A fresh coat of paint Google announces Material 3 Expressive, a colorful evolution of Android design Google's take on Android is getting brighter and bolder later this year. Ryan Whitwam – May 13, 2025 2:57 pm | 32 Credit: Google Credit: Google Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Google accidentally showed off its big Android design refresh last week, but now Material 3 Expressive is official. Google says the new interface will begin with Android OS, but it will eventually expand across the full Google app ecosystem, bringing a more lively vibe to Gmail, Google Photos, and more. Material 3 Expressive won't be entirely unfamiliar—it shares some basic design elements with the Material You system Google launched four years ago. Material 3 Expressive is a bolder take on the same aesthetic, featuring "springy" animations, brighter colors, and new shapes. Material 3 Expressive As we learned from Google's slipup, Material 3 Expressive is the result of numerous user studies, which included more than 18,000 participants. Google explored how people parse information on their phone, finding design themes that supposedly support quicker and easier interactions. Often, that seems to result in making certain UI elements larger and easier to spot. Google claims people can find these important buttons four times faster than they can with older Material You interfaces. What you can expect from Material 3 Expressive Animations will abound in future versions of Android, and Google emphasizes the springy aspect. The style is supposed to feel natural and fun, with more UI elements connected to dynamic haptics. Colors are also getting an overhaul, but this isn't a complete rethink of Material You. The theming engine will pick bolder colors to improve the visual separation of UI elements, and you will see those colors in more places. Google says it's also updating Android's typography, featuring more contrast between headers and body text. This will change across Google's apps to help users parse information faster. Certain buttons will also come in a wider variety of shapes, and the labels will have varying text weights. Likewise, the style and shape of status bar icons will change to be more readable. The notification shade and quick settings may be one of the more dramatic shifts for Material 3 Expressive. Google will finally let you pin more controls to the compact view, and the quick settings tiles will be resizable. The background of the notification shade will use a blur effect on your background image as well. While Android 16 is just around the corner, and elements of Material 3 Expressive are hiding in the latest betas, this is not the default UI for Google's new version. Android 16 will launch in June with the Material You interface you know and (maybe) love. Later this year, Material 3 Expressive will come to Pixel phones and the Pixel Watch via an update. And what of non-Google devices? Like Material You, Material 3 Expressive is an open design framework. Any of Google's partners can implement it in their Android skin, and developers will be able to take advantage of design templates and new animation APIs to make their apps blend in with Material 3 Expressive. But will they? History suggests that Google's design preferences are rarely reflected in software from companies like Samsung and OnePlus. Motorola has traditionally hewed closer to Google's design language, but even Moto didn't fully embrace Material You. If you love the vibes of Material 3 Expressive, you'll probably need a Pixel to get the full effect. Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam Senior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 32 Comments Source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/05/google-reveals-vibrant-material-3-expressive-coming-soon-to-a-pixel-near-you/ #google #announces #material #expressive #colorful #evolution #android #design

Spotify's AI DJ is like if ChatGPT decided to switch careers. The DJ curates a playlist of music based on Premium subscribers' previous play history, including new and old songs in the mix. Of course, the headline feature is the DJ's voice, as the AI bot announces which songs are up next, as well as some information about each. Whether you love or hate AI, it's a pretty harmless feature, and seems fun for those who pay for Spotify.While DJ feels interactive, it really isn't. Aside from skipping songs, it's mostly a passive feature. That's now changing: In a blog post on Tuesday, Spotify announced that you will now be able to make requests to the DJ with your voice. If you're enjoying the personalized playlist, but want to listen to something in particular—whether that be a song, genre, or mood—you can now ask the DJ to play it. In a video on the press release, Spotify demos a user asking, "DJ, morning motivation needed ASAP...give me some dance-pop vibes." The DJ responds in kind: "No problem. Here's some LISA." In another example, the user asks, "play me something with a Y2K vibe to celebrate." DJ decides to run with Tate McRae, "with that nostalgic sound you've had on repeat." Some other request examples Spotify highlighted include:“Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.”“Give me some electronic beats for a midday run.” “Play me some cry-in-the-car songs.”Spotify says that DJ requests are available in English for Premium users in over 60 markets. If you have access to the DJ, you have access to requests. How to make a DJ request on SpotifyFirst, you'll need to subscribe to Spotify Premium and live in an area where the DJ is available. If those two points are met, open Spotify and search for "DJ." Press play to launch the DJ, then press and hold the DJ button in the right-hand corner. (Listen for a beep.) Now, place your request. As usual, if you don't have a specific request but want to hear something else, you can simply skip to the next track, which will likely be something totally different than what was just playing. Source: https://lifehacker.com/tech/spotify-ai-dj-requests-feature?utm_medium=RSS #your #spotify #now #taking #verbal #requests

Data > vibesThe last months all I saw influencers talk about is how tech + software engineering is dead because of AI after someone found a chart trending downwards If anything, the industry is changing. PMs who know how to build AI products are in-demand. Seeing same w devsLenny Rachitsky: State of the product job market in 2025:1. The highest number of open PM and engineering roles in over 2.5 years (!!!)2. AI PM roles (and AI-related roles in general) are exploding3. Layoffs are slowing4. Capital investment is increasing5. The Bay Area continues to be the Source: https://x.com/GergelyOrosz/status/1922345721392517443 #data #ampgt #vibes #the #last #months #all #saw #influencers #talk #about #how #tech #software #engineering #dead #because #after #someone #found #chart #tre

Eleven years after Google first announced its grand unifying theory of design—Material Design—it’s introducing its third major revision to the system.Called Material 3 Expressive, the company will tell you that it’s their most “researched update” ever, promising to help people find what they’re looking for on the screen faster than before. But it’s also the company’s most maximalist design system to date. Still enabling quieter minimalist designs, sure, but embracing bolder colors, more playful animations, and all around more overt approaches to interface. There’s a new roundness to almost every component, right down to the tips of Google’s new default typeface, Google Sans Flex Rounded, which replaces the hard edged terminals on letterforms with smooth tips.[Image: Google]But mostly, Google is using more of everything to accentuate contrast, like between headers and bodies. Button shapes can now be anything from giant pills to stars. Perkier animations rekindle tech’s old favorite words, “joy” and “delight,” with a bit more springiness in them across the board. And UI elements on your screen often react to others—dial a phone number, and each digit you press bounces the others out of the way like cartoony bubble tape.“It’s kind of like the next evolution,” says Vanessa Cho, VP, Google Design. “It’s design with the soul. What I mean by that is it’s [still] driven with deep purpose…but it also connects with you on the emotional level.”[Image: Google]The history of Material DesignMaterial Design was born over a decade ago, as Google Designers developed a grounding metaphor to codify its otherwise fragmented approach to design. Inspired by light and paper, Material Design was like a stretchy piece of wonder paper that could reshape to do anything, and it brought a sense of tactile physics to Search, Android, and other Google Services.In the years since, Material Design veered from its ambitious roots. It imagined eventually breaking out of screens and becoming the interface for our lives—what would be a better interface for an internet of things than literal matter that would reshape itself in front of you? Material Design was built for a path toward that smart infrastructure that seemed so inevitable in the 2010s. But a decade later, and the world didn’t play out that way. Instead, most things stayed dumb as we got sucked deeper and deeper into our phones. The stoic minimalism that Material Design v 1 celebrated got washed out by the pixel onslaughts of TikTok and other social media platforms. The emoji of 2014 seem quaint by the comparison of just about everything on Instagram, where even AI characters are attempting to be my bff.So in 2021, Material Design pivoted. It became more about personalization—allowing your phone to have a color palette and typefaces more reflective of you. And now? Material Design is trending more maximal, with an overt approach to design that’s willing to call attention to itself as a moment of celebration, rather than disappear into the background.[Image: Google]“We’re in an era of expression…thinking about TikTok and whatever you’re on,” says Mindy Brooks, VP, Product & UX, Android Platform. “So this design system allows us to, even as developers and creators of it, to express what we want to in the product.”Testing and manifestingAcross Google’s products, these new design standards play out in different ways. On Android, it means we see apps presented in a greater array of typefaces (pushing expressiveness and information hierarchy at the same time), while apps like Photos trend toward the Canva-create-a-card vibes we get on iOS today. On Wear OS, the colors from your phone can be mirrored on your wrist, and buttons now wrap all the way into the curves of the display through a lovely marriage of device and UI.[Image: Google]But what Google’s design team most wants to highlight is that Material 3 Expressive isn’t style over substance. Validated by 46 studies that tested hundreds of designs across more than 18,000 participants, they found that the expressive end of the Material Design system was preferred across all age groups, though especially Gen Z, which preferred the more maximalist screens 87% of the time.[Image: Google]The team also found that Material 3 Expressive was faster to navigate. Certain actions were spotted up to 4x faster than before. And while older adults are typically slower at finding certain buttons on the screen, the larger buttons inside Material 3 Expressive proved faster to find for everyone—while eliminating the age gap. Google claims older adults can use this design system with the same rapidity of youth. (And who woulda thunk, a big red “send” button would be easier to spot than that old little paper airplane in the corner?)As a design solution, it’s hard to argue with Google’s own validating data or the joy of bringing in more color and motion into the mix. But I’m more interested in Material 3 Expression for what it reveals about this era of design. For the last decade and a half, minimalism has taken over everything from blanded branding to interface (the world of interior design notwithstanding, which has been waffling on the idea for some time). But celebratory expression used to be in! Animations like Apple’s genie effect—which shrunk apps into your taskbar like a genie into the lamp—embodied playfulness before minimalism conquered tech. They were invented way back in 2004 during a more optimistic time in tech, right beside bondi blue iMacs with handles on them. This was the hope of a world that didn’t end after Y2K. Now, screen time debates have been decimated by the For You Page and AI everything, while your Grazas and Manischewtizs of the world prioritize a bit of funk over subdued Swissness. We’re back in expressive times again. Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/91333562/google-maximalist-new-material-design-kit #google #goes #maximalist #with #its #new #material #design #kit

Credit: Spotify Spotify is turning up the volume on personalization with a new feature that lets Premium users make real-time music requests using just their voice. The music streamer has officially launched DJ requests, an interactive update to its AI-powered DJ feature, now available in over 60 markets worldwide.According to Spotify, this upgrade comes in response to growing user demand for more control and interactivity during listening sessions. Now, instead of passively enjoying a curated mix created by AI, listeners can shape the vibe on the fly, asking for anything from a specific genre or artist to a soundtrack that fits their current mood or activity.How DJ requests workTo try it out, Premium users can simply go to the Search tab in the Spotify app and type in "DJ." After pressing play, the AI DJ kicks off a personalized mix complete with commentary. When it's time to switch things up, users can press and hold the DJ button in the lower right corner until a beep sounds. That’s the cue to speak a request, such as:"Play me some electronic beats for a midday run.""Surprise me with some indie tracks I’ve never heard before.""Play modern country songs for my cowboy era.""Play something chill for a rainy afternoon.""Give me K-pop hits with strong choreography vibes." If you’re not sure what you want, Spotify has you covered: a quick tap of the DJ button skips to the next section for a fresh vibe without needing a specific command. Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! As audio platforms race to deepen engagement, Spotify’s voice-interactive DJ could redefine how users experience music on demand. By merging personalization, ease of use, and interactivity, the company aims to keep Premium users tuned in and tuned up, wherever they go.Sure, voice recognition in a music app isn’t groundbreaking tech, and early users may find that the novelty wears off if the feature doesn’t consistently understand or deliver on more nuanced requests. Still, Spotify's move into voice interactivity signals a larger trend in streaming: shifting away from passive listening toward more dynamic, AI-driven engagement. For Premium users, it’s another tool in an increasingly complex listening toolkit, one that aims to turn Spotify from a simple music streaming platform into a more conversational, almost companion-like experience.So whether you're heading out for a run, hosting a dinner party, chasing a vibe, or just need the perfect track for your "main character moment," your Spotify DJ is now ready to take your requests, no searching required. Just say it, and let the DJ handle the rest. Crystal Bell Digital Culture Editor Crystal Bell is the Culture Editor at Mashable. She oversees the site's coverage of the creator economy, digital spaces, and internet trends, focusing on how young people engage with others and themselves online. She is particularly interested in how social media platforms shape our online and offline identities. She was formerly the entertainment director at MTV News, where she helped the brand expand its coverage of extremely online fan culture and K-pop across its platforms. You can find her work in Teen Vogue, PAPER, NYLON, ELLE, Glamour, NME, W, The FADER, and elsewhere on the internet. She's exceptionally fluent in fandom and will gladly make you a K-pop playlist and/or provide anime recommendations upon request. Crystal lives in New York City with her two black cats, Howl and Sophie. Source: https://mashable.com/article/spotify-ai-dj-now-takes-requests #spotifys #now #takes #requests

doops. Member Jun 3, 2020 5,053 Hello, yes, it's me again with another GTA thread lol! Apologies if your personal fave isn't a poll option, there are only so many options that you can have for one poll. Anyway, the answer is Niko Bellic. Followed by Franklin and then CJ/Trevor (they're tied for third).  Redis Member Mar 1, 2025 195 CJ   MadJosh04 Member Nov 9, 2022 2,712 Niko is my boy   Shin Kojima Member Oct 27, 2017 4,062 The guy from 3 because silent characters are my favorite. Otherwise Trevor because his personality fits with how most people seemingly play GTA.  mrmickfran The Fallen Oct 27, 2017 33,107 Gongaga I'm not a GTA dude, but CJ has the best memes so him   Exist 2 Inspire Powered by Friendship™ Member Apr 19, 2018 4,655 Germany CJ and Tommy, modern GTA protagonists just aren't as good.   BasilZero Member Oct 25, 2017 39,846 Omni Niko most relatable despite being in the worst GTA Tommy vercetti a close second in terms of personality and character After that for me it's CJ, Michael and Franklin I hate Trevor  Baphomet Member Dec 8, 2018 21,721 CJ.   Whisu Member May 19, 2021 820 CJ   AuthenticM Son Altesse Sérénissime The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 35,064 Exist 2 Inspire said: CJ and Tommy, modern GTA protagonists just aren't as good. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yeah. I'm hoping that gta vi changes this.   Bishop89 What Are Ya' Selling? Member Oct 25, 2017 42,627 Melbourne, Australia   disgraciau Member Oct 27, 2017 2,070 Ibiza, Balearic Islands, Spain Niko Bellic, love his character.   OP OP doops. Member Jun 3, 2020 5,053 Exist 2 Inspire said: CJ and Tommy, modern GTA protagonists just aren't as good. Click to expand... Click to shrink... AuthenticM said: Yeah. I'm hoping that gta vi changes this. Click to expand... Click to shrink... How come? (genuine question)  astroturfing Member Nov 1, 2017 7,530 Suomi Finland only 3 votes for Michael? wth? he's like clearly the best. such a funny wreck of a man with some hilarious family interactions. and the voice actor Ned Luke is just perfect as him. i don't think Lucia or Jason will have a chance to replace him as my favorite either.. they dont seem funny at all sadly :/  OP OP doops. Member Jun 3, 2020 5,053 astroturfing said: only 3 votes for Michael? wth? he's like clearly the best. such a funny wreck of a man with some hilarious family interactions. and the voice actor Ned Luke is just perfect as him. i don't think Lucia or Jason will have a chance to replace him as my favorite either.. they dont seem funny at all sadly :/ Click to expand... Click to shrink... They haven't said nearly enough to be sure of this yet lmao  Roxas The Fallen Oct 28, 2017 4,855 Buenos Aires, Argentina Niko was the most relatable, yes. I always thought that the main character of a GTA game being a war vet made perfect sense for all the stupid chaos you do in these games (which, granted, is still unrealistic for a vet), and his arch was pretty great. Too bad if you play that game you have to endure Roman's constant calls to go bowling or something like that   mute ▲ Legend ▲ Member Oct 25, 2017 29,270 CJ   astroturfing Member Nov 1, 2017 7,530 Suomi Finland doops. said: They haven't said nearly enough to be sure of this yet lmao Click to expand... Click to shrink... yeah im keeping an open mind, but so far i dont like the vibes i get from them.. and the absolute last thing i want to see in a GTA is a goddamn romance. i hope they break up in the intro lol. but yeah we'll see..  MarshallLaw Member Oct 19, 2023 1,493 Niko. CJ second. Multiple protagonists in V didn't work for me, personally   RichieMythic Member Oct 27, 2017 2,147 England, UK astroturfing said: yeah im keeping an open mind, but so far i dont like the vibes i get from them.. and the absolute last thing i want to see in a GTA is a goddamn romance. i hope they break up in the intro lol. but yeah we'll see.. Click to expand... Click to shrink... I hope they break up asap so I can get Jason on GTA Grindr  Shivam Member Sep 17, 2022 368 Niko Bellic, the ending when Niko is alone on the bridge still leaves me with many emotions.   AuthenticM Son Altesse Sérénissime The Fallen Oct 25, 2017 35,064 doops. said: How come? (genuine question) Click to expand... Click to shrink... I don't care for Niko and thought that gta iv's story was overrated. The guys from V aren't as boring but they still are somewhat boring, and I didn't care for their story. I prefer Tommy and CJ simply because they were both more fun. Of the two I prefer Tommy because of Ray Liotta.  Beelzebufo Member Jun 1, 2022 5,817 Canada Niko>Tommy>CJ Don't give a shit about V's  DRock Avenger Oct 25, 2017 1,398 CJ's the best. He's reluctantly thrown into fucked up situations due to the harsh world he lives in, all the while complaining about how fucked up it is through the game.   OP OP doops. Member Jun 3, 2020 5,053 astroturfing said: yeah im keeping an open mind, but so far i dont like the vibes i get from them.. and the absolute last thing i want to see in a GTA is a goddamn romance. i hope they break up in the intro lol. but yeah we'll see.. Click to expand... Click to shrink... lol they won't. also you're saying that as if trevor and patricia's fling isn't the best part of gta 5 ;) Besides, having a central romance, or even a romance at all, is not really something Rockstar has done outside of GTA 4 and Bully, at least to this extent. It's something different at least, and we love to see that.  stn Member Oct 28, 2017 6,387 Niko, followed very closely by CJ.   Raygun Member Aug 13, 2024 222 CJ and it isn't even close   Dev Member Oct 25, 2017 1,147 Australia My boy Trevor.   seroun Member Oct 25, 2018 5,273 CJ and then Tommy. I don't think V has anything appealing story or character wise.   ozumas Born to be Wise and Corrupted by Vengeance Member Dec 15, 2020 4,660 Arthur Morgan, if Arthur Morgan was a GTA protagonist. Nico Bellic   The Unsent Member Oct 25, 2017 22,371 I guess Trevor, he's repulsive but often funny, the most memorable out of these selection of awful people.   Lucia Member Oct 18, 2021 2,368 Argentina CJ sweeps.   Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/who-is-your-favorite-gta-protagonist.1187853/ #who #favorite #gta #protagonist

Unite 2023 is coming to Amsterdam, the new LTS is launching, and generative AI continues its buzz. Read on to discover what Unity creators are doing to advance development in the interim, including the latest game releases made with Unity.May saw plenty of exciting games created with Unity share the spotlight.To start, Riot Forge and Double Stallion Games released CONV/RGENCE: A League of Legends Story™, taking us through the streets of Zaun, while tha ltd.’s Humanity put the fate of humankind in our paws. The month also saw Tuatara Games’s hilarious Bare Butt Boxing finally become available in early access, then Plot Twist Games sent us looking for clues in The Last Case of Benedict Fox (below).Rounding out creator milestones for the month were Wishfully’s highly anticipated release of Planet of Lana and Bossa Games’s early look at Lost Skies.We share new game releases and milestone spotlights every Monday on the @UnityGames Twitter and @unitytechnologies Instagram. Be sure to give us a follow and support your fellow creators.Like every month, we were lucky to have another developer take over our Twitter channel to share their best #UnityTips. For May, @samyam_youtube shared a variety of tricks – from pixel art in Unity to simple keyboard shortcuts. Some highlights include:A thread to import your pixel art with the best settingsWhy you should use TryGetComponent instead of GetComponentA guide for the new Unity Input SystemSome quick productivity tipsGreat learning resources and advice for learning UnityOther members of our community also added great tips to the conversation, including @MirzaBeig’s hack for calculating FPS and @kronnect’s useful trick for multiple object positioning.Keep tagging us and using the #UnityTips hashtag to share your expertise with the community.We continue to be stunned by what Unity creators make week to week, and you certainly kept the amazing projects coming in May. If we missed something that you meant to tag us in, be sure to use the #MadeWithUnity hashtag next time.On Twitter, @EvaBalikova was busy creating some beautiful embroidered art (see above), and @DevFatigued’s little caterpillar friend was on a jumping journey.Meanwhile on Instagram, @ShimpleShrimp was in full focus underwater, and Mr. Mustard Games’s (@MrMustardGames on Twitter) robot couldn’t resist smashing some boxes. Finally, @kng_ghidra traveled through different dimensions, and we ended the month with chill skateboarding vibes from @stokedslothinteractive.Finally, for a bit of bonus content, Project Ferocious dev Leo Saalfrank spoke with Shacknews on YouTube about using Unity to the fullest. (For a Ferocious throwback, head to our GDC 2021 showcase for a peek at the WIP.)We’re always here to continue the #MadeWithUnity love. Keep adding the hashtag to your posts to show us what you’ve been up to.On May 25, we hosted a Graphics Dev Blitz Day, covering topics like global illumination, shaders, SRP, URP, HDRP, GfxDevice, texturing, and more. The event was held in both the forums and on the Discord server. Throughout the day, we had more than 150 threads with 49 experts answering questions, and we’d like to thank everyone who participated.Keep an eye on Discord and our forums for future Dev Blitz Day announcements, and don’t forget to bookmark the archive of past Dev Blitz Days.May really took things up a notch on Twitch with the continuation of our Scope Check Let’s Dev series, releasing parts four, five, and six. We also took time to stream a Creator Spotlight showcasing Thomas Waterzooi’s Please, Touch The Artwork (watch above).To close out the month, we hosted Lana Lux on the channel to hear her Unity Tales and held a Nordic Game Jam Let’s Play session.If you don’t already, follow us on Twitch today and hit the notification bell so you never miss a stream.Are you interested in becoming an Asset Store publisher? Maybe you’re a publisher looking to enhance your marketing, community building, or customer support skills? Check out our freshly updated Publisher Resources page for tips on how to turbocharge your publishing journey.Taking things to social media, here’s a roundup of some of our favorite creator showcases from Twitter in May:TOON Farm Pack (coming soon!) | @steve_sicsFast Food Heaven Pack | @NekoboltTeamModern Studio Apartment 3 | NextLevel3DOn YouTube, we shared videos with Renaud Forestié about More Mountains‘s Feel and Freya Holmér about Shapes – two extremely popular assets.Looking to be noticed by the Asset Store team? Tag the @AssetStore Twitter account and use the #AssetStore hashtag when posting your latest creations.For our final update, here’s a non-exhaustive list of games made with Unity that released in May. Do you see any on the list that have already become favorites or think we missed a title? Share your thoughts in the forums.World Turtles, Re: cOg Mission (May 1 – early access)KILLBUG, Samurai Punk and Nicholas McDonnell (May 3)Tape to Tape, Excellent Rectangle (May 3 – early access)Toasterball, Les Crafteurs (May 3)Bare Butt Boxing, Tuatara Games (May 4)Darkest Dungeon® II, Red Hook Studios (May 8)Pan’orama, Chicken Launcher (May 9)Blobi Sprint, ChOuette (May 12)Humanity, tha ltd. (May 15)Tin Hearts, Rogue Sun (May 16)Greedventory, Black Tower Basement (May 17)Inkbound, Shiny Shoe (May 22)Planet of Lana, Wishfully (May 23)CONV/RGENCE: A League of Legends Story™, Double Stallion (May 23)Sunshine Shuffle, Strange Scaffold (May 24)Diluvian Winds, Alambik Studio (May 25 – early access)Evil Wizard, Rubber Duck Games (May 25)Friends vs Friends, Brainwash Gang (May 30)Everdream Valley, Mooneaters (May 30)Doomblade, Muro Studios (May 31)If you’re creating with Unity and haven’t seen your projects in any of our monthly roundups, submit here for the chance to be featured.That’s a wrap for May. For more community news as it happens, follow us on social media: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, or Twitch. المصدر: https://unity.com/blog/news/made-with-unity-monthly-may-2023-roundup

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked)Retro-inspired games have reigned supreme for some time now in the indie scene, but one niche that’s been getting increasingly more attention in recent years is modern projects that aim to replicate the primitive 3D games of the fifth console generation. There’s something distinctly appealing about the roughness of releases from that key transition point in the industry, and few games showcase that appeal better than New Zealand dev J. R. Hudepohl's Labyrinth Of The Demon King. A dim and disturbing dungeon crawler, this fresh release offers up a potent blend of difficulty, action, dread, and intrigue. Labyrinth of the Demon King is set in “the Age of Dharma”, a Feudal Japan-inspired period in which war and famine have utterly ravaged the land and demons torture humanity. You play as a lowly ashigaru foot soldier who’s taken it upon himself to kill the titular ruler following a ruinous battle where the Demon King slaughtered your army and lord in an ambush, leaving you as the sole survivor. Beyond this basic premise, there really isn’t much more plot to speak of, but the labyrinth is full of creepy and dubious figures whose assistance you’ll need to move deeper. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) Gameplay feels a bit like a slightly more modern take on FromSoft’s cult classic, King’s Field, and we do mean slightly—Labyrinth of the Demon King is the sort of game that just dumps you in and expects you to figure things out with minimal handholding once it’s taught you the basics. The main gameplay loop centres on you simply crawling through a few different themed and interconnected dungeons, solving puzzles, bashing baddies, and discovering secrets along the way. It’s slow, brutal, and unforgiving, and if you happen to make a big enough mistake, you’ll be sent straight back to the last shrine you prayed at so you can do it all over again with the freshly (and randomly) respawned enemies. When you stumble across a foe, combat plays out in a very measured and simple melee-focused system that stresses the importance of timing and stamina management. It’s not quite full-on ‘Soulslike’ combat, but it has a lot of that energy as you carefully determine from moment to moment whether to push your foe hard or play things safe and hang back. Most enemies can kill you in a matter of a few hits, so learning how to parry and stun to break guards is absolutely critical, and even then, you’re almost sure to accrue some damage even when you perform well in a battle. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) Though we certainly appreciated the weightiness and difficulty of the combat, it does feel like the stamina bar limits combat a bit too much. You can permanently expand stamina via limited pickups found while exploring, but even a fight against one relatively low-level goon will leave your hero absolutely gassed as he leans against a nearby wall to catch his breath. If more than one enemy jumps you, running away and hoping you can kite just one of them is effectively your only viable option because the stamina bar just takes so long to refill. Some may enjoy this commitment to uncompromising old-school design, but this is one element that we feel could’ve been a little more forgiving without really taking anything away from the tense nature of encounters. Combat aside, this still isn’t an experience for the faint of heart, as a lot of your time will be spent cursing as you try yet another locked or jammed door, wondering how on earth that cryptic key item could possibly be part of progression, and trying not to get lost as you roam yet another floor that you haven’t found the map for yet. It's clearly designed to be disorienting, anxiety-inducing, and mysterious, and it does a masterful job of doing so in a way that feels fair. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) When you finally stumble upon the solution to that puzzle that had you stumped, or find yourself stealing your way down a hidden hall that doesn’t show up on your map, there’s a thrilling rush of dopamine as you feel like you’re maybe just starting to get the hang of this. Then it throws you another curveball with a new enemy type or yet another twisted and unmapped floor that you swear doesn’t have you going in circles. If you like to get lost in your games, then Labyrinth of the Demon King is certainly one for you—its simplistic appearance hides a magnificently complex maze that’ll take you a long time to solve if you try to do so without any help. As for its visuals, Labyrinth of the Demon King leans hard into the lo-fi PSX aesthetic, which it executes masterfully. The gritty, gloomy design of the labyrinth lends a tremendously oppressive atmosphere, and this is perfectly accentuated by the intentional roughness. Between the 4:3 aspect ratio, the simplistic UI, animated FMV door loading screens, and heavy dithering effects, there’s a palpable sense of unease that runs through this experience as you creep your way through the halls and question every movement at the edge of your vision. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) Complementing this perfectly is the sound design, which keeps you on the edge of your seat with all its environmental and atmospheric effects. It’s never completely clear whether the footsteps you’re hearing belong to you or an unseen enemy just out of frame, and all sorts of unnatural noises occasionally pierce the silence to remind you that you’re not alone as you shuffle through another bloody corridor. There’s admittedly not much of a soundtrack here aside from the assorted strings and bells woven in along with the sound effects, but this works to strengthen the experience by giving the labyrinth halls that extra bit of immersive realism. Conclusion Labyrinth of the Demon King does a great job of providing an authentic action-horror, dungeon-crawling experience that feels like it’s straight out of 1997 in all the best ways. The eerie, lo-fi visuals, punishing combat, and disorienting dungeon layouts all combine to make for a maze worth solving. We’d give this one a strong recommendation to any fans of Soulslike games who want to try something with similar traits, but that also feels different in some key ways. This is a great experience if you’re willing to stick it out and learn its intricacies. Lo-fi visuals add a lot to the atmospherePunishing, but fair combatLots of secrets and collectibles to uncover Stamina system is a little too unforgiving Great 8/10 المصدر: https://www.nintendolife.com/reviews/nintendo-switch/labyrinth-of-the-demon-king #Review #Labyrinth #The #Demon #King #Switch #FromSoft #ampamp #Horror #Vibes #Straight #Out #03997

Free Project Files: Death Eater FX ☠ Check out a project by Senior FX Artist, Mo Gamal, who recreated a death eater from Harry Potter and added some demon vibes to the mix. The creator set up this work for a music video in Houdini. You can get the files for free here: https://www.doublejumpacademy.com/community-files/death-eater #houdini #vfx #3dart #3dmodeling #gamedev #indiedev

This 3D motorcycle is something else 😍 🏍 Hard-Surface Artist Yaroslav Lohvinov shared a look at a stunning 3D motorcycle model with post-apocalyptic vibes inspired by one of FNA Custom Cycles' real-life bikes. The creator used Blender, ZBrush, Substance 3D Painter, Substance 3D Designer, Marmoset Toolbag, CameraTrackAR, and Megascans.