Adobe announces Unity partnership

Adobe announces an official partnership with Unity Technologies.

Unity added Flash export over a year ago. Speaking to Gamasutra, Adobe's group product marketing manager for gaming solutions, Diana Helander, said the deal would greatly streamline the development process. "We weren't working with [Unity] when they added Flash support," she said, "but this new partnership means that all Unity content will work when exported to Flash Player."

Helander went on to say that the Unity deal was the first of many gaming-focused partnerships, explaining that Adobe wants to spread its wings beyond the browser window towards mobile and beyond.

IndieCade 2012 Submissions Now Open

Submissions Now Open for the Fifth-Annual IndieCade Festival
Submit Your Game & Spread the Word!

The fifth-annual IndieCade International Festival of Independent Games will be held October 4-7, 2012, in Los Angeles. The festival includes a Red Carpet Awards; a must-attend professional conference; the IndieXchange meeting series; an open-to-the-public GameWalk of finalist games; a continuous schedule of big games and night games; and other events. IndieCade is a traditional walking festival that occupies multiple theater, gallery, and restaurant venues and spills into the streets.

About IndieCade:

IndieCade promotes independent game development globally through a series of events highlighting the rich, diverse, artistic, and culturally significant contributions of independent game developers. IndieCade's programs are designed to bring visibility to and facilitate the production of new works within the emerging indie game community. IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005.

New Book - Unity iOS Essentials

I just finished working through Unity iOS Essentials by Robert Wiebe, published by Packt:

http://www.packtpub.com/unity-3d-essentials-for-ios-games/book

I recommend this book as an excellent introduction to Unity development for iOS devices, well suited for Unity developers for the desktop that are taking their first steps in mobile game development for iOS.

The book opens with an emphasis on planning the application, which is a topic that anyone that has created a mobile game can appreciate. The initial three chapters cover comparing iOS device features, iOS mobile concepts in general, and how the Unity toolset is applied within that context. These introductory chapters are replete with advice and best practice specifics regarding what contributes to a successful game product for iOS mobile.

After setting the foundation, the book takes a detailed, step-by-step, project oriented approach in learning to create your first game for iOS devices. This content should be very accessible to any developer that has a good overall knowledge of game development with Unity.

From there, the book enters the more technical aspect of how the iOS application functions in the greater enterprise. This presents something of an unavoidable steep learning curve for developers that are engaging with this for the first time. Again, the book takes a detailed, step-by-step approach and includes many useful tips and suggestions.

Anyone that is interested in this book is probably familiar with the Unity Car Tutorial, and the book uses that resource and the JCar project to take the reader on a very detailed process of creating a physics-based driving game using iOS device features that is really well conceived.

The book does a good job in introducing techniques for optimizing lighting, fx, and shaders for for iOS games – again using step-by-step examples.

Lastly, the book addresses deployment and web-based player management.

To get the most from this book, a developer should have previous experience with Unity, a 3D modeling application, a digital imaging modeling application, and a Max OS X development system for XCode. Given the scope of the book, this is an excellent way to explore a trial use of Unity Pro and Unity iOS.

White House office studies benefits of video games

From USA Today:

Constance Steinkuehler has been a Senior Policy Analyst at the White House, where she's shaping the Obama administration's policies around games that improve health, education, civic engagement and the environment, among other areas.

Apple's intention really doesn't matter ...

The buzz is that Apple has a new initiative, returning to a strategy from it's earliest days with an intent to dominate the rise of mobile learning in the classroom - and kill the printed textbook and lab packs along the way.

"Apple expected to delve into textbooks" - Washington Post

Apple Is Said to Plan Digital-Textbook Push to Bolster IPad Use in Schools - Bloomberg News

Apple Won't Kill the Textbook, But It Might Kill the Handout - PC Magazine

We like the iPad ... quite a bit. We're certain that the iPad has legs as a tool in the classroom for both teachers and learners. It's beautifully designed, with development tools and a supporting business model and development community that are clearly superior.

But, we don't see Apple as a player in the textbook industry. The risk vs reward is completely skewed ... Apple is about making money ... and textbook publishing is no longer an industry with the kinds of margins that interest companies like Apple.

If Apple does intend their new "Garage Band for Books" to be a tool for teachers to use as primary publishers ... that's unrealistic ... we've seen this exact revolution several times over since the 80's, where the latest tech is going to turn teachers into primary publishers ... and it never does. The reason why is simple ... teaching and publishing are different skillsets ... both are consuming professions, neither can be done casually.

But, even if that is Apple's intention, it doesn't really matter. We think that their "Garage Band for Books" would become powerful in the hands (and iPads) of learners. Garage Band didn't replace Pro Tools, but it has enabled a wave of user generated music ... A similar tool for learners to create and share their own mobile learning artifacts could indeed become a powerful way to amplify the iPad as learning platform.

So, in the end, Apple is successful anyway ... and looks brilliant (again).

Gates Foundation Grant for Ed Arcade & Filament MMOG for STEM

MIT's Education Arcade received a $3 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a MMOG for STEM learning. They are working with Filament Games, Madision, WI.

Motion Math Research Report by GameDesk

A New Report Released by GameDesk Shows Motion Math Game Significantly Improves Students’ Fractions Knowledge and Attitudes toward Math.

Executive Summary:

Knowledge of fractions is essential for future success in mathematics. Yet according to national data, the vast majority of US students fail to become proficient in fractions.

The advent of mobile technologies such as iPad tablets enable new kinds of physical
interactions that have potential for improving learning; however to date no experimental studies have been conducted to determine the efficacy of any iPad app for improving students’ knowledge.

An experimental study was conducted to determine whether Motion Math, a fractions game designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod, improves students’ fractions knowledge and attitudes. The study also assessed students’ ratings of the Motion Math game.

Results show that students’ fractions test scores improved an average of over 15% after playing Motion Math for 20 minutes daily over a five-day period, representing a significant increase compared to a control group.

Students’ self-efficacy for fractions, as well as their liking of fractions, each improved an average of 10%, representing a statistically significant increase compared to a control group.

Virtually all students rated Motion Math as fun and reported wanting to play it again; nearly all (95%) students in the study reported that their friends would like the game, and that the game helped them learn fractions.

Taken together, the data from this experimental study offer strong evidence that Motion Math successfully integrates entertainment value with educational value.

Visit GameDesk and read the full report..

Visit GameDesk.org and