagram,Twitter,LinkedIn,Telegram,TikTok, andThreads,where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.Source link The post Join Industry Leaders At EPC2025 For The Latest In Procedural Content Generation In Games appeared first on CG SHARES.

Mount & Blade 2: Bannerlord is taking to the seas, as the game's first expansion, War Sails, will introduce naval warfare to the unique medieval action-RPG sandbox on June 17.War Sails will expand Mount & Blade 2's world map and introduce an entirely new region to the world of Calradia: the Northern Kingdoms and its surrounding sea. It's there the Viking-themed Nords call home, and they can be traded with, recruited, or battled against, just like Mount & Blade 2's other factions. But the real star of the expansion is the introduction of naval battles, where players can master the wind, upgrade and customize ships, and defeat their enemies on the high seas. Rivers come into play as well, with players able to sail up them to strike into enemy territory, cut off supply lines, and blockade enemy towns.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Reviewing InZoi without mentioning The Sims, which is easily its most direct influence, comparison, and competitor is, quite simply, a fool's errand. There was a part of me--a very naive part, mind you--that thought it might be a bit fun to see how long I could go without making mention of the game in this review as a sort of challenge for myself. Clearly, I have already failed.However, the context in which InZoi exists matters. Whereas the world is filled with cozy games, life sims, and plenty of other titles that reside somewhere between the two, extremely few play quite like The Sims. It goes without saying that Maxis created something extremely special back in 2000--something so creative, charming, innovative, and intricately designed that seemingly no other game studio has even attempted to put an end to its quarter-century long reign over the life-sim genre. There is no denying that the franchise's reputation has taken some hits over the years, primarily due to its perceived stagnation and parent company EA's predatory monetization tactics. As this discontent has grown, so too has the number of people looking for a viable competitor. And now, thanks to InZoi, we have a fresh-faced and utterly gorgeous new challenger.Four Zois meet up to have a chat in Bliss BayConsidering its good looks were among the first of many things that made InZoi such a highly anticipated title, I'll start by saying that it is just as mind-blowing to look at as it seems. From its UI to its city streets to its pouty-lipped, pop star-esque characters, everything about InZoi is visually remarkable. Vast amounts of customization options, an immersive and ever-changing open world, and an intense focus on making things feel true-to-life yet just slightly more grand further polish this gem. And I was relieved that, despite all its luster, the game ran perfectly fine on my less-than-great gaming PC (AMD Ryzen 5 3600/NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super). And yet, I was ultimately forced to reckon with the fact that, in my 20 or so hours with InZoi, I missed out on something incredibly important: having fun. Though InZoi is impressive, immersive, and brimming with potential, in its current state there is a sterility and lifelessness that is hard to move past. This paired with stale gameplay ultimately made InZoi a game I desperately wanted to enjoy, but seldom did.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Connections is here once again to challenge your brain and get you thinking. In order to win, you need to study all sixteen of the words given to you and infer the four categories they need to be sorted into.

Connections is here with another daily puzzle, challenging you to group sixteen words into four secret categories. The only clues you get to what the categories could be are the words themselves, and you have a very limited number of mistakes you can make.

Hey everyone, we recently finished developing the level for the Ancient setting and would like to share some juicy renders.

Developers at Nightdive Studios will be the first to tell you no two projects are alike. Nowhere is this more true than the soon-to-be-released remaster of System Shock 2. Announced six years ago as System Shock 2: Enhanced Edition, Nightdive reannounced the project under a new name System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster.Play VideoThis name change offered eagle-eyed fans a clue as to the remasters release window, which is only accurate preceding August 11 when System Shock 2 celebrates its 26th birthday. Sure enough, during todays MIX Spring Showcase, Nightdive shared the exciting news that System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster will release on June 26 for PS4 and PS5.As exciting as its been for System Shock fans to hear theyll soon be able to play Nightdives long-awaited System Shock 2 remaster, one key question remains: why did it take six years?Good things take timeNightdive has been chipping away at its remaster of System Shock 2 in the years following its announcement, working on it in conjunction with other projects. While many of these harbored their fair share of challenges, System Shock 2 was unique in regards to the number and type of complexities the team encountered.One of the biggest according to Nightdive developer Alex Lima was a lack of access to the games complete source code. To piece everything together, extensive reverse engineering was required.The codebase is a complex amalgamation of various legacy libraries developed by Looking Glass, along with some more recent contributions from both Irrational Games and Looking Glass, Lima explains. Theres virtually no consistent coding standard. As a result, we had to depend extensively on debugging and breakpoints to understand its functionality.Working with System Shock 2s original engine was also tricky, especially when it came to porting the game to consoles.The game engine that System Shock 2 uses is large and complicated, notes Nightdive developer, Lexi Mayfield. It was originally designed for PCs from the late 1990s with a mouse and keyboard, and was only used for three games. As a result, porting the game to PlayStation was a long and arduous process, from both a coding and interface perspective.In general, remastering a beloved classic like System Shock 2 naturally takes time and attention to detail to get right, as highlighted by Larry Kuperman, VP of Business Development at Nightdive.While the game remains a classic, the code and graphics needed a considerable overhaul. The Dark Engine, developed by Looking Glass Studios for System Shock 2 and the Thief games, provided features way ahead of its time, which is one reason these games remain classics, but which also made the game challenging to work with. To fulfill our vision, it required meticulous re-coding in order to preserve all the aspects of the game that are important to players. Our team worked very hard over a long period of time to accomplish that goal.Old game, new tricksNot only did the rigorous six-year remastering process allow for more effective improvements, it allowed the team to better leverage modern features on consoles.The porting process allowed us to make improvements along the way and take advantage of some of the modern features PlayStation offers, allowing us to run the game with a level of fidelity and playability that was previously out of reach, says Mayfield.Fans will have no trouble spotting these improvements on PlayStation. The games graphics have received a significant boost with the addition of advanced shader support, enabling previously unavailable graphical effects and improved lip-sync animation. GPU-accelerated 3D transformations and high refresh rate support also lend to smoother performance, particularly on modern displays.System Shock 2 was originally a PC release, but dont worry, the 25th Anniversary Remaster features full controller support for DualShock 4 and DualSense controllers.If youve played FPS games with a controller, youll feel right at home playing System Shock 2, confirms Mayfield. Abilities like leaning, quick-swapping between weapons and psi powers, and toggling weapon settings were all streamlined for the DualSense. We also added a customizable quickbar, allowing players to quickly swap between individual weapons and psi powers.Inventory items now offer a context menu to allow players to quickly examine, equip, apply and split items. From there, it was a matter of going through every security computer, every replicator, every access keypad and weapon modification screen ensuring the player could interact with the world in every way they could in 1999 except now from the comfort of their DualSense.If theres still doubt over whether System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster lives up to the amount of time its taken to complete, Nightdive founder and CEO, Stephen Kick, assures:Ive been closely watching the development and have been particularly close with the art team to ensure the original art direction and designs are brought to their horrifying conclusion. I cannot wait to share what weve been working on and hope fans and newcomers enjoy their time aboard the Von Braun.Get ready, insects System Shock 2: 25th Anniversary Remaster arrives June 26 for PS4 and PS5!

After Bloober Teams excellent Silent Hill 2 remake, Im willing to give the developer the benefit of the doubt when it comes to its brand of horror games. It certainly helps that its next effort, Cronos: The New Dawn, looks incredible and is giving off gory Dead Space vibes.Cronos: The New Dawn co-directors Wojciech Piejko and Jacek Ziba make their inspirations pretty explicit in a new look at the sci-fi survival horror game. Cronos draws on John Carpenters The Thing, German TV series Dark, and Terry Gilliams 12 Monkeys for inspiration, the duo say, as well as games like Dead Space and Dark Souls. Cronos shares some familiar attributes from Dead Space, including terrifying human mutations as enemies, an over-the-shoulder shooting perspective, and a limb-severing mechanic though Piejko says Bloober Team is taking a different approach to dismemberment than Visceral Games did.In a follow-up to a cinematic reveal trailer for Cronos: The New Dawn released last October, Piejko and Ziba showed off some gameplay in a new dev diary Bloober Team released Thursday. The pair explain how protagonist the Traveller, who they liken to a deep-sea diver who plunges into the depths of time, is sent into the ruins of human civilization to extract survivors. The alternate-reality world of Cronos has been ravaged by an event called the Change, which in the games fiction, destroyed our world in the 1980s.Piejko and Ziba previously worked on Bloober Teams Observer and The Medium, so they have plenty of experience with sci-fi and psychological horror. Cronos: The New Dawn is an original property for Bloober, which is also working on a follow-up with Konami.Cronos: The New Dawn is coming to PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X sometime in 2025. Its a welcome new entry in the AAA sci-fi survival horror space, especially since the Dead Space remake team is now working on the next Battlefield and EAs Iron Man game.