Tachyon Entertainment

Hey wow, yeah, cool.

[tachyonnz]

textcom - A Text-Based Roguelike in Python, based on XCOM: Enemy Unknown

So, I made a Text Based Game based on XCOM: Enemy Unknown in Python. Feel free to have a look at it and play it, report bugs and fork it if you like, that’d be cool of you.

[tachyonnz]

We’re not dead, but we’re working on something very special. WebSmeef. Like agar.io, but Smeef. You want to play against people on the other side of the world? Well, yeah, that’s what we’re aiming for.

More later as the story develops. Now for the weather, thanks Terry.

[tachyonnz]

:D

[tachyonnz]

WIP

[tachyonnz]

...aaaand now we reached the bandwidth limit. Thanks Obama Reddit. I’ll have to see if we can get it increased. On the plus side, it shows how much people actually want to play Smeef...right?

[tachyonnz]

Whaaat. I posted a link to Smeef on Reddit, at /r/webgames, and over the course of today, the page has already got almost 2000 views.

The overall response is really positive towards it - I think we may end up making a 3d Unity version after all.

[tachyonnz]

Had to do some filtering for referrals on our website, we seemed to be getting a lot of spam traffic from websites in Russia.

PSA, if your own website seem to be getting heavy traffic from Russia, but an extremely high bounce rate and 0:00:00 avg. visit length, it is likely your website has the same thing. Here’s a good place to remedy:

https://moz.com/blog/how-to-stop-spam-bots-from-ruining-your-analytics-referral-data

[tachyonnz]

Modbox Update:

Ok, so, in a pretty big decision, we’ve decided to transition to Unity for purposed of making ModBox. It’ll look nicer, run faster, and we can add way more features way faster. We’ll even be able to import animations from Blender directly into it, instead of chopping up mobs and rotating parts of them in Java.

So, until we get everything set up, I’ll post concept images of mobs and structures and stuff!

Also, that guessing game of guess-the-species-of-the-leeani-and-win-a-steam-prize (or GTSOTLAWASP) is still open. I’ve had a couple of guesses coming in, and to answer those:

As funny as it would be to have cockroaches survive the apocalypse and become sentient, sadly they will only be regular mobs (albeit giant).

The Leeani are also not seagulls. I don’t know why that was your first guess, but they’re not.

Here’s the small segment on them, see if you can glean anything else from it.

Leeani, who I haven’t discussed in great detail before, aren’t 100% the good guys either. If you leave a strongbox lying around unlocked, they’ll probably try to rummage through it and habitually take the shiniest things in there (determined by a shininess factor on every item. This can work for trading with them as well) There’ll be an audio cue as well, so you can hear them rummaging around in your crates. Hey, but don’t attack them if they do take something, because they won’t like it (because, hey, I stole your stuff, but don’t go getting revenge on me k?) They live in neat little towns and usually have some kind of mineshaft in it. Semblants will occasionally raid them, too, so don’t think you’re the one getting all the hate.

BONUS: The Leeani are mammals, not avian, insectoid, arachnids or reptile. No, they are not fish either.

Remember, if you win, I’ll buy you a game up to NZD$15 ($20 US) on Steam.

[tachyonnz]

It’s a slope. Because there’s no lighting, this is probably the best angle for observation. Still, slopes!

[tachyonnz]

Hey, I’m back. I did some crazy stuff, kinda. Ziplining, jumping off of tall things, etc etc. Back to making games then, is it?

[tachyonnz]

Hey there everyone, it’s Queen’s Birthday here in NZ this weekend (long weekend, yay!) and I’m going down to Hamilton for the weekend. I’ll try and schedule some stuff to post while I’m away.

[tachyonnz]

It’s a Semblant.

Isn’t it nightmarish?

[tachyonnz]

A little house in Modbox. I got block placement 85% working. Dylan had done placement on the top and bottom blocks, but this morning and during my lunch break @ work,  I surprisingly got it working (mostly). The next couple of things to do will be a simple lighting engine to make things a bit more 3d, and terrain generation.

[science-junkie]

Happy Towel Day!

Image by Giorgi Logua

[tachyonnz]

Ansible Inc. InterTech Corporation. TachNet. HuangTai Manufacturing.

Choose wisely.

[neilmakesgames]

I really like amateur game developers, but I don't have any skills or knowledge to help others (i've never even tried to code/whatever something, just a fan) so try to follow and reblog (active) game dev pages. Which is an attempt to help their game can get more eyes, and to help the people working on them feel like their project is important. But there's just so little content, how else could I help people?

Hey, gamesnart, thanks for the question!

Just remember, if you want to learn to make games, I’ve got tons of resources linked under my advice and resource tags. I’m not much of an artist these days, but the way to improve at art and coding is the same: practice a little every day.

As for the question of how you can support indie game developers, there are a lot of ways! :)

Free ways to help:

Like and reblog their work.

Tweet and post about games you’re excited about.

Make fan art.

Answer their Asks and provide feedback when prompted.

Tell them that you like their work. A simple “I love your stuff!” will lift anyone’s spirits.

Write reviews or do “let’s play” videos. If the games you’re excited about aren’t ready for release or don’t have public demos/betas, contact the devs and say you want to do videos or reviews and politely ask if they have a demo you can use for the video. (Don’t be discouraged if they don’t have a playable build, though.)

Beta-test and give good feedback. (Some studios use “beta” as a “pay to play this early” system, but the original point of beta testing is to find and fix bugs before the final release.)

Organize a game jam! You can set up your own jams for free via itch.io and gamejolt.com. This is a good way to get completed or mostly-completed games to write reviews of and make videos of. You can also offer prizes (which may or may not be of monetary cost to you, depending on what they are).

If you can code, write, or create art or music, start a collaboration with someone who needs help in one of those areas. I recommend keeping the scope of such a collaboration small and specific, so nobody feels burned-out by a long project.

Network! I follow a lot of developers, devblogs, and artists on tumblr, and I do the Follow Friday posts to help the cool cats that I follow get a little exposure. Another benefit of following a ton of people is that if someone says “Hey, I’m a [coder, artist, writer, musician] looking to collab, can anyone help?” I can say “Oh yeah, so-and-so said they were looking for that sort of help,” and help people make that collaboration happen.

Contact the devs directly and ask if there’s anything you can do to help. There’s a good chance they’ll say, “nope, but thanks for asking!” and that’s okay. You probably brightened their day just by asking.

Non-free ways to help:

Buy indie games! There are tons of good games on itch.io and GoG and other sites. Some are even available as pay-what-you-want. If the price is right for your budget, you can stock up on keys and give them as gifts. :) 

Support devs and other content-creators whose work you like on Patreon, Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other sites.

Buy game-related merchandise if you like its look and/or function.

Place stacks of cash in places indie devs are likely to find them, like under their pillows, or in the cabinet where they keep the coffee. I keep mine above the coffee pot, on the right. (In case you were wondering)

Basically, be a fan of developers and content creators. Support them in ways that make you happy.

[tachyonnz]

;)

[tachyonnz]

Knowledge, to Power You.

Ansible Incorporated. Leading developer of information databases and military algorithms.