Instead of trashing unwanted objects it is better to recycle them so that they can be reused over and over again. This technique is usually referred to as pooling. Essentially unwanted objects are placed into a pool until they are needed once again; new instances only need to be created when the pool is empty.

Due to popular request the logic for instantiating and destroying tile game objects is now encapsulated within object factory classes. Whilst no pooling solution is included with Rotorz Tile System, pooling can be added by implementing the IObjectFactory interface. This gives you the freedom to implement your own specialised solution or alternatively implement a wrapper for one of the existing solutions.

PoolManager by Path-o-logical Games is a very popular pooling solution for Unity which is very powerful and extremely easy to use. RtsPoolManagerObjectFactory is an open-source script which we developed to make it easy to use PoolManager with our tile system extension.

What sort of tiles can be pooled?

Since the latest release of Rotorz Tile System tiles can take a number of forms. The benefits of pooling can currently only be realised for game objects that are instantiated from prefabs.

• Tile game objects that are instantiated from prefabs can be pooled using a custom object factory.
• Individual game objects are created with a mesh filter and renderer component when tiles are painted using non-procedural tileset brushes. These game objects cannot be pooled, though in such circumstances the procedural variety of tileset brushes is generally better.
• When the “Add Collider” option is used game objects are created to house box colliders. Like with the previous point, such objects cannot be pooled, though pooling can still be utilised by attaching the collider using a prefab instead!

A massive update of Rotorz Tile System is now available from the Unity asset store.

After much consideration it was decided that this version should be unpacked alongside any previous version. An upgrade wizard has been included to help users upgrade their existing brushes and tile systems. Please refer to the included migration guide for further information (or download here).

It is exciting to see how much this extension has grown since it was first released nine months ago. We would like to take the opportunity to thank all of our customers for all their feedback and feature suggestions!

What’s New?

• Greatly improved user interface packed with new features
• 2D tiles can now be presented using a procedurally generated mesh
• Multiple edge correction options now available for tilesets!
• New tool parameters and introducing the Line Tool
• Various new keyboard shortcuts to help improve your workflow
• Easily filter and search brushes
• Looks even nicer with the Unity Pro skin!
• Many, many tweaks, refinements and improvements
• Improved user documentation and now an online version!
  

Please refer to the release notes to find out more.

Tileset brushes replace former atlas brushes

Previously atlas brushes were created from an input tileset which could then be used to paint 2D tiles using individual game objects. Atlas brushes have been superseded with Tileset Brushes which are now maintained within Tilesets.

The 2D tiles that are painted using tileset brushes can now be presented in the same way as previously by using individual game objects (aka non-procedural) or using the new procedural option (additional game objects can be attached when needed). Procedural tiles are rendered extremely quickly which makes painting them smoother than previously.

Autotile tilesets and brushes!

Autotile brushes provide an easy way to paint 2D tiles that automatically orientate against one another. Whilst autotile brushes are only able to present 2D tiles, it is possible to define coalescing rules in the same way as with oriented brushes. In fact, tiles that are painted using autotile brushes can orientate against those that are painted using oriented brushes!

Such brushes can be created from Autotile Tilesets which are automatically generated from the input autotile artwork. The following image demonstrates how the artwork of an autotile is used to automatically generate an atlas of tiles:

Please note that it is still possible to compose oriented brushes from a series of tileset brushes (even from autotile tilesets). Oriented brushes are able to address more orientations than autotile brushes, though autotiles are convenient and a lot of fun!

New palette windows (or classic mode!)

With popular request the scene palette was added making it easier to organise the tile systems in your scene. Entire tile systems can be conveniently hidden to reveal things that are otherwise obscured.

Don’t panic! the classic mode preference can be used to combine the tool and brush windows into a single interface similar to that found in previous versions of Rotorz Tile System.

Introducing the tileset designer!

Tilesets can now be managed using the tileset designer interface found within the brush designer window. The process of creating and managing tileset brushes is now considerably easier.

Revamped tile system optimisation feature

Tile system optimisation has been entirely re-implemented and is now significantly faster than with previous versions. The quality of smoothing normals between tiles has also been improved.

Rotorz Tile System v1.1.3 has just been submitted for approval by the asset store team and will be available for download shortly. This new version is almost identical to v1.1.2 except that it a) works with Unity 4 and b) has a different brush creation window.

• Unity 3.5.x users will be able to upgrade to v1.1.3 or directly to v2.0.0 (when it becomes available in the near future).
• Unity 4.x users will be able to upgrade from v1.1.3 to v2.0.0.

Please contact us if you have any questions regarding this.

In addition to a fresh new design and some performance improvements we hope that our API documentation is more accessible for our fantastic Rotorz Tile System customers. The documentation is now frameless which makes it easier to use plus far more accessible via search engines like Google.

Last week a new update for our tile system extension was released to the Unity asset store. Tile systems have been restructured with tile data stored independently of painted game objects. Tiles are now placed into chunks of a user defined size which now form a fundamental aspect of the tile data structure. Chunks can be resized if needed, they can be stripped, utilised at runtime, and tile meshes can be merged on a per chunk basis.

In most cases this means that tile systems use less memory because tiles are no longer represented by an instance component. The tile map is also stored in chunks further reducing memory overhead for tile systems that have empty chunks. Tile data also makes it possible to repair tiles that have become broken where tiles are deleted (not erased).

We would like to remind customers that it is very important to keep regular backups of your projects, and to always backup before installing/updating any extension from the asset store. Once customers have updated to v1.1.0 they will need to upgrade existing tile systems by first selecting them, reviewing upgrade options via inspector and finally clicking the “Upgade” button. This must be done for each tile system in-turn; unfortunately it was not possible to automatically do this for all existing scenes and prefabs in one hit.

When painting the status panel now provides a visualisation for the orientation of the active tile. When a fallback orientation is used (i.e. when actual orientation is not defined) colours are used to indicate when excess or insufficient tiles were matched.

Find out more about Rotorz Tile System v1.1.0 here

See how it works:

Click here to find out more!

Designing levels for three-dimensional games may seem complicated, especially for those who are just starting out with game development. The level of complexity will vary depending upon the type of game being created along with its graphical requirements.

Using a tile based solution can ease the process of designing levels, and is also ideal for prototyping ideas. Once a selection of brushes have been prepared, levels can be designed simply by painting.

Here are some features of our extension:

• Work with large grids (limited by capability of hardware and software)
• Intuitive user interface
• Customize the way tiles are offset, rotated and scaled
• Move, rotate and scale tiles (or an entire tile system)
• Define custom orientations and control the way in which tiles orientate
• Create new brushes by overriding properties and materials of existing brushes
• Combine marked tiles into a single mesh with automatic vertex snapping (within given threshold). Normals at tile joins can also be recalculated for smoother results.

Our extension can be used alongside other extensions so that you can take advantage of their various offerings.

Click here to find out more!

We are proud to announce the release of our first game title Munchy Bunny! which was released just in time for the Easter holiday.

In Munchy Bunny! the player guides a blue bunny through 4 levels whilst collecting eggs along the way. Each level contains a hidden golden egg which can be found to unlock an achievement, and there are other achievements to complete along the way!

We are very interested to hear from our customers and all reviews and feedback are highly valued! We plan to release additional levels if we receive enough positive feedback! So get voting!

View game in the Apple App Store…

Munchy Bunny! is powered by the Unity 3D game engine which harnesses the power of the NVIDIA PhysX physics engine.