A couple of days ago, the team sent a demo of Flantastic Cafe Run in hopes of being selected for a booth at the Indie Dev Day 2024 in Barcelona.

Yes, it’s true! Flantastic Cafe Run is quite advanced and already playable. There are still some missing features and bugs that need to be fixed in the next three months, as the game will be officially released in September.

For now, we wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to showcase the game at Indie Dev Day 2024, make connections, and more. Fingers crossed our game get selected!

It’s been almost six months (time flies!) working on the project alongside my colleagues at Tentativo Studios. I wanted to share how much I’ve learned and grown thanks to our beloved Flancisco’s project.

Here are some things I wouldn’t have learned or would have taken much longer to tackle if it weren’t for this project:

Unity Scriptable Objects

• What are they? Scriptable Objects are data containers in Unity that exist independent of scenes or scripts. Think of them as customizable assets for storing information you need throughout your game.
• Why are they useful? They make it easier to organize, reuse, and modify data, such as character stats, level configurations, or item properties. You can change them without directly editing your scripts, leading to a more flexible development process.
• Practical Example: In Flantastic Cafe Run, we use Scriptable Objects for the ingredients, the bases, and the toppings. This allows us to make changes and test faster and also to create a scalable system to add more and more if we want to.

Unity UI Toolkit

• What is it? UI Toolkit is Unity’s modern and versatile user interface (UI) system. It enables you to create adaptable and visually appealing interfaces for your games, ranging from simple menus to complex heads-up displays (HUDs).
• Why is it useful? UI Toolkit leverages familiar web technologies like HTML and CSS, making it easier for developers with web experience to get started. It also allows you to design interfaces that scale seamlessly across different resolutions and devices.
• Practical Example: In Flantastic Cafe Run, all the UI is made using this new system. I was a web developer so for me it’s quite easy to work with UI Toolkit, getting even better results than using the old system. In our game Mermelada Jam I’ve already implemented the UI with UI Toolkit thanks to the experience I’ve got from Flantastic.

Addressables – Localization Tables

• What are they? Addressables is Unity’s asset management system, streamlining how you load content both locally and from remote servers. Localization tables are data structures that help you translate your game’s text into different languages.
• Why are they useful? Addressables improves game performance by loading only the necessary assets when needed. Localization tables enable you to reach a wider audience by making your game accessible in multiple languages.
• Practical Example: In Flantastic Cafe Run, we are using them for the translations. It’s easy to manage, easy to implement and you don’t need third party extensions or plugins for this like I used in Oh My Shape!

Unity Profiler

• What is it? The Unity Profiler is a performance analysis tool that helps you identify bottlenecks in your game, pinpointing areas where the execution slows down.
• Why is it useful? The Profiler empowers you to optimize your game for smooth performance across various devices. You can visualize which parts of the code consume the most resources and take steps to improve them.
• Practical Example: In Flantastic Cafe Run, I’ve started to use it a lot. I know it looks like an easy game but it’s not. Think about everything in the game moving, being generated. A lot of optimization has been done (and must be done) and using Unity Profiler is a good way to understand where your bottlenecks and possible improvements are.

So, this is it. I’m really happy about this. Continuing my journey as an Indie Game Developer, learning interesting topics like the ones I’ve mentioned and trying to be selected for the Indie Dev Day 2024.

In the next week my idea is to take a small break and do a small project and after that focus on finishing Flantastic Cafe Run and moving a bit my Blender knowledge.

See you soon!