Freelance Cinematic & Comedic Layout Artist (Remote)Element AnimationRemote22 minutes agoApplyWe are ELEMENT ANIMATION, a small but mighty studio known for creating character-driven stories packed with humour and heart. We create animated content for millions of our own audience, for commercial projects and for global events. Our videos are watched all around the world and we've grown a following in multiple countries. We’re passionate about storytelling, comedy, and pushing the boundaries of what a small team can do with big ideas. Our projects combine humour, heart, and innovation, and we’re looking for a versatile freelance CG artist to join us.We’re currently expanding our layout pipeline and are looking for a Layout Artist to help shape the next chapter of our work. This freelance role is ideal for someone who understands that the camera isn’t just a tool, it’s a character. This role starts as a freelance opportunity but has the potential to grow into an ongoing contract, making you an integral member of our team.We understand this role requires a unique set of skills, but above all, we’re looking for someone with a passion for learning, a collaborative spirit, and the willingness to grow alongside us.Role Overview:As a Cinematic & Comedic Layout Artist, you’ll be responsible for staging scenes and animating cameras in Maya to bring storyboards and scripts to life. The goal is to create layout sequences that feel entertaining, clearly communicate intent, and nail the comedic rhythm - even in rough form.You’ll be collaborating with the team to create clear, funny, and animator-ready sequences.This role isn’t a case of "just follow the boards", we’re looking for someone who thinks about timing, reveal gags, visual punchlines and the camera's performance. If you've ever staged a comedy scene in layout and thought that it was already funny, you’re exactly who we're after.Key Responsibilities:Translate scripts, animatics, or storyboards into final camera animation and layout scenes using Maya.Block out character positions and performance staging to support comedic beats and shot clarity.Animate polished, intentional camera moves that enhance the humour and storytelling. Whip-pans, push-ins, snap-zooms, handheld reveals, and awkward holds should feel deliberate and refined.Collaborate closely with the team and director during reviews, bringing your own creative instincts to the table. This isn’t just about feedback, it’s about contributing ideas, making each sequence better and putting your own mark on every project!Work with our TD using and helping us develop our custom pre-built camera rigs, tools and scene templates, so you can focus on performance.Communicate clearly with the director to ensure the timing of each layout sequence feels snappy, reactive, and funny.You’ll Be a Great Fit If You:See the camera as a performer, not just a lens.Have experience in staging and camera work for animated content - bonus points if it’s comedic.Can tell a joke visually - through blocking, composition, or timing alone.Have a good sense of humour and know what makes a shot funny (and what makes it fall flat).Are confident working in Maya, especially with cameras, character placement, and basic scene prep.Have a strong sense of shot flow, spatial logic, and comedic rhythm.Are collaborative, communicative, and love giving and receiving feedback.Are comfortable working remotely and asynchronously with a small, dedicated team.Bonus Points:Experience with handheld-style layout or stylized cinematography.Familiarity with comedic editing, rhythm, or sketch formats.Comfortable doing quick pitch edits or rough timing previews (though not required).Familiar with working on episodic or short-form comedic content.Perks of Working with Us:100% Remote-Work.Flexible hours.Creative freedom to contribute your ideas and styleA chance to work on fun, character-driven projects with a comedic twistA supportive, creative team that values your input.Your work will be seen by millions of people around the world.Potential for a long-term role with ongoing projects.How to Apply:If you’re a cinematic layout artist with a flair for comedy and camera storytelling, we’d love to hear from you!Send an email to apply@elementanimation.com and include:Your demo reel or portfolio (showcasing staging and camera work - bonus for comedic scenes!)Examples of past projects (if available).A brief note about your availability, interest in long-term collaboration, and hourly/project rates.Any tools or workflows you’re especially comfortable with.A quick note about yourself and any hobbies, what do you do for fun? We want to know a little about you and what interests you.Tell us your favourite comedy scene from anything you’ve ever seen. (Our own content doesn’t count. That’s cheating.)If you have any questions before sending an application don’t hesitate to ask via the email above. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

Technical ArtistCold SymmetryRemote22 minutes agoApplyCold Symmetry, creators of the acclaimed indie title Mortal Shell, is expanding. As we grow and strive to produce even better games, we remain committed to a culture of autonomy, quality, creativity, and focus. We’re looking for like-minded individuals—ambitious, creative risk-takers who pour their heart and soul into crafting games they love and want to play.As a fully remote studio, we welcome candidates from around the globe who are exceptional at what they do. Competence, resourcefulness, extreme ownership in your area of expertise, and a relentless drive to achieve are what we value.Join us as we work on an ambitious new project with a team of industry veterans aiming to create something incredible.We are looking for a self-driven Technical Artist with solid artistic and technical skills to create beautiful and detailed work that pushes the possibilities of gameplay and storytelling on next-generation consoles.You’ll OwnLiaising between heads of programming and design teamsResearching and developing technical tools for a projectDeveloping complex shaders and materialsSupporting artists and engineers in the 3D art pipelineAssisting in asset performance and validationSolving complex technical issues during developmentWorking within the limits of the game engine, curating file sizes, polygon counts and loading speedsOptimizing environments and establishing physics barriersDeveloping performance of frame rate and memoryResolving material errors and collision issuesMonitoring the performance of the gameMaintaining technical documentationYour XP and Skills3+ years experience in game development as a Technical Artist.Experienced in Unreal Engine.Experienced in Nanite, VSM and Lumen optimizations.Experienced in making and maintaining tools and materials.Good communication skills and the ability to help and mentor other team members.Participate in critiques and be open to giving and receiving feedback.Great organizational skills and a deadline-oriented - ability to establish scope, plan, and deliver milestones while adjusting when changes happen.Self motivated and able work independently as part of a fully distributed and, at times, a-sync team to meet deadlines and milestone requirements Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuThough we’ve known it’s coming for a few days now, today Bethesda showed off its fancy new remaster of 2006's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, and it looks spectacular. It’s also out, like, right-friggin-now! If you want to check out the whole reveal, you can do so here. But if you just want to peruse some lovely screenshots we nabbed during the reveal, read on. Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 43List slidesApproaching the Imperial CityList slidesApproaching the Imperial CityScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide3 / 43List slidesImperial City landscapeList slidesImperial City landscapeScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide4 / 43List slidesMountainous landscapeList slidesMountainous landscapeScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide5 / 43List slidesLooking out at the Imperial City from a distanceList slidesLooking out at the Imperial City from a distanceScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide6 / 43List slidesMysterious artifactsList slidesMysterious artifactsScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide7 / 43List slidesSnow-blanketed villageList slidesSnow-blanketed villageScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide8 / 43List slidesEpic dragon statueList slidesEpic dragon statueScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide9 / 43List slidesThis deer’s a real fan of crumbling architectureList slidesThis deer’s a real fan of crumbling architectureScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide10 / 43List slidesOblivion gateList slidesOblivion gateScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide11 / 43List slidesCult gatheringList slidesCult gatheringScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide12 / 43List slidesWaterfalls and rocky natureList slidesWaterfalls and rocky natureScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide13 / 43List slidesCastle hallList slidesCastle hallScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide14 / 43List slidesMysterious tomeList slidesMysterious tomeScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide15 / 43List slidesThe EmperorList slidesThe EmperorScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide16 / 43List slidesSprigganList slidesSprigganScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide17 / 43List slidesThe moon hangs over the Imperial CityList slidesThe moon hangs over the Imperial CityScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide18 / 43List slidesVillage sceneList slidesVillage sceneScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide19 / 43List slidesScreaming statueList slidesScreaming statueScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide20 / 43List slidesSun-soaked landscapeList slidesSun-soaked landscapeScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide21 / 43List slidesA day in the cemetery List slidesA day in the cemetery Screenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide22 / 43List slidesArgonian soldierList slidesArgonian soldierScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide23 / 43List slidesKhajiit soliderList slidesKhajiit soliderScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide24 / 43List slidesVillageList slidesVillageScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide25 / 43List slidesBridge and statueList slidesBridge and statueScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide26 / 43List slidesSword-wielding statueList slidesSword-wielding statueScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide27 / 43List slidesSword left at campList slidesSword left at campScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide28 / 43List slidesAnother Oblivion gateList slidesAnother Oblivion gateScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide29 / 43List slidesNPC interactionList slidesNPC interactionScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide30 / 43List slidesOrc character creationList slidesOrc character creationScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide31 / 43List slidesArgonian NPC conversationList slidesArgonian NPC conversationScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide32 / 43List slidesSunset on a bridgeList slidesSunset on a bridgeScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide33 / 43List slidesWalking amongst ruinsList slidesWalking amongst ruinsScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide34 / 43List slidesAnother Imperial City landscape List slidesAnother Imperial City landscape Screenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide35 / 43List slidesSome recreational huntingList slidesSome recreational huntingScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide36 / 43List slidesNPC sceneList slidesNPC sceneScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide37 / 43List slidesAnother pretty sunset in TamrielList slidesAnother pretty sunset in TamrielScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide38 / 43List slidesNPC dialogue wheelList slidesNPC dialogue wheelScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide39 / 43List slidesWild nature at nightList slidesWild nature at nightScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide40 / 43List slidesThe moon sinks below the mountainsList slidesThe moon sinks below the mountainsScreenshot: Bethesda / KotakuPrevious SlideNext Slide41 / 43

Start SlideshowStart SlideshowImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuJourney Together might be a reasonably interesting set for the tabletop card game, re-introducing Trainer Pokémon to the game for the first time in 25 years, but it’s a massive anticlimax for collectors. Which turns out to be just the thing the hobby desperately needed; there are no $1000+ cards this time out, not even close, making it a set regular players can more reasonably afford to collect.This isn’t going to last. At the end of May, Destined Rivals arrives, which will reintroduce Team Rocket Trainer Pokémon to the TCG, and everyone will go nuts. But as we predicted back in March, we can enjoy this moment of respite, where picking up a card you need for your deck isn’t going to require a second mortgage. That’s not to say there aren’t some high prices here, but it’s a big deal that the bottom end of the top 10 is under $20, and under $10 by the 16th. It’s possible to pick up full-art cards as lovely as the Noibat and Lycanroc for around $5, which feels just about right. Most importantly, regular ex cards are between 50c and a dollar, meaning building a solid, competitive deck is affordable to most. This is, of course, all helped by there being just so few special art cards in a very disappointing set. Pull rates are grim, but given that everything being manufactured is being instantly bought, there are a lot of cards out there to be resold for those unfortunate enough not to be able to find sealed cards. Perhaps you’re looking to be one of those resellers. Here are the ten cards fetching the highest prices (at the time of writing) to dig out from your own collection.Previous SlideNext Slide2 / 12List slidesWailord Illustration RareList slidesWailord Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuWell, this is just a splendid card, right? It’s a lovely, daft piece of art, the enormo-smiling whale looking like he’s having a brilliant time in the coral. And look at that boat for scale!Artist Katsunori Sato has only designed five cards, but they’re all bangers. I hope we get to see a lot more full-art work from him.The card, which can wallop for 210+ in a Water deck, is currently changing hands for just under $20.Previous SlideNext Slide3 / 12List slidesArticuno Illustration RareList slidesArticuno Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuI’m surprised this card isn’t fetching higher prices, given it’s one of the three legendary birds. But then again, it doesn’t follow the tradition of having Moltres and Zapdos hidden in there somewhere, which often seems to get collectors excited. Still, it’s a typically gorgeous piece of art from Kuroimori, who has previously given us the utterly perfect shiny Gardevoir from Paldean Fates.It’s not cheap, however. You’re still paying some bird tax. At the time of writing, this is selling for just shy of $29.Previous SlideNext Slide4 / 12List slidesIono’s Bellibolt ex GoldList slidesIono’s Bellibolt ex GoldImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuIono cards always do well, ever since the bonkers creator Trainer was added to the TCG in Paldea Evolved. While we’re not seeing the $200 her earlier cards were selling for, it’s striking that gold cards are getting high prices—they’ve been out of favor for a very long time, but this set has two in the top 10. (The third gold card is a crappy Spiky Energy, and goes for under nine bucks.)That’s largely to do with their both featuring fan favorites, and it helps that the Bellibolt itself has a very powerful Ability to let you load your Electric deck with energy, and a hefty attack of its own, on a scale usually reserved for a Stage 2 card.There’s a much more expensive version of this card to come, but it seems noteworthy that Iono’s Kilowattrel—which to my eyes is the far more interesting piece of art—isn’t troubling the top 10. Still, that leaves me tempted to pick one of those up for $12.This card, however, is selling on eBay and the like for $31.Previous SlideNext Slide5 / 12List slidesN’s Zoroark ex GoldList slidesN’s Zoroark ex GoldImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuHere’s the other gold card, and to be very fair, it’s far better looking than most golden messes. This has a lot of color, and a more detailed, bold design. Plus, you know, it’s fun to have Prof N cards! And of course people love them some Zoroark.Prices for this start at around $32, but I’ve seen it fetching as high as $50.Previous SlideNext Slide6 / 12List slidesVolcanion ex Special Illustration RareList slidesVolcanion ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuIn any other set, I’d be dead surprised to see a card as cluttered and not that useful so high in the price charts. But this is a set with only six special illustration rares, meaning all six of them are in the top 10! It’s kind of here by default.It’s no slight to artist Akagi, who illustrated the wonderful Palafin from Paldean Fates, and then the impossibly colorful and glorious Greninja ex from Twilight Masquerade—a card that’s still fetching $350 raw, and almost $700 in a PSA 10. In fact, his Kingdra ex is one of my favorite card arts ever. But this one doesn’t much appeal to me. However, others clearly disagree, as it’ll cost you around $42 to get one.Previous SlideNext Slide7 / 12List slidesHop’s Zacian ex Special Illustration RareList slidesHop’s Zacian ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuOh gosh this is just so lovely! Good ol’ Hop, the poor bastard victim of Sword and Shield, always so confident, always so defeated, and here with his pride and joy, the Zacian. Artist DOM has been around since that superb Jolteon full-art in Brilliant Stars, and they’ve also provided some excellent art toward Pokémon TCG Pocket. What’s so interesting is just how wildly their style changes, this gorgeous Zacian looking like a cross between pastels and watercolor.That all combines into a pricy card, currently changing hands for $66.Previous SlideNext Slide8 / 12List slidesIono’s Bellibolt ex Special Illustration RareList slidesIono’s Bellibolt ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuSo here’s the regular version of the gold card. It’s...fine? I dunno. It’s a useful card, but as I mentioned, it’s so flat compared to the far more interesting Kilowattrel. Clearly I’m the fool, though, as this will cost you a hefty $87.Previous SlideNext Slide9 / 12List slidesN’s Zoroark ex Special Illustration RareList slidesN’s Zoroark ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuAnd here’s the SIR version of the Zoroark gold. Again, I’m not particularly taken by the art here, but then I’m but one foolish man, and I’m delighted others are valuing it.I’m a big fan of artist Megumi Mizutani’s Morty’s Conviction full-art from Temporal Forces, with that enormous grinning Gengar staring menacingly at a Pidgey, and her Mega Gardevoir EX from Generations is an all-time classic. I just don’t get the framing here, and the muddied colors seem to pull focus in all the wrong directions. Still, shut up me, because people are paying at least $94 to have their own copy of this.Previous SlideNext Slide10 / 12List slidesSalamence ex Special Illustration RareList slidesSalamence ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuWhen I wrote about this set before its release, I mentioned how flat I found so much of the art. That’s true here too! Yet, this Salamence ex is selling for $107 or higher. I wish I had one to sell!It’s a wild card for the game. Once you’ve evolved it from Bagon and Shelgon, you have a Pokémon that can do 50 damage to every one of your opponent’s benched cards, which is utterly devastating. You could take five out of six prize cards in a single turn! The 300 attack is a tougher ask, requiring at least two energy types, and you lose two of them each time you use it. But with 320HP on this Dragon type, I’d just use it to blast the bench until my opponent walked off crying. If that’s something you like the sound of, the Ultra Rare version of the card is only about $3, and the regular ex is under a buck.Previous SlideNext Slide11 / 12List slidesLillie’s Clefairy ex Special Illustration RareList slidesLillie’s Clefairy ex Special Illustration RareImage: The Pokémon Company / KotakuClefairy as the hottest card in a set? I know. What is happening? This certainly is a very beautiful card, in a very lacklustre set, but why is this particular card getting sold for $199, having peaked at $320?Well, it’s in large part because this is the card of the Journey Together meta. Dragon decks have recently become a big deal, something only boosted by that previous Salamence, and this Basic card can absolutely devastate them.Lillie’s Clefairy ex switches any Dragon type card’s weakness to Psychic, which then doubles the damage. And it only needs to be on your bench to do this, making Psychic sets incredibly powerful against the most popular competitive decks that had been dominating. It’s super-powerful in play, too, delivering an extra 20 damage for every benched card on either side of the board, offering a maximum of 220, which is then doubled to 440 against a Dragon type. Boof.The popularity of the card means the Ultra Rare version is fetching $16, and the regular ex starting at $5 (so ten times more expensive than most other ex cards!). This, combined with the amazing art from Susumu Maeya (who previously gave us that amazing Deerling and Sawsbuck in Temporal Forces), means it’s gone stellar.However, I suspect it’ll be as nothing when compared to the Marnie’s Morpeko by Susumu Maeya that’ll be in Destined Rivals. I’m predicting at least $400 for that one..

2024 marked the start of a new era as in-app bidding took over mobile ad monetization, replacing decades-old “waterfall” mediation methods. Unity Ads, ironSource Ads, and LevelPlay joined the bidding revolution with a global, cross-functional team effort.As a result, advertisers gained more impressions, publishers streamlined operations, and gamers enjoyed better experiences with faster load times. Here’s why the shift to bidding matters for publishers and networks and what’s next in 2025 for Unity Ads and ironSource Ads bidding.How in-app bidding helps publishersIn-app bidding is a common-sense concept: let every network compete, let the highest bid win, and pay exactly that amount to the publisher. Yet for more than a decade, the industry stuck to the “waterfall” auction concept, in which prices start high and gradually lower until someone bids. Imagine starting at $100 and opening the auction to only the top three networks, if none of them agree to the price it then drops to $50 and a few more networks are added. This repeats up to a hundred times per ad impression. It’s time consuming, complex, and opaque.In-app bidding streamlines the process of finding the best price for each impression with a first price auction that resolves in seconds rather than minutes.In-app bidding enables ad networks to continue to benefit from the SDK while conducting auctions server-side. Here’s how it works:First, to authenticate the request as non-fraudulent, meditation requests a ‘token’ from each network SDK client-side.Each bidder is called in parallel by a server with strict timeouts to return a bid, along with the content they’d like to show if they win. After the winning bid is chosen in auction, the winners and losers are notified.Mediation loads the winning network’s ad into its SDK, ready to show to the user.Overall, processing is reduced and publishers get real-time transparency into each user’s true value. Networks can freely compete based on their best offers, ensuring publishers always get fair market value for premium users. As a result, publishers spend less time micromanaging complex auctions and more ad networks get a shot at winning, leading to increased competition and higher CPMs for publishers.How in-app bidding helps Unity ad networksThe benefits of in-app bidding aren't just for publishers. The Unity Ads and ironSource Ads networks have achieved significant improvements to the scale of app installs with in-app bidding. This is primarily for two reasons:Unity Ads and IronSource Ads networks get access to win all users on a level playing field. Before bidding, the publisher could set a limited number of price points in the auction and these could often be inconsistent across formats, geos, and even networks. Sometimes publishers would prioritize one network over others.Bidding improves the efficiency of the tech stack for machine learning. A more efficient ad serving process delivers cleaner data at lower cost to Unity’s models, which in turn enables today's increasingly complex, deep-learning models to deliver more accurate real-time decisions. This cycle helps Unity to drive advertiser performance, which lifts publisher performance with it.The move to in-app bidding and what’s nextIn 2024, Unity Ads completed the re-write of its entire ad serving stack to unlock the full potential of bidding for publishers. In conjunction, Unity LevelPlay mediation and ironSource Ads also made great strides towards 100% bidding. This required working with publishers and other top networks, collaborating effectively to drive growth for the industry at large.Unity Ads plans to move to 100% bidding in 2025, beginning with 100% bidding in some external mediations and an open Beta for Google AdMob and Ad Manager, now live as of February 4th. This will be followed by the retirement of the waterfall and the introduction of the v5 SDK architecture optimized for bidding.LevelPlay mediation will continue to integrate new bidding ad networks and complete the roll-out of multiple ad units. Levelplay will retain legacy support for waterfall integrations while working with publishers and networks to migrate to bidding.Overall, with access to the best supply and data for machine learning, in-app bidding positions the entire mobile ecosystem for growth through efficiency in 2025.

February was a busy month of games made with Unity, from the DICE Awards (thanks for the shout out Camouflaj) to many great releases and more. As always, Steam Next Fest contained more great demos than we could count, and this year, we put together some standout games here.Plus, we chatted with Gareth Damian Martin post the launch of Citizen Sleeper 2, be sure to check out our stream with them.Made with Unity Steam Curator Page We asked folks at Unity to share which of your games they've been getting into this month. Definitely check out the list we put together on our Steam Curator Page here.Working on a game in Unity? We’d love to help you spread the word. Be sure to submit your project.Without further ado, to the best of our abilities, here’s a non-exhaustive list of games made with Unity and launched in February 2025, either into early access or full release. Add to the list by sharing any that you think we missed.ActionGrapples Galore, Zoteling (February 7)METAL SUITS: Counter-attack, Eggtart Inc (February 13)Bullet HeavenWhisker Squadron: Survivor, Flippfly LLC (February 20)Cards, dice, and deckbuildersDie in the Dungeon, ATICO (February 21 – early access)Casual, rhythm, and partyRift of the NecroDancer, Brace Yourself Games, Tic Toc Games (February 5)City and colony builderMicrotopia, Cordyceps Collective (February 18)Mini City: Mayhem, Rogue Duck Interactive, cukuto (February 17)ComedyWhile Waiting, Optillusion (February 5)FPSBOWLOUT, Sep Horsthuis, Quint Winter (January 7)Arken Age VitruviusVR (January 16)HorrorBlood Typers, Outer Brain Studios (February 20)Studio System : Guardian Angel, alreti circle (February 4)Management and automationMind over Magic, Sparkypants (February 12)Viking Chef: Feast Frenzy, Yew Rune Creations (February 3)Blood Bar Tycoon, Clever Trickster Studio (February 4)Astronomics, Numizmatic (February 10 – early access)Ale Abbey, Hammer & Ravens (February 18 – early access)MetroidvaniaOirbo, ImaginationOverflow (February 11 – early access)SteamDolls - Order Of Chaos, The Shady Gentlemen (February 11 – early access)Narrative and mysteryAfterlove EP, Pikselnesia (February 14)Urban Myth Dissolution Center, Hakababunko (February 12)Weirdo, CASCHA GAMES (February 14)PlatformerBauhaus Bonk, Spoonful Games (February 6)JUMP KING QUEST, Nexile (February 12 – early access)Puzzle adventureSpirit Swap: Lofi Beats to Match-3 To, Soft Not Weak, LLC (February 3)Slender Threads, Blyts (February 7)Roguelike/liteSWORN, Windwalk Games (February 6 – early access)Psionic Sentry : Infinite, Roy, 響雨互動娛樂, HowlingRain (February 2 – early access)Astral Throne, Zero Sun Games (February 7)RPGCabernet, Party for Introverts (February 20)Peripeteia, Ninth Exodus (February 21 – early access)Reality Break, Element Games, LLC (February 10)SimulationArctic Motel Simulator, One Slice of Pizza Games (February 11)Behind Glass: Aquarium Simulator, BitBros Inc (January 9)Skystead Ranch, ToastieLabs (January 17)Sports and drivingLonely Mountains: Snow Riders, Megagon Industries (January 21)Sports and racingHover REV Hispeed Burst, JKK_WORKS (February 5)StrategyDark Times, Gromov Studio (February 9)GIRLS' FRONTLINE 2: EXILIUM, SUNBORN Information Co., Ltd. (February 11)SurvivalAloft, Astrolabe Interactive Inc. (January 15 – early access)That’s a wrap for February 2025. Want more Made with Unity and community news as it happens? Don’t forget to follow us on social media: Bluesky, X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch.

As an AI engineer at Meta, Boris Valkov helped build PyTorch, one of the world’s largest machine learning libraries. During his time there, Valkov realized that artificial intelligence “was about to unlock capabilities…in the application layer in the software stack.” He left Meta in late 2021 to start Lace AI, a startup that has developed AI-driven customer service software for home service companies. The path to entrepreneurship started when Valkov was a boy, working in the family grocery store business. It taught him the power of telephone customer service. As an adult, he began to look for ways to combine his interest in AI and customer service. The idea for Lace was born.  Taking his years of software engineering experience at VMware and Meta, Valkov teamed up with Stan Stoyanov and aimed to marry AI with customer service to help businesses generate additional revenue. The pair talked to more than 100 companies in different industries and verticals and discovered that in the home services vertical, many sales begin with a call made to a call center. Home services include companies such as HVAC, plumbing, and roofing, among others. The premise behind Lace is that if a customer calls in to one of these businesses, it can either convert into a sale — or not. The company claims its software can help improve the chances of call conversions. Specifically, Lace’s revenue intelligence software uses AI technology to analyze all the calls coming into these businesses to detect lost revenue opportunities. It claims that it’s more comprehensive than other similar offerings in that it monitors 100% of the calls rather than a portion of them. It analyzes each interaction “to ensure that no potential lead or opportunity is missed,” according to Valkov. Image Credits:Lace The Mountain View-based company works with over 100 businesses, such as A1 Garage Door Service, Sage Home, Eco Plumbers, Matrix, and Lee’s Air. Valkov declined to reveal hard revenue figures, saying only that Lace saw 1,000% annual recurring revenue (ARR) growth in 2024. (However, it only started selling to customers at the end of 2023.) The company operates a SaaS (software-as-a-service) business model, charging a monthly fee per agent or customer support representative. Even just a 1% increase in bookings could be material for a home services or a home remodeling company. For example, a company with $300 million in revenue experiencing a 1% increase would see its revenue increase by $3 million. Some businesses that use Lace see double-digit revenue growth, Valkov said. And today, Lace is announcing a total of $19 million in funding since its early 2022 inception, the company tells TechCrunch exclusively. The total raised includes a previously unannounced $5 million pre-seed round led by Canvas Ventures and, more recently, a $14 million seed raise led by Bek Ventures. Other backers include Horizon VC, Launchub, and Snowflake’s co-founder Marcin Zukowski, Vivino’s Heini Zachariassen, and other founders. Valkov declined to reveal valuation, saying only that the seed financing was an “up” round. Mehmet Atici, managing partner at Bek Ventures, said he was drawn to invest in Lace in part because of its experienced team. “There’s a growing trend of applying AI to make a real impact in sectors historically underserved by tech, and this team has a keen understanding of how to do just that — accurately identifying and addressing the needs of these often overlooked segments represents an enormous opportunity,” he told TechCrunch. Presently, Lace has 20 employees. It plans to triple the size of the company with its new funding.

A pair of undergrads, neither with extensive AI expertise, say that they’ve created an openly available AI model that can generate podcast-style clips similar to Google’s NotebookLM. The market for synthetic speech tools is vast and growing. ElevenLabs is one of the largest players, but there’s no shortage of challengers (see PlayAI, Sesame, and so on). Investors believe that these tools have immense potential. According to PitchBook, startups developing voice AI tech raised over $398 million in VC funding last year. Toby Kim, one of the Korea-based co-founders of Nari Labs, the group behind the newly released model, said that he and his fellow co-founder started learning about speech AI three months ago. Inspired by NotebookLM, they wanted to create a model that offered more control over generated voices and “freedom in the script.” Kim says they used Google’s TPU Research Cloud program, which provides researchers with free access to the company’s TPU AI chips, to train Nari’s model, Dia. Weighing in at 1.6 billion parameters, Dia can generate dialogue from a script, letting users customize speakers’ tones and insert disfluencies, coughs, laughs, and other nonverbal cues. Parameters are the internal variables models use to make predictions. Generally, models with more parameters perform better. Available from the AI dev platform Hugging Face and GitHub, Dia can run on most modern PCs with at least 10GB of VRAM. It generates a random voice unless prompted with a description of an intended style, but it can also clone a person’s voice. In TechCrunch’s brief testing of Dia through Nari’s web demo, Dia worked quite well, uncomplainingly generating two-way chats about any subject. The quality of the voices seems competitive with other tools out there, and the voice cloning function is among the easiest this reporter has tried. Here’s a sample: Like many voice generators, Dia offers little in the way of safeguards, however. It’d be trivially easy to craft disinformation or a scammy recording. On Dia’s project pages, Nari discourages abuse of the model to impersonate, deceive, or otherwise engage in illicit campaigns, but the group says it “isn’t responsible” for misuse. Nari also hasn’t disclosed which data it scraped to train Dia. It’s possible Dia was developed using copyrighted content — a commenter on Hacker News notes that one sample sounds like the hosts of NPR’s “Planet Money” podcast. Training models on copyrighted content is a widespread but legally dubious practice. Some AI companies claim that fair use shields them from liability, while rights holders assert that fair use doesn’t apply to training. In any event, Kim says Nari’s plan is to create a synthetic voice platform with a “social aspect” on top of Dia and larger, future models. Nari also intends to release a technical report for Dia, and to expand the model’s support to languages beyond English. Topics

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