ALTERATIONS + POLISH

• Circuit Text is more clear explaining that Grace Completion is optional

• Air Slashing Red Crystal Walls creates unique SFX that indicates you are not Slash Combo-ing

• Extended floor near Bombabite Laser puzzle to ensure laser is less likely to hit player

• Pulses that cause Guard Break create unique SFX

• Polished environment Tiles

• Added Second moving Lantern after Temple Power returns

• Added additional environmental shards to help lead players

• Added Running Koda NPC to 1st Temple Circuit - Gives tip about mobility options

• If player completes Circuit in time, the final Door emits confetti particles to indicate success

• Shield Cinders shields can now be destroyed by environmental explosions

• Lowered audio level of Circuit Music track

BUGS

• Geyser camera error

• Fixed missing Door Pad point of interest particles

• Vipers Boss fight Health Bar was misrepresenting proper remaining health

• Adjusted certain particles to be on proper layers

• Fix animation errors

• Fixed bug that would allow purchasing Skills without proper/enough materials

• Adjusted Door logic to fix rare bug that would immediately return player to previous room

• Fixed particle error when getting Bracer from Syd, talking to her on the Right side

• Fixed bug where Dpad icon above Oenn would not disappear

• Music now returns after dying in a Circuit and then continuing from Circuit entrance

• Mushspring would not always burn away on bounce

• Fixed rare softlock when speaking to Scribe and mashing "A"

• Can no longer leave certain arena fights before doors close

• Fixed bug that allowed player to Pause when leaving room

Coming off the Entropy Update, MoteMancer's next big target is in December with two main focuses: Finishing out the Research Tree and improving all things Art, from presentation to performance. Today I want to share some of the art process in general, but also what was specifically done for the recent Entropic Structures.

Every Element in MoteMancer has some core identity to the Footprints of each Structure - Life has leafy branches; Shadow has tendrily arms. Entropy felt like it needed to be chaotic in some way, but still represent the combination of whether the Player is choosing to impose order or give into disorder.


image reference credits: Bighorn Sheep Skull - Google Arts & Culture / Oslo Museum of Cultural History

Each of the footprints keeps a bit of unpredictability in their shape, always feeling a little off-kilter. I especially love the one in the middle (which became Transmutation Engine) because at first glance it looks like a clean triangle, but then when you notice the shearing, it adds a level of flavor to the otherwise regular shape.

Spindle on one side is the most orderly of the bunch, befitting it's gameplay, where Scythe and Entropic Alembic on the other side lean heavily into awkward shapes. Very often I will just play around with multiple footprints first to get a feel for a holistic kit/direction, and then decide which pairs best with what structure afterwards. One of the nice benefits of maintaining some self consistent rules, is the shapes tend to naturally play interestingly with each other, but I do make sure of the finer details, like Entropic Alembic playing nicely with the Shade Veil ritual that compliments it.

There's always a satisfaction of interlocking shapes with each other, but that becomes amplified by having borders that are easily identifiable and thematic with their kit. So the next task is to make their borders. The previous image includes some reference for color kits that ultimately guided the look, but we'll get into that in a moment.

Piggybacking off of the most recent Working with Bestagons, this is a great example of how that template manifests in the guide that creates the base of each Structure. I have a custom tool that will bake out a footprint into the correct size so that each Structure has a consistent texel density, and will also automatically spit out each relevant rotation so that the rest of the art has a guide to work with.



Coming up with a unique identity for Entropy in terms of Structures was challenging, in large part because it was not part of the original plan for MoteMancer. The elements were always very primal and raw, and had enough to draw from that they never needed to invoke creatures or anything of the sort (though it was discussed). Entropy though felt like there was a very natural throughline from occult rituals with skulls, bones from decay a la elephant graveyards, and a classical alchemical animal - the snake.

The colors themselves are a challenge too because the elements cover each base pretty well, but Bone as a base allowed a darker accent in cobalts and magentas to shine through where other elements tend to be brighter.



It's really hard to peg down a sequence for this coming together because honestly it all sort of happens at once. You can design for form or function but in reality doing all of it at the same time and making it rhyme tends to lead to the best results. The kit is cohesive from every angle and then it's all down to execution. One of my secret weapons for MoteMancer is my wife, who is also a CG generalist. She is especially good at finaling a piece of art for contrast and cohesion, so whenever I feel like I've taken something as far as I can, she'll carve out some time to bring the art home.

A big focus on this December push is going to be reorganizing the Art structure itself for layering and performance. There's a lot to talk about here, so I'll probably show it off in a future devlog when it's all coming together. On a high level, many things are naively sorting using their pivot with the player character, but that whole system is too simple to achieve the level of sorting MoteMancer truly needs. Pieces need to be broken up and individually drawn, Materials need to be condensed into batchable sets, and many many textures need to be atlassed in smart packages to make sure the game is as performant as possible. Plus there's a whole slew of FX that need to be added after that. So much to do!

Anyway the Entropy Update seems to have been a big success so far, and I've already got a few improvements in the pipe thanks to early feedback that will be landing shortly. After that, it's time to lock in for the December trajectory. I'll still likely push a handful of updates that make sense along the way, but there will be enough upheaval in the plumbing that weekly updates don't make as much sense as they did for these last few months. Musings will continue so you can keep up with where my head is at, and patches will likely come every 2-3 weeks.

Thanks to everyone who dove in to play with all the new Entropic toys and gave feedback!
Back to the lab 🌿
~CyanAvatar

Parachutes are added! Craft them at a crafting bench and press space when falling to deploy it. Can be deployed/undeployed several times in a fall so be careful!

Jumping in water is now solved, you can officially jump out of the water to help get onto those pesky rocks!

Other odds and ends were touched up, more to come!

Here's something iv been working on. I'd love some feedback.

Don't worry though, Nonogram Nonsense is still being worked on, and is a priority

Starfighter Aegis is a retro-inspired bullet-hell survivor-like game. Pilot the Aegis, Earth’s last experimental interceptor, through endless waves of Marauders and escalating boss fights.

This demo contains 10 waves and a boss. 

Its still under active development but i hope there's enough here to whet your appetite and give you some fun. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

As it is still a work in progress I'm sure there are bugs.

https://waylanderpk.itch.io/starfighter-aegis

• "Craft" tutorials can be completed with Structures as well as hand crafting
  
• Lava barrier now interacts correctly with blueprint mode.
  
• Ctrl V should no longer add a new blueprint tile if the blueprint window is closed
  
• Player no longer blocks blueprint structure preview placements.
  
• Blueprints should now obey Mote Field requirements when placing.
  
• Blueprint window tiles should now sort the most important Structures to the top of the icon order.
  
• Slabs now play nicely with placed blueprint logic.
  
• Fixed undergrounds replacing themselves when snapping to the end point of a blueprint structure.
  
• You should no longer see +Item grants when loading a game.
  
• Fix for Incineration Spire's name not always showing properly in its window.
  
• Fixed a broken string reference on action bar hover
  
• Fix for Volcanic Chain not always updating existing Lava Generators properly
  
• Fixed bug making smart placement less smooth than it could be.

Thank you for all the reports and suggestions!

Welcome back Star Knights!

This beta branch update adds controller support and steam deck support to the beta branch. Since this is a beta, there are likely plenty of bugs to be fixed and improvements to be made.

If you are interested in testing the new update, but don't know how to access the beta branch, check out this link here:

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2462090/view/7374170303759278373


This update currently supports Xbox 1, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Switch Pro controllers. Support for PlayStation controllers is currently in work.


For Steam Deck, the default template layout should be Gamepad With Joystick Trackpad. This is the template that is intended to be used. If you have played Star Knight with a Steam Deck before, the layout might be different and should be changed to Gamepad with Joystick Trackpad.

Better controller compatibility

Halloween items are now in store for a limited time, grab them before the end october.

• Fixed Redblack the Vanguard enrage not adding stat buffs, and untouchable lasting forever.

• Fixed issue where Bloodcore Mecha's cost reductions were permanent and it performed cost reductions just by being deployed.

• Fixed issue where Hellmouth could trigger from any zone, instead of only when in-play.

• Fixed issue where Alearem, The Prognosicator failed to draw ability cards.

• Fixed issue where Varyus, Master of Choice's deck limit included commanders.

• Fixed issue where Illegal Magitech could draw cards even if they weren't abilities or artifacts.

• Updated Resolve of the Dragon wording.

• Fixed issue where Marina, the Selfless's effect would ignore death prevention effects.

• Added VFX to Grotesque Brute, Aleta Cured Immortal, Martyr Golem, Heaven's Bell and Defiant Footman.

• Fixed issues with AI & Tutorial games being soft-locked.

• Fixed alignment of leaderboard in social page.

• Fixed issue causing automated account transfers to fail.

• Fixed unity security exploit.

• Fixed AI targeting opponents cards with positive effects.

• Fixed AI not playing 0 cost units.

• Fixed AI not using 0 cost activated abilities.

• Fixed AI not having access to full hand on turn 1.

• Fixed unique check.

• Improved battlefield layout handling, now defends more effectively.

• Improved aggressiveness calculations.

• Improved various specific cards.

Hello Crickets!

This is to inform you that we will not be having maintenance this week due to a holiday in Korea.

Enjoy an extra play session!

以下の機能追加を行いました。

• 麻雀時に選手のスタミナ状況を表示。

以下の機能変更を行いました。

• キャプテン選択パネルで顔をクリックすると詳細が見れるように変更。
  
• 予定進行カードが全て同じカテゴリの時、予定変更カードを引きやすいように調整。