Cassie Morgan

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Unreal Engine has very powerful material authoring tools that I used to create this river and waterfall shader for the game project at Breda University of applied sciences. See more about how I did it on my Artstation. Games | Breda University of Applied Sciences Epic Games Unreal Engine

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NEW GAME TRENDING SUPERMARKET SIMULATOR (ROUND 2) In April, I published a post about the new trend of supermarket simulators 🛒 in the games industry. There I mentioned that this trend emerged on Steam (by Valve corporation) under the title "Supermarket Simulator", developed by Nokta Games. The trend quickly spread to the mobile market and spawned some hits, such as "Supermarket Manager Simulator" by Polish studio Digital Melody Games. 🇵🇱 At that time, the games that took advantage of this trend reached around 35MM downloads and US$512k in IAP revenue. What has happened since then? 🤔 Well… some gaming studios have read my post 🤣 and launched their versions of supermarket simulators. And studios that had already developed supermarket simulators, either in a different version to Nokta's game, also took advantage of the trend. 📈 (This is the case with "Hypermarket 3D", a Hypercasual simlutator published by Sunday and developed by Suji Games) The trend is still hot! 🔥 "Manage Supermarket Simulator" by Zego Studio has jumped to the top of the charts in recent weeks. 🔝 According to AppMagic, since March the supermarket trend has generated around 69MM downloads and US$1.1MM in IAP revenue in the mobile gaming market. Here's a list of the five most downloaded mobile games (from March to June 12th): 🥇 “Supermarket Manager Simulator” by Digital Melody Games. 🥈 "Hypermarket 3D" published by Sunday and developed by Suji Games. 🥉 “Manage Supermarket Simulator” by Zego Studio (iKame Global). 4º - “Retail Store Simulator” by Kosin Games. 5º - “Supermarket Simulator Game 3D” by Emir Tarek (Peace Games Studio). 👇 Scroll through the slides below to see some details about these games. 👇 - X - I've put together a list of the 30 most downloaded market simulator games in recent months. Interested in it? 🤔 Then follow the step-by-step instructions in the comments and access my private AppMagic dashboard. - X - This research was supported by Cost Center. Cost Center is a tech company that offers a powerful suite of tools for Mobile Publishers to optimize UA campaigns. 💪 Its portfolio includes amazing clients such as Amanotes and Lihuhu. 🏆 Do you like it? 🤩 Call my friend Yi Ting Ho She'll show you a demo. 😉 #gaming #gamedevelopment #HypercasualByCarlosPereira

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Creating games is very difficult. And building games is challenging. The process of build requires to compile the code and all the data required in the game in a specific sequence involving many dependencies. As such monitoring the outcome is essential, but not sufficent. What if we were able to predict the outcome of a build ? What if we were able to decrease the required computing resources while increasing our iteration capability ? #Ubisoft #Ubisoftlaforge #innovation

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So while I was recovering from my illness and defending myself from bullies (prev post: https://lnkd.in/eQ3jrNTQ) I also did a lot of neat tech work on a game called Orcs Must Die: Unchained I wrote a few SIMD optimized collision detection routines for interacting with breakables and physics props. This is demonstrated in the video below when: - The player shoots the bushes/grass and foliage debris flies off. - The player jumps in the pool and water ripples form - The player shoots tables, barrels, pictures, and other breakables. I felt a custom collision system here was a good fit as Unreal 3's was expensive and the art team wanted more interactivity in the game. More on SIMD Processing and Data Parallelism: https://lnkd.in/edvZHkjx

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"How Culture Shapes a studio" podcast is out - I was a guest on this along with two fab game industry thinkers Ido Naim and Daksha Sharma. Thanks to Jordan Lound for hosting it. We covered some interesting questions about game industry working culture, from our very different backgrounds. Here's the spotify link: https://lnkd.in/eazkGQBE

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I started SLAQ Games with the philosophy that there are three principles that drive a healthy game studio: 1️⃣ Success: Is the game visible and accessible to players? Do players buy/play it? Does it make your studio money? 2️⃣ Love: Is it evident you wanted to make this game, or does it look like a game cynically turned out to meet the right keywords in an algorithm? Do players feel like an afterthought to a business strategy, or do they feel like the game was made for them with their preferences and enjoyment in mind? Does the project inspire enough passion in you that you will continue developing it when setbacks arise? 3️⃣ Quality: Is it a well-made product? Are there obvious or necessary features missing? Is attention to detail shown in the UI, the level design, the balancing? Or is it rushed, sloppy, and bug-ridden? 🔹 Without success, you can wind up creating what is essentially a vanity project only for yourself at best, or a failure that loses the time and money invested into it at worst. Success is what allows a studio to keep making games 🔹 Without love, you can wind up creating soulless games that don't move the industry forward. It can cause burnout in staff and lead to long-term failure as profit or technical engineering become the sole priority over making games you want to make and that people want to play 🔹 Without quality, it will be hard to maintain a reputation as a studio that creates products consumers will keep coming back for. You might experience some growth from a title that overperforms but can't sustain scaling or future projects. Or, you might have great ideas you're passionate about but can't implement fully or correctly ➡ I believe all three of these principles need to be considered as core by any studio (solo, indie, or AAA) to truly survive and grow

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https://lnkd.in/e8ime8uA. hi this is Steven Moore no way I repeat no way the children and the kids cannot play the superhero game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 in 2001 that's why the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 is Rated T because that's why the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 it has too much violence in it and they hit people face and body that's why the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 is Rated T for PlayStation 1 that's why young little children cannot play the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 because that's why the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 it has too much violence in it and they hit people body and face very bad and hard that's why the computer game called X-Men: Mutant Academy 2 is Rated T for PlayStation 1 from Steven Moore.

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https://lnkd.in/eQkVtCRe 5.1 - 5.4 single-player/multi-player menu system. Resolution, saveable key rebinding, volume and mouse, pause menu, create and join sessions.

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Horrible news to hear about KeokeN Interactive having laid off their entire team today. In a statement published on X, CEO Koen Deetman and managing director Paul Deetman said the Netherlands-based studio was forced into the decision after exhausting all possible options for completing planned projects or taking on other work. To those affected, please find a comprehensive list of resources, below: 🥇First, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past weeks I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines: 🎨 Art, Animation, VFX and UI: This resource contains around 1,000 jobs worldwide across all links. Link: https://lnkd.in/eKAHK7VF ⚙ Engineering and Programming This resource lists just over 1,800 jobs worldwide across all links. It also talks about interview tips and questions to practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/eYdxANFM 🕹 Quality Assurance: This resource lists over 450 QA jobs worldwide. This post also talks about the craft of QA and contains tips and interview practice. Link: https://lnkd.in/dwwVjZuc 📑 Game Production: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also contains info about game production as a whole and GDC talks. Link: https://lnkd.in/gxDvFM-Z 📢 Marketing & Community: This resource lists around 400 jobs worldwide. It also gives an intro into game marketing and community management. Link: https://lnkd.in/e5MuViug 🎶 Audio and Sound Design: This resource lists around 190 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/eSkPSsWf 📠 Studio Support, HR, Recruitment and BizDev: This resource lists around 290 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/ePG57_7v ⚙ IT, Helpdesk and DevOps: This resource lists around 140 jobs worldwide. Link: https://lnkd.in/e8ZsuiZh 🎮 Game Design: This resource lists around 440 jobs worldwide. https://lnkd.in/dCv_hQXv 🥈 Second, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ 🥉 Third, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #layoffs #gamesindustry #jobsingames #keokeninteractive (source: https://lnkd.in/eWK2PgvX)

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https://lnkd.in/eQkVtCRe Updated multiplayer & singleplayer menu system, 5.1-5.4. Saved volume, mouse, resolution & key rebind settings, basic save and load player stats, pause menu

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TOP-LIST NEWCOMERS ”ZENLESS ZONE ZERO”, “MINESWEEPER NETFLIX”, AND OTHERS. Last week was filled with new games on the top charts. 🏅 I'll talk about some of them below. ✅ “Zenless Zone Zero” by HoYoverse The developer of the big hits “Genshin Impact” and “Honkai: Star Rail” released its new action RPG for iOS, Android, PC, and PS5 last week: “Zenless Zone Zero”. As with previous HoYoverse games, ZZZ begins with incredible numbers. 🤯 In five days the game reached almost US$20MM in IAP revenue on the Apple store alone. Among the game reviews, I recommend Harshal Karvande's excellent article on the Naavik blog. 👉 🧠 ✅ “Schoolboy Runaway - stealth” by Linked Squad “Schoolboy” is a life simulator in which the player is a young man unhappy with his parents. As it says in the store description, “immerse yourself in the role of a schoolchild whom the parents punished for a bad grade at school, and try to escape from home without being noticed by father and mother.” 😕 Despite its ethical dilemmas, the game has become a trend in Russia 🇷🇺 and is spreading around the world. In the last two weeks, the game has accumulated more than 2MM downloads. ✅ “Wasteland Life: Survival Idle” by SayGames I mentioned "Wasteland” in my list of releases and transfers from the last half of May. It is an Idle Arcade with a Mad Max-style desert survival narrative. 🏜️💦 Developed by Tinkles Games, “Wasteland Life” started the growth stage on June 4th, reaching over 1MM so far. 📈 ✅ “Minesweeper NETFLIX” by Netflix Developed by Smoking Gun Interactive Inc. (a Keywords Studios company), this streaming giant's version of a classic puzzle Minesweeper📍💣 is amazing! And it wasn't just me who liked the game. 🤩 In just a couple of days since its release, the game has already surpassed 200k downloads. 📈 Swipe through the slides below and you'll find out about games from Supercent, Goodroid, Inc., Wonder Group, Fanatee, Ateam Inc.（株式会社エイチーム）, and others that are also on the rise. - X - This research was supported by Cost Center. Cost Center is a tech company that offers a powerful suite of tools for Mobile Publishers to optimize UA campaigns. 💪 Its portfolio includes amazing clients such as Amanotes and Lihuhu. 🏆 Do you like it? 🤩 Call my friend Yi Ting Ho. She'll show you a demo. 😉 #netflix #gaming #gamedevelopment #HypercasualByCarlosPereira

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🔍 Focus early will save you money later! 💸 One of the aspects I enjoy most about working in the games industry is collaborating with development teams during the early phases of game production. Fortunately, Ubisoft Düsseldorf allows me to engage in this creative process occasionally within a local Innovation Framework, even though my current responsibilities are less focused on direct game development. So, I want to share some lessons from the game development side of things today. As a Producer, I've learned that clarity around micro/core gameplay and player fantasy is crucial during the early development stages - and that the core team of the project needs to understand and embrace these fundamentals. Here's what I mean: Micro Gameplay: This isn't about having all gameplay loops defined from the start. Instead, it's about nailing down the second-to-second micro-gameplay actions that players will perform thousands of times during their playtime. Whether it's shooting a gun, jumping with a character, placing a building, or steering a car - ensure you understand what your micro-gameplay is and that these actions alone are fun and engaging in the long run. Player Fantasy: Understanding the player’s fantasy your game aims to fulfill is essential. Remember, player fantasy goes beyond the setting of the game. It's about grasping the higher-level motivations driving player engagement. For instance, in a competitive first-person multiplayer shooter, the player fantasy isn't necessarily about being a terrorist or counter-terrorist (even though that might be the setting of the game). Instead, it could be a broader aspiration like becoming one of the top players in a competitive, high-stakes sports game/league. When you clearly define your player fantasy and perfect your micro-gameplay, elements like setting, art style, gameplay loops, and core features become easier to define, as they all have to serve the player fantasy as well as contextualize and enrich the micro-gameplay. So, defining player fantasy and optimizing micro gameplay early will ultimately save you money as you ensure fun gameplay in an early production state, and avoid exhaustive feature development and scope derailing which might be unnecessary for your core gameplay. 

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Could not be more proud of this team! Hello, Dot is a new mixed-reality experience brought to you by the team that made Peridot on mobile (AKA, my team!). Download it now via the Meta App Lab: https://lnkd.in/e59ixT6F Shifting to a new platform is hard work! For engineers, it means new tooling- SDKs, emulators, deployment, distribution… a whole new suite of stuff to work with, but also a new set of tricks with which to build familiarity. It also means a whole new set of best practices for every discipline- player expectations are not the same on the Meta Quest 3 as they are on iPhone, and the team has to be adaptable in challenging core assumptions they’ve previously relied on. All of this takes time and effort, which makes the rapidity with which this experience came together that much more impressive. Big shoutouts to the team that worked on this: Alicia Berry Jessica Jung David H. Remi Sparks Anika Benons Aaron Desin Ashley Rosenbaum Akshay Gawali Carrie Sloane Daiga Shinohara Loren Sherman Luis Tolosa Nathan Pannell Rachel Windsor Susan Kare Sung Won An Jillian Bresnahan Asim Ahmed Can’t wait to show the world what we’re working on next! But for now, please enjoy Hello, Dot :) And read Asim Ahmed's blog for more on today’s announcement: https://lnkd.in/eFZFy-3Q #gaming #playperidot #niantic #nianticlabs #augmentedreality #AR #mixedreality #WebAR #artificialintelligence #AI #generativeai #genai #cozygames #indiegames #metaquest3 #applevisionpro

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Been a long time since my last update. But the game Necrotic Nightmare is inching it's way to release and very soon our demo of the game will be out on steam. Being the lead level and systems designer for this project, taught me ways so be more efficient and using techniques I haven't used before to have a better optimized experience when it comes to streaming levels and rendering objects. Also finding ways to encourage and lead players through various locations in the game. And as taking the lead role for level designer. I would review all level designers work and provide thorough feedback on how to create good player pathing and ways to keep the player engaged with the levels. When it came to systems, I created the lighting system. It would be a blueprint actor with different variables to alter that the level designers can toggle and adjust to match each level environment. I also assisted in creating a loot box system that would spawn Random consumables or ammunition for the player to acquire. Also created the many doors that is used through out the game and their many functions that they would have. Also assisted in creating the collectibles and consumables that are found through out the game. Also creating puzzles that have boss fights and the players health and mental bars. Found here:

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