itch.io

Good news, I have an official Unity support case regarding the defect found in the latest tech stream. Would appreciate the kindness of any Unity developers willing to vote for this defect.

https://issuetracker.unity3d.com/issues/silent-crash-when-gameobjects-collide-wh...

The January Devlog is posted. Terrain generation, new spacecraft modules, and Unity early adopter lament.

https://northerncipher.itch.io/disaster-lander/devlog/466539/disaster-lander-jan...

Have been diving into UI Toolkit. The learn.unity.com content on the subject is severely lacking, so I wanted to share my appreciation for MadCat Tutorials who created a nice intro to Flexbox and UI Toolkit.

https://www.youtube.com/@madcattutorials2422

Is the player character a human or a farm animal?

Very good idea for a game. I quite like the creatures.

Carpe diem!

It's the last day of 2022 and the foundation is coming into place.  Have accomplished some more terrain generation logic via programmatically altering the Spline objects used by Unity SpriteShapeControllers.  Looking forward to future Unity 2022.2 releases to address transform alteration runtime errors that crash both gameplay and the editor. Upcoming work is going to focus on strategic gameplay between flight missions, which will be crucial before any early access builds are reasonable.

Worth mentioning that Unity 2022.2.1f is encountering frequent crashes, sometimes as a result of spaceship collision and destruction. So I can probably address that with improvements to the destruction code, but am suffering from bleeding edge Unity adoption at the moment. Have been submitting Unity crash reports when they happen to help out that team with the latest tech stream.

Lost of new developments and would love for you to check out Disaster Lander and add the game to your collection here on itch. As part of that I am committing to monthly devlog posts in 2023.  Posted a December devlog for Disaster Lander and created first gameplay trailer.

https://northerncipher.itch.io/disaster-lander/devlog/455602/disaster-lander-dec...

Thanks for the feedback. Am planning additional, that is different than featured, footage for next video. In particular recovering resources. I've also recently completed some terrain generation development, so plan to feature piloting through caves. I also have EVAs with astronauts in spacesuits as part of the game and will be featuring that in next video. I was also concerned about length of the video being too long,.FWIW I was pleasantly surprised that nearly all YouTube viewers watched to the end. I'll make it a point to shorten the next video.

I like this. It's surreal platforming. The speed and quality of movement is good, reminiscent of Kid Icarus.

Using iMovie for the first time, I put together a gameplay trailer that attempts to capture the mood of what I am building as Disaster Lander. It was not productive development, but a surprisingly pleasant side project. There's a lot of additional functionality not shown in the video, but I wanted to focus on the purest aspects of lander gameplay here. Am curious what people's initial reactions are. Is it intriguing enough to merit play? Does it repel players for being overcomplicated 2D?

https://northerncipher.itch.io/disaster-lander

I have a few projects I want to tackle first, but I keep kicking around ideas for a Zelda II style game I'd like to build.

More than one sale at an art expo is quite the accomplishment. As a fellow Zelda II fan, I salute you.

Nice sci-fi setting. Great title image.

Is this a real thing people do or the creation of your imagination?

Very nice work!

That purple void is not enticing to fall into.

Does the blue craft fly or jump?

How have you found the switch from Universal Render Pipeline to HDRP? Can you quantify the performance hit caused by the switch?

I like the dark horror aesthetic.

I like the heroic last stand aspect of this along with the gothic setting.

I've started work on a game called Disaster Lander. It's a resource collection, spaceship design, and survivor rescue game with a space pioneer setting.

https://northerncipher.itch.io/disaster-lander

What I'm primarily interested in at this point is meeting other indie devs and forming a small group to check in with each other from time to time. Nothing formal, but follow each other on itch.io and comment on each other's devlogs to provide each other feedback. I think it will be better to hear from people with some idea of our projects as they progress rather than whoever happens to be interested in chiming in here on the forum at the time of our posts. If you have a project and would be interested in sharing feedback with each other on an ongoing basis, please let me know.

obligatory screenshot

Recent work has involved tedious tedious details switching some legacy textures to the Unity Universal Render Pipeline. The reason being to get the Cloud Build working again so Windows & MacOS can be targeted more easily. Linux is a possibility as well if the Cloud Build succeeds. Regardless of whether or not CLoud Build cooperates, a new version with a new level is coming soon.

The production values look quite good. At first glance, it isn't apparent what the style of gameplay is.  Having watched the whole video it looks like a 3D take on Marble Madness with jumping.  One thing to keep in mind is that this game is cerebral. It's not going to appeal to low IQ gamers at all. It's also worth noting, itcho.io by itself does not seem to generate a great deal of organic exposure. I notice DevLog posts receiving a couple of dozen views. So if 0.1% of people who see a game would be interested in purchasing it, a thousand people need to be presented with the game for a single sale. There are seven billion people on the planet, so I don't think it's a matter of game quality, which appears well made, but of putting it in front of interested players.

What's the plan for how the astronaut will operate and gas giants? Any plan for cosmonauts in a future DLC?

Just released version 0.6.0 and the big news is that a Windows build is available as a demo. There was a bit of fiddling with Unity on Windows to get the build to work. There is also a new level and some minor gameplay changes. Level four might be too difficult now, but some more playing will be needed before a final verdict. Please give it a try.

DevLog Details Here

A MacOS build of 0.5.6 has been launched as a demo for the first third of the game's content. A Windows build will be pursued in the future, but for the time being focus will be on more content for the game.

DevLog Details Here

The release of version 0.5.5 is not going to happen because of the issue with Apple code notarization. It looks like this is may be a result of internal libraries as the notarization process that is failing is the same. So in an effort to resolve this a new version of Unity is going to be tried. Because of this hurdle, an effort to start researching Windows builds and requirements there will be pursued as well.

Happy New Year!

A release is looking unlikely this weekend. Apple code notarization is not working, possibly as a result of using a new version of Unity for the latest build. However, version 0.5.5 with new explosion physics is goog-to-go and will be released as soon as that's sorted out.

This is something embarrassing it wasn't thought of sooner. Adding in point forces at the site of explosions to push things around within the physics simulation. The first attempt at this has gone well. The next version released will have a whole new play dynamic.

Building first game and decided on itch.io as the place to launch.  Nebraska Deflector is an action space station defense game where invader drop ships are bounced away from the cargo bay.

MacOS early access releases began recently. Even with a small amount of engagement the feedback and bugs found as soon as it was in the wild have been very helpful. A third of the intended levels have been built.  Two more boss battles are planned in addition to another twenty levels. For all MacOS early adopters, very grateful for your feedback and data. Am particularly concerned about early levels being too easy and later levels being too difficult.

Nebraska Deflector was built using Unity. A Windows build is planned for the near future, but a few more changes are going to be completed while focusing on one platform. The code signing and distribution for the Windows platform still needs to be researched. Fear not though, Windows gamers will not be neglected for long.

Please have a look at the game page.