Author: EGadd

Posted on by EGadd

The Staxel Reporter – Issue #2

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Staxel Reporter - Issue #2


Hey everyone, the second issue of the Staxel Reporter is here! We've got exclusive Reporter-only details on furniture and character creation: get 'em while they're hot!

Furniture


In Staxel, there are all sorts of collections you can build. Right now the collection we're going to talk about is furniture.

Obviously furniture is important. What's the point of being able to create some nifty buildings when they're completely empty inside? That's why we've made sure to give it a lot of attention.
We want you to be able to really go nuts with your interior design. So, not only are there a bunch of different furniture pieces, but they come in all sorts of styles as well! This way, you'll be able to give your buildings the perfect atmosphere.

One big aspect of the game we're focusing on is interaction - we don't want players to fill their houses with nonfunctional objects! Our goal is to make sure that if something looks interactive, you can definitely play with it. We've got tables, chairs, wardrobes, kitchen counters, storage boxes, and everything else you'd expect to find in a house plus the kitchen sink (bu dum tsh). It's all functional too!

Character Creation


Last issue we talked about how you can customize your character with all sorts of awesome gear, and this time we'll be going one step further, and looking at the control you have during character creation.
We're working very hard to make sure the player has great control over their character, we really want people to be able to let loose and create something unique to them!

The options you'll have control over include the following:

- Gender

Pretty self-explanatory, check out the image above! Like every other option the gameplay doesn't change depending on which option you go with.

- Species

We've got a range of playable species for you to choose from, ranging from Humans and Elves to... Zombies? Absolutely. Zombies forever.

- Skin tone

There's a wide range of skin tones for you to choose from, and the options change between selected species. Humans have the standard skin tones, with a spectrum between light and dark skin, but the more exotic species, like the aforementioned Zombies, will be able to choose bright colours to really stand out!

- Eye colour

I know it's crazy but this option actually lets you pick your eye colour.

- Hair style

We've shown off a bunch of the available headwear items on Twitter recently... but what if you want to let your hair flow free in the wind, like that one actor in that famous movie? Well good news, you absolutely can!

- Hair colour

So many options! Brown! Blonde! Black! Red! Pink? Blue? Green!? We need to stop letting Damon make hair colour decisions...

As you can see, we really want players to be able to express themselves, and we think we're heading in the right direction. If you've got feedback, or just want to tell us how hyped you are, please let us know - either reply to this email, post on our forums, or tweet us! We'd love to hear from you!

 
Well, that's it for this issue of the Staxel Reporter! Make sure to subscribe if you want to be the first to get new issues. Thanks for reading!
-EGadd
 

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Posted on by EGadd

The Staxel Reporter – Issue #1

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Staxel Reporter - Issue #1


Hey everyone, the first edition of the Staxel Reporter is here! This is our new newsletter designed to keep everyone up to date on Staxel's development.

The Staxel Reporter will always be posted to our blog as well as emailed to everyone who signs up for it. If you like what you see then hit the subscribe button at the bottom of the newsletter.

Stylin' Threads.


SteampunkStein has been showing off some seriously awesome outfit designs lately, but the screenshots he's posted are just scratching the surface!

Your character’s outfit isn't just one piece of gear you throw on, it's made up of a few different parts. That's right, shoes for every occasion! You can mix and match the clothing pieces you obtain throughout the game however you like.

Some clothing items won't ever be found in a store, and you'll have to meet specific requirements to obtain them. For example, you may be find a super cool knight helmet while exploring.

Another important aspect is the diversity of style you'll find. Some clothing is styled to a specific species' taste, so Zombies might use some cool neon colours for their clothing while mole people prefer something a bit more rustic. Not only that, but you'll find clothing ranges from the standard, normal style to the more eccentric, attire. (For example, adorable frog helmet.)

It's important to note the clothing is designed to keep everyone happy, so if you want to dress your character up as a regular farmer with a nice tweed farmer's cap you absolutely can.
Bart has been working on the villagers' AI. We want the villagers to really breathe some life into the game, and we have a lot of ideas on how we can do that. Anyway, it’s all still work in progress but really beginning to shape up, check out a vine of the current path finding below.
Remember, Bart livestreams Staxel development often over at www.twitch.tv/bartwe
 

 

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Posted on by EGadd

Fresh out the oven: Baking in Staxel!

Hey everyone!

Today we’re gonna talk about Staxel’s crafting system: specifically, baking!

In Staxel, all the cooking is done through our state-of-the-tart in-world crafting system, without the drudgery of dragging and dropping items between menus. For example, say you want to bake a cake! First, you place your mixing bowl on any counter, then add your ingredients. You’ll be cracking in eggs, pouring in flour, adding a little bit of butter. Basically, all the standard stuff that goes in a typical cake.

Mix it all up, add the mixture to a cake tin, and throw it in the oven. Don’t leave it in too long, though, otherwise it might burn!

caku(1)

Bam, easy as pie! You think we’re done thought, right? You ain’t seen muffin yet!

Now, while there will be in-game recipes you can follow, which you can read from a recipe book of sorts, we want to encourage experimentation. We want you to be able to make a standard cake mix and think, “Hey, let’s throw in some jam!” which in this case, would result in a delectable jam sponge cake! Yuuuummy!



We’re hoping that most crafting systems in Staxel will follow this pattern, whether you’re cooking for a three-course dinner party or crafting a stylish Elven fence.

That’s all for today’s post! Let us know what you think on the forums, or tweet your ideas at @StaxelGame!

– EGadd, The Muffin Man

Posted on by EGadd

We’ve been greenlit!

Great news everyone, Staxel has been greenlit!

We wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your support and helping us with our greenlight campaign! All your comments and interest in Staxel has been amazing, the whole team is incredibly pleased. 🙂

Right now we’re working very hard on the next step for Staxel, and we can’t wait to show you all some more Staxel stuff. Don’t forget, you can follow Staxel’s development through our Forums, Twitter, Reddit, or Facebook. Again, thank you all for your support!

P.S Feel free to pop into our IRC channel and say hello, most of the team hangs out in there and we’re pretty active. 🙂

Posted on by EGadd

Top 5 on Greenlight! Plus: Music! Community!

Hey, everyone! Big news, coming your way! 

Firstly, we’ve been truly humbled by the huge response to Staxel’s Greenlight. All of you are giving us amazing feedback, and all of your kind comments make us feel all squishy inside, in a good way. And it’s not just your comments that have been helpful – your votes have been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re thrilled to announce that we’ve broken the top 5 on Greenlight! 

Because of this, we thought we’d give you, our fans, some exclusive info on our plans for Staxel. In this installment, we’ll be talking about… 

For Staxel’s score, we’ve enlisted the services of the immensely talented Curtis Schweitzer, who you may know from his roles composing the scores of games such as Starbound and Airships. He’s got a distinctive, expansive style, and we think his music is a perfect fit for the game. 

“But, Staxel devs,” you say, “where can we listen to this soundtrack that you’re saying such nice things about?” 

This is the point where we say, “Right HERE!“ 

Check it out! Let us know what you think: we’re always listening. 

Speaking of listening (and talking)… 

Did you know that we have a Staxel community forum AND a chat channel? It’s true! Check out the links below, and come hang out with both other fans and developers of the game! 

That’s all for now – once again, thanks so much for your support. It means a lot to us, and it’s amazing motivation to make the best game that we possibly can.

P.S. Who likes cats?

Posted on by EGadd

We’re on Greenlight!

Hey everyone, big news! After our many weeks of work, preparation, sleepless nights, five dozen reshoots, and sleepless nights we are finally ready to show Staxel to the world!

We have officially published our Steam Greenlight page, which includes the long promised first Staxel trailer!

If you’re interested in supporting Staxel and want to see it on Steam, please show us some support and vote for us on Greenlight.

Posted on by EGadd

Quick update

Hey everyone! This is going to be a quick little update to tell you all what’s been happening.

We’ve all been working very hard since the last blog update. We’re working towards putting out our first ‘proper’ gameplay video, and we’re hoping to have it done and uploaded fairly soon so keep an eye out!

Anyway, there’s a lot I could tell you guys about features we’ve added and all that but a lot of them are going to be in the upcoming video, so instead I’m just going to gather some tweets the team have been putting out there regarding the game/video so they’re all in one place. 🙂

House for sale!

Market stalls

Farming!

Random tunnel

Testing out the new camera feature

Regarding the very last tweet, Bart made an awesome camera feature that allows us to create awesome, cinematic shots. It’s incredibly easy to use and will be in in-game feature that anyone can mess with! (Will most likely require the user to be an admin or something, we don’t know those super fine details yet. 😉 )

So yeah, like I said keep an eye out for the upcoming video! You can follow us on our Twitter, Forums, Reddit and our Facebook!

Posted on by EGadd

Back from Minecon!

Hey guys! The team just got back from showing Staxel off at Minecon and I thought now would be a good time to update you all on how things are going.

We’ve been quiet for a while but we’ve been actively working and have been making good progress! We had to crunch for the last 3 weeks to prepare for Minecon and
got a huge amount of work done.

Our team has grown too, which we’re very excited about! Check out our team section to see the updated team list here.

Minecon went above and beyond with our expectations, everybody loved the game and we got fantastic feedback. People especially loved our unique crafting system, which is what the next blog post will be about, so make sure you’re following us on either Twitter, reddit, or our forums!

We met so many fantastic people, and plenty of dedicated and passionate game developers. We had a great time playing all their games and having them play ours. (Which I’m sure they enjoyed immensely. 😉 ) Seriously though, their feedback was very encouraging and greatly appreciated!

 

Keep checking back as I’ll be posting more blog posts regarding what’s new in Staxel soon!