Merge branch 'source' into iolivia/12-tennis-academy

content/posts/newsletter-012/index.md

@@ -62,6 +62,65 @@ If needed, a section can be split into subsections with a "------" delimiter.
 
 ## Game Updates
 
+### [Crate Before Attack][cba-site]
+
+[![Golf Club in Crate Before Attack](crate-before-attack.gif)][cba-site]
+
+^ _A new weapon: the Golf Club_
+
+[Crate Before Attack][cba-site] by [koalefant (@CrateAttack)][@CrateAttack]
+is a skill-based grappling hook multiplayer game where frogs combat their friends
+while navigating the landscape with their sticky tongues.
+
+A summary of July changes:
+
+- Gameplay: added a new melee weapon:
+  [the Golf Club][cba-youtube-golf-club].
+- Maps: added new map [Ruins][cba-youtube-observation]
+  by [Kesha Astafyev][cba-spoon-tar]
+- Animation: added eye tracking, frogs will track the closest danger
+  with their eyes such as a projectile or a pet.
+- Lobby: it is now possible to observe a match after it was started,
+  added chat, user list with country flags, match details, and map previews.
+- Localization: the game comes in three languages now: English, Spanish, Russian.
+- Numerous bugfixes and tweaks.
+
+Here is [a Playable Browser build][cba-play].
+More details are on [the YouTube channel][cba-youtube]
+and in [July Update DevLog-entry][cba-july-update].
+
+[cba-site]: https://cratebeforeattack.com
+[cba-july-update]: https://cratebeforeattack.com/posts/20200731-july-update/
+[cba-play]: https://cratebeforeattack.com/play
+[cba-youtube]: https://youtube.com/channel/UC_xMilPTLuuE5iLs1Ml9zow
+[cba-youtube-golf-club]: https://youtu.be/UYxZQh68T6E
+[cba-youtube-observation]: https://youtu.be/D63xy7sXStk
+[cba-spoon-tar]: https://www.behance.net/spoon_tar
+[@CrateAttack]: https://twitter.com/CrateAttack
+
+### [Wonder]
+
+[![Lines drawn with a ball ready to roll down them](wonder-screenshot.png)][Wonder]
+
+[Wonder] ([source code][Wonder-source]) is a casual physics puzzle game by [@kettlecorn]
+made for the web with WebAssembly, browser APIs, and no game framework.
+The objective is to collect all the stars on each level
+by drawing lines for the ball to roll along.
+
+The game was made in 48 hours for the
+[Ludum Dare game jam][ludum-dare] that occurred in April.
+@kettlecorn recently published an article going into the technical and
+creative challenges encountered making the game:
+["Making a Game in 48 hours with Rust and WebAssembly"][48-hour-jam].
+
+Wonder can be [played in the browser on itch.io][Wonder].
+
+[Wonder]: https://kettlecorn.itch.io/wonder
+[Wonder-source]: https://github.com/kettle11/LD46
+[@kettlecorn]: https://twitter.com/kettlecorn
+[ludum-dare]: https://ldjam.com
+[48-hour-jam]: https://ianjk.com/rust-gamejam/
+
 ### [Tennis Academy Dash][tennis-academy-dash]
 
 ![gameplay](tennis_academy.gif)
@@ -80,6 +139,116 @@ This release features:
 [tennis-academy-dash]: https://iolivia.itch.io/tennis-academy-dash
 [tennis-academy-update]: https://twitter.com/oliviff/status/1285298082033348609
 
+### [Canon Collision][canon-collision]
+
+![Basic Projectiles](canon-collision.png)
+
+[Canon Collision][canon-collision] by [@rukai] is an Undertale + Homestuck
+fan-made platform fighter with powerful tools for modding.
+
+This month, he started work on the project again after taking a break.
+Notable changes:
+
+- [basic projectiles](https://twitter.com/thisIsRukai/status/1287377878460456963),
+- [WIP grab implementation (with some humorous results)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSrBGpT-Ebs),
+- [New animations + attacks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaPkRSNhoSM)
+- and [custom shaders](https://twitter.com/thisIsRukai/status/1279324105125163008).
+
+[canon-collision]:https://canoncollision.com
+[@rukai]: https://twitter.com/thisIsRukai
+
+### pGLOWrpg
+
+![Improved river pathfinding, paths respect topography](pglowrpg_12.gif)
+
+The [@pGLOWrpg] (Procedurally Generated Living Open World RPG) is a long-term
+project in development by [@Roal_Yr], which aims to be a text-based game with
+maximum portability and accessibility and focus on interactions and emergent
+narrative.
+
+For the past month(s) the main focus of the development was on the river
+generation system in the worldgen. Main features of the river generator are:
+
+- High robustness with most edge cases covered;
+- Single-pass with subsequent iterations generation, with numerous options to
+  tweak the process for either precision of the pattern or speed of generation;
+- Rivers are sorted upon intersections, their widths are adjusted, waterfalls
+  are formed when necessary;
+- Inflow and outflow directions are recorded for each cell, which allows to
+  follow the river upstream or downstream;
+- Simple yet effective erosion model implemented, which ensures no upwards flows
+  are allowed;
+- Each stream has its unique ID, which will later be linked to the stream data;
+- Streams have 12 orders of magnitude from smallest brooks to major rivers;
+- All the options are available to user under "General", "Advanced" and
+  "Very advanced" sections for any level of fine-tuning;
+
+Further development will involve re-factoring of the code and making it ready
+to be published prior to implementing new features. For small dev reports follow
+[@pGLOWrpg] on Twitter.
+
+[@Roal_Yr]: https://twitter.com/Roal_Yr
+[@pGLOWrpg]: https://twitter.com/pglowrpg
+
+### [Sandbox]
+
+![Sandbox screenshot](sandbox_screenshot.png)
+
+[Sandbox] is a falling sand game by JMS55 that provides a variety of fun
+particle types to place, and then you get to watch the resulting interactions!
+
+As they didn't make it in time for last month's newsletter, this month's edition
+covers the work they did in June and July:
+
+- Released version 1.0 and 1.1, created a flatpak package and associated metadata,
+  and published it to [Flathub].
+- Several new particles such as Fire, Mirror, Glitch, and some hidden ones,
+  and tweaked or overhalled almost every other particle!
+- A fancy new glow post process effect for Acid/Fire/Electricity,
+  created using wgpu-rs compute shaders.
+  - As a precursor to this, they made a PR to the pixels crate that removes the
+    old RenderPass approach in favor of giving the user direct access to wgpu.
+- Made a slick new icon and background for the game.
+- Added a video recording feature using gstreamer-rs and x264enc,
+  and then later removed it (for now).
+  - Moving from recording the raw texture generated for pixels
+    to the post-processed texture from wgpu
+    involved a major overhaul, and it proved too glitchy and slow.
+    Hopefully it will be revived later, in the form of recording user inputs.
+- Many structural improvements, such as less glitchy particle
+  placement with Bresenham's line algorithm,
+  better error handling, and ensuring particles
+  are only ever stored on the heap.
+- Performance improvements, including generating noise in a separate thread.
+- Currently WIP: UI using imgui.
+
+![Sandbox icon](sandbox_icon.svg)
+
+Got any ideas? Leave an [issue on github][Sandbox], or add it yourself!
+
+[Sandbox]: https://github.com/JMS55/sandbox
+[Flathub]: https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.github.jms55.Sandbox
+
+### [Pushin' Boxes][pushin-homepage]
+
+[![Pushin' Boxes gameplay](pushin_boxes_gameplay.gif)][pushin-itch]
+
+[Pushin' Boxes][pushin-homepage] ([itch][pushin-itch])
+is a [Sokoban][pushin-sokoban] clone made with [ggez][pushin-ggez] by
+[@septum][septum-twitter]. It features 16 levels of puzzling box-pushin' action
+where the player controls a little robot (named プシン).
+Check out a [blog post][pushin-post] about the game's release.
+
+[The source code is available on GitLab][pushin-repository].
+
+[pushin-homepage]: https://septum.io/games/pushin-boxes
+[pushin-itch]: https://septum.itch.io/pushin-boxes
+[pushin-sokoban]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokoban
+[pushin-post]: https://septum.io/blog/my-first-game
+[pushin-ggez]: https://github.com/ggez/ggez
+[pushin-repository]: https://gitlab.com/septum___/pushin_boxes
+[septum-twitter]: https://twitter.com/septum___
+
 ## Learning Material Updates
 
 ### [Rust on iOS with SDL2][rust-ios-sdl2-post]