Game Dev Digest — Issue #167 - Splines and more!
Tags: gamedev, unity3d, csharp, news
Published: 2022-12-16 14:30:02

---
title:  Game Dev Digest — Issue #167 - Splines and more!
published: true
date: 2022-12-16 14:30:02 UTC
tags: gamedev,unity,csharp,news
canonical_url: https://gamedevdigest.com/digests/issue-167-splines-and-more.html
series: Game Dev Digest - The Newsletter About Unity Game Dev
---

### Issue #167 - Splines and more!

*This article was originally published on [GameDevDigest.com](https://gamedevdigest.com/digests/issue-167-splines-and-more.html)*

![Issue #167 - Splines and more!](https://gamedevdigest.com/assets/social-posts/issue-167.png)

Learn about splines, beginner and advanced tips, UI development and a lot more. Enjoy!

---

[**Building better paths while maintaining creative flow with Splines in 2022.2**](https://blog.unity.com/technology/building-better-paths-with-splines-in-2022-2)  - Unity 2022.2 includes updates to the Splines package, accessible through the Package Manager, which offers you the ability to draw and use spline paths in your game or other creation. For developers, this means you can easily build out rivers, roads, camera tracks, and other path-related features and tools. If you’re an artist, you get a consistent, Unity-supported experience across all these toolsets using our Splines solution. Several default components are also included with the Splines package, so you can use this new artist tooling right away.
[_Unity_](https://blog.unity.com/technology/building-better-paths-with-splines-in-2022-2)

[**It’s all in here: The ultimate guide to creating UI interfaces in Unity**](https://blog.unity.com/games/ultimate-guide-to-creating-ui-interfaces)  - Thousands of people have preregistered and now it’s finally here: Our biggest e-book yet, User interface design and implementation in Unity, is available to download. Get ready to dive into over 130 pages of advanced instruction in UI design.
[_Unity_](https://blog.unity.com/games/ultimate-guide-to-creating-ui-interfaces)

[**Creating dynamic animations programmatically with Unity coroutines**](https://michaelbitzos.com/#/devblog/programmatic-animation-using-coroutines)  - Building many variations of the same animation with transitions/blendtrees connecting them can give the illusion to the player that it is dynamic. Although, this isn’t always feasible or practical, as well as there being a fundamental limitation relying on statically defined animations. In this article I will go over how I instead use the power of coroutines to write programmatic animations so you can create these gameplay mechanics easily and ultimately with more control.
[_michael bitzos_](https://michaelbitzos.com/#/devblog/programmatic-animation-using-coroutines)

[**Surface Flow - Velocity and Curl Noise**](https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/pseudorandom-surfaces/surface-flow/)  - Create a particle system. Make particles stick to the surface. Flow particles downhill. Apply curl noise. This is the sixth tutorial in a series about pseudorandom surfaces. In it we will add a particle system that flows across our surfaces.
[_catlikecoding.com_](https://catlikecoding.com/unity/tutorials/pseudorandom-surfaces/surface-flow/)

[**Clockwise and Counterclockwise sorting of 2D coordinates**](https://pavcreations.com/clockwise-and-counterclockwise-sorting-of-coordinates/)  - Sometimes you have a bunch on 2D coordinates stored in a list and would like to connect them in a way so that they form a closed shape. However, it may not always be possible because of the order in which they’ve been added to a data structure. The problem is that we need to sort out the coordinates in such a way so that we can easily connect them with each other inside a loop. In other words, every consecutive coordinate needs to be connected with a previous one so that in the end we can receive a closed shape drawn in a circular manner. The diagram below presents the situation.
[_pavcreations.com_](https://pavcreations.com/clockwise-and-counterclockwise-sorting-of-coordinates/)

## Videos

[![The Continuity of Splines](https://gamedevdigest.com/assets/images/3f5af74b469fc8079ea4f748377766a9.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPPXbo87ds)
[**The Continuity of Splines**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPPXbo87ds)  - why are splines? well my god I have good news for you, here's why splines!
[_Freya Holmér_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPPXbo87ds)

[**The Unity Tutorial For Complete Beginners**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtQMytORBmM)  - Unity is an amazingly powerful game engine - but it can be hard to learn. Especially if you find tutorials hard to follow and prefer to learn by doing. If that sounds like you then this tutorial will get you acquainted with the basics - and then give you some goals to learn the rest by yourself. The tutorial covers everything from installing Unity, to writing your first ever line of programming code, to creating UI, to building an executable game file you can share with friends. No experience is needed.
[_Game Maker's Toolkit_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtQMytORBmM)

[**Re: The Unity Tutorial For Complete Beginners - Advanced Concepts**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UiF-4-7xM)  - The channel Game Maker's Toolkit has made an excellent Unity beginner tutorial covering the absolute basics. Here in this video I want to talk about a few advanced concepts that are just above that beginner level. Naming Rules, Magic Numbers, Code Decoupling and a bunch more.
[_Code Monkey_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_UiF-4-7xM)

[**Unity VFX Graph - Kassadin Slash Effect Tutorial**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TubAzBsFQYE)  - Let's recreate Kassadin's Slash (E) from League of Legends in Unity! It's an inspired version, a fan made version, accompanied with a tutorial for anyone who wants to learn the magic of Visual Effects in Unity. We are going to use VFX Graph, Shader Graph, Blender and Krita. Enjoy!
[_Gabriel Aguiar Prod._](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TubAzBsFQYE)

[**Unity3d: How to use Blend Trees Animations for a Top Down game**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIfFbPNNVHI)  - Hey everyone this tutorial I will show you how to use Blend Trees for Top down game development.
[_migcreatesgames_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIfFbPNNVHI)

[**"Step by Step" Procedural Animation**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKiqs_h1WXM)  - In this video I'm going to be talking about procedural animations and showing you how to create a procedural Walk Cycle.
[_Lincoln Margison - Game Development_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKiqs_h1WXM)

[**Exploring a Procedurally Generated Hex Map in Unity**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxVgIH0j8Wg)  - Procedural Generation of a Hex Map, Hex Based Pathfinding, and revealing the map via Fog Of War are three key mechanics of any great strategy game. Let's take a look at how we can use Unity to procedurally generate a hex map and have a character explore it!
[_Game Dev Guide_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxVgIH0j8Wg)

[**Improve Your Controls! - Differences in Keyboard Layouts - Unity Tutorial / Unity Tip**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-voDPvZpKgg)  - There is more than just QWERTY. Learn about different keyboard layouts, how to deal with them as a developer and a simple improvement you can implement quickly in Unity.
[_Erkberg_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-voDPvZpKgg)

[**How to replace Prefabs in 2022.2 | Unity**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOJzHz4sRyU)  - We’ve made several improvements to the Prefab system based on your feedback! In the latest Unity 2022.2 Tech Stream release, you can now easily replace one or more Prefabs in the Scene with other Prefab Assets. This feature will keep the Prefab instance position, rotation, and scale in the scene, but merge the contents from the new Prefab Asset, all while retaining as many overrides and references as possible via name-based matching (by default).
[_Unity_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOJzHz4sRyU)

[**Detect if you are hovering over words Text Mesh Pro Link tag**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwYgN47qqk)  - Learn how to use Text Mesh Pro's Link Tag to detect if you are hovering over certain words in text box! We will reuse a few scripts from the previous tutorial and learn how to show a tooltip at the hovered positions. Since we're going to use events, you can use this way of detection for your own systems, too!
[_Christina Creates Games_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwYgN47qqk)

[**Simple Physics Based Helicopter Controller in Unity**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzNDI7g6jA4)  - It turns out the physics of how a helicopter gets airborne is super simple, which makes this video super simple also! (just ignore the bits where I crash).
[_b3agz_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzNDI7g6jA4)

## Assets

[![Tripolygon Studios Publiser Sale](https://gamedevdigest.com/assets/images/6b8afb34-988f-129a-ab8e-8a8c53811460.jpg)](https://assetstore.unity.com/publisher-sale?aid=1011l8NVc)
[**Tripolygon Studios Publiser Sale**](https://assetstore.unity.com/publisher-sale?aid=1011l8NVc)  - All individual assets from Tripolygon Studios will be on sale at 50% off. Additionally, Tripolygon Studios is offering one amazing asset for free!

Tripolygon Studios is the developer of UModeler - Model your World, a very popular 3D modeling and prototyping solution in Unity, as well as more than a dozen high-quality and low-polygon 3D asset packages.

Customers can get 50% off Tripolygon’s entire library of assets from December 12 through December 19.

The [Moonglow Village](https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/environments/fantasy/the-moonglow-village-210011?aid=1011l8NVc) is free with the code MOONGLOW.
[_Unity_](https://assetstore.unity.com/publisher-sale?aid=1011l8NVc)

[**Blender For Games And Animation Book Bundle**](https://www.humblebundle.com/books/blender-for-games-and-animation-books?partner=unity3dreport)  - Learn to create 3D characters and worlds

Master the creative power of the free, open-source Blender with this bundle of ebooks for 3D artists and developers! Get started making characters, environments, and animations with Blender For Dummies. Familiarize yourself with modeling, materials, lighting, painting, and more in Introduction to Blender 3.0.

Dig into the source code with Core Blender Development and more, and help support the charity of your choice with your purchase.
[_Humble Bundle_](https://www.humblebundle.com/books/blender-for-games-and-animation-books?partner=unity3dreport) **Affiliate**

[**Cascadeur’s release version is now available!**](https://cascadeur.com/blog/general/cascadeurs-release-version-is-now-available)  - We are excited to announce that the full version of our 3D character animation software Cascadeur is now available to download! For most users, the entry into the world of AI-supported, physically accurate keyframe animation is completely free: Individuals and indie developers with low sales revenues can simply download Cascadeur Basic, a comprehensive character animation package, directly from cascadeur.com
[_Cascadeur_](https://cascadeur.com/blog/general/cascadeurs-release-version-is-now-available)

[**Smart Console - FREE**](https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/smart-console-free-236566?aid=1011l8NVc)  - Smart Console is an easy to use runtime command console. Add attribute [Command] to your own methods to be able to use it in the console!
[_EdgarDev_](https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/utilities/smart-console-free-236566?aid=1011l8NVc) **Affiliate**

[**Free Ores and Minerals - Mini-pack (24) -CC0**](https://kdrn.itch.io/free-ores-and-minerals-minipack-24)  - Contains: 256x256 versions of each icon individually. An icon sheet for each category and one for everything combined. Full-sized assets that haven't been scaled down and placed into a square icon. (Dimensions vary)
[_KDRN_](https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/zlb65a/24_ores_and_minerals_free_to_use_in_any_way/)

[**Copyright free music for Games**](https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/zhoflg/copyright_free_music_for_games/)  - My name is Lazer Dice and I am a royalty free musician. I have made 14h of free music so far. Every month I am producing and adding a new album. I love doing music, thats my hobby :-). Use it freely for your streams and game developments :). It is all DMCA free.
[_Lazer_Dice_](https://old.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/zhoflg/copyright_free_music_for_games/)

[**Music Creators Software Bundle**](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/music-creators-spectacular-holiday-special-software?partner=unity3dreport)  - Make music this holiday & all New Year long. Get creative with this epicly festive music creation bundle from Producer Loops! Save yourself over $1,640 by purchasing this mega bundle containing 52 Sample Packs with 16,000+ WAV samples, 3,000+ MIDI files, and 350+ synth instrument presets for the likes of Spire & Serum, plus 4 exclusive coupon codes. Don’t miss this limited chance to massively boost your creativity this holiday season or get a great gift for a music-making friend—all while helping support Alzheimer’s Research UK.
[_Humble Bundle_](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/music-creators-spectacular-holiday-special-software?partner=unity3dreport) **Affiliate**

[**Unity Asynchronous Image Loader**](https://github.com/Looooong/UnityAsyncImageLoader?)  - ImageConversion.LoadImage and Texture2D.LoadImage are slow when loading large images (greater than 2K) at runtime. They blocks the Unity main thread when loading the image for a duration between a hundred milliseconds and even a few seconds. This is a dealbreaker for those games and applications that want to load those images programmatically at runtime. This package aims to offload image loading, image decoding and mipmap generation to other threads. It creates smoother gameplay and reduces lag spike on the Unity main thread when loading large images.
[_Looooong_](https://github.com/Looooong/UnityAsyncImageLoader?) *Open Source*

[**UnityFileDownloader**](https://github.com/jpgordon00/UnityFileDownloader?)  - A file downloader that handles asyncronous and concurrent file downloading, implicit multi-part file downloading, pausing/restarting, and more.
[_jpgordon00_](https://github.com/jpgordon00/UnityFileDownloader?) *Open Source*

[**Unity WebGL Optimizer**](https://github.com/CrazyGamesCom/unity-optimizations-package?)  - The purpose of this package is to help you optimize your game by reducing the build size and increasing the performance. At the moment, it is targeted at WebGL games.
[_CrazyGamesCom_](https://github.com/CrazyGamesCom/unity-optimizations-package?) *Open Source*

[**VYaml**](https://github.com/hadashiA/VYaml?)  - The extra fast, low memory footprint YAML library for C#, focued on .NET and Unity.
[_hadashiA_](https://github.com/hadashiA/VYaml?) *Open Source*

[**UnityCef**](https://github.com/WiiPlayer2/UnityCef?)  - A web browser component for Unity.
[_WiiPlayer2_](https://github.com/WiiPlayer2/UnityCef?) *Open Source*

[**Metroidvania**](https://github.com/kennedyvnak/unity-metroidvania?)  - Metroidvania is a metroidvania (lol) game engine written in C# for Unity. It is a 100% free and open source unity project with the goal of demonstrating how a complete game structures asset folders, connects systems, handles editor tools and much more.
[_kennedyvnak_](https://github.com/kennedyvnak/unity-metroidvania?) *Open Source*

[**Unity3D BSP Importer**](https://github.com/wfowler1/Unity3D-BSP-Importer?)  - A lightweight plugin for importing BSP maps into Unity3D as meshes. Currently only imports World and Entities and their surfaces.
[_wfowler1_](https://github.com/wfowler1/Unity3D-BSP-Importer?) *Open Source*

[**Unity Bundles Encore**](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/holiday-encore-unity-tools-software?partner=unity3dreport)  - Two popular Unity bundles from Humble Bundle have returned for a limited time. If you missed out on either the [Art Bundle](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/holiday-encore-unity-art-software?partner=unity3dreport) or the [Tools Bundle](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/holiday-encore-unity-tools-software?partner=unity3dreport) now's your chance once more!
[_Humble Bundle_](https://www.humblebundle.com/software/holiday-encore-unity-art-software?partner=unity3dreport) **Affiliate**

## Spotlight

[![Underspace](https://gamedevdigest.com/assets/images/aa08ebc0275a67b393ea4ef3464f40e4.png)](http://underspace.pastaspaceinteractive.com/)
[**Underspace**](http://underspace.pastaspaceinteractive.com/)  - ​A space exploration and storm chasing game in a handcrafted galaxy.

Be a heroic storm chaser, a drugged-out pirate cultist, a dashing merchant, or a military mastermind. Fight unknowable monsters, raid lost star cities, salvage and trade your way through a universe ravaged by eldritch storms. Explore a vast handcrafted galaxy of thunder, lightning and secrets, full of ancient wonders.

Most of which will kill you.
[_pastaspaceinteractive.com_](http://underspace.pastaspaceinteractive.com/)



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