To make a long story very short, someone discovered a massive email + password combination leak on a public forum. This included passwords from 2008 onward. It’s the largest data breach ever, exposing over 21 million passwords. They’re calling it “Collection #1“, and the breach is 87GB in size.
There are two steps you should take. One, check your passwords you use on this website right here. It’s perfectly safe, and will not steal your password. If it says you should change your password, you should change it. Two, update any insecure passwords that you use anywhere important. You also should not use passwords that are older than 2019 onwards.
To prevent stuff like this in the future, be careful for which websites you sign up for accounts for, use differing passwords for websites, use a password manager, and use 2FA. All or some of those is better than none.
Verizon, the telecommunications giant that everyone dislikes as much as Comcast (who, by the way, is the voted the worst company in America), is now trying to get into the gaming industry. How, you ask? By creating a service called “VerizonGaming”, which they plan to operate like Netflix. It will be an app on the Nvidia Shield (which is a streaming console-like thing) that you can sign into with your Verizon account and play games.
Verizon, hilariously, spent $1.2 BILLION dollars on something called Go90 in 2015 that was targeted towards millennials and was positioned as a social entertainment platform. “How did that go?” I hear you say. My response is: Have you ever heard of Go90? Probably not, and you never will again since they shut down last year in 2018.
Personally, I do not want to touch anything game, or even internet related that has Verizon’s logo on it. There are plenty of better ways to stream content to your TV than signing up for their wildly overpriced (not confirmed, but I’m making an educated guess) streaming service that would have been billed monthly or annually.
Participants in their closed beta tests apparently get a free $150 Amazon gift card after testing the service for them, so you can bet I looked into how to fund my latest keyboard. Spoiler: it’s already closed. 🙁
Verizon is not alone in their venture into cloud streaming services though, Microsoft is working on their “Project xCloud”, and Google is working on “Project Stream”. To the surprise of probably no one, Amazon is also getting in on the action and developing a streaming game service of its own, but it’s not named yet.
Time will tell which the best one will be, but I think I can go out on a limb and make a safe bet here: it’s not gonna be Verizon.
This week was the release week of Stay in the Circle (Android), and release days/weeks are always fun and informative. Sometimes not as fun, but always informative.
First off, reception has been very positive. Initial impressions are very good. People have ignored the settings menu mostly, which leads to most users not knowing about being able to set a custom game position or the battery saver feature.
Retention has been high. 50%+ day 1, and similar numbers for the other days.
The title of the game seems to be very important. The first app I released, Hopper, has been almost impossible for people to find because of the ubiquity of the keyword across many other apps. “Stay in the Circle!” is unique enough that it’s the first result if you search the title on the iOS App Store. This has helped with visibility and should be noted for future projects.
The simplicity and forgiving nature of the game is also a big factor to acceptability. Spin Ninja has overall been regarded as too difficult for many to enjoy, except skilled gamers. I was going for a Flappy Bird esque game with that title, but it didn’t work out that way. Most people decided they’d just rather not play it and gave up.
The game dynamically adjusts difficulty depending on how good the player is, which allows any player to feel like they’re sufficiently skilled. Additionally, the implementation of the “Perfect” mechanic which rewards successive hits for skilled players, and allows them to quickly reach a difficulty threshold that feels challenging and enjoyable for them, which is an issue I’ve noticed with a lot of games. Even games like Jetpack Joyride start out slow enough to feel bored, but ramp up too quickly in difficulty, leading to short, boring, frustrating sessions.
Overall, I’m happy with Stay in the Circle’s release so far.
Apple makes ridiculous decisions sometimes, to put it nicely. And none is more so hated by me than their choice to make it so that you HAVE to have a Mac to build for their app store.
Install a reasonable number of copies of the Apple Software on Apple-branded computers that are owned or controlled by You to be used internally by You
So, like stated above, you can only use the XCode software on Apple branded computers. A couple more points from the same document:
You may use the Apple SDKs (excluding the macOS SDK) solely to test and develop Applications that are specifically for use with the applicable Apple-branded products for which the SDK is targeted, unless otherwise permitted by Apple in writing; and
You may use the Apple Services solely to test and develop Applications that are specifically for use on Apple-branded products, unless otherwise permitted by Apple in writing.
You may not distribute any Applications developed using the Apple SDKs (excluding the macOS SDK) absent entering into a separate written agreement with Apple.
So you can see that Apple only wants you to use their SDK on their computers, to develop software for their computers. I think that’s… unreasonable.
For the rest of this blog post, we will be assuming that the Windows environment you are working in to develop iOS apps is on an APPLE BRANDED COMPUTER running Windows through Bootcamp.
The best solution I’ve found for the general developer is this application right here. It’s not free, but it’s cheaper than buying a new Macbook Pro that’s strong enough to export and publish the app as fast as a normal Windows desktop is able to. I was not paid or commissioned by the developer to promote this, by the way. I got a similar setup working on my computer a couple days ago and this works well, too. I highly recommend this method as opposed to supporting this terrible practice Apple is encouraging. By the way, for the program linked above, you need one-time access to a Mac to get some required files. It’s still very easy, and you could borrow a Mac from anyone you know. If you don’t know any friends that have a Mac and you trust online strangers, I’ve uploaded the latest current (12/11/2018) SDK right here. Extract it to a folder called “SDK” and put it in the root installation directory after the program has installed.
The program takes a little bit of configuration to get going, but it’s not too hard once you understand what’s going on.
Second off, wow. That was like, the longest development time I’ve ever gone through. Numerous set backs, my computer accidentally being wiped, different publishers, etc. The important thing (I guess) is that it’s completed. On to the next one!
later edit: I ended up removing all of the ads and IAPs anyway, it’s mostly for showcase purposes now.
I had the displeasure of working with Network Solutions for a client recently. They wanted their domain and hosting transferred to a different registrar/host. To make a very long story very short, it took about two to three weeks to finally move him over to a new host. Network Solutions made sure to complicate every step of the process, and I’ve never dealt with anyone who made the process of moving domains such a hassle.
Until I worked with GoDaddy.
If possible, GoDaddy makes the process even more of a pain. They have a bunch of secret holds on the domain, and a bunch of arbitrary domain locks they themselves put on it, plus the normal ICANN regulations. Their support was wholly unhelpful, and their support straight up told me incorrect information that affected the transfer process for another two days.
I’m not being paid by anyone here, but Namecheap is one of the more genuine registrars I’ve worked with. Their support is (usually) helpful, and I’ve never had problems with their hosting. The transfers in and out are quick and easy, and (true to their name), they have very cheap prices. In fact, you’re reading this post on a Namecheap-hosted website right now!
So maybe the post title was a lie. There isn’t really a way to know how to avoid them. You just have to experience them, and run for the hills if they mistreat you. I haven’t ever had a problem with Namecheap, but perhaps you use another host that works for you.
Luckily, I went through the experience for you, so you don’t have to. Avoid Network Solutions, GoDaddy, and Media Temple.
I recently acquired a VIVE and after a day of oohing and ahing about how cool it was, began to create some simulations for it in Unity. The first of such is located on my main site, along with a demo video in case you don’t have a VR headset. You should definitely check it out.
I discovered a couple of things. First, I’m totally sold on VR being the future. I don’t get motion sick (at least while not moving from a fixed point in VR, more on this in a bit) , so I’m fine to whip my head around in Virtual Reality all I want. The experience is really cool, and tricked my brain into thinking I was somewhere else much more than expected. I first picked up a jetpack and immediately got butterflies in my stomach, because I felt like I was actually flying upwards! Over the next couple of years VR tech will improve drastically, just like all new devices. A few areas that could improve are portability, resolution of the eye pieces, and performance on lower end devices. We will also see advancements in handling sound. Currently you need to provide your own headphones and it’s a bit of a clunky setup.
VR Development Best Practices
So, what’s actually different about VR development? Beyond the obvious need for different gameplay design, there are some key details that devs might overlook. I refer to Unity with these points but they can be adapted to other engines, as conceptually they are the same.
Performance
Performance is much more important in VR than typical game design. This is because if the display lags, it can induce physical discomfort and nausea in some users.
Rendering
Rendering is one of the most recurring bottlenecks in VR projects. Optimizing rendering is essential to building a comfortable and enjoyable experience in VR. In Unity, “setting Stereo Rendering Method to Single Pass Instanced or Single Pass in the XR Settings section of Player Settings will allow for performance gains on the CPU and GPU.
Lighting
Every lighting strategy has its pros, cons, and implications. Don’t use full realtime lighting and realtime global illumination in your VR project. This impacts rendering performance. For most projects, favor the use of non-directional lightmaps for static objects and the use of light probes for dynamic objects instead.
Post-Processing
In VR, image effects are expensive as they are rendering the scene twice – once for each eye. Many post-processes require full screen draws, so reducing the number of post-processing passes helps overall rendering performance. Full-frame post process effects are very expensive and should be used sparingly.
Anti-aliasing is a must in VR as it helps to smooth the image, reduce jagged edges, and improve the “look” for the user. The performance hit is worth the increase in quality.
Cameras
Orientation and position (for platforms supporting 6 degrees of freedom) should always respond to the user’s motion, no matter which of camera viewpoint is used.
Actions that affect camera movement without user interaction can lead to simulation sickness. Avoid using camera effects similar to “Walking Bob” commonly found in first-person shooter games, camera zoom effects, camera shake events, and cinematic cameras. Raw input from the user should always be respected.
Unity obtains the stereo projection matrices from the VR SDKs directly. Overriding the field of view manually is not allowed.
Depth of field or motion blur post-process effects affect a user’s sight and often lead to simulation sickness. These effects are often used to simulate what your eyes do naturally, and attempting to replicate them in a VR environment is disorienting.
Moving or rotating the horizon line or other large components of the environment can affect the user’s sense of stability and should be avoided.
Set the near clip plane of the first-person camera(s) to the minimal acceptable value for correct rendering of objects. Test how it feels to put an object into your face in VR. Set your far clip plane to a value that optimizes frustum culling.
When using a Canvas, favor World Space render mode over Screen Space render modes, as it very difficult for a user to focus on Screen Space UI.
UI
More on that last bullet point above.
Something very interesting about VR is the need for a Diegetic UI. A Diegetic UI means a user interface that exists in the universe (in this case, a game) that we are experiencing. So, a non-Diegetic UI would be your health floating at the bottom left of your screen on a normal computer game.
Now here’s the problem. In VR: your eyes can’t focus on something that close. Putting something on screen close to the face of the viewer works really well for normal games where you can focus on the screen at a specific part. However, VR goggles work by projecting two separate images on each lens, and your brain combines it to achieve depth perception. Putting something that statically close to the screen makes the user’s eye attempt to focus on it, which makes the viewer go cross-eyed and the whole immersion is broken. The solution? Use diegetic UI elements. What this means is attaching the UI to objects IN the game world. This looks really cool, and accomplishes the goal of not breaking immersion and looking terrible.
Notice the time left is stuck to the gun, so the user can look at the UI themselves vs it being stuck on the screen
This type of UI hasn’t been limited to VR either, it just works really well in it. We’ve seen examples of this kind of user interface all over.
VR will hit mainstream within 20 years, and we will see long term usage within 50.
