Mar 31, 2023

Halo Infinite - misplacedyank

Forge Features returns with a new batch of community-created content we think are thoroughly worth bookmarking and checking out with your friends!

Let’s take a look at some of the maps added to the 343 Recommends section of the Content Browser this week...

Maps

Obituary

Credits: xDTx Kaos, W0lfR3ign, Nas
Bookmark: Obituary

For those of you who are looking for a little more Halo 2 Containment in your lives, this spiritual remake of the beloved BTB map is sure to scratch that specific itch.

Hemorrhage Evolved

Credits: Scrubulba, Virus11010, D0ctorSmurf, Mr IncrediJON, Tiiiiiiim 7
Bookmark: Hemorrhage Evolved

In the beginning, the multiplayer map Blood Gulch was created. This has made a lot of people very happy and has been widely regarded as a great move.

Athenaeum

Credits: bullet2thehead9
Bookmark: Athenaeum

Ideal for 2-4 players, take to the athenaeum and fight amongst the overgrown ruins of this old library. But do it real quiet-like!

Spicy Sumo Bowl

Credits: JAKEV10
Bookmark: Spicy Sumo Bowl (map) | Spicy Sumo Bowl 1.1 (mode)

You know the rules. Get in a vehicle and stay alive within the bowl as parts of it disappear over time and hazards (like kill balls) come into play. Last one driving wins!

Community Creations

In what is quite possibly the coolest thing you will see this week, UNBROKEN ONYX has released a video of their remake of the epic final Warthog run at the end of Halo 3.

This remake is not only incredibly faithful to the original experience, but also includes the other vehicles you can use in this section of the game – namely, the Mongoose, Ghost, and Chopper.

For your dedication, ONYX, we salute you.

Hit the links here to bookmark the map and its associated game mode. Come on, Spartan—go, go, go!

Oh, and are you looking to add some cool prefabs to your map? UERBlitzkrieg has got you covered with this truly stunning Halo: Reach-inspired weapons crate, which you can bookmark two different versions of.
UNSC Weapons Crate (FULL)
UNSC Weapons Crate (EMPTY)

That wraps us up for this issue of Forge Features. Go forth and create, share, play together, and make some new friends with the Halo Infinite Custom Games Browser.

See you out there!

Mar 31, 2023

Operation Last Laugh

Team Fortress 2 - erics

(Image credit: Gigazelle)

The month of April has come once again, accompanied by the familiar sounds of overused memes, ear-shattering screams, and incomprehensible inside jokes. This can only mean one thing: The “Meme Machines” are back to cause chaos, misfortune, and calamity amongst our various facilities. Their nonsense-spouting algorithms can only be shut down by one thing: violence. Grab your clown costumes, makeup, and guns, and don’t let them get the last laugh!

Operation Last Laugh is an April Fools Mann vs. Machine tour brought to you by Moonlight MvM featuring 7 new missions on 7 maps, each filled with the latest mind-boggling, grin-forcing, Humor Suppression Pump-melting content. Complete 6 missions to receive an in-game medal! Event servers are available worldwide in North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

In addition to laughing your sides away, you can donate to the charity fundraiser for Food For The Hungry, an organization that elevates vulnerable communities from extreme poverty. Up to 4 in-game medals are awarded for donating $5, $15, $25, and $35 USD, respectively. Click here for more information on how to donate.

Interested in creating content for future MvM events? Well, you’re in luck! Moonlight MvM is accepting new map and mission submissions for their next event. Check out the submission rules or join the Moonlight MvM Discord for more information. All contributors will receive a special in-game content creator medal!

Have fun, but don’t dawdle, or else the meme machines will conquer the universe by April 17th!

Important Links:

Mar 31, 2023

Characters, Animals, and Utility Systems

Starfall Protocol - info

Hey, Galaxy Explorers!🚀🌌

We trust this message finds you in high cosmic spirits. In the past month, we've been diligently working on crafting various characters and animals to enrich your gameplay experience. Let's delve into the diverse universe awaiting you and your crew!

CHARACTERS👩‍🦰

Our goal was to develop a minimalist yet expressive art style, enabling a vast range of customization options to strengthen the bond between you and your crew members. Our extensive character customization system offers endless possibilities for personalizing your crew, including head and ear shapes, eyes and eyebrows, facial and hairstyles, scars, tattoos, and biomodifications! We're also adding variety in terms of height, eye and ear placement, and head size for that extra touch of individuality. We've strived to create an art style that is unique, simple, visually pleasing, and modder-friendly. We plan to release art/modding tutorials later, making it a breeze to create your own character mods in Nebula! This initial art pass features only a few assets, but it already showcases the potential for crafting diverse and expressive characters, both in terms of their visual characteristics and in-game traits and personalities.

As crew members face challenges and sustain injuries, their appearances will evolve to reflect their experiences, adding depth and realism to your adventures. Take Jammer, for example: After engaging in a fierce battle, he suffers significant wounds, losing an eye and an ear while accumulating numerous scars on his body and face. As time passes, Jammer heals, and with the aid of advanced biomodifications, he receives "prosthetic" replacements to compensate for his impaired hearing and vision, showcasing his resilience and adaptability in the face of adversity (at least his hair stayed intact).

As for body design and clothing, you can expect a range of stylish outfits for your colonists to wear, providing an excellent opportunity to show off your style during intergalactic voyages and diplomatic meetings! Additionally, we've recognized the value of adding hands to your pawns for a more immersive experience. With the addition of hands, we can display a broader spectrum of expressive behaviors. Whether your pawns are sweeping floors, carrying resources, or engaging in furious fistfights, their hands will enhance these character actions in a lively and dynamic way. Body designs and hands are still being heavily worked on, so we'll keep you informed on our progress in the coming updates. In the meantime, take a look at some of our first art pass on clothing designs!

ANIMALS🐮

Interstellar animals in Nebula have adapted to thrive in various environments, exhibiting intricate behaviors and relationships within their ecosystems and with your colonists. Some animals serve as valuable food sources, while others provide resources or can be tamed as pet companions. However, be cautious of species that may threaten your colony with direct aggression, venomous attacks, or by spreading disease, as well as those that may damage your infrastructure or consume valuable resources.

For example, the Solaris Tortoise is native to arid deserts. Their durable, heat-resistant shells are invaluable for crafting heat shields and protective gear for colonists. Also, their eggs and meat provide great trading opportunities or a nutritious meal for times of hunger!

UTILITY SYSTEMS🔧

In Nebula, managing your colony's utility systems is crucial for success. As you traverse the galaxy, you'll need to maintain a keen focus on various aspects, such as power generation, plumbing, oxygen supplies, and heating. Ensuring that your crew has access to clean water, breathable air, and stable living conditions without freezing to death in space is essential to keeping them healthy, efficient, and motivated. Carefully planning and upgrading your utility systems will help you adapt to new challenges and make the most of the opportunities you encounter in the vastness of space! You will be responsible for constructing and managing your pipe and wire networks, making sure each part of your Starship has access to the required utilities!

Stay tuned for upcoming updates with more in-depth information on utility systems. We're excited to share how these aspects will impact your gameplay and decisions as you explore and conquer the galaxy!

As always, we appreciate your support and enthusiasm, and we can't wait to hear your thoughts on the characters, animals, and utility systems we're developing! Your feedback is invaluable in helping us create an immersive, dynamic, and captivating experience for all of you!

If you're interested in becoming a backer, we invite you to visit our BackerKit Store:
{LINK REMOVED}

If you further support our efforts, consider joining our Patreon community at: https://www.patreon.com/nebulagame

Don't forget to connect with us on Discord for all the latest updates and discussions: https://discord.gg/nebula-934034696239738891

All the best,
The Nebula Team

Mar 31, 2023

March News Update

Verdant Village - exodussoftware3

As usual time for an update on what’s been going on with Verdant Village. The answer to that question is a bit complicated. Sort of something between a lot and not a lot depending on what you interpret as progress.

Personally, I’m very happy with everything. I’m not much for extensive planning, but I’m forcing the matter in this case as I should have done from the start. Real quickly though, for those out of the loop, it should be said that per the last update the game is going on a sort of hiatus while I remake it in a new engine. As mentioned before, if you already own the game you can play it for now and eventually you’ll get the new version for free. There’s a variety of reasons for remaking it but if you want the details you can check the previous post linked below.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1236900/view/3647390066644268292

So, this month has been a planning extravaganza. While the game isn’t changing in massive ways I basically had nothing that really resembled a design doc for Verdant Village. At the beginning I had a word doc that was several pages that basically said (very useful) things like “Alchemy will be a system that exists”, with little to no details describing the system. This left me to work out the details when I made the system which resulted in many an issue.

I now have not one, but several documents for the game. The main design doc is currently 46 pages long and I think its done, bar any minor changes to finalize things. Aside from this I have several other documents that are still works in progress detailing items, zones, secrets, rewards, quests, holidays, lore, events, etc.

The design document is the most important one however. It basically lays out every system in the game as well as more generalized notes to adhere to during design. There’s lots of little things like focusing on a more consistent UI, adding flare to various elements of the game to make it generally feel better, and various modifications to systems that will hopefully relieve pain points as there are several things that I think are rough for new players and even experienced ones.

Aside from that, like I said, every system is laid out in detail. Most things are remaining the same, however there are some changes that I’m considering. As this is all still in the design phase its subject to change, but I’d like to have it locked in by the time I begin coding in earnest. While I don’t want to spoil everything, I am curious for external opinions. I think I’m prone to complicating things in a game in the name of player progress, but I don’t want to go overboard. Below are a few things I wanted to mention and see if anyone had an opinion on. These aren’t all the changes but they are a few of the larger ones.

Decoration Buff (for lack of a better term): If anyone has played My Time In Portia I believe they have something similar. The idea being that by decorating your house and farm you get a buff. I haven’t determined what, but was considering something along the lines of additional stamina. Unlike Portia where certain objects give certain buffs this would be more of a score you get by adding objects in general so you can place what you want and still get the benefit.

Automation: While I won’t be specific on this, it’s a system I’ve had on my mind for a long time. In terms of theming this would keep to the games current theme, so you won’t be making industrial machinery. It would instead be something probably more based in magic. The idea would be to automate some, but not all, tasks. Things like auto gathering plants, automatically being given certain basic resources each day like stone, clay, or wood, and other such things. All of this would run on a power source that you would still have to supply so it isn’t completely free.

Hybrid Seeds: This is something fairly simple that I was considering. Looking at farming it sort of dead ends before it begins. There isn’t really anything different about it at the end from when you start. Generally, you just have more crops and they are probably watered automatically for you. This idea is meant to change that a bit. Basically, the general store will sell a smaller variety of seeds. The player can then build a small structure on their farm that allows you to cross breed seeds to get new crops. These cross breeds are remembered and there would be ways to obtain seeds you’ve made after you have made them once so you don’t need to cross breed them every time. In addition to this I wanted to add a few end game crops so you have something to strive for.

Grand Market: This one is sort of big. As the name implies, it’s a big market. The general idea being that this something of a task generator, a system for making money, and one of the end game challenges if you want it. The general premise would be that you would gain access to this market at some point in the game. Every couple of days or so the market generates requests. These requests can be for any item in the game and are randomized. As well as it being any item the requests are timed. So basically you can take on jobs to create specific items and you get more money for doing this task than you would be just selling the item at a store. Also requests would be themed so some might be all about alchemy objects while others are all livestock products. As far as end game goes I would like make a set of very difficult perhaps even a year long requests for players to complete.

That’s some of the new stuff that I wouldn’t mind getting an opinion on. There are a few other things as well, along with tons of changes as mentioned but I don’t think its stuff that needs to be brought up here.

Another thing to mention is characters. I don’t know that this really matters because I don’t think there was a ton to go off of in the current game, but still I thought I should mention it. I’m currently creating a database on characters. No characters are being dropped but some are changing a bit. Appearances may be altered and backstories might change for them. Like I said I don’t think it really matters but I wanted to mention it as its currently what I’m working on. There wasn’t a ton to go on with the current iterations but I can say that the updated versions have many more details to work with which should result in more fleshed out personalities and stories.

This sort of thing ties into writing. While the current version of the game has a setting that is sometimes eluded to it is pretty scattered and not terribly well made. I went back and drew up a legit lore document for the game world that solidifies what was already there. It also has plenty of extraneous details. I somehow doubt this world’s creation myth is really going to come up much in a farming game, but it exists now and will probably be hidden away somewhere in the game.
All this is generally being done to hopefully enhance the world. The way I see it these are the types of games that players can spend tens if not hundreds of hours in. The world should be a character like anything else that brings you into the world. So while not all of it will be super relevant to your quaint little farming life it will hopefully serve to flesh out the world a bit.

Alright, I think that’s it. I apologize for the long post. It’s a lot easier to write a lot when you are just talking about stuff you are going to do and not what code you actually wrote in a month. As much as I’d like to have an ETA on the new version of the game I don’t have one. The only thing I can say is that Steam allows for beta branches. What I will probably do at some point is have an opt in beta so if you want to play the new version you can while retaining access to the old version.

Anyway, I’m off to write more characters. Thanks for your patience and support. With any luck actual coding will begin in April and I’ll have something of substance to report next month.