Creating Nightmares

By Alex Blicharz, Software Engineer

Published: July 11, 2017

At Envano, we (the developers) do more than just programming. We look for cool new ways to explore the technology that is constantly evolving around us.

If you’re anything like me, you love playing video games. So I decided to take my passion to the next level and actually create a game. And that’s where Unity comes in. Unity is a development tool that takes a lot of the grunt work out of game development by giving you a structure to easily create things from. It’s kind of like Microsoft Office for the gaming sphere. I use it for game development, but you can use it for phone apps to virtual and augmented reality experiences.

Nightmares Come to Life

Unity was the catalyst for creating “Nightmares.” And no, it’s not a scary dream, it’s a game. “Nightmares” features characters that come straight out of a — you guessed it — nightmare. I created this game using primarily code, the Unity Graphical User Interface (GUI AKA “Gooey”), and a tutorial from Unity. The 3D characters were provided to me in the tutorial, and I used code to create the movement and transitions for these characters.

The tutorial was slightly out of date, and Unity has since been updated, so I had to figure out how to make certain elements work on my own. However, it was surprising how fast you can build your game world if you have the pieces ready for you. But all of these pieces are lifeless until you figure out the code side of things.

Staying Ahead of the Curve

I am also learning about Unity in case a situation arises with our partners where it would be useful. Depending on the needs of our partners, this tool would help us deliver something quite engaging and allow us to focus on creating versus just trying to make it work. There are a number of potential uses for Unity from mobile apps to virtual/augmented reality apps. There are even augmented reality business cards.

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