RadianHelix posts
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January 2024 was a month all about laying down some groundwork
This month, we completely redid our Iconography, and overhauled the way icons are both displayed and how we make the art for them.Everything we've made so far has been organized into a better folder structure and all items, weapons, doodads, even parts of the human face, all got permanent icon representation.Everybody got an icon. Even Buildings and Trees.This had to be done for the sake of consistency, and alleviating the burden on coders today and modders tomorrow, who wold need to make tedious adjustments to the world art assets to fit t...
December 2023 -- End of the Year! Still rough, but Melee combat is getting there!
Project Morningstar has invested a ton of time into having really interesting, fun, reactive Melee combat. It's a bespoke combat system, fully from scratch, even the API for handling animations is created from scratch to make it more accessible to modders, and let us blend animations together smoothly.You can see in the video above our player character fighting a dumb "zombie" AI, which just follows the player and has no self preservation reflexes. This is now an old video from 2 weeks ago.AI can now raise their shield in response t...
Guns were actually wrapped up a week or two ago, and are now ready to play with.
This is an older video, showing Shotguns, Single Actions, and Machine Guns. The basic types all other will roughly be based on.Their animations and projectiles, hit detection, damage models, and all the important stuff is there.Now back to getting Melee combat up to speed!
Finally arrived...
...and the cards were all missing. XDThe Game Crafter is sending a replacement set of cards for their mistake, but they won't arrive until the new year. Very frustrating.Good news is, the boxes are pretty great! I see a few places that I'd like to adjust things a little if we get an official release with this art and a few typos in the book, but easily adjusted for round 2.
Box Art and Print is in Manufacturing!
So the game is basically to the point where I am satisfied shopping it to publishers. This Rev 4.3 version is playing about the same as the last 3, but several cards are more useful in a broader array of situations, which was a problem before.I know of 2 cards now that I didn't 5 days ago that have either a typo that lead it to being way overpowered or a miscommunication caused by miswording while editing.Counter Culture Camping, the Edict should say -1 Trust per Figurehead, not -4, which would be game ending and stupid OP.Likewise, Mouthpi...
Project Morningstar November 2023
Project Morningstar has been taking some significant, if terribly delayed, progress of late. We're currently about to reach the milestone I had hoped we'd be at last August, but thanks to the 3D transition, and some early optimization passes to get ahead of serious tech debt later, we've primarily spent our time preparing for the future.That isn't visually very exciting, but it is none-the less vital work.You can see an early vesrion of our Cutout Shader above. As one of the more frustrating issues with an isometric game with no...
Propaganda Rev 4.3 is out now on the various board game sims!
Rev 4.3 is now on Tabletopia! (Free with a steam account) https://tabletopia.com/games/propagandaAnd on Tabletop Simulator! (TTS is not free, but this test version of Propaganda is.) https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3013237718And a link to view the online Rulebook https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GAUU9cLlkCpBdiNwS9LqUIlUppJcCBlqd0N6KJe8qqI/editAs always, you can hop on our Discord to playtest.I'm doing a test print now to play in person, hoping that in 2024 we can hook a publisher and find a path to getting the game...
When your buddy has that Project in play and you erally just need it off the table...
Cruise Missile. :DBuild once, fire once. But near the end of the game where it becomes relevant, you're shuffling the action discard pile frequently. This means it keeps coming around for somebody, and so does that discarded project.So long as the Doomsday Clock is set back a few times, anyway.
Allegra did a writeup on her side of our 2D-3D Conversion involving these Cliffs!
Hi everyone, Allegra here! I'm the 2D artist on Morningstar and I thought it could be fun to show everyone the methods to our 3D Madness TM.The transition to a 3D world has been a necessary one and there were initially a lot of questions for how we would handle more intricate items like cliffs. Buildings with flat walls were one thing, but we wanted landscapes to really interact with the world around them.At first we considered creating meshes from scratch and texturing faces individually. It gave us an undesirable effect in comparison to t...
Propaganda Rev 4.2 is up!
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3013237718https://tabletopia.com/games/propagandaYou can play it here!The new Population icon is inspired by a 1940s Spanish propaganda poster about men fighting while the family stays safe at home. Here another spin is put on that idea, with the hand of some unseen figure menacing over them, like a farmer about to harvest an egg from a henhouse. Which, given you can sell 1 Population to gain 1 Economy at any time, is pretty apt.You'll see this icon on the cards that affect population, ...
Propaganda Rev 4 is online!
While not the most major of changes, Rev 4 adds iconography to every card in the game, allowing you to quickly identify the type of Events & Actions that combine with your Propaganda, Edicts, and Figureheads.These cards are a lot easier to distinguish as being Political, Economic, or Espionage.What counts as an opposition card is now clearly labelled.(This is an "Opposition" Event.)Biggest changes:#1 -- You may now draw up to 6 cards every turn. 6 is your max hand limit. You may still carry over these cards in your hand to the next turn...
What started as a recreation item now has playable rules...
Not really an exciting bit of news, but Morningstar's characters need to rest & relax in town every so often. This recovers mood, rest, and stamina, and allows them time to train skills, before you pick them up to go on another adventure.For the Hethin faction, they play a game on a board with some chess-like pieces, and two dice, called Nyvr.https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3033291875That game now has rules -- and you can play it on Table Top Simulator!This was really just a sidetrack as we began thinking about the lo...
A New Way of doing 2D Isometric Games!
We've talked about it this past month, but Morningstar is undergoing a HUGE change in the way we deal with sorting and rendering our 2D game.Basically transitioning over the entire art & rendering pipeline from our old 2D project into a new 3D scene that handles all of the sprite sorting, lighting, postprocess depth effects, collision, and coordinates.This has wildly improved the visual fidelity of our game, taking us from a fairly bland visual experience to a much more color and shading rich appearance. But more than that, it has had signi...
The Jump to 3D is coming along great!
Handling lighting and collision geometry, and sorting sprites in isometric 2D is an absolute nightmare. So three weeks ago we decided to make the shift from a pure 2D project over to a hybrid 3D system.There are a couple ways you can do this.#1 -- Just place the texture on a generic cube. It will fit MOST of your sprites at the sacrifice of having inaccurate lighting (perfect for most things where it doesn't matter, but not for situations where collision shapes really matter, such as something frequently shot with an arrow or bullet.)#2 -- ...
Work In Progress Video Tutorial
I'mworking on a tutorial video. Needs voice overs and the last half of thevideo. But this should get anyone started if you're not on thediscord yet.It should take a couple more weeks setting up my new office after the move before I can voice over the video. Office is currently set up in our family room where the kiddo is running around. :p But after the new AC is installed, the new door is installed, then I'll have a quiet place to record again.
Propaganda! -- New Box Art Reveal!
Josh Meehan, a buddy that's worked with Radian-Helix a few times over the last decade, created the box art for Propaganda over the last couple weeks.I'm really excited about it.Rev 3.2 is our current internal revision number, and there are still many many playtests and balance adjustments to make as we dial in the game's numbers. At this point the only real hurdle is giving the end game a little bit more payoff and more coherence, and balancing the individual cards when issues of unexpected combinations are revealed.https://docs.goo...
Morningstar Quick Update
One of our most frustrating, gear grinding slowdowns in developing this game has been working in Isometric 2D spaces.While this has given us the look we want, it has introduced almost impossible issues regarding sorting where a character or object is, relative to all the other stuff. And it makes lighting a massive PITA.To fix this and let us finally catch our breath in this game, we've begun switching from isometric 2D into a 3D scene reusing our sprites on meshes.This really isn't too huge of an issue -- obviously all of James's c...
PROPAGANDA Update -- Rev 3 Prototype Now on Table Topia
https://tabletopia.com/players/id3414375/ai9dinStill a WIP, but now fully playable and seeking feedback!You'll need a Tabletopia account to login, or use your Steam ID ( tabletopia is free: https://store.steampowered.com/app/402560/Tabletopia/ )You can play solo, or rope in a friend.We'll take feedback from this round and turn it into Rev 4, which we'll print and seek publishing opportunities ahead of what will probably be a kickstarter.
Propaganda Update -- Box Art Pre-Visualization
Still a WIP!There are two characters still to be added, and I'm not fully satisfied with the current banner.Still working on it!This all look good to you?Working on the Tabletopia and Table Top Simulator versions now.
Propaganda! New Icons!
The game has actually needed this for a while. Icons that denote the specific type of Event cards that an Action affects, simply to dispel any arguments at the table like, "it says it activates on Rebel Events -- and this card says it's got Rebels in it!"The above are Events that can affect your Regime.The below are Actions you may play if those Events are in play for you.Figureheads and their awards & revelations are also easier to distinguish.https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jCY1Ev222fw-vLjs_mFyZCzC40gYYf5rAZEfkGSCZUg/editP...
Propaganda Update
It's been a while since I've worked on the Propaganda board game I've been developing. Last October I did a round of serious playtests with my at home printed copy and it went really well. Feedback was good and we found and patched some rule loopholes, exploits, and balance issues.I haven't yet pulled the whole company into this yet. Radian-Helix is busy enough with Morningstar and maintaining the old mods.I still don't feel the ending is particularly interesting or rewarding, unless you are the victor. Which is the #1 issue...
Quick Morningstar Update for June!
Currently, I (Thain) am in the middle of a move and some medical issues, so I've been out while the rest of the team toil away in my partial absence.One of the ongoing updates is a change to our biomes, creating new ways to differentiate the various materials the cliffs & rocks are made of instead of reusing the basic rock texture from the prototype.The Sandstone Cliffs are looking really good.We also have slate cliffs ready to go.The Tiling Tops are for the "Max Level" of "mountainous" terrain. Basically we've decided t...
Morningstar OST Experimentation VII -- Low Morale Exploration
The Morale & Stamina System is kindof the equivalent of Star Sector's Combat Readiness score. As your party finds itself fatigued after a forced mach throughout the night, or injured and tired after battle, you'll have lower Morale from bad Moods and Stamina loss.This song is meant to convey that mood, while exploring the overworld map between locations at a slow pace, contrasted with Mellow Explorer.This isn't the lowest morale you can get, nor the lowest stamina, just below midway. I'll need some intense struggle vibes from th...
Morningstar Update April 2023
April this year has been fairly productive!A bunch of new OST tracks have been made to help establish the signature music of the game, and the Morningstar World Editor has been shaping up nicely.We have the ability to save and load discrete map fragments now for use in our future Proc-gen/Hand-painted hybrid approach, and there are mipmaps now that allow for smooth zooming from close up, seeing individual blades of grass, to far back, getting an eagle eye view of the world.There are still a lot of quirks to work out, especially at resolutions o...
Morningstar OST Experimentation VI -- Dire Combat Theme
Every game has tiers of enemy encounters that provide different challenges. Morningstar is no different, but the catch here is that the world is open. You could face a single enemy. That enemy could be a creature or another human. It could be a minor threat that will cut & run at the slightest opposition, or a cruel destroyer that won't stop until one of you is dead. Or you may face a mix of these threats.Trying to score for these various challenges is itself a feat.This is a sketch for the Dire Combat Theme. Whatever you're facing, it ...
Previs of Doodads and Characters!
This is another minor milestone that's vital to progress.https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/direct3d9/texture-filtering-with-mipmapsMip Maps and Texture Filtering are essential components anytime you have a camera that zooms in and out. We've been struggling with how best to implement mips in our system from the beginning.The game uses marching tile sprites, just like a game from the 90s would have, but at very high resolutions, which is more reserved for textures in 3d. This causes a lot of unwanted issues with mips, such ...
Morningstar OST Experimentation V -- Peaceful Builder Sketch
A song meant for the player hanging out at their home base after returning from somewhere distant, while stuff is under construction.I'd like to extend this out to two minutes or more in the future.
Morningstar OST Experimentation IV -- Mellow Explorer
A chill track for exploring the world looking for something fun to do. Probably while traveling neutral territory.
Morningstar Update March 2023
Hey! I was writing this update on March 31st before I realized, it's April 1st in the rest of the world, and nobody will believe anything we post til the 2nd. :pSo here it is on the 3rd!The big news update our Patrons received in private, but here it is for everyone wandering by:Our Map Editor is up and running!We've dedicated all of April to workshopping the editor tools ahead of beginning the Proc Gen Open World and Combat Arena development.What this means for the game is that our long term goals of having robust modding tools has beg...
Milestone Unlocked!
It's a quiet milestone, but the Map Editor's 0.1 is distributable as a build internally, so we can author maps with the tools we've been developing for the past 9 months since Curtis and James joined the project.This is the first map I've made by hand using the tools.Once we add procedural generation to this, we'll be cooking with gas.We're still battling some of the hardest issues in an isometric 2d game like Depth Sorting and layering tile kits, but we can see the result of our Rule Brush, the incredible performance of...
