Feb 20, 2023

The Planet Crafter - Brice MijuGames

Hello terraformers!

The new "Fish & Drones" update is almost ready and will be available next week!

Here's a video teaser :

What will be in the update?

The ability to incubate & discover more than 10 species of fish
A brand new drone system, allowing you to easily move objects between inventories & machines from all accross your planet
New objects : aquariums, rockets, water life collector, fish farm, drone stations, mutagen t3, deconstruction chip t2, circuit boards, ...
New secrets and other things you'll have to discover!

With the introduction of drones, the ore extractors t3 will lose their ability to mine every ores everywhere. It will become dependent on the positionning, same as t1 & t2. But drones will provide an easy way to carry the ores from extractors back to your base!

We can't wait to share this next update with you!

Stay in the loop

As always, don't miss any informations about Planet Crafter and Miju Games :

See you soon, and good terraforming!

Amélie for Miju Games

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1284190/The_Planet_Crafter/

Feb 20, 2023

Update #39 The Release

9 Years of Shadows - Purrgil 1

Hello everyone! We hope you’ve had a great week filled with excitement. Everyone on Halberd Studios certainly has, as today we have released some long-awaited news.

If you have kept up with our latest updates, you know we were just featured on IGN’s Fan Fest 2023, where we launched our newest trailer. If you missed it, go ahead and check it out on IGN’s Youtube channel:

Therefore, we have never been more excited to announce that we have an official new launch date! Everyone can expect to play 9 Years of Shadows on Steam on March 27th! We appreciate the never-ending patience our community has had with our development process, and the moment has come to share this world that is so dear to us with you all.

We cannot wait until the launch date to see years of fruition end, and we are sincerely grateful to have such a wonderful community be part of our first game. Remember to keep up with our socials – especially our TikTok if you want to see the team in action– and stay tuned for more!

We hope to see you all soon!

The Halberd Team

Feb 20, 2023

RailLog #5 - New UI

Rail Route - Angel

Hello Dispatchers,

Welcome to another developer blog series, RailLog! Hopefully, you've enjoyed our small Valentines Update and we are back focusing on the bigger tasks in front of us in our path to 1.0.

This time, I will be focusing on the upcoming changes to the game's user interface. As many of you know, the user interface is a crucial aspect of any game, and we have received a lot of feedback from our players on how we can improve it. Our team has taken this feedback into consideration and has been working on implementing changes that we believe will make the game more intuitive, user-friendly, and aesthetically pleasing.

I'd also gather more feedback, so please, put your comment under the post if you have any concerns or ideas! Better now than later.

UI panels composition

Let's have a look at the current state. There are two big "bottom" panels. While the left one shows either list of trains (overview panel) or the train detail, the right one is either the station timeline or the node detail (for example, the sensor configuration). What's wrong? Both are doing a different kind of business while taking so much space but also providing little space. It feels like an oxymoron, but let me explain that. Let's have a look at our mockup of a new interface first.

The most significant notable change (next to the different color pallette) is getting rid of these bottom panels. We've realized we can't share a space for the station timelines with node details (bottom right panel). When you need a node (signal, sensor, etc.) detail, you want to configure it - for example, the sensor configuration. But you don't need that panel to be visible while you are actually "playing" the game. On the other hand, the station timeline is something crucial to be visible all the time. And not just once, right? Clearly, it's the most wanted feature as of now.

Info Panels

That's why we want to introduce Info Panels in our upcoming UI. These panels are stacked at the edges of your UI. You can move or order them at your wish, but they show you crucial information about your gameplay.

Do you want to see a timeline for multiple stations? Not a problem at all; add the corresponding station timeline panel. Visible all the time at your disposal. Left or right edge of the screen.

This is also where the updated overview panel (more of a train list panel) will go. We could redo it a bit to be like an alert list window, but we are not yet done with its design. And we are kind of unsure, what functionality you would like to see in it. The current overview panel is too big with too much of a text (so small on Steam Deck for example) so it requires some updates. Share with me how you using it and what information is crucial for you, please.

The other important feature of these info panels is that you can also put them on the board, as you can see in this example. Important info belongs where needed, so we'll allow you to "glue" the panels directly to your Dispatcher Board. The good thing is that the map author can do that and save that configuration of these glued panels with the map.

We maybe introduce more of these panels after 1.0, but for now, we plan just the station timeline and the train list to replace the current UI functionality.

Detail Panels

As mentioned, the bottom right panel must be bigger for our big game. We'll introduce the Detail Panel, taking 1/3 of the screen. The purpose of this panel is to do business there and then be closed — no need to have it open during your usual gameplay. Provided with this vast space, we will have more freedom to design these details panels or others in that spot (map configuration in the editor and others). We are also considering using this panel for any schedule modification, including per station or train. Hopefully, I'll have more designs to share soon because it seems that's also very important aspect of the game where the UX needs to be improved.

At this point, we still need to come up with a reasonable composition for our most advanced configuration of routing sensors. That's the most complex detail panel so far, and we also want to introduce even more functionality (for example, one station to multiple connections routing); it's getting even more complicated.

Maybe a different approach to that bloody complex sensor needs to be done. One way would be to decompose it into multiple buildable, interconnected elements but that seems like a lot of work we probably can't manage to do in a reasonable time frame, but who knows? Let me know if you have any great ideas :).

Other than that, see you next week.
Happy Dispatching!
-Angel

Follow us:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1124180/Rail_Route
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1896900/Rail_Route_The_Story_of_Jozic/

Feb 20, 2023

Celebrate Black History Month with Artist Anthony Azekwoh

Rocket League® - sofia.lillo

Rocket League’s celebration of Black History Month continues! Earlier this month, we released two FREE Item bundles featuring the work of accomplished Black artists—the Sunniya by Geneva Bowers Bundle and the Parallel by Taj Francis Bundle. Now, we introduce our final featured artist of the month Anthony Azekwoh! Anthony is a multidisciplinary Nigerian artist whose work is featured on the samurai-inspired Yasuke Decal, Avatar Border, and Player Banner.

Missed the first two drops? Not to worry. All three Bundles will be available in the Item Shop via the in-game Black History Month Tab until February 28.

Yasuke by Anthony Azekwoh Bundle (Free)

Yasuke Decal
Yasuke Avatar Border
Yasuke Player Banner

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Meet the Artist

Anthony Azekwoh is an artist whose work cannot be restrained by genre. As a growing fixture in Nigeria’s art world, he explores facets of digital painting, 3D sculpture, poetry, and short stories. Throughout it all is Anthony’s approach toward human narrative, giving each work an abstract yet profound sense of emotion. Many of his works appear to break the fourth wall with their stare, accepting and acknowledging their viewer’s presence. During our collaboration, we got together and asked Anthony a few questions about his artwork, video games, and the experiences that fuel him.

Q. In a couple of sentences, could you walk us through your journey and how you grew a career in the art industry?
A. Sure, I started painting digitally seven years ago here in Lagos, Nigeria. At the time, all I had was a mouse and a beaten-up laptop, but I was really passionate about it, and I made it work. Painting after painting, year after year, I got better at my work and people started to pay attention.

Q. Who has served as an inspiration in your life? And how did they inspire you?
A. Artists like Duro Arts, Sam Spratt, and Duks Arts are some of the artists I've loved and admired. They inspired me by their work in the digital world, creating whole worlds for people to participate in.

Q. Is there anything you wish that more people knew about your art?
A. Right now, I wish more people saw the process and how much work and love I put in, so I'm trying to be more open with my process.

The Blue Boy, The Tomorrow Woman, and The Traveller by Anthony Azekwoh

Q. Your Rocket League Decal features Yasuke, a historical black samurai from the Sengoku Period in Japan. Could you tell us more about why his story connects with you?
A. Yasuke was a very interesting one. It was at a point where I was reading and learning and trying to discover more about Africans and where we came from, and so Yasuke was an incredible find! Here he was, an African samurai, the first in recorded history. It was amazing to see and also paint in my whole visual language.

Q. You’ve recently been working much more in digital sculpture. Do you feel that you’re able to express yourself differently in different mediums?
A. Yes, of course. I try to use the medium to describe things that are great for that particular story. So, some things work better in different mediums and I try to respect that.

Q. Throughout the years, you’ve worked in many different directions. What are you currently exploring with your art?
A. Right now, I'm exploring sculptures and storytelling, trying to really pull at the threads of my own interest.

Artist Anthony Azekwoh

Q. Different people gravitate towards different types of games. Is there a genre of game that you find really speaks to you?
A. Oh, I love open world games, they've always had my heart.

Q. What do you think about video games as an interactive art form?
A. I think they're a great way of interacting. I've recently gotten into Apex Legends, and it's brought me a bit closer to my friends and being part of a community.

Q. What impact do you want your art to have on the world?
A. I want people to have a deeper understanding of people who live and breathe outside their sphere of contact. My work is deeply African, pulling from being born and raised here. I want people to feel that culture, that power, that love. And be awed.

We hope you enjoy Anthony’s artwork in Rocket League. Make sure to check out his Instagram and Shop, as well as his in-game Bundle!