Birnchen & Friends: Minor Confrontations - Birnchen Studios
We were there at this year's Gamescom from August 23-27 to present the first adventure of our Birnchen & Friends series, "Birnchen & Friends: Minor Confrontations", to a great community.
In their first real-time strategy game, Birnchen and Mr. Blue compete against each other in a colorful children's room to fight each other with lots of imagination and fun to get the victory for a bowl of candy. The game is suitable for children aged six and up, but of course it's fun for the grown-ups too! That's why we were even happier to have met lots of new faces at Gamescom, playing and reviewing our game for the first time. Thanks to all of you for being there and helping us improve "Birnchen & Friends: Minor Confrontations" with your feedback. We take all comments to heart and try to implement them as best we can.
At gamescom, however, it wasn't just virtually that some fruit was shipped. We distributed a total of 70 melons to the eager first-time visitors of our community. All fans who tested our RTS also received a keychain, so we were able to give away a total of 500 tags to you. Thanks to your active support, we also found five new bugs that caused various display errors. These and other bugs will be fixed by us in five phases starting from September 18.
Roadmap
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 5
Fixing the current bugs
Fixing the bugs in the tank animation
Improvement of the UI
Rework of the ingame UI
Implementation of the still missing buildings of Birnchen
Performance improvement in AI calculation
New route calculation of the tanks for a better driving experience
Implementation of the missing game modes
Implementation of Mr. Blue
Implementation of the still missing Achievements
Improvement of the network structure for a smoother gameplay
Implementation of two new buildings for limiting units
Final implementation of the ranking system
Implementation of the match making system
Finalization of the lobby system and the match-making system
It seems the months are flying by--I feel like I just posted the July devlog, but it's already time for the August one (and I'm behind again!) Speaking of which, I absolutely used the wrong date in the thumbnail for last month's devlog. Whoops!
August was a good month, as we finally wrapped up the placeholder pass. Fang continued creating awesome assets, while I added tones, fogs, and color to the game in order to set the mood and tone throughout the game.
While this looks to be a short devlog, there's a lot of stuff that was done behind the scenes.
Also, excuse the glaringly ugly watermarks on screenshots from now on. As the game gets closer to completion, I'd like to have these in-development screenshots marked appropriately so they're not mixed up with the real deal when Chapter 1 releases.
Finished Battlebacks
This month Fang finished creating all of the battlebacks. Each major area in the game now has a matching battle background:
(No, the desert won't actually contain more mushrooms!)
We tried a 3D background with the overworld tileset in order to link the two styles together, and I think Fang really nailed it.
Finished "Atmosphere" Placeholder Pass
This month we finally finished adding all of the placeholders for the game's "atmosphere". Every map from start to finish has an appopriate color tone, as well as any placeholders for fogs and special effects.
The game can be played in this state, making it already feel kind of complete. The game's music, colors and tones already set a distinct mood for different parts of the game, and that's without having added any fancy tileset graphics yet!
With this, the entire placeholder pass is done, and we're ready to move on to the next big chunk of the game's development.
Other Progress
While this devlog may seem a bit light, it's easy to underestimate just how much we accomplished by finishing the placeholder pass.
There were also quite a few "under the hood" fixes and adjustments with the game's code that don't really deserve their own section. As we get into the asset and content development stage, more tangible updates should be available in future develogs.
Thank you for your continued patience and support.
With the upcoming release of Forza Motorsport on October 10, the Horizon Festival will celebrate by rewarding anyone who plays Forza Motorsport with the fastest Corvette ever created: the 2024 Chevrolet Corvette E-Ray.
The E-Ray is a true freak of speed, its petrol-powered engine in combination with its electric drive unit, gives it a rampaging total 655 horsepower. Its potency matches any test you put it through, it can reach 100 km/h in just 2.5 seconds and it's capable of completing a quarter mile in a measly 10.5 seconds.
The E-Ray will be available to every Forza Horizon 5 player who downloads and plays Forza Motorsport. Those with Early Access to Forza Motorsport, included with the Premium Edition and Premium Add-Ons Bundle, will be able to redeem this reward starting from October 5. All Forza Motorsport players can drive it in Forza Horizon 5 starting October 10.
Preorder Forza Motorsport on Steam
Pre-order the Forza Motorsport Premium Edition so you can start your engines up to 5 days early beginning October 5.
Guns are no longer part of the regular perk pool. A supply drone will appear at regular intervals and deliver you a gun pickup, allowing you to choose a new gun to add to your arsenal.
All guns have either been reworked considerably or (temporarily) removed.
Some perks are now 'stackable.' Stackable perks can be purchased repeatedly but become more expensive each time they're purchased.
Most perks have been reworked.
Over 60 weapon-specific perks added.
New Weapons: Fractal Gun, Attack Drones
New perks: High Caliber, Spreadshot, Rubber Bullets, Splitter, Horder, Bullet Heaven, Bigger is Better, Meditation
New enemy type.
Goal raised from $150k to $300k.
Exp orbs disappear faster and flash before disappearing.
The Metal Man has more health, and a healthbar.
Stunning an enemy now prevents them for moving for a few seconds (instead of just slowing them) and has a visual effect.
Adjusted speed and health of some enemy types.
Adjusted explosions to make them slightly less disruptive.
Adjusted the speed penalty while moving and shooting.
Adjusted enemy spawning rate.
Adjusted leveling curve.
Some perks have been removed (some of the removed perks may return after being reworked).
Fixed the Metal Man's hitbox.
The 'Default Settings' button no longer changes blood or explosion quality.
Fixed a bug where you could die and level up at the same time.
Thanks to all of you and after only one week, we successfuly reached our first objective of 2500€.
We are thrilled about it because, it will secure the completion of the project by helping us fund its development. We still have a lot of work to do, and with more funding, we could go even further.
That's why we added some stretch goals with two huge milestones we would love to reach:
Add building features : The game is cleary about base defense, and what's best than building towers, traps and walls to better defend it?
Nintendo Switch version : We just received confirmation from Nintendo that we can port the game for Switch. This could be amazing as I may be capable of handling crossplatform multiplayer. But porting on Switch isn't cheap and we will need you help again for that.
Thank you again for trusting us and giving us the necessary help to achieve our dreams. This project could not be done without the generosity of our magnificent community <3
We have some amazing news for you: Bang-on Balls Chronicles will be leaving Early Access on October 5! We have been working tirelessly to make this game as fun and polished as possible, and we appreciate your support and feedback during our Early Access period. We hope you will love the release version of the game as much as we do!
To mark this occasion we have made a new trailer, available to watch right now... right here!
Keep an eye on our updates and follow us on social media for more news and surprises. Thank you for being part of this adventure with us!
We have news for those who can't get enough of the immersive atmosphere in Gladiators: Survival in Rome. A huge part of that experience is the incredible music that plays as you conquer your enemies and strategize your way to glory! 🎵
We're thrilled to announce that the game's ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK is now available! You can support the talented musicians who've made your battles sound so legendary by purchasing tracks on Bandcamp or grabbing the complete OST.
Matt here with some not-so-good news for you I’m afraid. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to delay Update 1.5.2, aka The Community Update, for TerraTech. The reason is a bit long and tedious but the TL;DR is that due to a major bug creeping its way into the last TT_Unstable version we’re going to bundle the content that was going into 1.5.2 into what would have been Update 1.5.3. This effectively means that rather than having two awesome updates there will be one super awesome update, just a bit later than you may have been expecting. We’ll have more info on when the update will be released in the near future but in the meantime, if you’d like to play around with the content that would have gone into this release you can have a look at the latest TT_Unstable Version. Details on how you can access the TT_Unstable version can be found here:
NOTE: The bug occurs if the host of a Co-op Campaign game saves and restarts a server. When loading that save there will be lost Blocks and Techs. So if you do want to play around with the new content maybe stay away from the Co-op Campaign for now, otherwise, you may lose Blocks and/or Techs. You can always revert back to the latest Stable Release, Update 1.5.1, to continue your Co-op Campaign.
So just to recap, here is the list of content that is now going into Update 1.5.2 (just a bit later than we planned):
Force Gizmos
Command Inputs
Player Death Marker
Tech will now load if there are blocks missing from the Snapshot
Improved C&S Block placements/rotation
Removed Attach Points behind the camera
Ban players in Co-op Modes
Skip Powerup & Player Indestructible options available in R&D
Undo Send to SCU when Techs are far away
Performance optimisation to C&S internals
Updated Co-op chatbox
Improved photo mode
In Co-op, a player’s tech is unloaded from the world when they disconnect. Rejoining the server will restore their Tech
Co-op Missions including:
Crafty Mike Missions
Big Yellow Mining Missions
C&S Missions 1&2
(Items in Bold are what was meant to go in Update 1.5.3)
