Scholars of gender and sexuality have been exploring ‘queer spaces’ for over six decades. While for many years homes and domesticity remained out of focus or at the margins of queer space research, a recent ‘domestic turn’ has brought queer people’s homes to the foreground. Queer Spaces (2022), a recollection of case studies of queer domestic spaces edited by Joshua Mardell and Adam Nathaniel Furman, is just one significant work within the recent shift to explore the intersection of queer identities and domesticity, for example. Disobedient Dollhouse No.1, 2023, Photography by Sophie Percival Over the past four years I have documented the homes of LGBTQ+ people and come to understand how they inhabit them through interviews, detailed spatial drawings and the creation of dollhouses. This methodology deliberately subverts traditional architectural model-making conventions, emphasising narrative over spatial clarity, interior qualities over façades, and incorporating elaborate details that standard architectural models typically avoid. While this may feel like a rather unusual pursuit for an architect, it’s also one I feel is necessary and urgent. Disobedient Dollhouse No.1, 2023, Photography by Sophie Percival My current research builds upon years of professional practice in London and scrutinises the limitations of standardised design approaches. Through interviews and detailed spatial surveys, I am examining how queer families navigate living spaces designed according to the London Plan’s Housing Design Guide.Advertisement Early findings from my field work show a chasm between the queer daily lives of some of London’s LGBTQ+ families and the rigid homes the standard produces. In cases where spatial flexibility is available within domestic architecture, wonderful, innovative, caring and radical uses of domestic space emerge, enabling queer forms of raising children or coexisting with current and former lovers. These are not just joyful nice-to-haves, but essential for my participants to live their queerness at home, in full. Homes should not just be where queer folk feel safe; they must also be spaces where our queerness flourishes. Disobedient Dollhouse No.1, 2023, Photography by Sophie Percival The housing emergency in the UK and most of the Western world has urged architects, planners and developers to focus on an increased delivery of ‘units of housing’. Perhaps unsurprisingly, my early findings suggest that this sense of urgency risks under-delivering on quality and space. Housing standards have codified aesthetic, functional, and spatial homogeneity. They reproduce conservative ideals of housing and family at a time when families are growing more and more diverse. All the while, with the expansion of permitted development rights, they are failing to deliver an overall improvement in size and quality of the UK’s housing stock. Disobedient Dollhouse No.1, 2023, Photography by Sophie Percival The need for an alternative, open-ended and, perhaps, queer toolkit to design homes – one that expands the ethical and aesthetic horizons of housing design – has never been more urgent. I am therefore also working on developing my ‘disobedient dollhouse making’ as a design tool. One that puts future users at the centre, allowing them to fabulate a different horizon for housing design. My aim is to use dollhouses as a ‘serious’ design game that enables participants to explore the true possibilities of housing beyond the ‘straightjacket’ of the standard. Follow Daniel Ovalle Costal’s research at @QueerDomCanon on Instagram 2025-06-03 Fran Williams comment and share

This article is a sponsored by TetraLogical Neurodivergent needs are often considered as an edge case that doesn’t fit into common user journeys or flows. Neurodiversity tends to get overlooked in the design process. Or it is tackled late in the process, and only if there is enough time. But people aren’t edge cases. Every person is just a different person, performing tasks and navigating the web in a different way. So how can we design better, more inclusive experiences that cater to different needs and, ultimately, benefit everyone? Let’s take a closer look. Neurodiversity Or Neurodivergent? There is quite a bit of confusion about both terms on the web. Different people think and experience the world differently, and neurodiversity sees differences as natural variations, not deficits. It distinguishes between neurotypical and neurodivergent people. Neurotypical people see the world in a “typical” and widely perceived as expected way. Neurodivergent people experience the world differently, for example, people with ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, synesthesia, and hyperlexia. According to various sources, around 15–40% of the population has neurodivergent traits. These traits can be innate (e.g., autism) or acquired (e.g., trauma). But they are always on a spectrum, and vary a lot. A person with autism is not neurodiverse — they are neurodivergent. One of the main strengths of neurodivergent people is how imaginative and creative they are, coming up with out-of-the-box ideas quickly. With exceptional levels of attention, strong long-term memory, a unique perspective, unbeatable accuracy, and a strong sense of justice and fairness. Being different in a world that, to some degree, still doesn’t accept these differences is exhausting. So unsurprisingly, neurodivergent people often bring along determination, resilience, and high levels of empathy. Design With People, Not For Them As a designer, I often see myself as a path-maker. I’m designing reliable paths for people to navigate to their goals comfortably. Without being blocked. Or confused. Or locked out. That means respecting the simple fact that people’s needs, tasks, and user journeys are all different, and that they evolve over time. And: most importantly, it means considering them very early in the process. Better accessibility is better for everyone. Instead of making decisions that need to be reverted or refined to be compliant, we can bring a diverse group of people — with accessibility needs, with neurodiversity, frequent and infrequent users, experts, newcomers — in the process, and design with them, rather than for them. Neurodiversity & Inclusive Design Resources A wonderful resource that helps us design for cognitive accessibility is Stéphanie Walter’s Neurodiversity and UX toolkit. It includes practical guidelines, tools, and resources to better understand and design for dyslexia, dyscalculia, autism, and ADHD. Another fantastic resource is Will Soward’s Neurodiversity Design System. It combines neurodiversity and user experience design into a set of design standards and principles that you can use to design accessible learning interfaces. Last but not least, I’ve been putting together a few summaries about neurodiversity and inclusive design over the last few years, so you might find them helpful, too: ADHD Autism Children Colorblindness Deafness Dyscalculia Dyslexia Legibility Left-Handed Users Mental Health Motivation Older Adults Screen Readers Teenagers A huge thank-you to everyone who has been writing, speaking, and sharing articles, resources, and toolkits on designing for diversity. The topic is often forgotten and overlooked, but it has an incredible impact. 👏🏼👏🏽👏🏾

I still use a tiny Notion space despite switching to Obsidian.

Cockpit is an amazing FOSS companion for my Podman suite

Large Reasoning Models (LRMs), trained from LLMs using reinforcement learning (RL), demonstrated great performance in complex reasoning tasks, including mathematics, STEM, and coding. However, existing LRMs face challenges in completing various puzzle tasks that require purely logical reasoning skills, which are easy and obvious for humans. Current methods targeting puzzles focus only on designing benchmarks for evaluation, lacking the training methods and resources for modern LLMs to tackle this challenge. Current puzzle datasets lack diversity and scalability, covering limited puzzle types with little control over generation or difficulty. Moreover, due to the success of the “LLM+RLVR” paradigm, it has become crucial to obtain large, diverse, and challenging sets of verifiable puzzle prompts for training agents. Reinforcement Learning with Verifiable Rewards (RLVR) has emerged as a key method for improving models’ reasoning capabilities, removing the need for reward models by directly assigning rewards based on objectively verifiable answers. Puzzles are particularly well-suited for RLVR. However, most prior RLVR research has overlooked the puzzles’ potential for delivering effective reward signals. In puzzle reasoning of LLMs, existing benchmarks evaluate different types of reasoning, including abstract, deductive, and compositional reasoning. Few benchmarks support scalable generation and difficulty control but lack puzzle diversity. Moreover, the improvement of LLMs’ puzzle-solving abilities mainly falls into two categories: tool integration and RLVR. Researchers from ByteDance Seed, Fudan University, Tsinghua University, Nanjing University, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have proposed Enigmata, the first comprehensive toolkit designed for improving LLMs with puzzle reasoning skills. It contains 36 tasks across seven categories, each featuring a generator that produces unlimited examples with controllable difficulty and a rule-based verifier for automatic evaluation. The researchers further developed Enigmata-Eval as a rigorous benchmark and created optimized multi-task RLVR strategies. Puzzle data from Enigmata enhances SoTA performance on advanced math and STEM reasoning tasks like AIME, BeyondAIME, and GPQA when trained on larger models like Seed1.5-Thinking. This shows the generalization benefits of Enigmata. The Enigmata-Data comprises 36 puzzle tasks organized into 7 primary categories, including Crypto, Arithmetic, Logic, Grid, Graph, Search, and Sequential Puzzle, making it the only dataset having multiple task categories with scalability, automatic verification, and public availability. The data construction follows a three-phase pipeline: Tasks Collection and Design, Auto-Generator and Verifier Development, and Sliding Difficulty Control. Moreover, the Enigmata-Eval is developed by systematically sampling from the broader dataset, aiming to extract 50 instances per difficulty level for each task. The final evaluation set contains 4,758 puzzle instances rather than the theoretical maximum of 5,400, due to inherent constraints, where some tasks generate fewer instances per difficulty level. The proposed model outperforms most public models on Enigmata-Eval with 32B parameters, showing the effectiveness of the dataset and training recipe. The model stands out on the challenging ARC-AGI benchmark, surpassing strong reasoning models such as Gemini 2.5 Pro, o3-mini, and o1. The Qwen2.5-32B-Enigmata shows outstanding performance in structured reasoning categories, outperforming in Crypto, Arithmetic, and Logic tasks, suggesting effective development of rule-based reasoning capabilities. The model shows competitive performance in search tasks that require strategic exploration and planning capabilities. Moreover, Crypto and Arithmetic tasks tend to provide the highest accuracy, while spatial and sequential tasks remain more difficult. In this paper, researchers introduced Enigmata, a comprehensive suite for equipping LLMs with advanced puzzle reasoning that integrates seamlessly with RL using verifiable rule-based rewards. The trained Enigmata-Model shows superior performance and robust generalization skills through RLVR training. Experiments reveal that when applied to larger models such as Seed1.5-Thinking (20B/200B parameters), synthetic puzzle data brings additional benefits in other domains, including mathematics and STEM reasoning over state-of-the-art models. Enigmata provides a solid foundation for the research community to advance reasoning model development, offering a unified framework that effectively bridges logical puzzle-solving with broader reasoning capabilities in LLMs. Check out the Paper, GitHub Page and Project Page. All credit for this research goes to the researchers of this project. Also, feel free to follow us on Twitter and don’t forget to join our 95k+ ML SubReddit and Subscribe to our Newsletter. Sajjad AnsariSajjad Ansari is a final year undergraduate from IIT Kharagpur. As a Tech enthusiast, he delves into the practical applications of AI with a focus on understanding the impact of AI technologies and their real-world implications. He aims to articulate complex AI concepts in a clear and accessible manner.Sajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Multimodal Foundation Models Fall Short on Physical Reasoning: PHYX Benchmark Highlights Key Limitations in Visual and Symbolic IntegrationSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Meta AI Introduces Multi-SpatialMLLM: A Multi-Frame Spatial Understanding with Multi-modal Large Language ModelsSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/Can LLMs Really Judge with Reasoning? Microsoft and Tsinghua Researchers Introduce Reward Reasoning Models to Dynamically Scale Test-Time Compute for Better AlignmentSajjad Ansarihttps://www.marktechpost.com/author/sajjadansari/NVIDIA AI Introduces AceReason-Nemotron for Advancing Math and Code Reasoning through Reinforcement Learning

Posted on : May 31, 2025 By Tech World Times Security Testing  Rate this post In a digital era where cyberattacks are increasing in frequency, complexity, and cost, organizations must stay one step ahead by investing in robust cybersecurity strategies. At the heart of this defense lies Cyber Security Threat Analysis, a process that helps businesses detect, understand, and respond to threats before they escalate. This comprehensive guide explores the fundamentals of threat analysis, the methodologies used in 2025, emerging trends, and how companies can implement an effective threat analysis framework to safeguard their digital assets. What is Cyber Security Threat Analysis? Cyber Security Threat Analysis is the process of identifying, assessing, and prioritizing potential and existing cybersecurity threats. It involves analyzing data from various sources to uncover vulnerabilities, detect malicious activity, and evaluate the potential impact on systems, networks, and data. The goal is to proactively defend against attacks rather than react to them after damage is done. Why Threat Analysis Matters in 2025 With the growing adoption of AI, IoT, cloud computing, and remote work, the digital landscape has expanded. This has also widened the attack surface for threat actors. According to recent studies, global cybercrime costs are projected to reach $10.5 trillion annually by 2025. Threat analysis is no longer optional; it’s a critical component of enterprise cybersecurity strategies. Key Components of Cyber Security Threat Analysis Threat Intelligence Gathering Collecting data from open-source intelligence (OSINT), internal systems, dark web monitoring, and threat intelligence platforms.Threat Identification Recognizing indicators of compromise (IOCs), such as malicious IP addresses, abnormal behavior, and unusual login attempts.Risk Assessment Evaluating the likelihood and potential impact of a threat on business operations.Vulnerability Management Identifying weaknesses in systems, applications, and networks that could be exploited.Incident Response Planning Developing action plans to quickly contain and remediate threats. Types of Cyber Threats in 2025 Threat actors continue to evolve, leveraging advanced techniques to breach even the most secure environments. Here are the most prominent threats organizations face in 2025: Ransomware-as-a-Service (RaaS): Cybercriminals offer ransomware toolkits to affiliates, enabling less-skilled attackers to launch sophisticated attacks. Phishing 3.0: AI-generated deepfake emails and voice messages make phishing harder to detect. Supply Chain Attacks: Attackers compromise third-party software or vendors to gain access to larger networks. Cloud Security Breaches: Misconfigured cloud environments remain a top vulnerability. IoT Exploits: Devices with weak security protocols are targeted to infiltrate larger systems. Insider Threats: Employees or contractors may intentionally or unintentionally expose systems to risk. Modern Threat Analysis Methodologies 1. MITRE ATT&CK Framework The MITRE ATT&CK framework maps the behavior and techniques of attackers, providing a structured method to analyze and predict threats. 2. Kill Chain Analysis Developed by Lockheed Martin, this method breaks down the stages of a cyberattack from reconnaissance to actions on objectives, allowing analysts to disrupt attacks early in the chain. 3. Threat Modeling Threat modeling involves identifying assets, understanding potential threats, and designing countermeasures. STRIDE (Spoofing, Tampering, Repudiation, Information disclosure, Denial of service, Elevation of privilege) is a popular model used in 2025. 4. Behavior Analytics User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) uses machine learning to detect anomalies in user behavior that could indicate threats. The Role of AI and Automation in Threat Analysis Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are revolutionizing Cyber Security Threat Analysis in 2025. AI-driven analytics tools can: Correlate large volumes of data in real-time Detect zero-day vulnerabilities Predict attack patterns Automate incident response processes Platforms like IBM QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel, and Splunk integrate AI capabilities for enhanced threat detection and response. Building a Threat Analysis Framework in Your Organization Establish Objectives Define what you want to protect, the types of threats to look for, and the goals of your analysis.Choose the Right Tools Invest in threat intelligence platforms, SIEM systems, and endpoint detection and response (EDR) tools.Create a Skilled Team Assemble cybersecurity professionals including threat hunters, analysts, and incident responders.Integrate Data Sources Pull data from internal logs, external intelligence feeds, user activity, and cloud services.Run Simulations Regularly test your threat detection capabilities using red teaming and penetration testing.Review and Adapt Continuously update the threat model based on evolving threats and organizational changes. Metrics to Measure Threat Analysis Success Mean Time to Detect (MTTD): Time taken to identify a threat. Mean Time to Respond (MTTR): Time taken to neutralize the threat. False Positive Rate: Accuracy of alerts generated. Threat Coverage: Percentage of known threats the system can detect. Business Impact Score: How much value the threat analysis process adds to business continuity and risk mitigation. Challenges in Cyber Security Threat Analysis Data Overload: Managing and analyzing massive volumes of data can be overwhelming. Alert Fatigue: Too many alerts, including false positives, reduce response effectiveness. Talent Shortage: Skilled cybersecurity professionals are in high demand but short supply. Rapid Threat Evolution: Attack techniques evolve quickly, making it hard to maintain up-to-date defenses. Best Practices for Effective Threat Analysis Prioritize Critical Assets: Focus analysis efforts on high-value systems and data. Implement Zero Trust Security: Never trust, always verify; ensure robust identity and access controls. Automate Where Possible: Use automation to handle repetitive tasks and free up human resources for strategic analysis. Encourage a Security Culture: Train employees to recognize and report suspicious activity. Leverage Community Intelligence: Participate in threat intelligence sharing communities like ISACs (Information Sharing and Analysis Centers). Future of Threat Analysis Beyond 2025 The future of Cyber Security Threat Analysis will continue to evolve with: Quantum Computing Threats: New cryptographic challenges will require upgraded threat models. Decentralized Threat Intelligence: Blockchain-based threat sharing platforms could emerge. Autonomous Cyber Defense: AI systems capable of defending networks without human input. Conclusion Cyber Security Threat Analysis is an indispensable element of modern digital defense, especially in a hyper-connected 2025. With increasingly sophisticated threats on the horizon, businesses must adopt proactive threat analysis strategies to protect their digital environments. From leveraging AI tools to integrating structured methodologies like MITRE ATT&CK and STRIDE, a multi-layered approach can provide robust defense against cyber adversaries. Investing in skilled teams, up-to-date technologies, and continuous improvement is essential to building resilient cybersecurity infrastructure. FAQs 1. What is Cyber Security Threat Analysis? It is the process of identifying, evaluating, and mitigating potential cybersecurity threats to protect data, networks, and systems.2. Why is threat analysis important in 2025? With rising digital threats and complex attack vectors, proactive analysis helps businesses prevent breaches and minimize damage.3. Which tools are best for threat analysis? Popular tools include Splunk, IBM QRadar, Microsoft Sentinel, and CrowdStrike.4. How does AI help in threat analysis? AI helps by automating data analysis, detecting patterns, and predicting threats in real-time.5. What industries benefit most from threat analysis? Finance, healthcare, government, and tech sectors, where data protection and regulatory compliance are critical.Tech World TimesTech World Times (TWT), a global collective focusing on the latest tech news and trends in blockchain, Fintech, Development & Testing, AI and Startups. If you are looking for the guest post then contact at techworldtimes@gmail.com

From Tokyo to Taipei, Ho Chi Minh to Seoul, Asia Pacific has long been a powerhouse in global esports. However, until now, the region's role in the League of Legends ecosystem lacked a central stage. That's all about to change with the inception of League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), Riot Games' ambitious new league for APAC. This is the game developer's most significant step yet in unifying its fragmented competitive landscape. To bring that vision to life, Riot partnered with brand and digital studio Koto to craft an identity that would speak to fans across cultures, languages, and gaming styles. The result is a full-spectrum design system shaped by the region, for the region, and built to evolve alongside the fast-moving world of esports. "At its heart, this project was about building pride and momentum," says Koto creative director Melissa Baillache. "Riot made it clear from the beginning: they wanted to give fans a brand that belongs to them." The LCP brand makes that intent clear from the get-go. Under the platform What We're Made Of, Koto constructed an identity rooted in regional passion, from Japan's Oshi-style fandoms to Southeast Asia's hyper-social esports culture. The line isn't just a slogan; it's a rallying cry, making it clear that APAC isn't just participating in global esports – it's here to lead. Designing for competition and community Visually, the brand needed to deliver across an incredible range of touchpoints, from social teasers and broadcast graphics to merch, memes, and fan-created content. The design system is centred on The Pinnacle: a five-player emblem representing unity and competitive intensity. Rendered in molten, 3D finishes, it's a symbol of regional ambition and the raw energy of top-tier play. That energy carries through a modular graphic system inspired by League's own gameplay, specifically the three in-game lanes that structure how matches unfold. This system offers a flexible yet distinctive frame for everything from stat-heavy broadcast overlays to highlight reels and in-arena hype moments. The motion language is just as purposeful. It's fast, focused, and reactive, designed to mirror the breakneck pace of in-game action and the way fans consume esports content in real-time. Whether counting down to kick-off or amplifying a clutch play, the system pulses with immediacy. Voice with impact Koto also worked to develop a voice that cuts through the noise of a crowded digital space. LCP's tone is raw, energised, and emotionally charged, with tight headlines and punchy copy that speaks directly to fans. It's not just branding; it's storytelling engineered for social moments, match trailers, post-game celebrations, and everything in between. The studio's verbal system extends to campaign slogans, hashtags, and commentary-style callouts, all of which work together to build momentum, fuel rivalries, and stoke regional pride. A custom typeface that sets the tempo At the core of the visual identity is LCP Ignite, a custom variable typeface designed to capture the rhythm and sharpness of League gameplay. Inspired by the 'fired up' ethos of competitive play, it flexes across every format, from match stats and player quotes to dynamic on-screen graphics. Given the region's linguistic diversity, the system also includes a suite of secondary typefaces (including Archivo, Kinkakuji and Thonglor Soi 4 Nr) to ensure legibility and consistency in languages across APAC. The goal here was to create a type system that speaks to everyone, from die-hard fans to casual mobile viewers wherever they are. Fuel for fandom Koto's system goes beyond expectations by creating tools that grow with the community. A suite of icons and illustrations—all drawn from the strokes and geometry of LCP Ignite—provides creative fuel for Riot and fans. These assets flex across platforms, helping commentators, players, and creators build content that feels cohesive but never prescriptive. Gerald Torto, senior strategy director at Koto, says: "The goal with LCP was to frame the league not just as a competition, but as a cultural force. The energy and sentiment captured in the idea 'What We're Made Of' is a fitting platform. It gives APAC an unapologetic and proud voice that looks ahead to an exciting future." The scale of the system matches that ambition. Alongside Riot's APAC PubSports team, Koto delivered a complete brand toolkit with hundreds of assets – spanning physical, digital, and broadcast formats – built to scale across seasons, teams, and evolving tournament formats. Setting the stage for APAC's next era What sets this project apart is its commitment to longevity. LCP is a vast infrastructure investment into the future of competitive gaming in APAC, and the brand has already begun rolling out teaser campaigns, test broadcasts, and live events, setting the stage for a new chapter in League of Legends. As Koto continues to expand its presence in the region, the LCP identity is a strong signal of what's possible when global ambition meets regional nuance. It's also a showcase of what the Sydney studio brings to the table: cross-cultural fluency, strategic storytelling, and a flair for building scalable, high-impact identities with soul. With the official launch of LCP now live, Riot and Koto are inviting the world to witness what the region is made of.

In Unity 2021 LTS, UI Toolkit offers a collection of features, resources, and tools to help you build and debug adaptive runtime UIs on a wide range of game applications and Editor extensions. Its intuitive workflow enables Unity creators in different roles – artists, programmers, and designers alike – to get started with UI development as quickly as possible.See our earlier blog post for an explanation of UI Toolkit’s main benefits, such as enhanced scalability and performance, already being leveraged by studios like Mechanistry for their game, Timberborn.While Unity UI remains the go-to solution for positioning and lighting UI in a 3D world or integrating with other Unity systems, UI Toolkit for runtime UI can already benefit game productions seeking performance and scalability as of Unity 2021 LTS. It’s particularly effective for Screen Space – Overlay UI, and scales well on a variety of screen resolutions.That’s why we’re excited to announce two new learning resources to better support UI development with UI Toolkit:UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers: The demo is now available to download for free from the Asset Store.User interface design and implementation in Unity: This free e-book can be download from hereRead on to learn about some key features part of the UI Toolkit sample project.The UI Toolkit sample demonstrates how you can leverage UI Toolkit for your own applications. This demo involves a full-featured interface over a slice of the 2D project Dragon Crashers, a mini RPG, using the Unity 2021 LTS UI Toolkit workflow at runtime.Some of the actions illustrated in the sample project show you how to:Style with selectors in Unity style sheet (USS) files and use UXML templatesCreate custom controls, such as a circular meter or tabbed viewsCustomize the appearance of elements like sliders and toggle buttonsUse Render Texture for UI overlay effects, USS animations, seasonal themes, and moreTo try out the project after adding it to your assets, enter Play mode. Please note that UI Toolkit interfaces do not appear in the Scene view. Instead, you can view them in the Game view or UI Builder.The menu on the left helps you navigate the modal main menu screens. This vertical column of buttons provides access to the five modal screens that comprise the main menu (they stay active while switching between screens).While some interactivity is possible, such as healing the characters by dragging available potions in the scene, gameplay has been kept to a minimum to ensure continued focus on the UI examples.Let’s take a closer look at the UIs in the menu bar:The home screen serves as a landing pad when launching the application. You can use this screen to play the game or receive simulated chat messages.The character screen involves a mix of GameObjects and UI elements. This is where you can explore each of the four Dragon Crashers characters. Use the stats, skills, and bio tabs to read the specific character details, and click on the inventory slots to add or remove items. The preview area shows a 2D lit and rigged character over a tiled background.The resources screen links to documentation, the forum, and other resources for making the most of UI Toolkit.The shop screen simulates an in-game store where you can purchase hard and soft currency, such as gold or gems, as well as virtual goods like healing potions. Each item in the shop screen is a separate VisualTreeAsset. UI Toolkit instantiates these assets at runtime; one for each ScriptableObject in the Resources/GameData.The mail screen is a front-end reader of fictitious messages that uses a tabbed menu to separate the inbox and deleted messages.The game screen is a mini version of the Dragon Crashers project that starts playing automatically. In this project, you’ll notice a few revised elements with UI Toolkit, such as a pause button, health bars, and the capacity to drag a healing potion element to your characters when they take damage.UI Toolkit enables you to build stable and consistent UIs for your entire project. At the same time, it provides flexible tools for adding your own design flourishes and details to further flesh out the game’s theme and style.Let’s go over some of the features used to refine the UI designs in the sample:Render Textures:UI Toolkit interfaces are rendered last in the render queue, meaning you can’t overlay other game graphics on top of a UI Toolkit UI. Render Textures provide a workaround to this limitation, making it possible to integrate in-game effects into UI Toolkit UIs. While these effects based on Render Textures should be used sparingly, you’ll still be able to afford sharp effects within the context of a fullscreen UI, without running gameplay. The following images show a number of Render Textures from the demo.Themes with Theme style sheets (TSS): TSS files are Asset files that are similar to regular USS files. They serve as a starting point for defining your own custom theme via USS selectors as well as property and variable settings. In the demo, we duplicated the default theme files and modified the copies to offer seasonal variations.Custom UI elements: Since designers are trained to think outside the box, UI Toolkit gives you plenty of room to customize or extend the standard library. The demo project highlights a few custom-built elements in the tabbed menus, slide toggles, and drop-down lists, plus a radial counter to demonstrate what UI artists are capable of alongside developers.USS transitions for animated UI state changes: Adding transitions to the menu screens can polish and smooth out your visuals. UI Toolkit makes this more straightforward with the Transition Animations property, part of the UI Builder’s Inspector. Adjust the Property, Duration, Easing, and Delay properties to set up the animation. Then simply change styles for UI Toolkit to apply the animated transition at runtime.Post-processing volume for a background blur: A popular effect in games is to blur a crowded gameplay scene to draw the player’s attention to a particular pop-up message or dialog window. You can achieve this effect by enabling Depth of Field in the Volume framework (available in the Universal Render Pipeline).We made sure that efficient workflows were used to fortify the UI. Here are a few recommendations for keeping the project well-organized:Consistent naming conventions: It’s important to adopt naming conventions that align with your visual elements and style sheets. Clear naming conventions not only maintain the hierarchy’s organization in UI Builder, they make it more accessible to your teammates, and keep the code clean and readable. More specifically, we suggest the Block Element Modifier (BEM) naming convention for visual elements and style sheets. Just at a glance, an element’s BEM naming can tell you what it does, how it appears, and how it relates to the other elements around it. See the following BEM naming examples:Responsive UI layout: Similar to web technologies, UI Toolkit offers the possibility of creating layouts where “child” visual elements adapt to the current available size inside their “parent” visual elements, and others where each element has an absolute position anchored to a reference point, akin to the Unity UI system. The sample uses both options as needed through the visual elements of the UI.PSD Importer: One of the most effective tools for creating the demo, PSD Importer allows artists to work in a master document without having to manually export every sprite separately. When changes are needed, they can be done in the original PSD file and updated automatically in Unity.ScriptableObjects: In order to focus on UI design and implementation, the sample project simulates backend data, such as in-app purchases and mail messages, using ScriptableObjects. You can conveniently customize this stand-in data from the Resources/GameData folder and use the example to create similar data assets, like inventory items and character or dialog data in UI Toolkit.Remember that with UI Toolkit, UI layouts and styles are decoupled from code. This means that rewriting the backend data can occur independently from the UI design. If your development team replaces those systems, the interface should continue to work.Additional tools used in the demo include particle systems created with the Built-in Particle System for special effects, and the 2D toolset, among others. Feel free to review the project via the Inspector to see how these different elements come into play.You can find reference art made by the UI artists under UI/Reference, as replicated in UI Builder. The whole process, from mockups to wireframes, is also documented in the e-book. Finally, all of the content in the sample can be added to your own Unity project.You can download the UI Toolkit sample – Dragon Crashers from the Asset Store. Once you’ve explored its different UI designs, please provide your feedback on the forum.Then be sure to check out our e-book, User interface design and implementation in Unity. Download

The Nintendo Switch 2 headlines a huge month of gaming releases, and we've got everything you need to know across PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Switch for June 2025Tech09:00, 31 May 2025Switch 2 is the big release this month(Image: Nintendo)June is almost here, and while game releases used to be relatively quiet in the summer, that trend has been well and truly bucked in recent years.In fact, June 2025 might be one of the biggest in recent memory, and while last month offered plenty of 'May Madness', June introduces the Nintendo Switch 2, Mario Kart World, and much, much more.‌Whether you're picking up Nintendo's latest hardware or not, we've got a rundown of the biggest games you can pick up in June across all platforms.‌Here's what you should be on the lookout for.We played the Switch 2, and now we want another goReleased: June 5‌We could have filled this list with the Switch 2 and its launch lineup, which includes Cyberpunk 2077, Civilization 7, and that all-important Mario Kart World.It's expected to be one of the biggest console launches in history, and it's just a few days into the month. If you've missed all the latest news, the Switch 2 is drastically more powerful than its predecessor while keeping the same form factor. It has a larger display with 1080p resolution, and can output 4K when docked–a first for a Nintendo console.Be sure to check back around launch for a whole host of Switch 2 coverage.‌Dune Awakening is an ambitious survival MMOReleased: June 10, Platforms: PCSurvival games are a Marmite kind of deal, but whether you love them or hate them, we'd recommend keeping an eye on Funcom's Dune Awakening.‌Players find themselves stuck on Arrakis, and will need to acquire resources, craft a base, and stay clear of Sandworms, bandits, and other players.Promising a huge, political endgame that sees players pledge allegiance to different factions, it could be a fascinating release for PC gamers.MindsEye looks impressive already(Image: Build a Rocket Boy)‌Released: June 10, Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X and S, PCAnother June 10 launch, MindsEye comes from Build A Robot Boy–the studio helmed by GTA legend Leslie Benzies–and it's promising a near-future open-world adventure that looks gorgeous in motion.The game, which is published by Hitman devs IO Interactive, will also include a huge game creation toolkit. The idea is that players can keep building things for MindsEye, meaning there's almost no end to the fun.‌FBC Firebreak is a departure for RemedyReleased: June 17, Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X and S, PCThe ever-impressive Remedy Entertainment is releasing a surprising new co-op shooter set in the same universe as Control.‌Players will need to tackle all kinds of monsters with friends or strangers, while also having the option to use their own supernatural abilities to stem the tide.Early previews have been positive, and Remedy hasn't steered us wrong yet.Rematch offers 5v5 football action‌Released: June 19, Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X and S, PCYou can't beat a good football game, but we didn't expect one to come from the team that gave us martial arts adventure Sifu.Rematch is that game, and rather than giving players a birds-eye view of the action, they'll play as a single player in third-person.‌With even the keeper able to use some slick footwork, it could be the closest we get to a new FIFA Street.Is that who we think it is?(Image: Kojima/Guerrilla Games)Released: June 19, Platforms: PS5Article continues belowThere's not a lot to say about Death Stranding 2, purely because we know that whatever preconceived notions we have about the game will be shredded to bits with Hideo Kojima at the helm.The sequel to the post-apocalyptic adventure that was once a PS4 exclusive is only for PS5 players this time around, and it looks to be just as off-the-wall as its predecessor.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌‌‌