Jul 2, 2023

DevBlog #2 - Removing Mac support, can still create executables, some stats

God is a Cube: Programming Robot Cubes - King Kadelfek

I intend to write regularly on my work on God is a Cube. Those will be small news. I think it's better to have too much news than too few.

Here is the TL;DR:

Dropping Mac support (keeing Windows and Linux support)
Can still create working builds (Windows, and Linux I guess)
Money lost on the game
Still counting on wishlists
Next: will correct bugs

The unnecessary files

After thinking about it, I realize that having too much unnecessary files is not a problem. Yes, it's cumbersome to look at some folders, but it's not blocking anything. I should focus on making sure that all necessary files are still there. The best test to be sure everything is in order is to create a new build of the game.

To do:

remove unnecessary files
focus on the build

The build

The whole build process is still working! I can create new executables, and they are running fine.

I just have to change a few lines of configuration and set a few options, and everything is generated automatically. There are 3 platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac) and 3 modes (normal, advanced, demo), which is 9 different executables, with small variations.

Back in the day, it was already impossible to keep all the steps in mind (and the slightest doubt forced me to redo everything), so I'm glad I put so much work into the automatic build process so it can be almost 100% automated.

Dropping Mac support

I know that a lot of things changed on Mac, including the droping of 32-bits executables. I don't think Unity 4 (from 2012) can export something working on nowadays Mac.
So, sadly, I intend to drop Mac support.

I will make a public announcement, remove Mac version from the Steam store, and I will refund anybody who bought a Mac version and willing to get a refund. This will be managed as case-by-case basis.

Linux support will continue, as the process was simple: I export a Linux build and Linux users tell me if it's working. I always had very good feedback from Linux users, and it helped a lot, for the Linux version, as well as the game in general. If, for any reason, the Linux support is not as good as intended (maybe Linux distributions changed a lot and the game is not as compatible as before?), I will precise it in the store description.

To do:

remove Mac support from Steam
make an announcement about dropping support for the Mac version

The wishlists

There are still 6,000 wishlists! The number droped a few hundreds per year, but still. I hope that once the game is finished and released, some of those wishlists will actually buy the game.

The sales

As Steam does not want developers to share sales numbers, I won't give too much details. I will say that in 2021 and 2022, I sold less than 100 units per year, and this year (2023), I sold less than 20 units. This is a very low number of units. But counting all sales from the beginning of the project, on Steam and other platforms, I sold more than 1,700 units.

But even with those sales, I still lost at least $10,000 on the project, and at least $10,000 more on accountant fares (because I created a company, and chose to pay an accountant to fill in my taxes). Loosing money on your indie game is a common topic, still, it hurts. At least, I now have a high paying job (outside the game industry), so I am in a better situation than most of other indie game creators.

Besides, I am not resuming development of God is a Cube for the money, it's more that I want to finish this project and to actually deliver it to people still wanting to play it.

Next actions

I already found a few bugs by testing the game again. I intend to correct them. It should be a good way to start again working on the code.

Jul 2, 2023

Feline objects, secrets, and furry inspiration.

CATASS - antiheroe

I was developing the game when my partner and I decided to adopt a cat. We always wanted a furry family member, and it was the perfect time. That's how, after contacting a shelter in Tarragona, Catalonia, we were told that they had a kitten available for adoption. It was love at first sight. Once she arrived home, we called her Miga because we affectionately called each other "Pan" (bread) among our group friends. That's why Miga was the perfect name. She became an incredible inspiration to continue the game.

This is Miga:

Shortly afterward, we realized we wanted to offer Miga a companion of the same species. She played with us endlessly, but we thought feline interaction would make her happier. Once again, we contacted another shelter, this time in Granada, in southern Spain. They told us that they had rescued a kitten from a dog's mouth and that he was available for adoption. Miga's brother!

This is Mochi:

And here they are together. It was love at first sight:

I couldn't pass up the opportunity to include Mochi and Miga in the game. That's why, if you want, you can unlock Miga's skin in the game and play with her. You must go to the Meow section and type her name in the text field. As simple as that. The challenge was discovering her name through social media, but this is just another one, so congratulations. You have just solved one of the puzzles, if not the easiest.

Mochi is a Japanese dessert, and when you complete one of the game's final challenges, you will unlock an achievement that will give you a frame with his name written in Japanese. Long live mochis!

But this is not the only nod. There is another achievement that unlocks in the final challenges, where you will obtain a toy inspired by Funko-Pop, which is a cat with animations. When I designed this object and painted its skin, I followed the same fur pattern as the first cat I had as a child, named Cris, who was incredible. Here's a photo of him:

As you can see, the game is not only called CATASS for apparent reasons but is also full of authentic inspirations and cat references.

And how about you? Do you have cats? Don't forget to share their photos on the Steam page! Who knows... they might become unlockable skins in CATASS someday! I'll keep you informed about that.

Jul 2, 2023

Face reveal for 5000

Super Fantasy Kingdom - SuperFantasyKingdom

5000 Discord members!

That number is unbelievable on its own. A milestone. To have so many people interested in the game is crazy. But what I'm even more surprised is the general atmosphere. I see so much respect, good discussion and fun. Nobody spoils or trolls, but so many are helpful. It just feels like we all have the common goal to see a good game. That is so very motivating for me. And it already had a big impact on the game in just a few weeks.

So again, thanks!

Join the discord community!

I wanted to just forget about this interview, but well gotta give something back ;)

Changelog

Demo Build #33
- Merchants offer can be rerolled now
- Tavern marker showing who eats goes up and down instead of flickering

- Reworked Crossbowman
- Reduced Satyr and Dinosaur knockback by ~20%
- Reduced Gremlin scaling damage by 30%
- Reduced Lizard cooldown by .25s
- Reduced Jester cooldown by .5s
- Increased Fighter base shield by 1
- Increased Ghost base and scaling damage by 25%
- Increased Whraith cooldown by .25s

- Fixed level up screen stats being wrong
- Fixed directional attacking units not alternating when placed on gate
- Fixed Monk rank 3 description

Demo Build #34
- World events and guest offers are predefined now
- Geologist chance increases when they find a sign, but it resets when they find anything else

- Knight does not follow targets endlessly anymore
- Crossbowman does less damage the more often he hits the same enemy
- Reduced Crossbow scaling damage by 50%
- Reduced Crossbow's bolts movement speed by 15%
- Increased Crossbow's base damage from 2 to 4

- Clear tooltip before going into tavern

Demo Build #35
- Saves have backups now in case of crashes during saving or accidental resets
- Geologist findings are predefined now
- Moving a unit resets its cooldown
- Day does not end while there is no tavern
- Changed thickets flower color so it does not get mistaken as bush
- Linked Wiki in main menu

- Lich is Mage now
- Jester is Ranged now
- Shaman's Doe getting hit does not count as breach anymore
- Shaman's Doe spawns directly in front of the first unlocked unit spot in the column
- Reduced Crossbowman damage scaling by 25%
- Reduced Lightning Elemental damage scaling by 25%
- Increased Sharpshooters cooldown from 0.5s to 0.75s
- Improved Deathpriests hitbox

- Fixed total statistics only counting the last two days
- Fixed Jailer achievement (untested)
- Fixed exit animation when skipping Merchant or Witch
- Fixed an error when Shaman's Doe gets spawned

Demo Build #36
- Tavern summary screen!

- All monsters have a bit less health

- Fixed bug in worker path finding that prevented some routes
- Fixed unit buildings displaying unscaled stats

Demo Build #37
- Improved knockback to feel a bit more natural
- Improved timing on skipping tavern summary
- Added experience amount to tavern summary
- Level always visbile in tavern summary

- Reduced cost of Demolisher from 5 to 2 ingots
- Reduced Ghost passive buff for dark damage from 50%/100% to 20%/40%
- Reduced Treant passive buff to health from 5/10/20/50 to 3/6/12/24
- Reduced Lich's damage scaling by 50%
- Reduced Archlich's range by 40%
- Increased Pixie damage scaling by 15%
- Increased Monk damage scaling by 5%
- Halfling's shot have a little knockback

- Fixed some items only applying their effect after a unit gets moved
- Fixed triggering attacks or passives by moving units
- Fixed a few stats not resetting properly
- Fixed no icon in tavern summary when units get nothing to eat
- Fixed Treant rank descriptions

Demo Build #38
- Reworked animal spawns
- Each morning one new animal spawns, but only when there are less than three animals in total
- Whenever a thicket gets destroyed (by the demolisher) one additional animal spawns

- Units health value gets displayed when hovering over its button
- Improved performance of damage numbers and status effects greatly by reusing them

- Reduced Marksman damage scaling by 30%
- Reduced Marksman health scaling by 50%

- Fixed Armor's upgrades

Demo Build #39
- Damage against shield is always displayed in blue damage numbers
- Added support for crits to blue damage numbers
- Boss chest can be rerolled
- Boss chests use predefined randomness
- Spawned animals use predefined randomness
- Resources in the world use predefined randomness

- Breaches do not affect glory anymore (temporary test)

- Fixed dead units getting experience
- Fixed heal status using burning fx
- Fixed moving a unit after it started an attack could lead to problems
- Fixed Shaman spawning doe at the wrong position
- Fixed the game trying to spawn animals on exit
- Fixed empty line in UI after banning

Demo Build #40
- Added effect dictionary system that displays explanations next to unit sheets and item cards

- Marksman increased range by 20%
- Djinn increased damage scaling by 25%
- Cyclops reduced cooldown from 3.5s to 3.4s
- Skeleton reduced buff for dead units by 50%

- Reduced Jailer achievement requirement to 89

- Fixed Knight's ability Inspire
- Fixed bleeding status having the adverse effect

Demo Build #41
- Separated curse from hero powerups
- Curse levels get unlocked by beating the demo instead
- New selection for curse level once unlocked
- Removed hero powerups revival, curse and magnet

- Doubled price of hero powerup Banish

Jul 2, 2023

BIG UPDATE: New Levels and 3 New Bosses

Ex Natura: Nature Corrupted - gunes

A Message from Blackburne Games;

Hello dear players,

We are working on Ex Natura: Nature Corrupted and adding new levels, features, bosses and bug fixes
to the project. We are working hard to give you the best experience and we are ambitious to finish it soon.
While we are continiung to our development process, we also fixed some bugs and updated the game.

Ex Natura: Nature Corrupted v0.9.3 Changelog:
-Improved localizations
-Fixed options bugs
-Fixed controller bugs
-Fixed crashes
-Added level up available text
-Optimization improvements
-New Bosses: Gûlsema and Gûl
-Fixed options menu bugs
-Added new levels: The Swamp, The Misty Mountains

We will frequently update the game regarding your feedback!

Thanks!

--

What to expect from our community?

* Meeting up with fellow cultists!
* Ex Natura : Nature Corrupted Giveaways
* Sneak Peaks from our newest creations
* News about our upcoming games
* Being a part of a great family 🙂

We wish to see you on our livestream, 👋

You can also follow us from these links

https://linktr.ee/Blackburne