Unity Technologies (https://unity.com/), creator of the world's leading real-time 3D development platform, launched Unity Game Simulation, a service that enables game studios to complement their pre-launch playtests through the power of Cloud Simulation. The solution was released today as part of the Google for Games Developer Summit and is now available in open beta, which includes a free trial.
Unity Game Simulation significantly reduces the time and cost associated with pre-launch testing by simulating millions of game playthroughs quickly and accurately on the cloud, helping game studios of all sizes and budgets achieve their desired game balance. By launching on Google Cloud, Unity is able to operate the Unity Game Simulation service at scale, resulting in higher stability, elevated security, and continuous integration & delivery.
"Even well-developed games fail when they are not properly balanced. Traditional methods to balance a game rely heavily on human playtesting and countless manual redeploys. The entire process is costly, slow, and inefficient," said Danny Lange, VP of AI and Machine Learning, Unity Technologies. "A better way to balance your game is with Unity Game Simulation, where you can run thousands of gameplay simulations in the cloud that can provide more accurate results to leave playtesters to focus on subjective criteria like game feel and the fun factor."
Furyion Games was among the first companies to test Unity Game Simulation for their fast-paced, top-down online multiplayer shooter game, Death Carnival, which features a robust and complex weapon socket system. Furyion creators used the tool to run thousands of simulations to identify the right combinations of base weapon, ammo, weapon module, and power up for desired survivability and level completion time.
"Through the development of Death Carnival, we had our team try to balance every weapon by grinding. Using Unity Game Simulation saved us hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars of labor," said Herbert Yung, Founder and Director of Furyion. "Because of its seamless integration with the Unity Editor, we were able to run simulations, then quickly make gameplay tweaks within moments. Not only was this process hundreds of times faster than with playtesters, but we were able to design our simulation to provide high-quality results. This really changed my perspective on the best, most efficient way to game balance," added Yung.
Unity Game Simulation is designed to complement the traditional game balancing process and relieve playtesters of the burdensome, repetitive aspects of testing. The technology also serves as an alternative to inaccurate and cumbersome tools, like spreadsheets, currently used in today's studios. With Unity Game Simulation, game creators can spend more time focused on the human-centric aspects of game creation, such as design, while also reallocating game budgets for non-testing initiatives like marketing and community-building. This, in turn, results in faster time to launch and overall improved player perception of games.
Unity Game Simulation is currently available in open beta. To learn more and get started, visit https://unity.com/products/game-simulation.
