#crashlander

[marblesalad]

chrashlanding it or something

[snailmakesgames]

So so so happy with how the main menu looks so far!! Lots of placeholder stuff in this gif but I think I've got the general look/feel pinned down :]

[snailmakesgames]

Worldbuilding in Crashlander - Language

Hey hey! It's been a little bit since I posted, took a solid little break after the jam ended (read: played a lot of minecraft and fire emblem)

I wanna talk a little bit about a different aspect of Crashlander, but something that's important to the core design of the game! From the beginning I wanted a key part of the game to be the way you interact with the Phytokin and slowly get closer to them. One way I'm doing this is by building a conlang which the player will learn a simplified version of over the course of the first few hours! (longish post ahead)

I've been interested in conlanging for several years and have made a couple of little toylangs before, but this is the first time I'm developing something meant to be read and understood by people other than myself and the ones who let me rant at them for hours with in-depth explanations - so keeping this in mind, I decided to follow the usual steps of making a sort of proto-language that then evolves into the main language.

There's nothing much to write home about in this regard except for some key design choices (Lots of /s/, /θ/, /ʃ/, and /x/ sounds to sort of mimic wind through trees when the language is spoken, and the alphabet was designed by dipping a dandelion stem in ink then writing with it), and we end up with this as our initial alphabet:

And here's what some example text looks like (no actual words within the language here, just gibberish that's valid within the set phonetic rules)

This is all well and good, I like the way it looks (though sometimes it can be heard to tell what letter a diacritic is actually attached to if the line spacing isn't wide enough), but now comes the second part - how do I turn this into something that a casual player would be able to learn and understand in-game, potentially before any translation starts showing up?

My solution is to make Phytokin Simplified, which is a pictographic language of ~150 words. The symbols build off of each other in a hierarchical sort of way (e.g. a symbol for "place", which is then built on for more specific words like "home", "shop", "garden", etc.), so a player would be able to notice patterns pretty quickly.

This also gives me the opportunity to more directly show the Phytokin's cultural connection to nature and plant life in particular - since plant life and animal life share a common ancestor in this world, for example, their language reflects this by having them both inherit from the same base symbol, differing in whether their roots (legs) are above ground or below it.

This version of the language is still very much a work in progress, but I like where it's headed! It's fun to try and hit just the right level of difficulty/complexity so that players are passively encouraged to try and understand the language rather than just write it off as something that isn't meant to be actually understood (even if it gets translated in-game later).

I'll probably post more about the language as it develops, but in the meantime, feel free to ask any questions/give input! And if you made it this far, thank you very much for giving me your attention for a few minutes :)

[snailmakesgames]

Screenshot Saturday #1!

It's the first Screenshot Saturday for Crashlander!! I've been having a ton of fun working on this game lately :]

This week I worked a lot on graphics, like the main menu I posted earlier, and some new sprites!

First was replacing the old player sprite (left) with a new, slightly larger one (right) - I want to start replacing asset pack resources with things I made and it's always a nice break from coding for a bit.

I also worked on the first iteration of the Phytokin, the plant-like aliens that inhabit the world you crash on! Love the little guys. I think it would be fun to make them different based on the surrounding biome's foliage a little further down the line.

Also, dialogue system! It uses the wonderful Dialogic plugin to do all the heavy lifting, and on the back end I can assign either a full Dialogic timeline or I can just throw some stuff in a string array if I just want something quick for various townies.

Finally, I implemented the beginnings of the attack system as well as status effects, which lets you attack, die...

... And kill things, if you really want to. You monster.

Overall, lots of progress this week!! Hoping to continue fleshing out inventory and start on the building system this week :]

[marblesalad]

okay this is my christmas gify. for me and me only

hes so mean. i think we have to kill this guy, crashlander /j/j/j

[vgmremixtape]

Visit Original Link

OCR04686: Super Hexagon: Focused - Crashlander

[Focus]

from OverClocked ReMix; originally a track on the album Last One Out Turns Off the Light by Crashlander. more by Crashlander here

song credits and lyrics:

Guitars: Sándor Berki, Gábor Sárosi, Attila Géczy

Bass: Attila Géczy

Vocals: Attila Géczy

lyrics:

[Verse 1] The chase just started But many won't pursue Dream like floating Carried by the flow

There's goals and progress (goals and progress) The wheel never stops Structure and direction As the focus never drops

[Scream 1] Connected, unsuspected Tessellated and plain symmetric Intersected, injected Collated and downright electric

[Chorus 1] Without a will to form it right Without it working like a glue The strength will offer nothing The flow just can't come through

[Refrain 1] Fading fabrics of our lives Wawing fingers like sharp knives Holding on To what we can't follow As we focus on the flow

[Scream 2/Bridge] Walls closing in Six lines of symmetry Changing direction Pulsating affection

[Solo: Sanyi]

[Verse 2] Can't hold the progress The stream will only grow It's like the flood now I'm carried by the flow

[Chorus 2] Without a will to form it right Without it working like a glue The strength will offer nothing Flow just can't break through

[Refrain 2] Fading fabrics of our fate Weaving fingers tight and straight Holding on to what we know As we focus on the flow

<<JUST FOCUS>> <<JUST FOCUS>> <<JUST FOCUS>>

[paperbacksciencefiction]

Crashlander by Larry Niven $3 Del Rey Books (1994) This collects all of the Beowulf Shaeffer stories in chronological order, which makes for a tidy reading experience, especially for those interested in Ringworld backstory. Some of these stories are Niven classics, which the foundations of Known Space are built around. Cover art by Don Dixon. . Overall Great Condition, Pages Look Great, Binding Tight, Great Spine . . . #crashlander #larryniven #paperbacksciencefiction https://www.instagram.com/p/B6GWc-6g1RD/?igshid=1j9gsbf68m1d6

[nudesreadingminicomics]

'In Case of Emergency Only' by Souther Salazar

saw this little fella reprinted recently in that new treasury of mini comics so I thought I'd post my copy here.  Great handmade goodness with all sorts of little things tucked in between the pages, even an original drawing on the first page!

Where are all the other copies now?  are they in the land of giants?  Or maybe atlantis?  Space??

Probably space, I think its space.