Unit Testing Made Easy: How I Test My Game Made With Unity ECS

I haven't posted on my blog for a while, partly because I've been investing time in developing my game, which is still in its very early stages. Nonetheless, I wanted to share how I write unit tests for this game, built using Unity.Entities – an ECS implementation by Unity itself. It's not rocket science, but I did spend some time setting it up, so you don't have to invest your own if you plan to add automated tests to your ECS-based game.

What I find even more interesting is setting up performance tests for the same project and the benefits it brings. I'm planning to share this as the second post in this series soon, so stay tuned.

https://gamedev.center/unit-testing-made-easy-unity-ecs-best-practices/

A sample repo which will be extended with performance tests for the second post: https://github.com/AlexMerzlikin/UnityEntities-AutomatedTests-Sample

#ecs #dots #testing

How can I modify built-in packages?

I have recently faced a bug in a Unity package, so this was the fastest way to fix it and continue the work. Yeah obviously you lose new updates but there is a way to create some sort of a patch tool, that would update the local package and apply your changes. Of course, this is unnecessary if the issue is fixed in an update. If you already know a tool that does it, would be great if you shared it in the comments.

https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/articles/9113460764052-How-can-I-modify-built-in-packages-

#package #upm

Why Cities: Skylines 2 performs poorly

An insightful article about performance issues in Cities: Skylines 2. It's mind-blowing that they created a game of this scale using DOTS, which was released relatively recently and is by no means production-ready even now. The author speculates on how DOTS has affected the game's performance, given the extensive rendering tasks the developers had to implement themselves, which may not perform optimally. However, I am more than amazed by developers, it's monumental work that only top-notch engineers can accomplish in such a short time

https://blog.paavo.me/cities-skylines-2-performance/

#rendering #dots #performance

Classes vs. Structs. How not to teach about performance!

I always love reading posts by Sergey Teplyakov. Even though they are sometimes overly technical and tough to go through (not a bad thing at all). This one is a great example of why you should always profile your code, especially critical parts on the hot path, and not believe tests on the web, as some authors try to mislead you for their reasons or just out of pure negligence or ignorance.

https://sergeyteplyakov.github.io/Blog/benchmarking/2023/11/02/Performance_Comparison_For_Classes_vs_Structs.html

#performance #benchmark

How I got streamers and YouTubers to play my demo

An author shares great tips and resources on how to find relevant people increasing chances of your game being noticed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/s/kmF6RDmqni

#marketing

How to template your Unity project

This article describes two ways to create a template via GitHub and Unity Hub. It sounds super convenient, especially if you create new projects often or have core tools and logic that you integrate into each of your projects.

https://medium.com/@wondrous_aqua_toad_341/how-to-template-your-unity-project-cc021231e33e

#template #editortools

New Shader Graph Node Reference Samples

An invaluable resource, especially for those diving into shader intricacies. It's fascinating how seasoned shader experts dissect complex visual effects into a sequence of small and simple steps. This library of samples acts as a comprehensive guide, providing insights into the inner workings of these individual steps and unveiling the diverse possibilities available from the outset.

https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/new-shader-graph-node-reference-samples

#shadergraph

A Primer on Unity Addressables and UGS Cloud Content Delivery

A very basic, step-by-step guide on how to set up Addressables and UGS for content delivery. Worth adding to bookmarks for when you would need to set up this pipeline, for example, for a prototype, since this setup will be free with the current pricing plans for small scale tests and prototypes.

https://dev.to/attiliohimeki/a-primer-on-unity-addressables-and-ugs-cloud-content-delivery-4n1d

#addressables #ugs #ccd

Unity ECS Performance Testing

The second post in my series on automated testing with Unity.Entities, where I shared why I believe performance testing is valuable and worth adopting. I also provided examples in the post, along with a sample repo that you can use to skip setting it up yourself in your project.

https://gamedev.center/unity-ecs-performance-testing-the-way-to-the-best-performance/

Repo with the sample: https://github.com/AlexMerzlikin/UnityEntities-AutomatedTests-Sample

#ecs #dots #performance #testing

Design decisions when building games using ECS

A fine write-up about problems you would most likely face when developing an ECS game

https://arielcoppes.dev/2023/07/13/design-decisions-when-building-games-using-ecs.html

#ecs #architecture

The current version of Unity Shader Graph supports the Custom Render Texture target. It's handy to generate a dynamic cubemap.

A Unity sample project showing how to provide an animated cubemap

https://github.com/keijiro/DynamicCubemapTest

#rendertexture #cubemap

Animated Progress Bar: Coloured animated progress bar made in Unity, with Shader Graph

Repo: https://github.com/MirzaBeig/animated-progress-bar-shader-graph

Demo: https://mirzabeig.github.io/Animated-Progress-Bar-WebGL/

#progressbar #ui

Gamedev • 2 | November • 2023

We are publishing the second edition of the Gamedev compilation!

A week ago, we released the first edition within our channel community. Surprisingly, many enthusiasts reached out to participate. And now – one link and a compilation of 10 channels are again in a separate folder for you!

Gamedev • 2

Every week, 10 channels about gamedev
➕ In several channels from our community
➕ In all channels from the weekly compilation

Disclaimer: all other channels are in russian language, you can try to use a built-in Telegram translator feature to check them out.

The current compilation includes
MD/LD
Celestial Beasts
Про гейм-дизайн за 5 минут
Everyday Unity
Лев Дизайнит
Кодзима Гений - канал про геймдизайн
Лавка Разработчика
lediiana
Креативный Анатолий
KSI Games × О геймдеве

__

How to get featured in the compilation?
Fill out the form

We'll check relevance to the theme and audience presence
Make a post with the weekly compilation

We'll reach out to you before publication
Share if you find this helpful!

UI Toolkit: New and updated demos for programmers and artists

I’ve seen some Entities samples by Unity Technologies that use UI toolkit for in-game UI and not just for editor tools. It was interesting to play around a bit, but I have no real experience working with it in production yet. If anyone has used UI toolkit for in-game UI in production, I would be happy to hear about your feedback in the comments.

https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/new-ui-toolkit-demos-for-programmers-artists

Quiz sample: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/essentials/tutorial-projects/quizu-a-ui-toolkit-sample-268492

Dragon Crashes sample: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/essentials/tutorial-projects/ui-toolkit-sample-dragon-crashers-231178

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtQist-I3Xo

#uitoolkit

Web runtime updates are here: Take your browser to the next level

A lot of new features for web builds: compute shaders, GPU skinning, SIMD, better exception handling and more

https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/web-runtime-updates-enhance-browser-experience

#webgpu #web

PrimeTween

High-performance, allocation-free tween library for Unity. Create animations, delays, and sequences in one line of code. A lot faster than other tween libs according to author's benchmarks. It would be interesting to see comparison to Magic Tween too in the same benchmarks, because Magic Tween is claimed to be even faster than PrimeTween

https://github.com/KyryloKuzyk/PrimeTween

Performance comparison: https://github.com/KyryloKuzyk/PrimeTween/discussions/10

#tween

Soft Mask: a plugin that brings alpha-friendly masking to UI

It works almost like the standard Unity's mask, but supports alpha, which enables gradual and semi-transparent masks.

Repo: https://github.com/olegknyazev/SoftMask

Demo: https://olegknyazev.itch.io/softmask

#ui #mask

ParrelSync is a Unity editor extension that allows users to test multiplayer gameplay without building the project by opening another Unity editor window and mirroring changes from the original project.

Gonna come in handy especially given the new template release: small scale competitive multiplayer.

https://github.com/VeriorPies/ParrelSync/

Template: https://forum.unity.com/threads/small-scale-competitive-multiplayer-template-now-released.1520044/

#netcode #editortools

Unity Case Study: Vampire Survivors

This blog post is a good starting point for developers who are interested in learning more about architecture principles for Unity games and how to analyze other projects.

https://medium.com/@simon.nordon/unity-case-study-vampire-survivors-806eed11bebb

#review

Updated 2022 LTS Best Practice Guides for optimizing games | Unity Blog

Two new books featuring optimization tips and tricks for mobile, consoles, and PC have been released. I've skimmed through both materials; all the tips have already been published in various resources. However, it's great to have them compiled in one place with navigation via the contents page. I highly recommend bookmarking these books.

https://blog.unity.com/engine-platform/updated-2022-lts-best-practice-guides

#optimization #book