Devil Hunter Contract Tier Guide: Top Contracts to Unlock

Break out your finest middle-parted hairdo, as Leon Kennedy’s in Resident Evil Requiem. The Resi 2 and Resi 4 protagonist’s presence has been leaked by the evil resident that is cover art being pushed out too early on the PlayStation Store, which is like Steam, but a bit more blue.

Read more

Game characters have made significant progress in recent years, but Genies — renowned for its highly stylized digital avatars — is accelerating that transformation. Following a partnership announcement with Unity this summer, the company has started to introduce its initial set of tools for developers: the Genies Avatar SDK, which is now available on the Unity Asset Store.

The process is remarkably straightforward: Simply integrate this package into your project, and just like that, your game can accommodate high-fidelity, completely customizable player avatars that remain consistent across any game developed with the Unity engine and connects to the same system. The avatars then become accessible across Unity-based games. The Genies Avatar SDK provides players with something that games have attempted (and frequently struggled) to achieve for years — a digital identity that is uniquely their own, rather than a generic character creator sourced from a dropdown menu.

### Change On the Fly
The Genies editor enables players to adjust body attributes, facial features, clothing, hairstyles, and accessories with a surprising level of detail. There’s an integrated “Closet” stocked with starter outfits, and new apparel will be introduced regularly, with developers also having the option to incorporate their own designs. Thanks to the company’s auto-rigging pipeline, custom wearables attach seamlessly to any avatar without disrupting animations, clipping through bodies, or compromising visual quality.

Developers receive a versatile avatar framework incorporated directly into the SDK. It includes a ready-to-use character controller and can integrate with existing animation systems if one is already in place. NPCs can also be generated through the same editor — implying every character in a world, not just players, can exhibit the same expressive style. Most importantly, everything is persistent. If a player unlocks or acquires a wearable in one experience, it remains in their inventory wherever the Genies system is implemented.

### Bringing It All Together
The Genies SDK further features a simplified login process. Instead of requiring players to manage passwords or account portals, Genies employs a one-time email code system that transfers a user’s avatar and items from one game to another. For any developer creating a social environment, UGC world, or multiplayer hub, this is the ultimate goal.

However, Genies is already hinting at what’s next — and this is where things become truly exciting. The company is working on an AIGC SDK that can produce game-ready 3D assets in minutes, a Smart Avatar SDK that transforms NPCs into AI-driven characters capable of learning and adapting to players, and a Genies Party SDK that combines all of this into a platform for IP-driven experiences. Their stated aim is to transform some of the most cumbersome aspects of development — asset creation, rigging, optimization — into rapid, automated processes.

Whether this will trigger the next major shift in game development or simply serve as an advanced avatar creator remains to be seen. However, if you’re interested, the Avatar SDK is already operational on the Unity Asset Store — and Genies claims it is merely the first step in a much cooler, more ambitious initiative.

It’s funny to think that RuneScape: Dragonwilds, one of those cosy-ish, survival crafty type of games doesn’t have farming just yet, but I suppose that’s understandable given it is an early access game. Doesn’t matter much either, as farming will be coming to the game next week as part of its Fellhollow update, which just got another look-in through a new gameplay trailer that also shows off all sorts of undead bashing you’ll be doing.

Read more