Hello, Readers! My name is Spevacus, and I've taken over for publishing Within BYOND. Higoten has contributed to this column for over 4 years, so please, do give him some love in the replies! I am honored that I get to stand upon his shoulders and continue his legacy, covering all of your awesome projects!
Winter has arrived in full force where I live, and we're falling deep into holiday season. It's cold, and those strange white flakes are falling from the sky again... Which is perfect weather for making games! Let's see what you all have been up to!
BYOND
After being subjected to a rather intense medical test, BYOND Developer Lummox JR spent some (more) time playing with the renderer. Some performance enhancements seemed promising, but as he went into detail over on Patreon, it unfortunately didn't pan out. Not discouraged, Lummox JR went on to finish work on icon particles and iterated on improvements to garbage collector performance, which we can hope to see soon. Further, Lummox considered how associative lists are fragmented in memory, and has potential performance enhancements in mind, which affect both creation AND destruction! These changes look like big performance boosters for SS13's round reset reboots, which I'm sure they'll appreciate!
BYOND Games
Ever been trying your best to find a campfire to keep warm, out in the cold, dark forest... And a Weredude attacked you? If you can't relate, you really should try out FlameGuardian's Beware of the WEREDUDE! I got the chance to sit in with FlameGuardian on their Discord server, played a couple rounds, and shot a couple of dev-related questions at him. FlameGuardian plans on adding a "were-vision" effect to hopefully turn the tides in the Weredude's favor should it catch a survivor out! FlameGuardian also mentioned that he really needs playtesters, and they play on every Sunday they can. Make sure to try and stop by, and bring some friends for you to murderize!
Bravo1's Dark Star was updated to Ver: A 0.12! It features a killer new shotgun, helmet selection, a fancy-shmancy loading screen, and gibbing for enemies who meet their demise in a rather... Forced manner. The Idaho's doors now have lights and a fancy animation, and a new mission is available! Controller support is on the horizon, and quality of life changes are incoming so newer players are onboarded faster. If any of that makes you thirsty, there's also a soda machine available...
Hazordhu's Patreon reached its first goal, and as a result, F0lak has announced that he will be returning to work on the BYOND version of the game! F0lak hopes to create a space for the community to continue to create their own stories as he will also be continuing to work on the 3D version. Send some congratulations F0lak's way!
Arr, mateys! Raffile has unvieled cannons, ships, and glorious destruction for ye in Yoho! Raffile has been teasing videos of his progress on a project that had been unnamed until now. Featuring fast-paced Player versus Player cannon-blasting action, Yoho! will be making its formal debut sometime within the coming week, so continue checking back in on our friend Raffile's progress! Just... please, drink your rum responsibly!
Chance continues to lead Eternia: Chronicles of Esshar forward as patch 2.3 has been released! This patch features crafting objects that save to the map like tents and campfires, adjustments to alchemy, and much more! Patch 2.4 is in the works, and a suggestion thread is available to those interested in padding the game with additions.
Continuing the pirate theme, Rise of the Pirates has been focusing on map expansion, having finished both the Dagon Island and the Dagon Raid maps. The dev team teased a few images of the maps in their Discord server, and players look forward to more pillaging as developer Black gives us a panning overview! Oh, and there are also islands in the sky.
AERProductions plans on bringing Pondera to public playtesting! Armed with a hired programmer, AERProductions hopes to have Pondera publicly live in the very near future, featuring a growing world, filled with flora and many biomes to explore. Pondera is a survival sandbox game with map saving and loading, so all your discoveries or changes will be right where you left them should you take a break. When Pondera goes live, be sure to pop in to explore and do your best to survive!
BYOND Resources
- Curious about raycasting? Kozuma3 has posted a demo that highlights how it's done. Waltz about the maze he's built for you... In first person!
