Dark Tonic Games Studio

Killer Waves for Unity 3D ... for free?

2013-05-20T12:28:00.001-07:00

Did you know Killer Waves Lite is completely free on the Unity 3D asset store?

It contains the core components of the full Killer Waves suite, the total solution for enemy spawner and wave setup that gets your game up and running in minutes.

Download here: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/7832

And check out the Killer Waves tutorial videos for a quick how-to!

Finally available on Android!

2013-05-20T10:14:00.000-07:00

Thanks for being patient as we ported Attack of the Wall Street Titan over! Go grab it now for free: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.darktonic.attackofthewallstreettitan

Attack of the Wall Street Titan

2013-05-01T07:35:00.002-07:00

Download now for free!

Grab it on iOS here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/attack-wall-street-titan/id577683586?ls=1&mt=8

Android version in final testing!

Unity features Master Audio in 24 hour sale

2013-04-10T11:10:00.004-07:00

Unity is featuring another Dark Tonic plugin in a 24 hour sale!

This time it's Master Audio for 50% off - today only!

Cheap bastards!

2013-03-29T08:08:00.004-07:00

Been wanting to check out our wave spawning system, Killer Waves, but are a cheap bastard? Your chance is here.

We've just released Killer Waves Lite, a free plugin with some great core features to speed up your design workflow.

Grab it here for free: https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/7832

Killer Waves v2.0 Released!

2013-03-26T13:01:00.003-07:00

Not to be outdone by Master Audio, we've beefed up Killer Waves with some huge improvements. As usual, this is a free upgrade for all 1.xx users.

Here are a few of the new key features in v2.0:

World variables - coins, XP, health, score, unlocks, and more, easily created with a simple, yet powerful UI. Stats are fully customizable by the user and can carry (or not) from scene to scene. Listeners can hook into NGUI or other UI system to update the display when values change.
Killables - assign hit points, update world variables, trigger effects. New Killable script easily allows multiple-hit targets, auto-despawning, explosions, "death prefab" prefab replacement and more!
9 new listener classes - fast & powerful customization with simple code hooks. Syncro Spawners, Triggered Spawners & Despawners, Level Settings, Killable, and more classes; hook up custom code to wave start, wave end, item spawned, and other events. Each listener can be sub-classed for your particular needs.

...and lots more. Check it out!

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/6640

Master Audio v2.0 is now live

2013-03-08T06:21:00.001-08:00

For the first time ever in Unity: Individual sound mixer controls

Master Audio's massive 2.0 update includes solo, muting, and volume sliders right in the inspector. No longer do you have the hassle of moving prefabs around to find the sample that's a little out of place!

Additionally, the UI has been overhauled and seriously streamlined to keep your workflow at top speed. Sound groups now have weighting so you can keep your favorite effects triggering most frequently without overplaying them, new controls have been added to keep rapid fire effects from generating audio artifacts, and more.

Upgrades have also been made under the hood to keep Master Audio the top audio plugin for Unity 3.xx and 4.xx. Check the Unity forum thread for full v2.0 details.

Download now:
https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/5607

Get better audio, faster, with Master Audio.

Killer Waves is 50% off! Today only!

2013-02-27T08:38:00.001-08:00

Unity has selected Killer Waves as one of their featured 24 hour sale items, so go grab it!

Just $15 buys you the BEST spawn system tool on the asset store.

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/6640

A bunch of smart developers have jumped on this deal already since the sale started at midnight.

There's never going to be a better time to pick up Killer Waves, and steady feature upgrades mean it will continue to be a great tool in your toolbox for years to come.

We have a lot of future features planned, and the price will keep going up as the new stuff goes in. With version 1.4 it's one step away from being a shoot 'em up creation kit. Our next versions will add kit features for tower defense, RTS, platformers, and more.

Killer Waves v1.4 is finally here!

2013-02-20T11:43:00.001-08:00

Lots of new features to make development easier, faster, and more fun. Grab the update now!

Oh, you like the Zerg?

2013-02-15T16:08:00.000-08:00

Killer Waves v1.4 is coming soon! The code is done for this massive upgrade (should really be called v2.0!), we just need to update the documentation and make a cool example scene to show off all the new stuff.

Here's a rundown of the new features:

1) Added "is enabled" checkbox for spawners.

2) Added "Game Over Music" section at top of Level Settings. Your existing music settings will probably be lost, please check them after updating to this version.

3) New "silence" option for music waves.

4) Added "Music Fade Time" for Silence music mode to fade previous music out over time automatically.

5) Fixed bug where the same prefab would be spawned for each item in the same frame, even in a prefab pool.

6) Added new triggered spawner script to trigger waves from any prefab during collision, trigger, becameVisible, becameInvisible, spawn, despawn, mouse click, onSpawned and onDespawned events! This will allow you to make no-code explosion prefabs,

★ enemies that spawn more enemies ★, enemies that spawn waves of projectiles, prefabs that spawn waves of things when destroyed, spawners that only spawn after they've scrolled onto the screen and a lot more. Very flexible. These are completely independent of the global Level Waves.

7) Collision and Trigger events have an optional layer filter and tag filter fields so you can trigger things only between certain layers and tags.

8) "Despawn prefab" checkbox for certain events such as Collision & trigger so you don't have to code that.

All that and we still have a solid backlog of features to come!

The new version will be going up in price so we recommend adding Killer Waves to your project now and saving yourself some money.

Video of all the new features coming in a week or so.

Got enemies? Get Killer Waves!

2013-01-31T17:40:00.000-08:00

Killer Waves has just released on the Unity asset store!

So, what is it?

Killer Waves is a total solution for all your game's object spawning / level / wave generation needs.

Simply create a number of global levels and waves per level, and use our spawner prefabs to create waves of enemies, power-ups, or other goodies per global wave.

Both timed waves and elimination waves (new wave started when all of the previous wave despawned/killed) are supported out of the box. Very lightweight code, super simple setup, exceptional performance on mobile devices. Works perfectly with Pool Manager or without. You can even cue music changes with the waves!

Check out this real time demo video and see how fast you could set up your game:

Grab it while it's at its half off intro price of just ten bucks! Lots of features and upgrades to come, and as usual, we welcome your requests.

Get better audio, faster, with Master Audio

2013-01-22T14:30:00.001-08:00

If you develop games in Unity and want to massively increase your audio implementation speed and quality, watch our tutorial vid for our Master Audio plugin, and go grab it from the Unity asset store.

Check out how fast, powerful, and easy to use Master Audio is in our tutorial vid (recommended in 1080 full screen):

https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/5607

Help us decide on our next game!

2013-01-19T08:39:00.001-08:00

As we at Dark Tonic Games Studio plan our upcoming projects for 2013 and beyond, which of these game ideas sound interesting to you?

1. Casual puzzler: Bejeweled Blitz meets Uno
2. Core puzzler: Turn-based Bomberman meets Legend of Zelda
3. Tap shooter: Time Crisis meets Operation Wolf with elements of Contra
4. PC open world vehicle combat sim: Forza Horizon + Mad Max + salvage + customization
5. Futuristic casual racer: F-Zero GX meets I, Robot with Akira style
6. Physics Puzzler: Tower Defense meets Angry Birds with a cute zombie onslaught

We've got design work and pre-production done to some extent on all of these titles, and we want to know what you guys might like to see the most!

Drop us a line, or just go vote on our new forum!
http://darktonic.boards.net/index.cgi?action=display&board=discussion&thread=3&page=1

Best of 2012 award for Wall Street Titan!

2013-01-09T16:10:00.002-08:00

Indie Game Magazine has selected Wall Street Titan as one of the best mobile arcade games of 2012!

We're extremely honored, and incredibly proud to be in such fine company with Super Hexagon, Tower of Fortune, Jack Lumber, and other great new games!

New Dark Tonic forum is live

2012-12-22T17:10:00.003-08:00

We've just opened up a new forum to talk about our games and middleware, everyone is welcome!

Sign up is a breeze, just use any of your existing social network logins. So come check it out if you need technical support, have a question or comment, concern, suggestion, or just want to troll us, cause hey, it's the internet.

The forum is here: http://darktonic.boards.net/

See you there!

Calling all Unity 3D developers

2012-12-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

Unity 3D devs, prepare to make your audio setup a breeze!

We just released our Master Audio package on the Unity Asset store.

Master Audio is small, efficient, flexible, and will save you loads of time!

- Control & randomize sound events for realistic ambience
- Automatic sound triggers from spawn & despawn events
- Poolable sound clips for scalable and performant audio
- Ducking controls per sound group (no coding needed!)
- Automatic placement in 3D space for effortless realism
- Sound group controls to save major time
...and more

This is the system we built for Wall Street Titan to help us rein in the audio chaos and save us loads of time setting up our sound design. It's an amazing value. Take advantage of the time we spent developing the system!

http://u3d.as/content/dark-tonic-inc-/master-audio/3PY

Review in from Hookshot Inc.

2012-11-26T09:22:00.003-08:00

http://www.hookshotinc.com/wall-street-titan-robot-death-from-above/

The guys from HookShot Inc describe the gameplay of Wall Street Titan as:

"...a pleasant sense of snowballing GTA chaos..."

Haha, love it!

Angry Robot: Wall Street Titan 1.1 now available!

2012-11-19T11:13:00.001-08:00

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wall-street-titan/id513183495?mt=8

Grab it while it's hot! Intro price will expire soon.

New features:

★ Full 1000 point Game Center integration with over 40 achievements!
★ Tap to advance level up, no more waiting.
★ Performance optimization. The game should run a bit smoother on older devices now.
★ Various bug fixes. We heard your feedback!

Thanks so much for playing! Keep squashing those baddies!

Wall Street Titan v1.1 coming soon

2012-11-12T08:14:00.000-08:00

Our first update for Wall Street Titan has been submitted to the App Store, just waiting on approval!

In anticipation, version 1.0 has been temporarily removed from the App Store, but the new version should be available this weekend. We'll post again once it's back.

So, what's coming in version 1.1?

★ Full 1000 point Game Center integration with over 40 achievements!
★ Tap to advance level up, no more waiting.
★ Performance optimization. The game should run a bit smoother on older devices now.
★ Various bug fixes. We heard your feedback!

Thanks so much for playing! Keep squashing those baddies!

Wall Street Titan now available for iOS!

2012-10-24T11:59:00.001-07:00

Go grab it now and squash some suits! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wall-street-titan/id513183495?mt=8

Limited time 99c release sale price!

New gameplay video

2012-10-20T10:33:00.005-07:00

We're still waiting on approval from Apple, but in the meantime, here's a new video of gameplay in Wall Street Titan!

Be sure to check out the iPad gameplay at :30, it's hilarious!

Open it up on Youtube to watch it in HD!

Wall Street Titan submitted!

2012-10-18T07:55:00.003-07:00

That >>Start button is so close!

We submitted Wall Street Titan to Apple last Friday, October 12, and we're super excited to finally get it into your hands!

With a little luck we'll get approval in time to release this weekend, stay tuned.

AAA vs. mobile / indie development

2012-10-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

We received an email from Russell A. with some interesting questions. We thought the answers could be fun and useful to share with the community.

Comments below!

photo from http://cinemakingdom.com/?p=67

1.) Why did you pursue the mobile platform instead of larger "AAA" 3D title?

Mobile is infinitely easier to get to market on, essentially any other platform (other than PC) requires you to partner with a publisher to have any chance of success. Mobile has a super low barrier of entry, and has a much better market potential for the types of games we'll be developing than PC.

Besides that, AAA requires a massive up front investment and really requires you to have extremely high sales out of the gate in order to just break even. We're bootstrapped, so we have no funding for that type of investment, and even if we did, it wouldn't be worth the risk.

2.) Do you feel there is any need for a traditional publisher if you were to ever pursue such a title?

Publishers are a must for AAA / console. An exception is XBLIG but even then you're at the mercy of Microsoft's whims and store functionality (which has historically not been great for indies vs. iOS/Android).

3.) What suggestions would you give to a project that possess' a 4 million dollar budget but wants to cut out the middle management? Do you think middle management could be circumvented?

It totally depends on the team. A small team of highly motivated individuals that are also realistic about timelines and goals could do it. A producer isn't a necessity, nor are code/art managers, but someone has to watch the schedule if you want to hit a release date. In the console world you cannot miss your release date, or you will be in a world of hurt.

Is there a separate marketing budget, or is $4mm the total budget? If $4mm has to cover everything, and you're targeting AAA, you have to plan on only having $3.5mm or less for development, as marketing has to be a huge spend in order to make the initial sales splash you need for success.

Do you have the team already? If not, recruiting costs have to be factored in. For the sake of argument, let's assume you already have your perfect team. Let's work backwards from your budget.

The average pro dev salary is somewhere around $90k/yr. The average AAA development time is 1.5 years, so you need to earmark $135k for each dev. That means you can afford around 25 or 26 developers. In the economy, you might be able to pick up a few extra by keeping budget low, but I will trade quality for quantity any day of the week.

So, you need someone that knows development well that can put together a realistic project plan for a AAA title made with 25 people.

In this case you might be wisest to keep a core team of about 15, and outsource a large amount of art to help keep costs lower.

4.) Why is there such a separation between the development studio and the public? It seems to be very difficult to contact studio's to speak with them and employers seem very reluctant to allow their employee's to speak. Do you think potential developers would a appreciate a friendlier atmosphere where they are free to share their employment experiences?

This is a long discussion. There are issues of wanting to be first to market with a new idea (you don't want to talk about a new feature you're developing and find it in a competitor's game before you release), there are issues of keeping up a company's brand/image, there are issues of being able to afford the time for such conversations (while writing this, I have been sweating about my own lost productivity), and more (possibly even legal issues, such as insider trading information or just standard NDA protected confidential information).

Indies are able to be more open, as there are no corporate guidelines, they are often quicker to get to market, and really need personal connections to help them from a grassroots marketing perspective.

btw, I invite you, and all our readers to like us on facebook! http://www.facebook.com/darktonicgames
(shameless indie plug ftw!)

Thanks for writing, Russell!

New Screenshots!

2012-10-02T17:53:00.001-07:00

With our impending app store submission for Wall Street Titan, we've added a few super high resolution screenshots of the game. You can check them out on our games page or right here!

We're on track to submit to Apple this week, so check back soon for your chance to get your hands on the game!

Wall Street Titan is officially Alpha!

2012-09-06T14:34:00.000-07:00

Yep, we hit the very important Alpha milestone recently, which means for the initial build of the game, all the features that are going in, are in, and working! Now all that's left is to polish up the content, fix any bugs, and optimize performance (which is currently stellar).

That's not all!

For those that don't follow us on Facebook (and why don't you?!) we have another huge piece of news. We have brought on a new team member to finish up the audio on Wall Street Titan, and it is none other than legendary sound designer David Thiel!

You may not know David by name, but you know the games he's worked on, like Golden Tee, the Three Stooges, and old school arcade gems Mad Planets, MACH 3 (the original laser disc game), and Q*bert!

So, get ready for an awesome time! We will be submitting to Apple shortly, then you'll finally be able to smash up some tiny baddies with Wall Street Titan!