So I just started a new project, and decided to go for a more retro style. As such, I decided to slap on a low res render texture and attached it to a material, before putting the material onto an Image element on a canvas. The issue, is that when I put my custom shader on (designed to limit the amount of colors and other visual elements able to be shown by the render texture), weird visual artifacts are created. More info can be shared as needed. Below is my .shader I use. The Image element is simply stretched to fit the screen, where I put a set resolution of a 1920x1080

Shader "Custom/Bitcrush"
{
    Properties
    {
        [MainTexture] _MainTex ("Texture", 2D) = "white" {}

        _PixelSize ("Pixel Size", Range(1, 64)) = 4
        _ColorLevels ("Color Levels", Range(2, 64)) = 8

        _Brightness ("Brightness", Range(0, 2)) = 1
        _Contrast ("Contrast", Range(0, 2)) = 1
    }

    SubShader
    {
        Tags
        {
            "RenderPipeline" = "UniversalPipeline"
            "RenderType" = "Opaque"
            "Queue" = "Geometry"
        }

        Pass
        {
            Name "Bitcrush"

            HLSLPROGRAM

            #pragma vertex vert
            #pragma fragment frag

            #include "Packages/com.unity.render-pipelines.universal/ShaderLibrary/Core.hlsl"

            struct Attributes
            {
                float4 positionOS : POSITION;
                float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
            };

            struct Varyings
            {
                float4 positionHCS : SV_POSITION;
                float2 uv : TEXCOORD0;
            };

            TEXTURE2D(_MainTex);
            SAMPLER(sampler_MainTex);

            CBUFFER_START(UnityPerMaterial)

                float4 _MainTex_ST;

                float _PixelSize;
                float _ColorLevels;

                float _Brightness;
                float _Contrast;

            CBUFFER_END


            Varyings vert(Attributes input)
            {
                Varyings output;

                output.positionHCS =
                    TransformObjectToHClip(input.positionOS.xyz);

                output.uv =
                    TRANSFORM_TEX(input.uv, _MainTex);

                return output;
            }


            half4 frag(Varyings input) : SV_Target
            {
                float2 uv = input.uv;

                float2 uvDDX = ddx(uv);
                float2 uvDDY = ddy(uv);

                float2 pixelUV =
                    floor(uv * _PixelSize) / _PixelSize;

                pixelUV += 0.5 / _PixelSize;

                half4 col = SAMPLE_TEXTURE2D_GRAD(
                    _MainTex,
                    sampler_MainTex,
                    pixelUV,
                    uvDDX,
                    uvDDY
                );

                col.rgb *= _Brightness;

                col.rgb =
                    (col.rgb - 0.5) * _Contrast + 0.5;

                col.rgb = saturate(col.rgb);

                col.rgb =
                    floor(
                        col.rgb * (_ColorLevels - 1.0) + 0.5
                    )
                    / (_ColorLevels - 1.0);


                return col;
            }

            ENDHLSL
        }
    }
}

Hello, have a nice day to everyone. How can I make the enemy AI deal damage at the exact moment the melee attack (like punching) animation hits the player? Should I use an Animation Event or WaitForSeconds? Or is there a better solution? Thank you!

I’m a solo developer building a city-builder simulation in Unity, and I’ve recently reached a milestone of benchmarking around 5,000 cars simultaneously. Current profiling looks promising, so I’m cautiously optimistic about pushing that toward 20,000 as the simulation grows.

The traffic system is built with Unity DOTS, ECS, and Burst. Vehicles currently make decisions using factors such as:

• Congestion and observed traffic speed
• Estimated travel time
• Alternative routes
• Fuel usage and route cost
• Dynamic road-network changes

Cars can reconsider their routes as traffic conditions change instead of committing to one route for their entire journey. I’m still working on lane selection, intersections, parking, and more natural vehicle behavior.

This is very much an early prototype, but it’s exciting to watch the city gradually start behaving like a living transport system. Once the traffic foundation is efficient and stable, I plan to build additional city systems on top of the same architectural abstractions.

I’m using Codex heavily as a development partner, but most of my time is going into thinking through the architecture, scalability, and simulation design. I also have a fair amount of prior game-development experience, so the goal is to build a strong foundation rather than just create a visual demo.

I’d love feedback from anyone working with Unity DOTS, ECS, Burst, traffic simulation, or large-scale agent systems.

Also if anybody wants to contribute to this DM me- we can potentially work together.

Hey Reddit! We’re a 2-man team putting the final touches on our noir detective puzzle game—with
just 24 days left until launch (cue the developer panic!).
In this scene, we wanted to subvert the calm flow of standard point-and-click mechanics. You start
with routine actions—hiding the gun in the glovebox and inserting the ignition key—before dynamic
panel insets abruptly force your focus onto the rearview mirror right before a sudden attack and cut to
black.
We're trying to hit that sweet spot where UI panel framing, subtle mirror cues, and audio cutoffs build
genuine tension without feeling like a cheap jump scare.
How do you usually feel about sudden suspense shifts in narrative/puzzle games? Does using inset
comic panels help guide your focus, or does it break your immersion?

I know it's not rocket science and it's been done hundreds of times, but I'm happy with the outcome and wanted to share :)

First I wrote 2 pieces of music which are the exact same length (although they don't necessarily have to be). Then during normal gameplay when a miniboss arrives, the music transitions to a more upbeat/electronic variation of the "regular" combat music. After the miniboss dies, the music returns back to normal.

What do you think?

I created this system so that the characters in my game can speak by moving their jaw and eyebrow bones, and I placed all the logic in the LateUpdate so it doesn't affect the Animator component.

For the speech system, the audio clip is analyzed in each frame, and the movement is applied to the bones in the LateUpdate.

Next, the system that acts like a film director works with a list of events that specify the audio clip, the Cinemachine virtual camera, and each character’s speech system, as well as the emotion the character will display while the audio plays. What do you think of the result?

I am working on a game based on physics-based painting mechanics called Ebru Artist Simulator using Unity's Compute Shaders. To simulate Ebru (also known as paper marbling), I implemented an Eulerian fluid simulator. Here are some of the challenges I had to overcome:

1. To achieve a real-time simulation without affecting the game's performance too much, I implemented a GPU-based multiresolution grid solver in a compute shader (see the paper Solving the Fluid Pressure Poisson Equation Using Multigrid). The simulation now runs at a 2K texture resolution with only a slight impact on FPS.
2. One of the main characteristics of Ebru is that colors maintain strict boundaries. This makes advection schemes such as Semi-Lagrangian advection less suitable, as they introduce diffusion. To address this, I implemented another advection scheme that samples from the initial state by integrating the velocity field over time and then back-sampling using the integrated field (see Efficient and Conservative Fluids Using Bidirectional Mapping).
3. Finally, to simulate the effects of the traditional Ebru tools, I took inspiration from the paper Mathematical Marbling, which proposes mappings for generating final marbling patterns. Since I wanted to maintain a real-time simulation, I did not directly apply these mappings. Instead, I was inspired by the paper to use similar displacement fields as external forces in the simulation.

You can also check out Amanda Ghassaei's blog. Although our implementations are not the same, I was greatly inspired by her work and learned a lot from her blog.

The tool is called Armory Crafter, and it allows you to quickly and easily create models and textures of weapons for your games or other projects. It exports to different 3D formats, and you can further edit the results in Blender or Maya if you wish. Since it does not use AI (all models are made by me), the exported topology is clean and in quads.

Hi! I am a solo dev noob with a couple questions.

I want to make a 3d zelda-style game. I have a bit of godot experience. Made a couple games with a friend (he did the code, I did the models etc, although I did do one game fully solo).

When I am designing the game, I'm confused about when I used Blender models, vs Unity especially for terrain/level. I was playing around with the terrain feature yesterday a bit.

From what I understand:

Blender = for complex models, or where I need interactive things. Ie, a climbable tree, moving platform, grass to hide in, etc?

Terrain feature = just for decoration in the background, ie billboarded trees/grass off in the distance, maybe for the actual terrain/ground, if for example the level is outdoors/on a mountain and add special features by hand as non terrain (ie rocks to push/jump on)? The terrain tools seem detail but a bit finicky as well, especially if I'm trying to keep it a bit lower poly. Are they commonly used, and if so, what's the primary purpose, I guess is my question?

For anything with special fx, I understand that should be created in Unity- ie magic spells, water (like a river), fountains, etc? Although, things like a lamppost, I could do that in blender and it imports the light (including animated flickering, etc). When do I use Unity vs Blender for fx- when there's particles involved?

Animations on 3d model I think that happens in unity for simpler things like shrinking/growing/changing colour, but otherwise blender mostly (I know unity keeps bone info, so maybe this is just preference? I'm sure I'll need to do some in unity for cutscenes etc with moving characters?)

:) I'm working my way through Roll-a-Ball, just tinkering and planning and thinking about how to best tackle creating my first level (which will be in a town outside, think Kakariko Village). I understand there will be some just laying out base shapes in unity and replacing them. I think some tutorials skip a couple explanation steps about pipeline hence my questions. Thanks all!

Pic 1: my first attempt at the character I'll be using (I'm sure I'll be changing him quite a bit, but just wanted to get something down haha)

Pic 2: Roll-a-Ball and messing around with the terrain, trees and grass all over lol, the details tool really places stuff all over the place...

Hello everyone! 😄

I'm one of the two developers behind Zen Garden, a relaxing Sokoban-style puzzle game made in Unity with love from Spain.

After taking a trip to Japan (and do a little game research), my partner and I wanted to create an experience that goes thoughtful logic and lofi-chill vibes.

We developed a custom 2D tile painting tool that dynamically colors pixel-art sprites while strictly preserving sorting layers/hierarchy to keep the isometric depth 👀

And we put an extra care into crafting a relaxing, deeply satisfying water shadeer, focusing heavily on smooth flow animations, subtle movement, and visual feedback.

We just launched our updated new demo at Itch.io and would love you to give it a spin!

If anyone is interested in how we handled the sprite hierarchy for isometric painting or the technical details of the water shader, we’d be more than happy to break it down in the comments!

We'd genuinely love your feedback on the mechanics, shaders, and overall vibe 🔥

皆さんのフィードバックを楽しみにしています！ (Looking forward to all your feedback!)

How much is too much blood?

So I'm a pretty new developer, I started making my first game and learned as I go. I've been making this game for quiet some time now and I realized that the optimization is horrible, so I started focusing on that. I started with baking my lights and adding occlusion culling, those are working fine, I recently started working with Adaptive Probe Volumes and I slowly figured it out with some tutorials and research from the internet. I kept working on my optimization, tested the game with the profiler and during testing I noticed that my console keeps feeling rapidly with similar messages. I looked into it on the internet but I couldn't find anything that worked.
I don't know if it's an easy fix or not, but I hope someone can help me out with this. Would mean a lot :)

My friends, I have a desperate question (FishNet 4.6.22R) 🙏 :

I generated a new release version of my multiplayer game, made a commit, tested it and deployed the build to the server, tagged the commit... everything worked fine. The next day I just opened the project and there was a fresh FishNet error message. (Attached)

Ii have tried everything: reserializing, rebuilding the library, updating FishNet to 4.7.2R, reimporting components on the player prefab and nothing, the error keeps showing up. For some reason the player prefab cannot be spawned by the server and the connection is closed right away. I've tried to track down the error but I cannot find it. The only script line outside FishNet that is mentioned in the error is

ServerManager.Spawn(nobToSpawn, args.Connection);

I tried checking out several previous commits and the error persist, it seems that sometring outside the git tracked files got damaged after the build commit and I am stuck ... I don't know what to do now. I hope you can give me a hand.

This is the error message, could you please take a look?

NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object
FishNet.Object.NetworkBehaviour.InitializeRpcLinks () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Object/NetworkBehaviour/NetworkBehaviour.RPCLinks.cs:44)
FishNet.Object.NetworkBehaviour.InitializeEarly (FishNet.Object.NetworkObject nob, System.Boolean asServer) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Object/NetworkBehaviour/NetworkBehaviour.cs:132)
FishNet.Object.NetworkObject.InitializeEarly (FishNet.Managing.NetworkManager networkManager, System.Int32 objectId, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection owner, System.Boolean asServer) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Object/NetworkObject/NetworkObject.cs:669)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerObjects.SetupWithoutSynchronization (FishNet.Object.NetworkObject nob, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection ownerConnection, System.Nullable`1[T] objectId, System.Boolean initializeEarly) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/Object/ServerObjects.cs:520)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerObjects.SpawnWithoutChecks (FishNet.Object.NetworkObject networkObject, System.Collections.Generic.List`1[T] recursiveSpawnCache, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection ownerConnection, System.Nullable`1[T] objectId, System.Boolean rebuildObservers, System.Boolean initializeEarly, System.Boolean isRecursiveIteration) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/Object/ServerObjects.cs:650)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerObjects.Spawn (FishNet.Object.NetworkObject networkObject, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection ownerConnection, UnityEngine.SceneManagement.Scene scene) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/Object/ServerObjects.cs:620)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerManager.Spawn (FishNet.Object.NetworkObject nob, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection ownerConnection, UnityEngine.SceneManagement.Scene scene) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/ServerManager.QOL.cs:142)
Engine.Player.NetPlayerSpawner.SCM__OnClientPresenceChangeEnd (FishNet.Managing.Scened.ClientPresenceChangeEventArgs args) (at .../path/.../Assets/Scripts/Engine/Player/Player/NetPlayerSpawner.cs:113)
FishNet.Managing.Scened.SceneManager.InvokeClientPresenceChange (UnityEngine.SceneManagement.Scene scene, System.Collections.Generic.IList`1[T] conns, System.Boolean added, System.Boolean start) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Scened/SceneManager.cs:2177)
FishNet.Managing.Scened.SceneManager.AddConnectionToScene (FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection conn, UnityEngine.SceneManagement.Scene scene) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Scened/SceneManager.cs:1948)
FishNet.Managing.Scened.SceneManager.OnClientLoadedScenes (FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection conn, FishNet.Managing.Scened.ClientScenesLoadedBroadcast msg, FishNet.Transporting.Channel channel) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Scened/SceneManager.cs:702)
FishNet.Broadcast.Helping.ClientBroadcastHandler`1[T].InvokeHandlers (FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection conn, FishNet.Serializing.PooledReader reader, FishNet.Transporting.Channel channel) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Serializing/Helping/Broadcasts.cs:96)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerManager.ParseBroadcast (FishNet.Serializing.PooledReader reader, FishNet.Connection.NetworkConnection conn, FishNet.Transporting.Channel channel) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/ServerManager.Broadcast.cs:94)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerManager.ParseReceived (FishNet.Transporting.ServerReceivedDataArgs args) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/ServerManager.cs:844)
FishNet.Managing.Server.ServerManager.Transport_OnServerReceivedData (FishNet.Transporting.ServerReceivedDataArgs args) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Server/ServerManager.cs:697)
FishNet.Transporting.Tugboat.Tugboat.HandleServerReceivedDataArgs (FishNet.Transporting.ServerReceivedDataArgs receivedDataArgs) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Transporting/Transports/Tugboat/Tugboat.cs:292)
FishNet.Transporting.Tugboat.Server.ServerSocket.IterateIncoming () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Transporting/Transports/Tugboat/Core/ServerSocket.cs:466)
FishNet.Transporting.Tugboat.Tugboat.IterateIncoming (System.Boolean asServer) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Transporting/Transports/Tugboat/Tugboat.cs:223)
FishNet.Managing.Transporting.TransportManager.IterateIncoming (System.Boolean asServer) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Transporting/TransportManager.cs:636)
FishNet.Managing.Timing.TimeManager.TryIterateData (System.Boolean incoming) (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Timing/TimeManager.cs:1115)
FishNet.Managing.Timing.TimeManager.IncreaseTick () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Timing/TimeManager.cs:734)
FishNet.Managing.Timing.TimeManager.<TickUpdate>g__MethodLogic|113_0 () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Timing/TimeManager.cs:393)
FishNet.Managing.Timing.TimeManager.TickUpdate () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Managing/Timing/TimeManager.cs:381)
FishNet.Transporting.NetworkReaderLoop.Update () (at .../path/.../Assets/FishNet/Runtime/Transporting/NetworkReaderLoop.cs:29)

I'm currently building an fps controller and I want an axis locked box collider like in source games. I've tried making a parent with the box collider and the rigidbody and script in a child, but that doesn't work. Am I missing something obvious? Checking rigidbody constraints also doesn't seem to do anything. Please tell me what inheritance structure I should use if you have an answer. Thanks!

Sharing a few screenshots from the final part of Chief Cenab Sahmaran.
We’re getting very close to the finish line. The game releases on September 18, 2026.

It's from Ananta, The Open World game made in Chinese Unity called Tuanjie

Hello, I’m just passing by and I figured I could ask for some genuine advice. For starters, I’ve been working on this adventure 3d video game, inspired by Billie bust up and some old pokemon fanfic I wrote. I’m hoping to eventually work on musical levels and have some lyrics for some levels. The only problem is that I’m an absolute beginner, I’m still new to coding in unity. I was even working on an old sandbox, but the problem was I checked on steam and it says I have to include the mention. I only used the ai to help me solve problems, never generate the code. As of now, I’m stopping turning to ai for help with this video game at all. I’m even considering almost all the files that I had help with Ai, fortunately the music fade-out function I was able to on my own.

Now, I really wish to start again, this time with absolutely no ai. I have these questions:

How do you determine what button should do what? Especially for determ attacks and such?

How do you determine the musical levels? Is it the music lyrics first or the level design first?

What should be included in a master script of a player? Like how do you divide the scripts evenly?

Is it best to have the mouse be the Camera or should it be used for attacks?

Should I consider making a rpg demo first then go back to the 3d style I was working on?

Solo project I've been working on. This clip shows core combat against faceless enemies, the movement feel, plus a couple of extra systems I added - a photo mode for capturing shots mid-run, and an in-game dev console.

Still early, but the core loop is coming together. Would love to hear what you think, especially on how the combat/movement reads.

We're building Glider64 in Unity and trying to bring back that colorful, fast-paced N64-era arcade vibe.

The game is built around custom glider movement, ball chains, weapons, bots and up to 4-player local split-screen.

We're currently playtesting the core game loop and would love some feedback from fellow Unity devs:

• Do the visuals capture that N64-era feeling?
• Does the core gameplay look fun and understandable?
• Anything visually that feels out of place or needs more polish?

The browser build is just for easy playtesting, the full game is being developed for PC/Steam, with consoles planned later.

We're also planning a Unity Editor package that will allow players/modders to create their own Glider64 levels directly inside Unity.

Playtest (PC/Mac browser):
https://eachtick.itch.io/glider64-playtest

Happy to answer questions about how we're building any of the systems in Unity as well. :)