Greetings, readers. The sun shines yet the sting of winter still lingers where I'm from, but I hope to see the temperature rise and the flowers bloom soon. No matter the weather (or the mess that is daylight savings time,) you game developers still manage to keep me on my toes as I seek to cover all of your awesome projects! Speaking of, that's enough idle chatter... What have you all been up to this month? Let's find out!
BYOND
Lummox JR hasn't been slacking on development lately, focusing on particle optimization and Steam integration, the former of which Lummox went into a deep, explanatory dive on over on BYOND's Patreon, and the latter of those got some of the spotlight in "Callback heaven (or hell)" (for you Steam API techies out there.) A bit of a side project was released; a dark mode for the online reference, which you can try out yourself by clicking the light bulb near the search bar here! While the transition could use some improvements, the look of it is definitely easy on the eyes. Though some optimizations to the renderer were made, further enhancements are slated for developmental focus in the not too distant future. A minor issue presented itself in the form of color matrix hashing, which has proven to be potentially counterproductive to Goon's use-case. I've also seen preliminary discussions about native shadowcasting in Discord, so I think it's safe to say that development's going along smoothly!
BYOND Games
F0lak's been extremely busy with Hazordhu! The most impressive feature recently introduced is very easily particle-based lighting, as showcased on your left. Cozy! Perhaps rivalling in awesomeness is foliage that bends as you walk across it, garnished with similarly reacting shadows! F0lak's further escapades with particles, and other interesting in-game additions, are now regularly being covered by Karoth over on Haz's hub! Weighted equipment now affects movement speed, new materials are available to craft your shelters' roofs from, and if Haz's Twitter is to be trusted, March 26th is Haz's official early access release date! Go and support our friend F0lak as he takes his project live!
Magicbeast20 has done us all a service and set up a dedicated server for CryptHead, and has brought with it a massive list of changes! New animations, beartraps, and a new monster (with its own glorious kill animations) make their debut, as well as some various UI improvements and fixes. A new escape route via a boat has been added, which players will need to find fuel for, and the game now has its own website! Massive moves coming out of Magicbeast, I hope to see more soon! Grab a couple friends and take part in the hunt-your-friends theme CryptHead has to offer!
It seems that Space Station 13's Goonstation doesn't just feature an impressive lighting system, it also has a... Well... Let's say dedicated player- and developer-base. While talking about taser SMGs, chicken genetics charts, and an incredibly eye-catching (and still in secret-development) new area called Terra 8 would be all well and good I'd rather mention Goonstation's notoriously... Interesting April Fools events. If you happen to find yourself wandering into a Goonstation server on April 1st, I pray you keep hold of your sanity, because boy oh boy do things get weird! A 25 hour long round spawned this piece of art, so the sky really is the limit for April 1st. Uh... I think this is the part where I say "honk!"... Am I doing it right?
Soma Ryudo has been busy developing for Astral Sigma! While still early in development, Astral Sigma is looking great as a turn-based story-driven game. In the most recent updates Soma Ryudo iterated on featured a modular battlefield framework that should support a bunch of battle types, as well as a large amount of work on the UI. PCs and AI party members will shout out their intended actions before performing them, giving you a heads-up as to what you might want to do next! As a Final Fantasy-styled turn-based game with modern twists, this game is looking quite promising! Astral Sigma will be playable either solo or with your friends, so stay up to date with Soma Ryudo's latest updates, as their creation looks quite promising!
