Christina Creates Games

Have you thought about attending Unite and didn't know it would be worth your time? I wrote down my own experience at the event and maybe it'll help you decide once the next Unite comes around :) If you have any questions, feel free to ask 💛!
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Have you ever had the feeling of being "The Quiet One" in a group? You enjoy hanging out with the people around you, are friends with some, too, but at gatherings, you tend to keep a bit more to yourself? You learned at some point that the things you are passionate about might not be topics you can talk about with many around you and while that's alright, it kinda made you more of a listener than a speaker when in a group?

I know this is me - and has been for years.

And I'm not bitter about it; growing up in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere limits the pool of people to talk about technology quite a bit. Being a woman feels like it limits it even more, at least while growing up. It's why online spaces are so important to me.

I've been to two Unites at this point: 2023 in Amsterdam, this year in Barcelona. (Both times invited by Unity)

And for once, I didn't feel like I needed to be The Quiet One.

As soon as I met with my fellow creators from the Insider program the evening before the conference, I felt like a fish in water. I had people who quite literally spoke my language (not as in English, but as in shared experiences and technical vocabulary), knew what I was talking about when venting my frustrations or being excited about some arcane aspects of the Unity engine. It felt like a group of friends, scattered all across the globe but for once placed in a shared room, who were passionate about the same things.

This is going to sound ultra campy, but it is hard to put into words what these meetups mean to me. Just... feeling like I belong in a place that values me for who I am and with a group of people who understand what I am talking about.

But of course, this first evening is hardly "The Unite Experience"; most who attend do so because they are going or being sent because of work, because of projects, maybe because they are students.

So, I'll have to broaden this first experience a bit more: Unite felt like an extension of this first experience of having found my place. Sure, over the days, I met up with others from the insider program whenever we ran into each other in the halls, but I spoke to many others: Shoutout to Febucci (Text Animator), I loved meeting you! I spoke with developers behind the UI system, spoke with developers creating the designs for the board computers for cars, with asset creators, people working at Unity, speakers and students. And while the volume of noise was hardly helping in holding any kind of conversation (man, my throat felt on fire after just a few hours!), it was just awesome being able to walk up to people - or being introduced to them - and strike up a conversation.

People have asked me if Unite is similar to Gamescom or other events like it, but I don't think it is. The two times I attended, there was a huge hall with booths, showcasing functionality and new features of Unity (for example this year, I was at the Asset Store booth and visited the 2D and UI one, the Ask the Expert booth, the one about the Asset Manager (which is still looking majorly cool)), as well as some booths by other parties like the one by Mercedes Benz, UModeler and Meta VR. While there were lots and lots of people at all of them, it wasn't too hard to find a moment to talk with one of the booth's people, who were all super friendly and excited to talk about their topics. Also, I'm happy to report that Unity AI was just a small booth and not the overwhelming presence I had feared it would have. I can deal with one small booth ;) (It was, however, one I skipped entirely).

Of course there is more than just that one hall: At just about every hour, you can attend some form of talk, sometimes you'll have to split yourself into three parts because somehow many talks managed to fall onto the same timeslots :D Well, at least I felt like I needed to do that - I'm looking forward to seeing the uploaded recordings soon of the sessions I missed.

The session that's still stuck in my mind is the one where this year's Unity for Humanity project was being presented by the people who created it: A platform/gamified project about ocean education, made to be used in schools. As somebody who loves gamification (well, more game-based-learning, but I'm happy to see babysteps) and using game-like systems in the classroom, I loved learning how they managed to bring their projects into classrooms all across the world. Each session I attended had a Q&A section at the end and the speakers were mostly still available for a chat once the session ended. (And yes, the one about optimization tips was packed to the brim with people!)

And the third part that I enjoyed tremendously was talking with the students at Unite (If you are a student and think about attending, make sure to give the education discount a look!). Those who are still enrolled in systems, but also those who have just finished their Bachelors or Masters. I loved learning about the projects they worked on - some with groups as large as twenty people! There was some amazing art to be seen and the gameplay of the projects looked fun :D! Plus, I learned from them that apparently, my tutorials are being used in university classrooms! (Hey, if you are working at a University and would like to get the real person and not just the videos, feel free to reach out to me!)

Amsterdam 2023 was just a single day and felt all around very hectic, so I'm happy to see that this year's Unite was spread out over two days. This gave everything a bit more room to breathe and everybody a bit more time to find a time spot to talk with others. The food was also surprisingly good!

And overall, when it comes to Unity? I sat in the roadmap and the keynote, spoke to people who are working on the engine - and generally left the conference with a good feeling. Granted, I am not a cynical person, that's a trait that feels just exhausting to me. I like being and staying optimistic, especially about the things I care about. I enjoyed seeing all that AI nonsense being toned down a lot, loved hearing that UGUI is here to stay (💛), and even the 2D features had me genuinely looking forward to giving them a try. Overall, it feels like Unity's found its footing again and I'm looking forward to what's to come over the next months and years.

I guess, in the end, it will come down to your budget and expectations, if Unite is for you or not. But if you have the chance to attend, I think you should do so and see for yourself what it is all about =) Don't be afraid of approaching people, I haven't had a single negative interaction at any of the two events and I'd hardly call myself a "good networker". Make sure to pack some stuff for your throat, however, as talking gets rough over time ;) And if you are a student, pack some examples of your work onto a tablet and carry that along!

I would love to attend Unite again and I just know that the memories I made over the three days will stay with me for a long time 💛

(And lastly, a big shoutout to Phil, the community manager of the Insider program, for taking such good care of us! You are awesome :D!)

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1 week ago | [YT] | 60

Christina Creates Games

Hi from Unite!
I have been looking forward to this since I got the invitation by Unity a few months ago and it's finally here!
Are you at the event? Had considered it but chose not to? If you are around here somewhere and see me, feel free to come and say hi!
I've been at three sessions already and learned a few awesome things I'm excited about. If you haven't, I recommend you go and watch the keynote on the official Unity channel. I was truly surprised to see 2D tools mentioned "on the big stage" and they look awesome! Plus: new projects are coming for multiplayer and multiplayer fps games, which I'm super curious about. Gave multiplayer two or three tries this year but didn't get far.

Okay, roadmap is in session, have to focus on that now. If you have questions about Unite and write them in the comments, I'll see if I can answer them over the course of the event!

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2 weeks ago | [YT] | 61

Christina Creates Games

A few days ago, my channel got nominated for the Best Tutorial Series! And seeing the sudden influx of new subscribers (Hi!), I guess many of you have already seen this 💛

And wow what a line-up that category has. Code Monkey, SpeedTutor, Sunny Valley Studio, git-amend - and me?
Those others are names everybody looking up tutorials for Unity knows.
Most lay foundations to enable us to create what we hope to achieve. Some go into more detail and give the more advanced users things to learn.

And then there's me in this list and I'm sitting here and saw that and honestly got a bit emotional.
It's hard to put into words how much this means to me.

And if it wasn't for you guys, I wouldn't have been placed on that slide in their nominations video - 'cause if it weren't for the amazing feedback I got from you over the years, all the kind comments and great discussions, I would have probably stopped doing this at some point.
But you are here - on Discord or on Youtube - and that means so much to me.

I'm not telling you to vote for me ;) I'm standing in a line-up of giants there and just seeing my name there brings me a lot of joy.

But voting always counts, no matter what you are voting for, so maybe head over to the official voting page and cast your vote for the games, the asset creators and the entertainers and educators in our niche you've enjoyed the most over the past year. All of us are appreciating it a lot if you do 💛 It really only takes a few moments.

awards.unity.com/

Thank you for being here and let's see what the coming year will bring!

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 115

Christina Creates Games

Which guide would you like to see next?
I am currently working on a guide all about the image component - things like basic setup, creating resource bars, cooldown bars, working with masks, 9-slicing and such.
I have a poll for topics on my discord, but I'd love to hear from you here, too!

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4 weeks ago | [YT] | 44

Christina Creates Games

Hi everybody 👋 Synty is this week's Publisher of the Week over in the asset store, with many packs on sale for 50% off (and a bonus free asset). If you've been looking to get some of those, this might be a good moment =)! (link in first comment)

1 month ago | [YT] | 16

Christina Creates Games

Hi 💛
Ever wanted to know what it feels like to be the infamous bard from untold DnD adventures?
A friend of mine and his team are very close to starting their kickstarter campaign for their game Dating & Dragons - a DnD-inspired visual romance novel where you can court and flirt with super cute love interests. If that sounds like something right up your alley, make sure to check out the link in the first comment!

Lyd, Javi and Vic have been pouring a lot of their heart's blood into their project and I'm so excited to see it reach this stage 💛

1 month ago (edited) | [YT] | 25

Christina Creates Games

I always wanted to have a group in my area all about game development. So, I started one!

1 month ago | [YT] | 47

Christina Creates Games

When it comes to typography and text in your games, what would you like to learn more about?

2 months ago | [YT] | 11

Christina Creates Games

It's my channel's birthday today! Exactly three years ago, on September 23rd, 2022, I uploaded my first tutorial video. It was about how to change the Splash Screen in Unity and it might be one of just about four videos on my channel that are a just a tiny bit outdated at this point (but still work fine).

It's been a cool journey since then! Met great people, formed amazing friendships, learned a ton in many, many areas 💛 Thank you to everybody who commented, clicked on like, shared my videos, to every one of my currently 7886 subscribers, everybody who purchased my guides, everybody in my channel's discord community. Without you guys, I wouldn't still be making tutorials 💛 This channel and all that came from it means a lot to me.

Thank you.

Onwards to the next years of doing this!

2 months ago | [YT] | 67

Christina Creates Games

There's a Synty sales going on! I'm currently working on a project/review for their Samurai pack and can already say it's amazing and one of my absolute favourites. Sidekick packs are on sale, too!
Affiliate link to it in the pinned comment!

2 months ago | [YT] | 19