Hello Readers! And say hello to the new publisher of this column, Spevacus! He’s going to be continuing to cover the newest and greatest developments around BYOND, coupled with his own brand of wit. He’s been around BYOND for a long time now, and I wish him luck in this new capacity! Now let’s see what developers have to share with us!
BYOND
Recovering from weather whip-lash, BYOND Developer Lummox JR has posted some gains on render performance while setting sights on a public beta of BYOND 514 after turning the calendar. To help address the rendering slow-downs experienced by some games, he began exploring texture atlases, and his test results showed promising results, although he expressed some doubts about if the intended target would see meaningful gains. He also dug into an issue with null-conditional operators and lamented the short-comings of Object-Oriented Programming.
BYOND Games
Yutput has released Vegabond Legend to little fanfare this week! Vegabond Legend is the completed evolution of Epic: Legends, only without the technical issues and limitations. The game tosses the player into cursed and plagued lands, and offers a massive, free-ranging, and interactive world to explore, quests to complete, ingredients to collect, and a decision to be made as to whether the order prevails, or if chaos overtakes. Curious as to how many dozens of hours of gameplay are in this completed game? Only one way to find out - download the game over on itch.io!
Poplava continues on his quest for fun in Loot Grinder! Complex systems have been culled, actions have been simplified, and mockups have been made. Another redesign is underway, and game design theory revisited. The latest report details good progress, and the reintroduction of a key inventory feature without the complex interactions.
Sigrogana Legend 2 is filling out their recipe books, as Devourer Of Souls explains in his latest dev-log. New clothing, armor, weapons, and foods can be crafted, and many previously available items can now be crafted as well. Additionally, taxes have been levied, crops have been modified, and OCC has been sent to the corner.
Chance has shared another roadmap for Eternia: Chronicles of Esshar! On the docket this time is quality of life improvements, fishing and mining skills, help tickets, and indoor plants. Player Injuries and holdings can now be examined, auto ready options have been added, pings are made when important messages are received, and many spells have seen modifications or fixes.
Dawn of Piracy is looking to have their first public server live in the nearby future after a release earlier this week was delayed by a family emergency. The roleplaying game sets players into a pirate’s life, setting sail to explore new lands, loot villages, and find buried treasures! Kaliba reports that a successful closed beta turned out new skills and features to bring depth to the roleplaying stories.
TWTD Games has shared an overview of the minigames available in Eonology! Lowballer challenges participants to end up with a low score, teams attempt to capture the flag in Den Defenders, and adventurers get lost in search of hidden locations, while dodging elemental sprites. Additionally, map-making and quest taking are going well, and a log has been created to keep track of all the adventures!
To all others, I hope you'll be patient as I fall into the role. I'll do my best to cover all of your awesome projects! If you want to have a chat, shoot me a page or find me on Discord!