Blogs - Higoten

Spring has sprung for the Pixel Realms team, reflected by their latest additions to Spires of Agartha! Seeds can now be purchased by the merchant, and can be used to grow a variety of herbs for potion creation. But if gardening isn't your style, then perhaps a trip to the river to net some rare fish will be more to your liking. Additionally, blacksmiths can repair and perfect weapons, Runewriters can ward buildings, Alchemists can vivify the recently departed, along with many, many other changes that can be found on their Discord changelog.

Phat T has been operating a closed testing server for The Phantom of the Future, pending a full rewrite of the game with pixel movement and a more fluid combat experience, with the possibility of races being dropped in favor of evolution progression.

Yut Put is teasing us with a trailer and game art for his newest sequel to the Epic universe, Playwright. The trailer shows the last remaining balance-keeper tossing away his cape to defeat the Order and save the other Playwrights, recover their books, and put an end to the human war.

Allied Nations is undergoing a series of optimizations and code restructurings over the next several weeks, as Godsring hopes to improve development flow and smooth over gameplay. In addition to the speeds already obtained, trees now cast shadows in the first step to creating realistic aesthetics, Automatic systems are improved, and objects are now aware of who created them. He has also created a Patreon campaign where fans can kick in money to the project

Congratulations to Chumble93 on graduation! While on the job search, he has also been spending his newly found free-time working on Dimension Warriors, creating energy beams and clocks. A manger for keeping track of screen position data has also been employed. Mobs are now handled differently, allowing for new content to be added easily.

The battle continues against the zombie hordes in Falacy's Paradise City! New menus have been added to the Ephone, explosions more accurately reflect their blast radius, bodyguards have special abilities and can wield any gun, and players can do more damage to the undead! Check out their page on itch.io as well.

Not sure that these are going to land in a game, but it looks like Flick has moved past flick() and has been animating penguins and guardians all sorts of weird and trippy ways.

Inutaishos has been building an upgrade to Azura: The Olympians War's construction system! Here is a sneak peak on the improved method for drag and click creation.

BYOND Resources

Mr. Travylleb is back with another lesson in The School District. In the art department, students from both schools now have freshly-designed uniforms to wear, and are able to do a range of actions. Decks of cards have been designed, and new hair styles are available. Over on the functional side, the economy is being built, along with time-keeping, and cards can be played with. Keep up on their Discord for the newest changes.

A big content expansion is set for the first of May for Pixel Realm's Spires of Agartha, with new crafting recipes, fishing games, spells, growing herbs and trees, and chicken raising! In the mean-time, many spells have seen adjustments, a new melee skill, Galeforce, has been discovered, and the player's save format has been altered, so check and ensure your character loads properly!

Yut Put shared a card-art palette for the BYOND-version of his card game Force! At the last count, the game contained over 300 cards and new user-interface elements. Contact him for information on how to check out the game!

Falacy's Paradise City has managed to hide underground, with new developments happening over the past few months. A detailed change log presents its self to players as they join, but the most recent developers feature new public and tutorial quests, HP has been adjusted for players and objects, bodyguards follow players about, and a whole lot more has changed since my last memory of the game!

Godsring has been hard at work on Allied Nations, keeping an update log on their Discord Channel. The RTS has seen many efficiency improvements over the past two weeks, ranging from weather and season appearance speed-ups to logical NPC pathfinding and action selection. Light sources, such as torches and fire are ready to be lit, maps are saved, and large quantity crafting is in.

YURIRAMOS has been keeping the Show Me What You Got! Development thread alive with the occasional gif demonstrating the feature he is currently making head-way on. Interactive notification menus and glowing shoes come first, then a diamond grid containing symbols.

Where is Kumorii headed in his latest adventure? It's not really clear from first glance. You could say the message is lost in the details, but as long as everyone is lost together, does that make us found?

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Zuhayr wrapped up his game in a week, Praxis, a turn-based game with 8 legged creatures loaded with guns from an isometric perspective. The game HUDs and movements are pretty slick - check out Zuhayr's latest video, and then find out what makes the game tick as it is open-source. Hope to see more!

Yut Put has created a brand new card game! I'm not really sure what happens in Calamity Pals, but it does sound quite chaotic, and it has pets, like snails. Anyhow it appears that a tournament was hosted, and you can check out the brackets here, but the victor remains unrecorded!

Crazah has posted a 45 second clip of a futuristic sprawling cityscape set against a sharp and starry crescent moon as the intro to none other than Zenith's Call.

Keep up with your Spires of Agartha history with their latest timeline! Ardent has surrendered to the Cruxati in latest news, with many changes taking place to put this loss into effect, from port closures to new taxes. Some spells are dishing out melee damage instead of magic damage, and plenty more have been altered.

Travylleb has picked up two programmers to help in the creation of The School District. Looks like the team is making good progress, telling from the screenshots have been left throughout the Show Me What You Got topic. First ones cover a few punches and a jaunt in the parking lot, followed by a screenshot of riders talking in emojieze.

Version 0.2 of Taint_thewizard's Ethereal Kingdom is live and ready for testing! The game now includes a complete turn-based user interface for battles, with reaction times in-between attacks, more NPCs around the town, and a menu where players can check out their stats. PS Oobly hurts.

Talk about develop-ception, as Mecha Destroyer JD has developed a game about developing games! Software Developer Life is an idle-style game where players decide what approach should be taken to development, and let the game and luck carry out the results!

Keep an eye on Chwgt's The Olympians, as I've heard word that progress is still being made, but behind the scenes... for now.

The gases may be getting to A2J2TIWARI's head, but he has picked up on FART, looking to update the graphics for the sidescroller.

Yut Put is working on an alternative reality game, and is starting out with a challenge to see who can discern what is going on. The image states the familiar phrase, Dawn of the First Day, followed by the number of hours remaining. My BYONDimes are on it having something to do with a pear tree and a partridge.

Kozuma3 has begun a new 2D RPG project, and while I could make predictions of what the game may be called, I'll hold off for now. The game currently has basic materials, such as ores, metals, armors, and weapons, and a completed crafting system.

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Revivified by a recent bug fix, Yut Put has begun the recreation of the potential sequel of the Epic series, LEGEND. Not much information on the remake is currently available, but fan the hub page to keep up on the latest.

The latest clip shown by Crazah covers what a player joining Zenith's Call might experience. The video shows the log in screen, character selection, and a shout out!

Keep the snow and the rain from ruining your belonging in Allied Nations with the addition of roofs for homes! Additionally, many improvements are being made to the interfaces, and research allows players to obtain new technologies by collecting artifact fragments from around the world.

Spires of Agartha has seen plenty of changes over the past two weeks, incrementing six version changes! Numerous spells have been altered, and several new skills have been added. Mana now regenerates four times faster than it had when the game launched, stun recovery happens quicker, and tips are now displayed to help new players get into the game. There's a lot more, so check out their change-log on discord for full details.

Zuhayr is working in isometric mode for a week-long game jam, watch as the eight-legged creatures move about the game board between varying heights and around obstacles.

Ginseng continues to make progress on Psiforged! Strength can be trained using objects, HUD elements are being redesigned, Controller support is on the way, and a new map is in development.

• Using Gitlab to manage your project? Lavenblade shares a snippet to automate compiling of new commits.

Zuhayr is back with some disturbing antics happening around Antimonium. Gory images are on display, with man's best friend being not-so-friendly. Unlimited Deer Works is on fire, and an undetermined image is bringing back memories of winning Windows 98 solitaire. On the game development side, Rounds are soon to end correctly and there's new game artwork. A server is live, so see if you figure out how to grind petals.

Fixes have been in Pixel Realms change log lately. Spires of Agartha now has changes in place to help address lag in places like Maplegrove. Percentages on skills have been altered, and Azrael's Curse is now available for purchase. Join their Discord Channel for all of the latest.

AvidAnimeFan has patched up a few holes in Kage: Rise of the Tengu. Growth accelerators have been added, and gathering resources now requires rank advancements. NPCs have improved navigation, and finalizations have been made on the plan for skill advancements.

Mecha Destroyer JD continues development on Fallen Legends, keeping the development log brief in interest of directing time towards development. Since update log number four, New towns have been built, NPC have more to say, and characters now save and load. Keep an eye on his WordPress blog for his two cents.

Kayaba shows off all of the cool magic techniques in his game. Watch as he demonstrates them. Bonus challenge: Don't lose focus to the glowing butterflies!

Keep an eye on Psiforged using remote viewing! Well, if you actually had the observation skill Ginseng recently added, accessed from the mini map, otherwise, you'll just have to focus on their Discord channel! Teleporting is real, and changes have been made to energy requirements, dropping the Anger measurement, with energy loss no longer reducing overall power.

BYOND Resources

I wish fresh produce grew as quickly in my garden as it does in the plots in IainPeregrine's Plunder Gnome. The latest edition of Plunder Gnome takes the 12 year old game and brings it up to par with the latest features in available in BYOND 5.0. Up to four teams can now play at once, AI is ready to be beaten, and homes are ready to be plundered!

Zenith's Call is the name of the game formerly known as Z-Tatics, as the isometric game gains substance and the storyline is fleshed out. Zete's development timeline currently places the game to enter open alpha testing within a few months.

Ganite is causing some mayhem in Bomb & Run! Current images show that bombs can be placed and pushed, and power ups can be found in the remains of crates.

Grab your reading glasses for this next one, as Azusa: The Olympians War moves into Beta 1.0.0. New title screens, artwork, terrain and building destruction, bone busting, and many more features are covered! Tips are now displayed for new players, character creation is brand new, names aren't known instantly, and The Underworld is much, much deeper.

Ginseng has marked up a road map for Psiforged in the game's Discord channel recently, setting the stage for a larger map and a mini-map to help keep players straight. Four towns and one city are planned, and players are initially tasked with keeping the residents safe from the Emperor. A Kickstarter campaign is planned for later this year, and check out Ginseng's BYOND Vision, featured towards the end of this column.

ACWraith has recently made a change to Grim Prospects, allowing the game to once again be played! He then appended a Classic suffix to the game, updated the design and created a new hub page, as he begins work on designing a real deck of cards to play the game with.

Lore has been building in Pixel Realm's Spires of Agartha, with recent conflicts involving the Battle on the Border and Grey Sky. Spire Shard usage is becoming automated, and shopkeepers have been fixed. Several spells have been modified, and team member Nadrew has been outfitted with a new rig.

Travylleb is getting homework done on The School District: Online. First he mentions potential round styles that are planned, then goes into showing how New Drake city is laid out, with the general map completed, and concludes with a link to the game's Discord channel, where future students can keep up with developments around campus.

BYOND Resources

Ginseng's 2018 BYOND Vision

Everheart, a text-based MUD adventure, is now permanently online! The game is still in early alpha, but players can create a character and explore the first town and surrounding areas. Then, after completing all that is currently available, Gambrinus encourages interested players to put on their thinking caps and create the next adventure!

Manio has shared two of the key pre-game lobby NPCs in Monstrous, the Kaiju Fanboy and the Skins seller, both of whom deal with selling various outfits for players to save up money for and wear as they survive and/or destroy Japan.

Kunark gave Surreal Dreams a few quick fixes recently. The game no longer throws a tantrum when units are killed by traps, locked units keep out of the way, and stats have been brought into balance.

Spires of Agartha has made a ton of tweaks to skills and spells recently. However, among all of the changes, new Chaos and Order magics have been discovered! Telekinesis, True Sight, Accelerated Healing, and Rot are all available for study and advancement. Keeps a chanel open on their Discord page for all the latest in the Role Playing world.

Unwanted4Murder wraps up the last dev-log for the BYOND version of Feed. A handful of guns received some TLC, and bosses are bigger and appear more randomly. Players get to keep all of their money when they leave, and their Reddit page had a make-over. Best of luck to the Feed Team as they venture beyond BYOND!

OttavioVaz is hopping for joy that he has finished creating a game. Ribbit is a classic arcade game, dodge the cars and crocs to land safely on the other side.

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Manio has returned with the latest news regarding the situation in Japan and his newest survival development Monstrous! The residents are desperately trying to escape the oversized Kaiju who are terrorizing the nation, all they have to do is get the generator up and running and call in the helicopter before getting squished, strangled, eaten, or ripped. The mayhem begins soon, so contact Manio to get a spot on the alpha testers list!

Ginseng has been using his map and compass to orientate where he plans to take Psiforged, setting up goals and determining where he wants the god-powered game to end up at. A new psionic attack has been added, NPCs are feeling chatty, and visual tweaks have been made to make the player's avatar more comfortable, pending that a meteor doesn't fall from the sky on their head!

The Feed Team keeps on firing out updates to their round-based surivial game, Feed! The game has moved from alpha to beta, and contains all the newest wacky (Really, what is with that new hub icon?!) improvements and changes, is available for download though their Discord page. A new Devclip is coming down the red carpet, and Prince is dominating the feederboards after upsetting MagicMike.

Taint_thewizard has been keeping up on Avalon! The first part of the tutorial is complete, a combat training and chest opening scenario. At completion, players get a preview of the next location, and the chickens and butterflies that currently inhabit the area.

Ninpo in AvidAnimeFan's Kage: Rise of the Tengu is seeing some big changes. The skills now require that players collect and learn styles, which are used to develop custom Ninpos to attack and defend with. As ninjas progress though the ranks, their ability to retain more Ninpos increases as well. New enemies can be found, and status effects wreak havoc. Crafting projects that are too difficult have a chance of failure, and a fast-travel map is in development.

Five new spells have been discovered in Pixel Realm's Spires of Agartha this past week. Each spell has a basic version and a more advanced version for players who have earned enough Roleplaying Points to do the upgrade. Additionally, dozens of changes have been made to help balance the current palette of combat features, and shop keepers are currently on an extended vacation. Join their Discord channel for all of the latest news.

The townspeople in Antimonium are getting a bit more creative with their apparel. Zuhayr has shown a handful of screenshots depicting the latest trends in 19th century fashion, and the ability to... recycle no-longer-needed clothing.

BYOND Resources

Gather around the campfire as X-ShinraTensei-X shares three tales of Densetsu no machi. The first tells the story of a stranded warrior squad who finds themselves face to face with an unnamable being. The second talks about greed. And the third preaches the stories of the gods and why the land has been plagued by the former terrors.

Aceblock is back with an update to Chrono Wars, the third installment of the Wargames series. Bugs fixes and interface advancement have been installed, mines help generate additional raw materials, job titles are important, and a change has been made to the subscription/free play model.

There is a rumor going around that IainPeregrine may be working on a successor to his single-player 8-bit RPG Regressia.

EvoSim keeps on growing, along with the size of its change log. Kayren fills in the details, and I might list a few of those here, but all I really understand is that a pause button was added. I suppose Rossmann Fold Motifs, DNA Binding domains, and epigenetic effects were added too, but I've never even heard of these terms before. Next on the development lifecycle is retrotranscription and viruses, but I've heard those are complex.

I'm not sure what all has changed in Taint_thewizard's RPG, Avalon, but while slightly less than a demo, looks interesting and not-at-all as I recall the game being.

I have heard from a rather reliable source that "There is also a rumor going around that Yut Put is working on a secret, but ambitious new project". Project speculation can now begin based on the fragment of a screenshot shown to the right!

BYOND Resources

Deck the streets with blood and gore, fa lala lala lala lala AHH! Pretty well sums up the latest happening in Feed. Red, Green, and Blue lights decorate the trees, fences, and buildings in Kumorii's snow-covered Dev-clips. Check out the decor, take down some bosses, and snap up a limited edition Santa hat while they are still available!

Densetsu no machi Roleplay is alive and well this holiday season! X-ShinraTensei-X is getting in the spirit with the gift of an excerpt of lore from the in-game tutorial. A Christmas card featuring game artwork was shared as well.

Chumble93 is looking for opinions on the color randomization applied to auras in his PVP sandbox game, Dimension Warriors Online. Current sentiment favors non-random colors, likely influenced (and with good reasoning) by the comments on that post. Otherwise, in the coloring department, the interface scheme has been revisited, and the menu was redone.

Allied Nations received an early Christmas gift from Godsring, a new research system to play with! How far can you advance Along the Tech Tree? A hint of a future feature was dropped, with the groundwork for planetary atmospheres being laid. For Christmas, a throwback server was launch for a bit of nostalgia.

Ginseng has shared a quick clip of building a few pieces of machinery in Psiforged.

BYOND Resources