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Get a REAL job in Roblox or develop a parasocial relationship with Minecraft AI
Also DOTS ebook, Mobile Game Stats and Game Announcements!
Code Monkey
June 05, 2024
Hello and Welcome, I’m your Code Monkey!
I hope you’re having a great start to June! I’m continuing to work on my DOTS RTS game and in a recent livestream had some interesting moments.
Great reminder that getting errors is a perfectly normal part of the process.
Game Dev: DOTS e-book; Mobile Stats
Tech: IKEA Roblox; Minecraft AI
Gaming: Summer Game Events
Fun: Paint in Notepad
Game Dev
Why is CPU code slow? DOTS E-book!
Want to learn all about DOTS? Well first watch my tutorial and sign up for my upcoming DOTS course, but then go check out this excellent e-book.
It begins by talking about why modern CPU game code is slow (garbage, memory, cores) and how DOTS helps with that.
It explains each of the packages included in DOTS (ECS, Job System, Burst, Mathematics, Netcode for Entities) and what they do.
Despite being a massive e-book it is also full of links and references to even more information in the form of samples and case studies of studios already using DOTS in production right now.
Also related, they recently made a new sample available. This one is a massive large scale simulation of a space battle. It really showcases the insane scale you can achieve with DOTS.
 | I've only read a bit but so far I love it! It's pretty massive with 49 pages full of info on every DOTS topic. I’m definitely going to spend my time researching this entire e-book to make sure my DOTS course is as good as it can be. |
Game Dev
Mobile games are 49% of the industry
This 2024 Mobile Trends report from AppLovin has tons of stats on mobile (both games and non-games). Global App Installs were on a downtrend since 2022 but have since rebounded with 4% growth at the end of 2023.
Subway Surfers is number 1 (downloads), Roblox at number 3 and Candy Crush Saga at number 5.
In total Mobile generated $90.4 billion in 2023 which is 49% of total gaming revenue. The biggest genre is apparently Action (18%) with Hyper Casual at second (14%).
| I'm always amazed at how big mobile games are. Personally I don't really play them so it's a completely alien world to me. Every time I see these numbers I'm reminded of the fact that Steam (which is huge at 130 million MAU) is actually pretty "niche". |
Tech
Get a REAL job in Roblox
IKEA is hiring people to staff a store inside Roblox. If you're in the UK or Ireland (and 18+) you can apply for a job, it pays £13.15 per hour, fully remote.
The job is similar to what you would do in a physical store, help people choose furniture, walk around the store and serve some meatballs.
This is definitely some strange news but not necessarily unexpected. Roblox has been growing like crazy and lots of companies are trying to reach their massive young audience, Walmart also already has a virtual store.
The Metaverse might be a dream for Meta, but for Fortnite/Roblox it is very much a reality.
| I think this is a fun idea. I mean the idea of companies trying to create spaces inside Roblox/Fortnite to basically advertise to young kids sounds a bit dystopian, but if they're paying people then at least that's a positive. |
Tech
Got no friends? Play with AI!
Do you play Minecraft? Do you feel lonely playing solo? Microsoft is working on adding Copilot (powered by GPT-4o) onto Minecraft so you can talk to it as you play.
Ask it for help, how to craft some item, what to do at certain point, get some tips or just chat.
Since it is powered by GPT-4o it is extremely fast. The latency was the most impressive thing when OpenAI first showcased this model, and it is indeed fast enough for this kind of real time conversation using voice.
| I love this, in terms of tech. But I also feel this is yet another AI thing that is potentially very positive and potentially very dystopian. It can definitely make the game more engaging if you don't have real friends to play with. But due to how good it is at sounding human, it can also lead to weird parasocial relationships with an AI. The future will be weird. |
Gaming
Game Announcements as far as the eye can see!
Summer is here which means many events announcing tons of awesome games!
Summer Game Fest is the big one, Geoff Keighley has been posting some teases, it's happening this Friday, June 7th.
There will also be a Devolver Direct (7th), PC Gaming Show (9th), Xbox (9th), Ubisoft (10th) and more.
As always expect lots of trailers and game announcements.
| I'm always a fan of watching these events, and especially the PC Gaming Show, I love the games they usually pick and Day9 is an excellent presenter. I'm also very curious to see Ubisoft Forward for Assassin's Creed: Shadows. I, like everyone else, have been looking forward to a Japan AC for ages, I hope it's good! |
Fun
Got no Photoshop? Use Notepad!
One developer decided to create Paint inside of Notepad.
You can click to draw anything, change the size of the brush and erase the drawing in a satisfying manner. Yup it’s Paint inside Notepad.
| I love this kind of thing! Programming lets you make things just because you can, regardless of whether or not it makes sense or has any usability at all. |
HACKING UNITY GAMES (FOR NOOBS)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJEb3LcftzA
Great overview of how Unity games can be hacked/decompiled. It’s fun to learn that it can be done, but as an indie dev don’t worry about it.
How are Microchips Made? CPU Manufacturing Process Steps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9CGRZwD-w
I LOVE this channel! Excellent visualizations to learn how all kinds of things are built. It’s insane how complex modern CPUs are.
The Greatest GTA Protagonist I've Ever Seen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHpwKqNsvRE
GTA4 has one of the best stories in gaming. If you haven’t played it go give it a try, Niko Bellic is an excellent character.
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Thanks for reading!
Code Monkey
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