I thought I would make a list of the software and tools used in the creation of Puzzledorf, and it’s marketing tools, for those interested.
Graphics Editor
The primary graphics editor is Pyxel Edit. However, several other programs are used for certain tasks, including:
Pyxel Edit is used to create the bulk of the static pixel art for the game, and turned into sprite sheets, which Unity in turn then uses for tilemaps. However, Piskel is often used for the animations. The first image would be design in Pyxel Edit, then later moved to Piskel for animation.
Photoshop is rarely used for Pixel Art, however it is used sometimes for some of the menu art, such as buttons and preview images. Mostly, however, Photoshop is used to create marketing artwork and modify screenshots to be used in various platforms, ie, resizing to the appropriate size, or removing UI elements.
Colour Palette
The colour palette used is the default colour palette from Pro Motion 2, because it has a wide, flexible range of colours, but still creates a retro, SEGA Genesis style appearance.
Unity
Unity was the main engine of choice for this game. Some of the extra tools I use with it are:
- Unity Tilemaps
- 2D Pixel Perfect Camera
- Rewired
Rewired has been especially useful for getting Universal Controller support.
The Unity Tilemaps system is not perfect. It has required some customization, particularly with getting randomized tiling to work as desired. Some of those scripts have been shared here.
I have also considered using Monogame for future projects, but I am not currently doing that. Reasons for considering monogame:
- Totally free
- Completely customizable so you can create your own tools (which may be both a pro and a con for the effort required)
- Strong cross-platform support
- Uses C#
- Appears to have a strong community
Prototyping
Puzzlescript is frequently used to prototype new ideas of Puzzledorf. It’s a free game editor with low-res graphics specifically designed for Sokoban-style games. Very useful for rapid prototyping.
Coding
Visual Studio is my code editor of choice in general, where I typically use it for C# with Unity. It’s free, powerful, and has lots of great features. There’s a light weight version, but I use the full suite.
I also use Puzzlescript for rapid-prototyping, both as a design and coding tool.
For random small files, like config files, txt files, and lots of other random small text files you need for Steam and Console, I use Notepad++. It’s an extended version of Notepad that is better for code-related tasks.
Excel is also useful, not so much as specifically a coding tool, but sometimes I will write small code in Excel to help organize various book keeping and organizational tasks.
Source Control
For Source Control, I use SourceTree, which is a great free tool for keeping track of different versions of your project in the cloud. Great for use in combination with your choice of GIT.
GIF’s
For GIF’s I like to use either GifCam or ScreenToGif. Both have different pros and cons. ScreentoGif has much better tools to edit the GIF after it’s recorded, but sometimes GifCam records a better quality GIF. Occasionally ScreenToGif will cause weird visual artefacts, depending on what’s being recorded, although I have also discovered that if you play around with the export settings, it can improve things a lot. The below GIF was recorded in ScreenToGif.
Screenshots
Simply using the “PrintScreen” key on the keyboard is usually the go-to for Full Screen shots. Otherwise, for smaller stuff, I like the Snipping Tool built in with Windows.
Video
For Screen Recording, I like to use OBS Studio. It’s powerful, high quality, lots of flexible options with screen recording and audio options, including good mic settings, and it’s free.
For video editing, I tend to use Adobe Premiere, though I am considering learning After Effects for creating trailers with more visual effects. Premiere is good for simple quick editing.
After I have finished creating my video, I now always use Adobe Media Encoder to do the final export / rendering, as it helps keep the quality up but file size down.
Music Software
The soundtrack for Puzzledorf was designed in FL Studio by Stuart Burfield from SPG Games. FL Studio has a reputation for being one of the easier DAW’s (Digital Audio Workstation) to get into. You can create short music patterns, and then combine them together in a drag and drop editor to make full length songs / music tracks.
NEXUS, however, is where many of the actual sounds are derived from. Nexus is a VST (Virtual Studio Technology), which basically means, it’s a plugin full of a wide range of digital instruments, that’s compatible with many different DAW’s. You could use it with FL Studio, but also a lot of other programs.
It comes with a lot of free instruments, but there’s also a huge range of premium expansion packs you can buy with amazing quality instruments and sounds. It’s really helped my music come alive. Below is a preview of one of the expansion packs.
This tutorial below was the one used to learn the basics of FL Studio. It’s a good place to start if you want to learn FL Studio, and he has other tutorials as well. Youtube is also full of them.
Documents
I usually use Microsoft Office for document creation, in particular, Word, Powerpoint and Excel.
If you liked this article, please check out Puzzledorf to show your support. If you enjoy playing, leaving a review helps the games visibility on Steam.
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