This week, we are going to delve into a way to store your environment save data on a remote server using PHP and MySQL. But first, we will have a closer look at the Environment tab in the Game Editor.Read more …
With every larger game that cannot be completed in one sitting, there comes a point when you should offer your users to save their progress and come back later to continue their playthrough. There are several methods you could use, like managed cloud saves, XML, JSON, or an online database of your own design, however the easiest, quickest and probably most secure way would be ShiVa Environments.Read more …
Cars are among the most complex physics objects you can create in your game. Although you only need 4 joints, the number of variations on suspension, engine power, friction, and so on are nearly endless. Before you can experiment with your car to find the perfect balance, you first need to understand how to set up an ODE car and learn about CFM and ERP.Read more …
Developing cross platform games confronts you with a large number of operating systems, processor architectures, graphics APIs and input methods. But don’t forget about all the different screen sizes, orientations and aspect ratios, which you need to take into account for FOV and HUD design!Read more …
Last Monday, Apple kicked off their annual WWDC event with the usual keynote talk, where they previewed the updates to their 4 operating systems macOS, iOS, watchOS and tvOS. Apart from the Apple Watch, ShiVa runs on all these platforms, so we have to keep a close eye on all changes.Read more …
How can you cut down on drawcalls with texture baking? How can you save disk space with multiple UV sets? How can you use pre-rendered lightmaps and still retain the ability to edit individual surfaces? Let’s find out!Read more …
One of ShiVa’s biggest strengths has always been its cross-platform nature. No matter if desktops, mobiles or game consoles, if it exists, chances are that there is a ShiVa engine port for it. And if you are running an OS or processor off the beaten path, you can always try HTML5/WebGL. Web distribution might not be what you had in mind though… Maybe there are ways to make your web application fit for offline distribution!Read more …
Dear ShiVa Community, we are happy to announce the release of ShiVa 2.0 Beta 9, just in time for the holiday season! While this is mostly a maintenance release, it still comes with a number of important updates which you should definitely try out.Read more …
ShiVa is a C++ engine with a Lua scripting interface. While this works great for calling API functions, it does have its pitfalls when it comes to organizing and storing data. Since tables are the main (in fact, the only) data structuring mechanism in Lua, these pitfalls become especially apparent when trying to combine ShiVa tables with Lua tables.Read more …
ShiVa games run natively on a large number of platforms without the need for the developer to adjust anything. Our STK + engine architecture was designed with the “build once, run everywhere” philosophy in mind. There are times however when you want to use a feature that is native to your target platform, in which case you have to write your own plugins.Read more …
