#Airships: Conquer the Skies

[linuxgamenews]

Airships: Heroes and Villains releases on Linux

Heroes & Villains DLC launches with success for the Airships: Conquer the Skies game on Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. The fruit of tireless dedication and hard work by the brilliant developer, David Stark. Available on Steam and itch with 86% Positive reviews. The Heroes & Villains DLC launched on Linux for the sky battling, Airships: Conquer the Skies, and it's good. Since it provides a fresh expansion to step up your strategy by bringing new heroes and villains into the game. You can now recruit epic commanders to control your floating fortresses. As well as governors to keep your cities running smooth. These new characters aren't just for show – they pack some serious abilities to help you rule the world. The Heroes & Villains DLC includes commanders who can turn enemy ships into sitting ducks. Or level up their engines for an unexpected boost, or even pull random items to use as ammo. Some of these commanders are also sorcerers. So they can blind enemies, control the weather, or summon mystical creatures. Over on the homefront, governors are like your city managers. They can increase productivity, put citizens at ease, and even issue new rules and events. Due to things like martial law or forced labour, to something lighter like a masked ball party. These Heroes & Villains DLC characters are not static, either. They change over time based on what you do. They can level up, change their loyalty, and even start feeling different emotions like anger, stress, or even go crazy. Some will transform into more experienced, embittered, or powerful versions of themselves. Watch out, since a disloyal governor can be an annoyance. While a famous or super-powered hero could be the key to victory.

Airships: Conquer the Skies: Heroes & Villains DLC Trailer

Things between empires just level up as well. In the Heroes & Villains DLC, you might have to deal with some diplomatic incidents and decide whether to trust or backstab your neighbors. Want to risk a war to look more powerful? Get on the good side of some cultists? Join forces to take on pirates? What you should do depends a lot on where you stand, what you need, and what you know about the other empire. Now with the Heroes & Villains DLC, your airship crew is not just for cannon fire anymore. They'll level up the more battles they survive, so you have a good reason to keep them alive. Maybe give them a place to heal up or some better protective gear. Just to give you an idea of the scale here: there are 60+ unique heroes, 25+ combat abilities, both regular and magical. Also over 40 types of diplomatic incidents in the Heroes & Villains DLC. You can now design and award medals to your veteran airships. But be careful, if your prized airship goes down, so does its medal. And to top it all off, you don't have to own the Heroes & Villains DLC to get a taste of the action. If you hop into a multiplayer match, you can still enjoy all these features even if you haven't purchased the Heroes & Villains DLC yet. This epic launch also comes with a game update introducing changing weather, landships drawn by wurms (those are like giant worms), and new weaponry like trebuchets and mortars. Available on Steam and itch. Priced at $8.99 USD / £7.49 / 8,79€. Along with support for Linux, Steam Deck (playable), Mac, and Windows PC.

[iloveabunchofgames]

Week In Review - 3/5/23

#JakeReviewsItch Week In Review Archives

This week's reviews:

🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 AIdol 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍 Air Dasher 🧡🧡🧡🧡🤍 Airships: Conquer the Skies 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Akurra 🧡🧡🧡🧡🤍 Akuto: Showdown / Akuto: Mad World 🧡🤍🤍🤍🤍 The Alabaster Donut Farm 🧡🧡🧡🤍🤍 Alfal's Grove

With the imminent closure of the Wii U eShop, it's high time I told you about two of that system's best games. (And they both happen to be from the same developer, NapNok Games.) Get 'em fast—they weren't big sellers, and they were built specifically around Wii U's quirky features, so don't expect them to ever find their way to any other platform. But first...

Game of the Week

Two new games climb into the #JakeReviewsItch top five this week. Will the crown go to casual, party-game mayhem or complex, methodical strategy?

The answer to that question is... Well, how would you answer that question? If you want to entertain rowdy guests with something along the lines of Smash Bros. or Power Stone, Akuto: Showdown/Mad World is the game for you. As a primarily single-player guy, I'm siding with Airships: Conquer the Skies.

Building custom flying fortresses, negotiating trade and treaties, sending spies across borders to gather intel, and planning a subtle scheme for global domination—there is so much going on in Airships, and it somehow feels intuitive and inviting. Every element is bursting with possibilities. Many of us won't be lucky enough to achieve our dreams of becoming a despotic megalomaniac in real life, but we can here. And just like the real thing, it's a joyful, creative experience that anyone can enjoy. Just be careful. It's a massive, addictive game. Play at your own risk. P.S. Game of the Week is a title only one game can be given each week, but you, dear friend, can play many games at whatever time you please. Akuto? Airships? Take your guidance from the tortilla commercial girl.

Affordable Space Adventures

There's a lot to explain how Affordable Space Adventures works. I'm going to let the trailer give the overview so I can focus on telling you why this is the single best piece of evidence that the world was wrong to turn up its collective nose at Wii U.

It's sometime in the future. Humans are leaving Earth to claim a plot of land in the far reaches of space. Paradise lies all around us, just beyond the solar system, and a piece of it can be all yours! No credit? No problem! Affordable Space Adventures opens on a sales pitch that's so exciting you'd be a fool not to hand over your Earth money and set off for the time of your life. A gigantic ship filled with affordable, compact ships lies in ruin on a stormy, alien world full of thunderstorms and hate. But there, in the mound of broken ships and deceased adventurers, we see a hint of movement. Your ship is functional! Barely! It's a marvelously elegant beginning to a game that doesn't waste much time on story after that. What else is their to say? The trip went bad. Your ship is busted. You shouldn't be alive. Nothing on this planet wants you to be alive. Good luck! The ship repairs itself and pick up upgrades along the way, in the style of Metroid or Castlevania, though it's really a linear puzzle game. Here's a new tool; now let's see ya get outta this.

Every puzzle is asks you to rethink everything you thought you knew, and developing a strategy is only half the battle. Tinkering with touch-screen switches, swinging around the unreliable weight of the ship—it's patting your head and rubbing your tummy...and turning off your engine so you don't overheat, and deploying the ski-like landing gear to slide down a slope, and turning the engine back on to keep from flying to high after zipping off the ramp, and what's that robot doing there?? Quick, focus the light on it, but down fall into the lava!

It's a lot to handle on your own, and successfully managing it all, attention divided by TV screen and GamePad screen, is exhilarating. Dividing responsibilities between tow or three players in an entirely different experience, and it's exactly as maddening and rewarding. Shouting commands between three people who are all looking at different things and doing different jobs is unrivaled fun, no matter who's playing. I've gone through it with game fanatics and with people who have never touched a controller, and it's been a hit every time. I first played Affordable Space Adventures shortly before its launch. I was working at Nintendo at the time, asked to try out the game on my own. I couldn't tell anyone outside of my four-person team what I was doing. (Nintendo is serious about NDAs. Please screenshot this post. There's a non-zero chance I'll be disappeared, all traces of my existence erased, just for acknowledging my former job. Tell my story!) Anyway, I played this game, and could not believe that we at Nintendo weren't running a dedicated Affordable Space Adventures Direct. Here was a game that could only exist on Wii U, and it was perfect. A totally original, funny, mind-bending physics puzzle adventure that could appeal to a dedicated individual or for the whole family. And I couldn't tell anyone! You know the rest. Nintendo gave it a little push—a gentle nudge, perhaps. There was a buzz among those who played it, but everything was a hard sell on Wii U. What chance did some side-scrolling indie game ever stand? I was sure that, if nothing else, speedrunners would pick up on it—goodness golly gosh, it's the perfect speedrun game—but nah, it never developed any significant scene. So I'm telling you now: Time is limited. It's affordable. It's paradise. You would be a fool not to set off on this adventure. Oh! Oh! Since the Miiverse is long gone, I can spoil the amazing ending that's no longer a part of the game. (It's is still a small spoiler, though, so skip the next paragraph for now, and come back after you've played the game.) Toward the end of Affordable Space Adventures, you find a way to send a distress signal, you're asked to draw your S.O.S. on the touch screen before moving on to the rest of the game. At the very end, you see a fax machine in an empty room, dumping your message, and messages from every player connected to Miiverse, on the floor. It's one of the funniest endings I've ever seen, and it was also a sweet shared experience. For a moment, I felt a connection with strangers. I believe that in our post-Miiverse world, the fax machine simple spits out the developers' own messages. The idea comes across, but it's just not the same.

Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party

"Hey, come over to my place. Yeah, dude, we're gonna play Spin the Bottle. It'll be lit."

Again, no mystery why Wii U-exclusive Bumpie's Party isn't a household name. Here's what you need to play: A Wii U. Wii Remotes (preferably four). Human beings who can be talked into playing a game that requires a lot of interpersonal physical contact (preferably 12). No TV. I've only played a full 12-person, four-Wii Remote game of Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party once, and it might have been the best multiplayer game of my life. I've tried a two-player game of Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party, and it was terribly awkward.

You're thinking it, so let's address it: Is this some freaky sex thing? Absolutely not. It's closer to the kind of games I used to play with children in my days as a camp counselor (we're learning about a lot about my past jobs, aren't we?), under strict supervision and penalty of getting my name on a list if the appearance of anything untoward were to happen. Consenting adults could surely find a way to make Spin the Bottle dirty, but there is nothing about it that's inherently more risqué than a hug. It's a giggle-inducing, one-of-a-kind case of the sillies. Make sure parents and teachers are have all the facts before everyone who went to your kid's sixth birthday part starts talking about how much fun they had playing Spin the Bottle, and think twice before playing with drunk strangers. Dumb name. Great game.

Stay safe, and remember that safety includes getting Spin the Bottle: Bumpie's Party and Affordable Space Adventures right now. Immediately. Don't miss your chance.

#JakeReviewsTwitch is a series of daily game reviews. You can learn more here. You can also browse past reviews…

• By name • By rating • By genre

[sleepdeprivedartboi]

Airship : Conquer the skies is fucken digital cocaine . The amount of bullshit designs you can make. The freedom of tomfoolery, the absolute mess my beautiful little babies are. It's so good lmao.

[ofliterarynature]

TBR TAKEDOWN: Week 14 (September 1)

TLDR: I have too many unread books, and I’m asking tumblr to help me downsize. Pick one or none, comment if you have opinions, and please reblog if you can! Book descriptions below the cut, see my pinned post for more info.

The Ladies of Mandrigyn by Barbara Hambly

The City of Mandrigyn was conquered, and its men enslaved in the foul mines of the evil Wizard King, Altiokis. Now the women of the city, led by Sheera Galernas, have come to hire the mercenary army of Captain Sun Wolf. But Sun Wolf was too wise to become involved in fighting against wizardry…

...Until he woke to find himself kidnapped and offered a grim choice by Sheera. He could train and lead the ladies of Mandrigyn against Altiokis - or he could die in lingering agony from the anzid they had given him and for which only they had the antidote.

There was more to the ladies than Sun Wolf could have guessed. There was also far more to the evil of Altiokis then anyone knew.

But above all, there was a great deal more to Sun Wolf and his destiny then he had ever dreamed.

Gideon Smith and the Mechanical Girl by David Barnett

Nineteenth century London is the center of a vast British Empire. Airships ply the skies and Queen Victoria presides over three-quarters of the known world--including the East Coast of America, following the failed revolution of 1775.

London might as well be a world away from Sandsend, a tiny village on the Yorkshire coast. Gideon Smith dreams of the adventure promised him by the lurid tales of Captain Lucian Trigger, the Hero of the Empire, told in Gideon's favorite penny dreadful. When Gideon's father is lost at sea in highly mysterious circumstances Gideon is convinced that supernatural forces are at work. Deciding only Captain Lucian Trigger himself can aid him, Gideon sets off for London. On the way he rescues the mysterious mechanical girl Maria from a tumbledown house of shadows and iniquities. Together they make for London, where Gideon finally meets Captain Trigger.

But Trigger is little more than an aging fraud, providing cover for the covert activities of his lover, Dr. John Reed, a privateer and sometime agent of the British Crown. Looking for heroes but finding only frauds and crooks, it falls to Gideon to step up to the plate and attempt to save the day...but can a humble fisherman really become the true Hero of the Empire?

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths

Forensic archeologist Dr. Ruth Galloway is in her late thirties. She lives happily alone with her two cats in a bleak, remote area near Norfolk, land that was sacred to its Iron Age inhabitants—not quite earth, not quite sea. But her routine days of digging up bones and other ancient objects are harshly upended when a child’s bones are found on a desolate beach. Detective Chief Inspector Nelson calls Galloway for help, believing they are the remains of Lucy Downey, a little girl who went missing a decade ago and whose abductor continues to taunt him with bizarre letters containing references to ritual sacrifice, Shakespeare, and the Bible. Then a second girl goes missing and Nelson receives a new letter—exactly like the ones about Lucy.

Is it the same killer? Or a copycat murderer, linked in some way to the site near Ruth’s remote home?

[jones-friend]

Lets talk about The Sky

D&D is known for its exotic locales and fantastic spaces. It is fully ready to get its hands dirty digging down to the underground, the Underdark, but what about the sky above?

After a playthrough of Elden Ring I was inspired to create a “sky biome” similar to the “underground biome” of the underdark. An alien place with its own rules and logic that are different from us grounded folk. Nothing in this post needs to be canon by any means, all this is, is a theorycraft on what you could put into a sky biome in your world and how elements could work, feel free to take what you like!

To start it off here’s some things to keep in mind about living in the sky:

The Sky is Sparse. Like the open ocean there are few landmarks and guides to tell you where you are. There’s also vast, open spaces. Our sky is usually clear, your player characters aren’t often sighting floating islands or airships. This means maps of the sky biome will have broad open spaces between major points.

Difficult to Chart, Conquer. The sky biome is changing, moving, making it hard to chart and hard to conquer. Many pieces may be moving on their own over time. Maps may not always be accurate and you might need to source information to travel. You can always descend to the ground, but it takes considerable energy to land and take off.

A Resilient People. There are people dedicated to surviving some of the harshest conditions on earth. Likely anyone living in the sky is good at it, has been doing so culturally for eons, and wouldn’t want to stop just because of a few bits from land folks.

Exotic Resources. Creatures living in the sky may resort to different ways of sustenance. Sky leviathans may have forests growing on their back that give energy from the sun, cloud fortresses may harvest special plants that can only grow in their nutrient light soil. Each region may need its own way of feeding its people.

With that in mind lets check out some ways to put people in the skies!

Floating Islands are a staple in fantasy stories, from Sonic the Hedgehog to Avatar. Floating chunks of land with their own adapted flora/fauna, floating by natural or magical means. They make great places to build more traditional ground civilizations with farms, castles, towns, etc. A familiar start in an unfamiliar land. Sky islands could be subject to the moon’s pull or other celestial actions, moved as the moon moves.

Sky leviathans! Like blue whales of the deep the sky regions may have great creatures swimming through the clouds. They may prey on flocks of birds like krill, receive energy from the sun through forests and plants growing on their backs, or be more predatory like sky sharks. You could create forest cities on their backs worshipping the sky leviathan like a diskworld turtle, or structures could be artificially constructed around the sky leviathan like some D&D cruise ship. Aboard a leviathan you’re more at the mercy of wherever it travels, along for the ride as it were.

Airships! Another classic staple of fantasy adventure. Airships as a locale in the sky could be a variety of things. They could be a singular zeppelin, some great cruiser floating through the air. They could also be a fleet or formation of airships with wire ziplines serving as transportation airship to airship. These nomadic homes can easily travel wherever they please and stock up on resources from trading posts or internal farms.

D&D is a fantastic land with dwarves and giants, so why not make a castle made of clouds? Made by cloud giants, goliaths, wizards, gods, these wispy bastions rise high as indomitable fortresses of the sky. They could be major points of control in an attempted sky war, they could be subject to weather like snow or rain.

I’m making sky ruins its own category on this list, somewhere between floating islands and airships. Mysterious in origin and purpose, possibly moving on its own volition, possibly affecting the world around it with constant tornadoes or storms. Inhabitants could be ancients displaced from time, undead, constructs, or new inhabitants who don’t understand what they perch upon. This could also loop into Bioshock Infinite style constructed cities in the sky that are very much not (yet) ruined.

If we can have cave systems so deep they lead to the Underdark as a bridge from overworld to underworld why not have a bridge to the sky? Big Mountain. This is a mountain so large it moves from the overworld to the sky, a Mt Everest sized feature in the world. It should be difficult to ascend by foot but if you do you’re rewarded with a piece of the sky biome. It could be a roost for aarakocra on their migratory routes, monastery of those devoted to the winged, or even a great lair to a benevolent dragon more interested in trade than tyranny.

The last region I have for you is open sky! A no-man’s land region of the sky biome best traversed by endurance runners of fliers. Like the open ocean these are vast open spaces that could contain any number of uncharted bits of other regions or have flocks of flying creatures interacting. The open sky is defined by what it lacks and enticing for its boundless adventure. The answer is we don’t know, and by playing we discover.

And thats the sky! A region of untapped creative potential. I would love to hear other thoughts you might have for what could work as a region or landmark in the sky, or any thoughts you had reading through this! Happy exploring out there, friends!

[wildberry-12]

I suppose it was finally time to make an intro post :3

Hi I'm Wildberry(she/it)! A 18yr old socially incompetent transfem who loves strategy games, mechs, monsters, and sleeping in a dog bed.

The kind of posts you can expect from me will usually be recent stuff going on in my life, outfits I like, my writing, transhumanist rants, and horny posting or any combination of said topics. My reblogs are whatever I find Interesting :p

Currently owned by the lovely @lapo-opal <3

Always feel free to send me DMs! While I only give my name and stuff to moots, I love talking to all the little gay people in my phone.

And as always, Minors DO NOT interact with this blog, this is definitely 18+ only

Cohost: @Wildberry

Fedi: @Wildberry@transfem.social

Below is my game list!

Factorio

Unturned

Team Fortress 2

Rimworld

OpenTTD

Starsector

Hearts of Iron IV

Forts

Kenshi

Minecraft (modded that's how we do)

Bloons TD 6

Garry's Mod

Lethal Company

From The Depths

Airships: Conquer The Skies

Space Engineers

Battlebit: Remastered

Oxygen Not Included

TerraTech

[3dspecbio]

Scalepiercer: Real time lighting in pixel art

I wanted to share some sprite normal mapping that we're implementing for our game! One reason I prefer 3D artworks is the dynamism of lighting that can be easily achieved with a renderer, something you couldn't historically do in 2D art with ease.

But lots of modern 2D engines adopted the 3D concept of 'normals' and now we can do stuff like this!

In Scalepiercer, we are using normal maps for characters and weapons/explosions. Our characters will react to light in real time similar to games like CRYPTARK and Airships: Conquer the Skies!

So how do normals work? What if you wanted to do this for your own game? Well there's many ways to normal map sprites! but here's how we did it:

We went into Blender and created a 'shape-sheet' like this by positioning 3D objects and taking a screenshot of their normals as viewed from above. The funky colours are because we are actually encoding *directions* for how individual pixels are "rotated" in 3D space! That's a normal map!

A TLDR of the directions are as follows:

A color value of 128 means "middle/no angle", with 0 and 255 being 90* facing one way or the other.

Red is the East/West facing angle

Green is the North/South facing angle

Blue is "tangent"/facing-camera and is always 255 (which is why our 'normal map color' is this specific 128,128,255 blue for a flat surface).

Knowing this information, we paint over our cargo container by sampling the 'directions' from or normal map sheet to create something like:

Keep in mind different game engines may have different direction encoding, if your sprite lighting looks backwards try inverting the red or green channels!

This is human-readable data too if you keep in mind that the presence or lack of a color means a direction! After some time you may be able to read (and even possibly paint) your own normals without constant reference.

P.S: I didn't know where to fit this but a note on automatic normal mappers: There's great tools like Laighter and Modlab which let you instantly create normal maps from sprites! These tools are very powerful and often make it very easy to do these effects, the reason we avoid them here is because they rely on the *brightness* of a sprite instead of intentionally knowing the *direction* of one. We found that the generated results often don't "understand" the 3D forms of a sprite as well a human who can think abstractly. If you want to mess with these techniques with little effort, or your art style is compatible with how these programs 'read' files, I'd recommend trying it! It's fun!

[susdusts]

I have suspicions about you name

Have you ever played the spectacular videogame Airships: Conquer the Skies

dawg what is this

i have not, maybe fate will guide me to it someday?

[hyrtwynwrites]

[Spoilers!] Light's Falle Timeline

Updated 18 July 2024

Note: Links only go to the first chapter referenced per day - e.g., a link on Ch.12-15 will go to Chapter 12.

Key

AM - Astral Moon

UM - Umbral Moon

SQ - FFXIV Canon Timeline Dates

LF - General Light's Falle Dates

GP - Book 1: Gridanian Prelude

WT - Book 2: White Towers, Deep Waters

OT - Book 3: An Oasis at Twilight

Timeline

6th Astral Era

1 4th AM 1527: Vivail Aikiria is born. [LF]

ca. 1535: Papalymo Totolymo and Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn are born. [SQ]

4 5th AM 1536: Aebba Falle is born. [LF]

ca. 1545: Y'shtola Rhul and Thancred Waters are born. [SQ]

ca. 1546: Yda Hext is born. [LF]

ca. 1549: Kan-E-Senna and Adalberta Sterne are born. [SQ]

ca. 1550: Jacke Swallow is born. [SQ]

ca. 1552: The Ala Mhigan Civil War begins. [SQ]

22 1st UM 1556: Yenifer Falle is born to Aebba. [LF]

ca. 1557: Ala Mhigo is conquered by the Garlean Empire. [SQ] Yenifer and her mother escape Ala Mhigo. [LF]

ca. 1558: Yenifer and Aebba settle into life in the Gridanian hamlet of Quarrymill along with other Ala Mhigan refugees. [LF]

ca. 1562: The XIVth Legion is defeated in the Battle of Silvertear Skies. [SQ]

ca. 1572: The events of Final Fantasy XIV 1.0; Dalamud falls, unleashing Bahamut and the 7th Umbral Calamity. [SQ] Kan-E-Senna leads the Gridanian element at the Battle of Carteneau. [GP Ch.32] Aebba is killed during the Calamity. [LF]

7th Umbral Era

Year 5

18 2nd UM: The start of Light's Falle and Gridanian Prelude; Yenifer digs a ditch outside of Quarrymill and makes a fateful decision. [GP Ch.1]

24 2nd UM: Yenifer leaves Quarrymill for Gridania, joining the Lancers' Guild and encountering her rival, Foulques, for the first time. [GP Ch.2-9]

32 2nd UM: Yenifer is recruited by the Twin Adders to assist in a manhunt. [GP Ch.10]

3 3rd AM: Yenifer meets Scions Yda and Papalymo for the first time, and finds her Crystal of Light. [GP Ch.10-12]

11 3rd AM: Yenifer encounters Foulques for the second time, and stumbles into what would be called the Battle of Spirithold; she experiences her first Echo vision in the aftermath. [GP Ch.13-16]

29 3rd AM: Yenifer has her spear taken for repairs, and has a brief altercation with gawking Gridanians. [GP Ch.17-18]

30 3rd AM: Yenifer has her third encounter with Foulques after he kidnaps a Guild member. She finds herself stumbling into aiding the Gridanians in a battle against the Ixal. Yenifer has her first encounter with a Paragon, only narrowly surviving, and for her heroism is made Emissary. [GP Ch.19-29]

31 3rd AM: Yenifer fulfils the role of Emissary for the Greenbliss, but an Echo vision interrupts the ceremony. [GP Ch.30-31]

32 3rd AM: Yenifer is made Envoy of Gridania, and is dispatched by its leader, Kan-E-Senna, to deliver vital missives across Eorzea; end of Gridanian Prelude. [GP Ch.33-34]

ca. 3rd AM: Legatus Gaius van Baelsar of the Garlean XIVth Legion makes an inspection of Castrum Occidens. [GP Epilogue]

1 3rd UM: Yenifer arrives in Limsa Lominsa and delivers Kan-E-Senna's missive to its leader, Merlwyb; she also makes the acquaintance of several locals, most notably the rogue, Jacke, the Scion, Y'shtola, and the marauder, Vivail. Yenifer and Vivail are recruited by Y'shtola for an adventure to the Sastasha Seagrove to begin the following morning. [WT Ch.1-9]

2 3rd UM: Yenifer, Y'shtola, and Vivail travel to the Sastasha Seagrove; while investigating, Yenifer and Vivail become separated, and together fight through a pirate stronghold to liberate kidnapped civilians. Reunited afterwards, the three return to Limsa Lominsa, where Yenifer says her goodbyes to them, and to Jacke. Vivail is recruited by Y'shtola to join the Scions. End of White Towers, Deep Waters. [WT Ch.10-Epilogue]

2-3 3rd UM: While en-route to Ul'dah, Yenifer is incapacitated by the Echo, and is treated frantically by the airship's crew. Lost in the vision, Yenifer accidentally enters the memory - and then the present - of an Ala Mhigan, Arenvald. Surprising them both, Arenvald is able to see her in the vision, and strikes her, jolting her awake. [OT Prologue-Ch.1]

3 3rd UM: Yenifer arrives in Ul'dah and encounters yet another Scion, Thancred, while trying to get her bearings. Yenifer is abused by Brass Blade mercenaries after she attempts to save the life of a fellow refugee, and is in turn saved by the Miners' Guild's master, Adalberta. When Adalberta asks Thancred to investigate the Copperbell Mines going silent, Yenifer forces the Scion to take her along. Thancred allows her presence, but goes to recruit an ally of his for the mission as insurance: Arenvald. [OT Ch.2-13]

[dokkywokky]

EMERGENCY COMMS RESULTS #3

This one's for @ dictatorputski, who you might recognize as a mod developer for Airships: Conquer the Skies back in the day! He's got some sci fi stuff, too—and this one in particular is a reference to a fairly old 80's show in the same vein as Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica. Can you guess which?

[koopzilla]

M!A there will be a volcano eruption!

T'was a bellowed threat from a pale magikoopa. Out of place, but It was not a sort to be taken lightly. Chronically active, each chuff from the mountain eternally threatened their home. Every eye in the army raced to Dark Land's largest volcano. It loomed quietly.

"It's not going to erupt--"

As if the deniers dared it, the ground rumbled at their feet. Cowardly foot soldiers rushed into each other arms and fliers tore their feet from the ground. The heat rose, yet a chill ran down their spines. Once more did the demons howl, clawing at their boots beneath the crumbling earth.

"Why'd you have to jinx it!?" A captain shouted into the ether. Their messenger had vanished, dissipated as quickly as they had arrived. To question it now was to die. Many of the soldiers had been reduced to Koopa Village panickers, running in circles, hands surrendered to the heavens, ready to join the undead of their nation.

It began: molten rock launched from the mountain tops and rained down like meteors! They were doomed. The first was heading their way! A pack of koopas slowed, averting their eyes as they awaited the collision.

"RAWWWWRGHH!" At last, the roar of reason! It buried the shouts of the crumbling as it stepped over them. The mighty shadow caught the meteor in both claws, biceps bulging as it nearly pushed him to the ground.

"LORD BOWSER...! You saved us?"

There was no time to appease the peanut gallery. His Majesty catapulted the rock back into the sky. His finger followed, along with his first order. "MAGIKOOPAS. SHIELD!" It was like he had simply pressed a button and it happened; an angelic blue light became their umbrella beneath fiery rain. Kamek led a pack of wizards, all mounted on their broomsticks, supporting the parasol.

A second crash was a gruesome reminder that meteors are not the only concern. Lava rushed from the tip of the volcano, oozing like melting ice cream. It smothered the peaks, burying them in burning reds. It would take the Keep. They cannot stay here.

"Paratroopas! Get pilots to the airships! Captains! Soldiers in single-file lines! We're getting out of here!" Beneath their king's booming demands, order was restored. Pilots raising their arms were stolen by their brothers and guided by Magikoopas to the Keep. Scrambling and shouting became silent and structured. Fire drills had been practiced before-- soldiers quickly found their place as Bowser shout familiar orders.

The time limit ticked in kilometers: lava raced downward like water erupting from a dam. It ravaged guard towers, toppling tanks. Bones and fiery beasts surfed the destructive wave. Air ships arrived, ladders dangling from their edges. The army began their evacuation.

Yet, the hands of the clock swirled faster and faster. Most of the army docked, but waiting captains still sit at the bottom with their king, urging stragglers up the ladders. Magma wait for no Koopa-- they weren't going to make it...

"FLIERS. GET THE REST UP THERE NOW!" Paratroopas swoop downward, grabbing footsoldiers by their arms and slowly fluttering them skyward. Magikoopas whisk them forth by their feet. Bowser pitched soldiers by their shells into the high-flying ship. Chaos ensued until only one remain: the king himself. There is no time to collect him though: lava consumed his heels. The burn traveled quickly.

The futile hand of a paratroopa reached for Bowser, knowing all too well his king would be too heavy to carry. His master took him by the hand, only to pitch him into the skies. "GET OUT OF HERE, MORON!" Recovering in the skies, the army could only observe as their king began a mad dash toward their doomed castle. The echo of a snapped finger trailed behind him.

Eat your heart out, Sonic. Anyone can run at the speed of sound with a knife at their throat. Fiery boulders turned his path into an obstacle course. Shoulder bashing broke through the large, leaps conquered the small. Alas, their moats of fire overflowed, the earth crumbled at his feet. Bowser slowed, his available space thinning quickly.

His most trusted ally came to the rescue at last: the Koopa Copter! Swooping right at him as if it sensed the danger, it did not slow as it approached him. A fist pump is his sole preparation. Lava once more consumed his heels, searing his soles.

A quick jump smashed his stomach into the flying bowl, and he flopped over, head crashing into a pit of chocolate wrappers. His ship carried him into the skies, expertly evading volleys of boulders until it was high above it all, where the skies were once more blue...

--

Cheers exploded as the Copter, with Bowser's butt crammed in its center, pierced a cloud and joined the several ships in the sky. They endured an eruption without losing a single soldiers. High fives ring out. Soldiers brag of their bravado: nothing could scare them! Cheeky paratroops badmouthed the mountain. It had nothing on them!

The king did not carry this cheer. After amending himself, he leered downward toward their veiled home-- a blip of bulging pulsating red beneath a sea of clouds. Certainly, his castle would be reduced to rubble... again. It came with the territory. Yet, they would be tasked with rebuilding it and it is that concept which peeved. When he ruled the world, it would be those uppity snotty toads upscaling their homes, with chains anchoring them to the spot!...

"Your Hotness! Where to?" From beyond, a voice roar from the ships.

They would need a place to stay... may as well have fun with it. "... Sky Land. Hope you're all warmed up. Time for a raid, boys!"

[linuxgamenews]

Airships: Heroes and Villains is gearing up for its release

Airships: Heroes and Villains the first DLC for the game is coming to Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. All credit goes to the ingenious developer, David Stark. Due to make its way onto Steam, GOG, and itch next month. On July 20, 2023, an exciting new expansion will hit the digital shelves. Coming to Airships: Heroes and Villains. This isn't just the first DLC for the game, though. It's the first one for the steampunk infused creation and battle simulator Airships: Conquer the Skies. Along with the thrill of crafting flying machines and taking over the world. So, what's special about Airships: Heroes and Villains? Well, this isn't your ordinary expansion. In this one, you can bring on board unique personalities - commanders and governors - to help run your ships and cities. They're not just figureheads. Each one has their own unique abilities that can really change the flow of the game. Take commanders, for example. These are not your run of the mill ship captains. They can perform crazy maneuvers to sneak past rival ships, turbo boost their engines for that quick escape. Even find unexpected things to use as ammunition. But the real showstoppers in Airships: Heroes and Villains? Some commanders are sorcerers. These guys can mess with opponents, change the weather, or call upon mystical creatures for help.

Airships: Heroes and Villains First Look

And then you've got governors. They're the ones who ensure that your cities are functioning smoothly. They boost output, keep the peace, and can declare all kinds of actions. Serious ones like martial law or forced labour, or even things like a masked ball. But here's the kicker - your actions in Airships: Heroes and Villains will shape these characters over time. Depending on what you do, they can earn experience, show more or less loyalty or their moods can change. They can become more angry, stressed, or even lose their minds. But they can also become more powerful, renowned, or even morph into entirely different versions of themselves. Due to being more seasoned, disillusioned, or invigorated. Just keep in mind that these changes can swing both ways in Airships: Heroes and Villains. If a governor turns against you, they could cause serious problems. But a hero that gains fame or magical power? That's a ticket to controlling the world. You'll get to see the impact of your choices in real time, which is part of what makes this expansion so good. So, mark your calendar for July 20, and prepare to recruit your team in Airships: Heroes and Villains. The first DLC is due to be priced at $8.99 USD / £7.49 / 8,99€ on Steam, GOG, and itch next month.. Along with game support for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC. Conquer the Skies is still receiving 97% Very Positive reviews. Available on Steam, GOG (discounted 40%), itch, and Humble Store. Priced at $24.99 USD / £19.49 / 20,99€ for Linux, Mac, and Windows PC.

[iloveabunchofgames]

February 2023 Game Awards

#JakeReviewsItch Game of the Month Archives

Like a lion, March is here, and that means it's time to celebrate Itch.io games I reviewed in February using award categories stolen from another publication. As is tradition. This month, our template comes from the latest issue of Game Informer (Vol. XXXIII / No. 2 / Issue 353; Resident Evil 4 remake on the cover), mostly because I idly flipped open a copy last week and landed on the "Best Dork" category.

February's Games:

A Kishoutenketsu in the countryside A Light Long Gone A Lullaby of Colors A Magical Tale: Cavern Crawler a new life. A NIGHTMARE'S TRIP A Normal Lost Phone A Planet of Mine A Short Hike A Sketchbook About Her Sun A Snake's Tale A Wish Upon a Star Abomination Tower About Love, Hate & the other ones Above: The Fallen Absolute Blue ACIDTRIP adjacency Adventure for a Bit Adventures of a Radish The Adventures of Elena Temple: Definitive Edition Aerannis Affinity After The End: The Harvest After the first station AIdol Air Dasher Airships: Conquer the Skies

Best Moment: Discovering what a new life. is about

Experience the moment for yourself. This game is going to sweep these awards.

Best Racing: A Short Hike

Air Dasher would easily win if it had better controls. A couple of this month's games have speedrunning features, but I could barely get through them at my own pace. So congratulations to A Short Hike, which has some races that you're actually meant to win.

Best Developer: Dear Villagers

Partly because A Normal Lost Phone is an exceptional game with exceptional production value, and partly because I'm familiar with some of their other work. They dabble in a wide variety of styles, and even though their output isn't always successful, it's usually worth a look.

Best Horror: After the first station

I think After the first station was Li Sheng's attempt to make something outside of the horror genre, which makes it even funnier that it's filled with horror game assets. Frequent visual bugs and text-to-speech make this a spine-tingling horror comedy.

Best Sports: A Short Hike

There's a minigame where you whack a beach ball over a net with a stick, and no matter what happens, everyone wins. That's the closest thing to a sport I can remember from this month. Congratulations to A Short Hike for its second win by default.

Best Boss: The rainbow Star Fox thing from Aerannis

Aerannis is currently the second-highest game on my overall rankings. I highly recommend playing it for yourself, but if that's not going to happen, you should at least see what someone on YouTube has dubbed the "Trippy Space Boss!"

Best Cooperative: Airships: Conquer the Skies

I'm assuming. I've only played single-player. Send me a message if you want to join my fleet online.

Best Score: A Sketchbook About Her Sun

No, I will not shut up about how incredible Red Ribbon is. I'm listening to Planet X right now. I love Red Ribbon so much that I'm deliberately and defiantly ignoring that Game Informer's only audio award is for Best Original Score.

Best Dork: Love (About Love, Hate & the other ones)

"I love you. I laaahve you. I love you."

Best Platforming: Aerannis

No contest.

Best Shooter: Aerannis

Remember when I predicted a new life. would sweep the awards? I didn't count on there being so many action-oriented categories, and Aerannis is full of outstanding action.

Best Competitive: Airships: Conquer the Skies

I'm assuming. I've only played single-player. Send me a message if you want to face my fleet online.

Best Simulation: Airships: Conquer the Skies

Remember when I predicted Aerannis would sweep the awards?

Best Hero: Previous owner of A Normal Lost Phone

It's not often games offer such an intimate, empathetic character study. Going through someone's phone isn't cool, but this particular someone—this normal nobody—is the best.

Best Villain: Hate (About Love, Hate & the other ones)

"I hate you. I hate you. I hate you"

Best Fighting: Airships: Conquer the Skies

Butting flying fortress against each other in strategic combat would have been enough, but when you've designed the airships yourself, devoting time and money to each one, even the most one-sided battle turns into a nail-biter.

Game of the Month: a new life.

Nearly a month later, I still think about this game daily. Play it. Don't watch videos. Don't read anything. Just plaaaaaaay it. (But do check my review for a content warning if you know you have any sensitivities. Otherwise, go in cold.)

February had plenty of trash, but wow. Wow! The top games—a new life., Aerannis, A Normal Lost Phone, and Airships: Conquer the Skies—those are games! I'd never heard of three of those four before this month. How long will it be before I find my first 5/5? Or a new low? Bring it, March.

[daemon-ai]

Enchanted Legacy

The "Enchanted Legacy" series is set during the Age of Discovery, a time when uncharted territories beckon and the world is ripe for exploration. It unfolds across a tapestry of diverse, fantastical landscapes where enchanted forests, mystical islands, and hidden realms teem with magic and ancient secrets. Towering airships sail alongside majestic sea vessels, navigating through ethereal skies and treacherous waters. Kingdoms and empires clash, driven by quests for powerful relics and mythical creatures. The setting, rich in lore and wonder, intertwines the thrill of discovery with the enchantment of a world where magic and reality are inseparable.

Click on the bot names to be redirected.

Rory (AFAB!mercenary!char x GN!royalty!user) ⚔️🛡️ hired by the King as an all-in-one protector & mentor, Rory trains & shields you, the King’s heir, from imminent assassination threats with ruthless determination 🌐Location: Dornath Kingdom

Prince Lysander 👑 a prince in chains, unbroken – will you be his savior or his downfall? 🌐Location: Aethoria Kingdom

Dark Elf Queen Ana ✨️🧝🏻‍♀️🗡️ hell hath no fury like a dark elf queen turned sex slave 🌐Location: Lunaria Queendom

Father Fabio (witch!user x priest!char) 📿🕊🧹🐈 his goal is to convict you of witchcraft, your goal is to seduce & damn him for eternity 🌐Location: Dornath Kingdom

Daemona 🔮 in a quest to save lives, you’re seeking aid from a misanthropic witch?! 🌐Location: Dornath Kingdom

Pirate Captain Isla (dommy mommy!char x submissive breedable!user) 🏴‍☠️⚓🧭🗡️ you’re a Marine Lieutenant, rescued from a shipwreck and now held captive by Isla, the pirate captain aboard the Crimson Tempest 🌐Location: the sea surrounding the Misty Archipelago

Kagusa 🎎 a spy, undercover as a trainee geisha, will do anything to seduce you for intel, unaware that you’re a counterintel agent 🌐Location: a small island in the Misty Archipelago

Regal Reverie 👑🏰🩷 a princess’s harem quest 🌐Location: Lunaria Queendom

Dierse ꒷꒦✧ 🩸 ˖°🫀⋆｡🪓𖦹꒷꒦ What if “your uncle” isn’t your uncle, but a kidnapper with ulterior motives for raising you? 🌐Location: Dornath Kingdom

Crown Prince Dmitry 🪞 you’re a cunning incubus/succubus/enby sex demon disguised as his servant 🌐Location: Novorossian Empire

Love Roulette 🎲 A good man is hard to find. Three good men? Impossible. 🌐Location: Novorossian Empire

The Crimson Horde

Aggressive expansionist power from eastern steppes

Tribal structure led by a Khan

Nomadic, warrior-centric culture of tieflings and humans

Skilled horsemen and archers

Shamanic religion worshipping war and nature spirits

Economy based on conquest and tribute

Recently conquered Aethoria and Lunaria

Threatens borders of Dornath and the Novorossian Empire

Aethoria (Conquered Kingdom)

Capital: Luminark

Former constitutional monarchy, now Crimson Horde puppet state

Economy in shambles, black markets thriving

Cultural preservation through secret traditions and oral history

Magic system tied to the four classical elements; rare individuals can combine elements for greater power

Late medieval technology level with some magical innovations (e.g., airships, enhanced weaponry) but much knowledge lost, some innovations stolen by conquerors

Important factions and groups: The Whispered Circle (underground resistance movement), Order of the Ashen Flame (secretive mage guild), Merchants' Covenant (powerful trade alliance)

Lunaria (Conquered Queendom)

Capital: Selenopolis

Former matriarchal monarchy with female-dominated society, conquered by Crimson Horde

Resistance collaborating with Aethorian rebels

Twin moons, shimmering lakes, lush forests

Inhabitants: elves, drows, humans

Polyandry common among nobility

Advanced architecture and crystal-powered airships

Former colonies (Sylvan Realms) asserting independence

Important factions and groups: The Twilight Rebellion (men's rights movement, quickly suppressed), Black Sun (elite assassin organization)

The Shattered Isles

Neutral trade hub of floating islands held aloft by ancient magic

Council government of island representatives

Maintains diplomatic ties with all nations

Diverse inhabitants known for neutrality

Economy: rare magical resources

The Nexus: central island where magical ley lines converge

The Misty Archipelago

Isolationist naval power controlling important sea routes

Surrounded by perpetual mists

Secretive seafaring inhabitants: merfolk and humans

Economy: fishing, whaling, shipbuilding

Trades with most nations

Magical lighthouse beacons guide trusted ships

Dornath Kingdom

Capital: Adelmos, a fortress-city carved into the mountainside

Feudal monarchy in mountainous terrain with fertile valleys

Bolstering defenses against potential Horde invasion

Uneasy alliance with Novorossian Empire

Inhabitants: dwarves, gnomes, orcs, humans

Known for heavy infantry and siege weapons

Economy: mining, metalwork, agriculture

Values strength and honor, wary of magic

Sylvan Realms

Former Lunarian colony seeking independence

Cautious diplomatic relations with neighbors

Inhabitants: fauns, dryads, woodland creatures

Loose federation of groves led by eldest trees

Nature-based magic tied to forest health

The Great Oak: said to be the first tree of the world

Novorossian Empire

Capital: Petrograd, known for grand architecture

Constitutional monarchy with strong military influence

Major power balancing against Crimson Horde

Lost territories to Crimson Horde in Great Northern War (ended 10 years ago)

Seeking to expand influence in power vacuum left by fallen kingdoms

Rivalry with Misty Archipelago over sea trade routes

Diplomatic conflicts with Dornath over border territories

Internal tensions between reformists and traditionalists

Emerging merchant class challenging traditional nobility

Focus on technology over magic: early steam power and telegraph networks

Major industries: military production, textiles, agriculture

Key Dynamics

Power struggle between Crimson Horde and Novorossian Empire

Smaller nations (Dornath, Misty Archipelago) maneuvering to maintain independence

Shattered Isles leveraging neutrality for economic gain

Conquered nations (Aethoria, Lunaria) fostering resistance movements

Sylvan Realms exploiting chaos to assert sovereignty

[emotionalmultimediaride]

GOG release: "Airship: Kingdoms Adrift"

Revolution Industry and Freedom Games‘ sci-fi trading and combat simulator Airship: Kingdoms Adrift lands on GOG’s DRM-free ground. It seems that airships have become quite common these days long after the Final Fantasy series made them popular, as games like Airships: Conquer the Skies (see the game release news) or the GOG release news of Merchant of the Skies attest. Now Airship: Kingdoms…

[dkplayer]

Airships: Heroes and Villains на Linux

DLC Heroes & Villains с успехом стартовало для игры Airships: Conquer the Skies на Linux, Mac и Windows PC. Это плод неустанной самоотдачи и кропотливого труда гениального разработчика Дэвида Старка. Игра доступна в Steam и itch с 86% положительных отзывов.

https://www.gamebuntu.ru/review/airships-heroes-and-villains-na-linux/