Philippe Rivaillon

In game development, creativity thrives when our teams do too. Prioritizing mental health isn’t just good culture — it’s how we build better worlds, on-screen and off.

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Small Script toolbox A small collection of useful scripts to speed up the pipeline and streamline some tasks. A spine auto rigger, with fk, and reverse fk, 3 options of ik set ups, ribbon, spline, hybrid, all of the with modular scaling. Jaw Scripts, creates some guides to create a set up of controls to rig the mouth, with adjustable influence and lip seal. A finger rigger, it works with any selection(in order), IK/FK and scalable. Pose reader, to get cleaner rotations avoiding gimball lock, this one i use as a set up for auto clavicles. And finally control modifier that allow the change of controls in shape, rotations, scale and color

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Steam in 2025: 10,000 games already released — who added to the game graveyard? 🎲 🔹 Over the past six months, more than 10,000 new games have been released on the platform. That's an average of 60 releases per day. What’s especially important — most of these projects fall into the "limited" category. This means the game didn’t even earn $10,000 and lacks basic features: cards, marketplace access, and so on. Essentially, it didn’t find an audience and went straight to the “Steam graveyard” ⚰️ The ratio between successful and limited games remains almost unchanged. There are more games overall, but the number of those making any money — grows insignificantly 📉 Moreover, by the end of 2024, the share of successful releases even dropped slightly — by 1%. Conclusion? Competition is rising. But most games don’t reach charts, organic traffic, or media coverage. The reason is simple — no marketing or weak marketing 🎯 📌 If you want your project not just to launch, but to land on the part of the graph with revenue and attention — don’t leave marketing for the last minute. Have a great week! And yes — check if you have a pre-launch marketing plan. If not — start with that. We’ve even shared a whole marketing bible in the past 📚😉

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Looking forward to taking part in the Games Growth Summit on 4th June. I’ll be joining a discussion on the practical systems growing studios need as they scale — things like identity security, protecting source code, managing hybrid teams, and preparing for publisher security questionnaires. A lot of studios reach a point where the development pipeline is strong but the underlying IT and operational foundations have grown organically. That’s usually when small gaps start creating risk or slowing teams down. I’m looking forward to sharing some practical lessons from working with studios on building stable, scalable foundations without introducing heavy corporate process. Thanks to Vanessa Joyce, Alex Boucher MBE and the team for the invitation. If you’re attending the summit, feel free to say hello. #GameDev #GameStudios #GameDevelopment #IndieDev #StudioLeadership #GameIndustry Code Wizards Group

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You would be leading the team that created Ubisoft’s generative AI platform, Ubisoft’s flagship models for image generation, published breakthrough research on PBR material estimation such as Chord, and contributed to Ghostwriter, one of the first AI tools to assist writers, prior the ChatGPT era. There aren’t so many roles like these in the game industry… Shanghai is also a fantastic city and at the heart of the Chinese AI ecosystem. I can only recommend the job! #Ubisoft #LaForge #GenerativeAI

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As a game writer, I think a lot about the relationship between player and storyteller — and what happens when it breaks down. I think of stories like a shared dream. When it's working, you don't even think about it. You're just along for the ride. But when a character makes a decision you don't buy, or a story takes a leap you weren't ready for, the logical part of your brain turns on. You start interrogating everything. You've woken the dreamers. I wrote a new piece exploring three types of player-character fantasies in games — using Jedi: Survivor, Baldur's Gate 3, and Metroid Prime 4 as case studies. Including a candid look at a decision our own team made on Survivor that worked against our core fantasy. https://lnkd.in/gy-bPNVd

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The Amir Awards Are Coming Back - With a Focus on What Matters Most I know we haven’t had the Amir Awards in video form for the past two years. Part of that was simple. I’ve been very busy. But if I’m being honest, part of it was something deeper. An identity question. I kept asking myself if I was creating something that truly felt like us. Something differentiated. Something that genuinely reflected what this community stands for. Because today, there are many shows and awards that celebrate games. And that’s great. It should exist. But I realized something important. There are very few places in our industry that truly celebrate the people who make it better. The ones who show kindness. The ones who help others quietly. The ones who give their time, their energy, their care, often without recognition. That’s the show I’ve always wanted to create. So I want you to know: The Amir Awards will be back this year, likely in December or January. But with one major change. The heart of the show will now be recognizing individuals who have done good for the games industry. Not as a side award or single award.. Not as a single moment. But as the main focus. We don't have something like this right now. Because right now, in most places, this kind of contribution is either overlooked or given a single category at best. I believe there should be one show entirely dedicated to it. I will also include a small number of traditional recognitions like Game of the Year or other special achievements. But the center of gravity will be different. It will be about people. It will be about impact. It will be about what it means to show up for others in this industry. I’ll be building this with the community, and later this year I’ll open up nominations so you can help spotlight the people and organizations who truly made a difference. This is what an ASGC Awards show should be. This is my dream show.

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The longer I work in indie development, the more I realise it’s not about scale — it’s about responsibility. There’s no external structure absorbing risk. No large departments distributing decisions. Every creative choice, every delay, every release decision sits directly with you. Working on projects like the Re:Turn franchise and now YAMIGATARI: FOR3ST has reinforced something for me: Independence demands clarity. You can’t rely on volume of features or marketing budgets. What you build has to stand on its own identity. That pressure can be uncomfortable — but it’s also what shapes a studio’s voice over time. Indie development is slower. More exposed. Often uncertain. But it’s deeply personal. #IndieStudio #Entrepreneurship #CreativeLeadership #GameDevelopment

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Vulkan vs. OpenGL — Why the Magic Had to Die For years, OpenGL made real-time graphics accessible. It was a truly high-level ... a decent Driver-managed. in short Easy to get started. Then came the era of explicit APIs: Enter Vulkan. It arrived aaaand removed the magic. What Makes Vulkan Different? Vulkan is low-level, explicit, and built for modern multi-core CPUs. Unlike OpenGL, it doesn’t hide work in the driver. You are now responsible for: Memory Allocation Command Buffers & Queue Submissions Synchronization & Resource Lifetimes That means: Less hidden overhead. More control. More responsibility. ⚙️ Why That Matters in Production In massive open worlds or complex DCC tools, driver overhead is the enemy. Vulkan enables: ✔ Better Frame-time Stability: Fewer "stutters" from hidden driver tasks. ✔ Massive Draw Call Scaling: Perfect for dense, high-poly environments. ✔ Predictable Memory: No more "mystery" spikes from the API. AS a Comparison OpenGL: “Tell the driver what you want; let it figure out how.” Vulkan: “Tell the GPU exactly how to execute every byte.” 🎮 Why Tech Artists Should Care Even if you aren’t writing shaders or C++, understanding the API changes how you optimize. It makes GPU profiling clearer and helps you understand why modern engines (like Unreal 5 or Unity) have specific "rules" for draw calls and memory. Vulkan isn't about being difficult; it's about being explicit. Modern pipelines from USD to real-time rendering are moving in the same direction: Less magic. More clarity. Infinite scalability. Have you noticed performance differences or "stability wins" after switching to Vulkan in your projects? #Vulkan #OpenGL #Rendering #GameDev #TechnicalArtist #Realtime #GPU #EngineDev #GraphicsAPI #Optimization #OpenToWork

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Friendslop Genre Breakdown In collaboration with AppMagic, we analyzed the HOTTEST indie game genre on Steam, and what makes it so fun: 𝟭. Unique co-op journey 🚗 • Less about complex systems • More about "we went through this together" • A road trip, a climb, or escaping a haunted place • The core fantasy is a shared adventure 𝟮. Chaos and physics 💥 • Janky but satisfying physics make you experiment • Things explode and ragdolls spin across the map • Failure is not punishment • It is pure comedy 𝟯. Immersive little details 🍌 • Many interactions exist just to be fun • Banana peels to slip on or props to mess with • They rarely serve a strict purpose • They simply give the squad more toys 𝟰. Goofy tone 🤪 • Friendslop never takes itself too seriously • Goofy characters and exaggerated animations • Cartoon violence shows that laughter matters more • Realism takes a back seat 𝟱. "It's not a bug, it's a feature" 👾 • Rough edges become part of the charm • Awkward physics and weird NPC behavior • Small bugs turn into stories you laugh about later 𝟲. Sociality above all 🎙️ • The game exists for conversation • Reactions, screams, and in-jokes are the real content • Proximity chat makes panic and laughter stronger 𝟳. Low entry barrier 🎮 • Simple controls and no heavy meta • Let anyone join and feel useful in minutes • No one falls behind on builds or grind 𝟴. Loved by streamers 📹 • High emotion and constant surprises • Endless "clip this" moments • Perfect for streams and viral content 𝟵. Goal: Hit the quota 💰 • Each run you earn X value by looting • Break things or film spooky content • Reach the quota to advance • Fail and the run wipes 𝟭𝟬. Goal: Reach point B 🗺️ • Get from A to B by any means • Terrain, enemies, and unreliable physics block you • The journey is the real challenge --- Get more market insights at AppMagic

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🎧 What does a Technical Sound Designer do? In my case, it’s not just about designing sound, it’s about building tools that make implementation faster, clearer, and more flexible. The goal behind these tools is simple: To free up mental space and technical effort, so we can make better artistic decisions and develop a stronger creative vision — without getting stuck in the implementation. I created AKLD_EventMultiBox to manage multiple audio zones from a single GameObject in Unity + Wwise. It allows you to: ✅ Trigger different events on entry and exit ✅ Stop sounds automatically ✅ Visualize all zones with custom colors ✅ Edit everything directly from the Inspector 🎬 This short video shows the tool in action. ▶️ Want to see how it works step by step? Watch the full video on YouTube: https://lnkd.in/dxkwBBMm 📦 Get the script for free here: https://lnkd.in/dfgCZvAb Thanks for watching , and feel free to reach out if you’re working on something similar or want to exchange ideas! #TechnicalSoundDesign #Unity #Wwise #GameAudio #AudioTools #SoundDesign #OpenSource #NeedForSolution #CreativeWorkflow #ImplementationTools

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Augmental Puzzles is here! 🚀 So bloody happy to share that my new studio’s first title, Augmental Puzzles, has officially launched in Early Access on the Meta Store, with our Steam release arriving this Friday! Building a studio from scratch is no small feat. In fact most of the work has been on getting the company to shipping state, not the executable. It has been a journey of hard work, late nights, and recruiting incredible people I genuinely enjoy working with. Seeing our first game go live is a huge milestone that has had me smiling all week. We wanted to create a dedicated space for logic puzzles in VR—starting with a robust, polished Sudoku experience that feels right at home in a headset. Whether you want to relax in passthrough or focus in an immersive environment, we’ve built this for VR lovers. This is just the START of the road for us, but for now, we are celebrating the launch! Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/emu3ZBe9 #VR #IndieDev #GameDev #Startup #AugmentalPuzzles #Sudoku

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This week we updated the context sidebar in our translation management system. Now every string automatically has context. ✨ It's like magic! (But it's just plain logic) And for those wondering: no, we do not use AI. We also played around with Figma and built a sync between Grimoire and Figma. We wanted to know if we could get context from UI design there. Because that's what you need with UI text, right? Who is making their game UI in Figma? I'm curious about your workflow. As a UX designer, how do you communicate your design rules to the dev team?

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During this External Development Summit (XDS) Guillaume Carmona and I had the opportunity to animate a round Table around :Going Hollywood “How the Marvel Studios creative universe and The Walt Disney Company #StarWars universe can inform how we build the next generation of #codev partners “ We found out that: In games, just as in film, the most successful universes come from centralized IP stewardship. Without a clear vision holder, franchises fracture — one sequel emphasizes mechanics, another shifts tone, and external spin-offs feel disconnected. A strong IP management function sets the creative north star: defining lore boundaries, aesthetic rules, and gameplay DNA, while still leaving space for innovation. This is what allows a universe like Halo or The Witcher to feel consistent across mainline titles, mobile experiments, and even TV adaptations. Scaling this vision requires external help, because no studio can master everything internally. Co-dev partners, art vendors, and narrative collaborators can multiply production capacity — but only if integrated within a framework that preserves IP standards. For example, cinematic partners need detailed style bibles, art vendors need access to consistent pipelines, and co-dev studios should be empowered to propose solutions rather than just execute tasks. The best partnerships go beyond “outsourcing” — they become extensions of the core creative team, contributing ideas, tools, and technical know-how that strengthen the whole franchise. Finally, universe-building in games is a long-term journey with inevitable ups and downs. Not every installment will land perfectly; some mechanics will fail, some monetization experiments will backfire, some spin-offs won’t resonate. But consistency of vision and the ability to course-correct is what builds resilience. The lesson from Marvel applies directly to us: centralize the IP vision, scale through trusted creative partnerships, and long term perspective. This is how we, as an industry, can create game worlds that don’t just ship once, but live, evolve, and matter for decades. We at Room 8 Group have been engaged for the last 3 years in a transformative journey to prepare for these creative opportunities and enabling our partners to increase the yield of their IPs on multiple delivery form while maintaining a flexible footprint. Drop me a line if you are interested and I will detail how we modified our corporate vision to match these ambitions. #codev #computergames #disney #marvel Thank you to all who attended: PlaySide Studios Riot Games Sony Electronics Virtuos Microsoft Ubisoft External Development Summit (XDS)

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Very proud of our teams at Ubisoft who worked with passion on this 🎮 Ubisoft released Teammates, their first playable generative AI research project featuring voice-controlled NPCs that respond dynamically to player commands. The implementation: 🔹 AI assistant Jaspar and NPCs Sofia and Pablo take natural voice commands in real-time 🔹 Already tested with hundreds of players in closed playtest gathering feedback 🔹 Built as FPS where players lead resistance team through enemy base 🔹 NPCs improvise responses while staying within narrative boundaries The creative approach: 🔹 Narrative Director initially feared AI would replace writers 🔹 Discovered writers create "fences" for AI improvisation within story boundaries 🔹 Team writes character personalities and lore, AI improvises dialogue within those constraints 🔹 Philosophy: human creativity sets rules, AI enhances rather than replaces "I still write the story and character personalities, but instead of fixed lines, we create these kinds of fences that let NPCs improvise within the world but stay within the boundaries of the lore and motivations we have given them." The "narrative fences" concept addresses the replacement concern with a practical model: writers set boundaries, AI improvises within them. Also notable: Ubisoft playtested with hundreds of players before announcing, showing working implementation rather than concept videos. #AIForGaming #GameIndustry #Ubisoft #GameDevelopment #AI Links in first comment 👇

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Sounds like an interesting panel for Brand/IP management at External Development Summit (XDS), love those takeaways and wholeheartedly agree with them... "In games, just as in film, the most successful universes come from centralized IP stewardship. Without a clear vision holder, franchises fracture — one sequel emphasizes mechanics, another shifts tone, and external spin-offs feel disconnected. " "Stewarding IP" is an exciting ride but as it's not a purely fact based/data-based endeavor, it's also about dealing constantly with emotions and opinions... not for the faint of heart and definitely leave the ego at the door (paging Vicky Malineau 😆)

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QOOBIT VRoid Control Rig is now live on FAB at: https://lnkd.in/g7m8A29X It includes an easy to use, one click Control Rig Maker widget that lets you build out a Control Rig for your VRoid with FK/IK controls and simulated local chain dynamics for all auxiliary bones. See it in action here with our tutorial on how to import your own VRoids from VRoid Studio and start animating with them now in UE: https://lnkd.in/grHX-DaY

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The response to my UE5 Deprecation Manager tool has honestly been insane So I spent the last 2 days improving it with your suggestions before release, New updates include: - Improved deprecated warning icons/badges - Better tooltip visibility - Bulk deprecate / bulk clear workflows - Replacement asset hints - Quarantine system for old assets - PIE Guard for detecting runtime deprecated references And one of my favorite additions: - Icons when searching directly inside Unreal Engine context menus The whole goal of this tool is simple: Stop old assets from silently sneaking back into production months later. Because every large Unreal project eventually becomes old Blueprints, replaced meshes, outdated materials, forgotten textures legacy content nobody should still be using 😂 And somehow… they always come back. Deprecation Manager gives teams a real “do not use this anymore” workflow directly inside Unreal Engine. Launching tomorrow night at 21:00 CET on FAB. #unrealengine #ue5 #gamedev #technicalart #gameart #vfx #indiedev #fab

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