May 19, 2023

Spryward - daydreamergamesofficial

Prior to the apocalypse Marnie Maryweather was one of the survivors from the 2 Lakefield slashings. One of the only survivors still alive today in Spryward. You can see her sporting cosplay of her original character, Xizzi. The Lakefield slashings take place in a short horror game I've been working on. In Spryward Marnie has forsaken the city life in Credell for a more grass roots way to give back to her community. With growing fear of the outreach, oversight, and malicous practices of the neo government she can pursue her textile dreams in peace outside city limits. Not all is sunshine and roses outside city limits. With no revival efforts or innoculation stations, civilians outside city limits fend for themselves. It's the heart of ravager territory. Marnie has been gathering ally's to help her efforts to provide warm clothing to survivors. She doesn't choose who to help she just helps them all. In the next cutscene Spryward visits Marnie after 2 years to get a new suit. He's got a lot of explaining to do! Like what happened to colors on the original suit and where did he get the Anger suit he's currently wearing. Why did it take Spryward 2 years to reach out. Find out next week on Spryward! For more progress on my game that covers the Lakefield slashings, check out my twitter. Have a good weekend everyone!

May 19, 2023

Community Newsletter: May 19, 2023

Kindred Fates - FlyPurpleSky

Single Player

We’ve adjusted the foot IK to allow the human character to look more realistic and dynamic while walking and standing on slopes. When the feet collide with a surface, they'll know to stop and the connected joints will act accordingly. Here’s a before and after comparison:

The line art and color are finished for North_Star, so now it’s time for personality concepts. Briar_Runner has finished concept art and is ready for modeling. Sunken_Sail and Violet_Fang are rigged, and we’re currently working on standard animations for Briar_Heart and combat animations for Little_Wing. Tide_Walker has been implemented as a playable character. (Pretty soon we’ll have all of the new Kinfolk that we need for our current internal milestone, so there will likely be fewer updates on Kinfolk art in future newsletters.)
On the human character side, Mr. Green_Collar has a final 2D portrait. Our character modelers are working on multiple clothing sets for human townsfolk NPCs, and many other clothing sets and hairstyles are currently in the rigging process. We’re also creating unique animations and hairstyles for elderly human NPCs. Without this, we felt like most of them just looked like silver-haired teens from a distance!
The player character has a newly polished crouching animation. This allows for a much smoother sneaking mechanic than we had with the old placeholder animations.
We’re continuing to make progress on house models for the town, with two new exteriors nearly complete now. We’re also in the process of making adjustments to the model for the boss room.
Another big focus this sprint was cooking animations and logic. When the player cooks food at the camp, the pot over the fire will play a short animation. Cooked foods now calculate their flavor based on the ingredients used.
- Cooked foods have their own primary effects, but now also take on the effects of any secondary ingredients used. The cooked food also systematically generates minimalist descriptions of all these effects combined together. This allows cooking recipes to be extremely flexible with secondary ingredients, so that food items can be cooked for different desired flavors or effects. Want some soup that heals more? Cook it with potatoes or tonics. Want a baked potato that heals and also cures the burn status, but your Kinfolk only likes sweet foods? Cook it with Aloe and a sweet ingredient.
- We’ve added Status Immunity to work as an inventory item effect. You’re welcome!
After finishing concept art for the biome we mentioned last time, we’ve started on concept art for a cinematic in the beginning of the game. Earlier this week, we also began the process of creating new animations and VFX specifically for other cinematic scenes toward the beginning of the game.
We’ve created VFX for multiple new abilities, and we’re working on special SFX for both retrieving and losing soul flames.
On the development side, we’ve largely focused on fixing bugs and adding polish instead of adding new features. The details are pretty minor (and often tedious), so it makes for a shorter newsletter but a much better game! We’re getting close to the end of a long backlog of bugs from our regression testing, and we’ve been making quick progress.
We’ve added a few more new abilities (we only have 8 abilities left to code for this milestone!), and we’re working on melee attack tests.
We refactored our Items system to greatly reduce code duplication and ease the process of creating new items for gatherables and cooking.

Community

We’re coming to the end of the submission period for our Kickstarter Tailor Tier reward- 10 more days! Andrew will be reaching out to Tailor backers we haven’t heard from to make sure your clothing items are submitted.

Thanks for stopping by! Our next newsletter will be out on June 2.

May 19, 2023

Community Newsletter: May 19, 2023

Kindred Fates: Combat Arena - FlyPurpleSky

Single Player

We’ve adjusted the foot IK to allow the human character to look more realistic and dynamic while walking and standing on slopes. When the feet collide with a surface, they'll know to stop and the connected joints will act accordingly. Here’s a before and after comparison:

The line art and color are finished for North_Star, so now it’s time for personality concepts. Briar_Runner has finished concept art and is ready for modeling. Sunken_Sail and Violet_Fang are rigged, and we’re currently working on standard animations for Briar_Heart and combat animations for Little_Wing. Tide_Walker has been implemented as a playable character. (Pretty soon we’ll have all of the new Kinfolk that we need for our current internal milestone, so there will likely be fewer updates on Kinfolk art in future newsletters.)
On the human character side, Mr. Green_Collar has a final 2D portrait. Our character modelers are working on multiple clothing sets for human townsfolk NPCs, and many other clothing sets and hairstyles are currently in the rigging process. We’re also creating unique animations and hairstyles for elderly human NPCs. Without this, we felt like most of them just looked like silver-haired teens from a distance!
The player character has a newly polished crouching animation. This allows for a much smoother sneaking mechanic than we had with the old placeholder animations.
We’re continuing to make progress on house models for the town, with two new exteriors nearly complete now. We’re also in the process of making adjustments to the model for the boss room.
Another big focus this sprint was cooking animations and logic. When the player cooks food at the camp, the pot over the fire will play a short animation. Cooked foods now calculate their flavor based on the ingredients used.
- Cooked foods have their own primary effects, but now also take on the effects of any secondary ingredients used. The cooked food also systematically generates minimalist descriptions of all these effects combined together. This allows cooking recipes to be extremely flexible with secondary ingredients, so that food items can be cooked for different desired flavors or effects. Want some soup that heals more? Cook it with potatoes or tonics. Want a baked potato that heals and also cures the burn status, but your Kinfolk only likes sweet foods? Cook it with Aloe and a sweet ingredient.
- We’ve added Status Immunity to work as an inventory item effect. You’re welcome!
After finishing concept art for the biome we mentioned last time, we’ve started on concept art for a cinematic in the beginning of the game. Earlier this week, we also began the process of creating new animations and VFX specifically for other cinematic scenes toward the beginning of the game.
We’ve created VFX for multiple new abilities, and we’re working on special SFX for both retrieving and losing soul flames.
On the development side, we’ve largely focused on fixing bugs and adding polish instead of adding new features. The details are pretty minor (and often tedious), so it makes for a shorter newsletter but a much better game! We’re getting close to the end of a long backlog of bugs from our regression testing, and we’ve been making quick progress.
We’ve added a few more new abilities (we only have 8 abilities left to code for this milestone!), and we’re working on melee attack tests.
We refactored our Items system to greatly reduce code duplication and ease the process of creating new items for gatherables and cooking.

Community

We’re coming to the end of the submission period for our Kickstarter Tailor Tier reward- 10 more days! Andrew will be reaching out to Tailor backers we haven’t heard from to make sure your clothing items are submitted.

Thanks for stopping by! Our next newsletter will be out on June 2.

May 19, 2023

HIGH NOON TO YUMA - UPDATE 0.92

Maximum Action - Balloon Moose Games LLC

Howdy Maximum Action Fans!

Maximum Action version 0.92 has just been released! This action-packed update features a new western-level "town" packed with new props and destructibles
as well as numerous updates to the work-in-progress replay system!
More patches coming soon!

HIGH NOON TO YUMA

Both of the scenes "Saloon" and "Town" are now featured on the new tape "High Noon To Yuma"

TOWN

"Town" is an all-new level built from the ground up by Andy (aka OptionalSpace) and I to be a rootin tootin and hollerin good time!
Destructible fences, boxes, windows, bottles, pillars, tombstones, water towers, and balconies all added as new props! Soon to be added to the editor.
We wanted to include all of our favorite western shootouts in this level, from an old Mexico-style courtyard to a cemetery full of tombstones. As well as a full-fledged town complete with a two-story hotel and gun store!

You'll find a new weapon added to this level as well,

The Schofield

As well as an alternate version of the Single Action, a

Single Action Revolver with Ivory Grips

New Music

On top of all this, a brand-new track by Daniel J. Stimac "Wild Wild Western" featuring professional whistling for a truly authentic soundtrack for this western showdown!

you'll also find other fun details added to both western levels, such as first aid kits being replaced with old timey medicine bottles! Glug glug glug!

UPDATES TO THE REPLAY SYSTEM

THE REPLAY SYSTEM IS STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS!!

There are still many bugs to be ironed out with this system, you have been warned!

The Maximum Action Replay System is still a major work-in-progress, but you'll find lots of changes made in this update to improve the experience.

AI DIRECTOR

A new AI director system has been implemented that recuts your gameplay into a cinematic experience! From close-ups to long shots, the system is completely dynamic and has lots of versatility

PHOTO MODE

If you don't like the AI director's choice of angles, you now have the option to change to a free camera photo mode to capture your own view of your kick-ass gameplay! Choose between different filters, image effects, and camera settings to capture the perfect shot of your action hero!

UPDATED PLAYER ANIMATIONS

The player animations for the replay have been massively updated to be more detailed, grounded, and cinematic. Watch your hero do a slow-motion dive onto his back and he mows down all the baddies in the room! Experience a true action movie recut of your gameplay!

SHARE YOUR SCREENSHOTS!

Please share any screenshots you take with the photo mode in the Maximum Action Discord or on Twitter! Tag me in them! @BalloonMoose
Andy and I would love to see all the creative ways you capture your bad-assery!

Thank you all so much for your continued support, and I really hope you enjoy this new update!
-George Mandell

May 19, 2023

Community Crunch 362: ARK 2 Wooden Structure Tier, EVO Event, and More!

ARK: Survival Evolved - ARK: Survival Evolved

Showcase your architectural prowess in a whole new light! This preview of the wooden tier set offers a glimpse into a collection of actual player builds, showcasing just a few of the myriad ways you can put your creativity to the test in ARK 2's new building system.

Survivors on all platforms will be receiving an EVO Event! It will be active until Monday, May 22nd.
All Official Servers across each platform will be undergoing this evolutionary change which includes:

*Note that these bonuses are multiplicative of the game's standard 1x rates.

Official Servers: 2x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Small Tribe Servers: 4.5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
ARKPocalypse: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon
Conquest: 5x XP, Harvesting, Taming and Breeding (imprint, maturation, hatch/gestation), 0.5x Mating Interval, 2x hexagon

ARKpocalypse servers have been wiped today!

What are ARKpocalypse and Beginner Servers?

ARKpocalypse are monthly-wipe servers with higher than usual rates.
Beginner servers are wiped periodically to help provide a fresh beginner experience for new players.

Next wipe:

ARKpocalypse: June 16th 2023
Beginner: June 16th 2023

You can join them by searching in the server browser! Happy Surviving!

Fan Art Gallery | Screenshot Gallery | Artist Feedback Form

We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Holger "Hulk" Geissler, a remarkable modder whose creations under the HG Mods banner left an indelible mark on the community. Hulk's mods reached far and wide, touching the hearts of players and transforming their gameplay experiences.
We would like to extend our most sincere condolences to his loved ones.

As we bid farewell, we celebrate his ascension as a true survivor, forever inspiring us to reach new heights.