PSA: Don't stalk people! And just so people don't get the wrong idea, this banner is not me stalking anyone through the window, this is me simply trying to see more Early Access content through legally questionable methods (pls make more #dev-media content).

For this banner, I decided to have a little fun, like the egg octopus and the brick-head fishies, I definitely always enjoy making these sorts of banners, though I've been itching to try more complicated animations for blurbs, I recall that one of the blurb banner votes for the blurb's Patreon had a couple decisions on what the banner could be for that week, and while I had put a crazy super Saiyan animation as an option, I think a snail-themed banner won over that. So who knows, maybe what I need to do is rig the banner vote, perhaps even reintroduce some old options once again that I just really really like, but then again I don't want to make it seem like I'm forcing one type of banner to win.

Anyways, for the blurb this week, we'll be going over the rest of the information (except one segment) from the recently released Brickadia development blog which, if you haven't read it yet, you should read to find out that some cool new features and stuff is shown: Devlog #5 - Recent Graphics Improvements Roundup. EDIT: For clarification, this is more or less a kind of summary in the sort of let-me-try-to-dumb-it-down sort of way.

Unfortunately, this week, there will not be a comic. The reason? I could not come up with a funny joke. I kid you not, I spent the last couple days trying to think of something stupid, and I couldn't come up with it. So, to compensate for that, next week, there will be two comic panels!

Now with all those shenanigans out of the way, lets take a look at what the community has been up to this past week:

Alright fellas, let's get into it.

Now in this segment, we'll be covering the rest of the development blog released by Zeblote minus the last segment (I'll touch on that soon); if you haven't read it yet, read up here: Devlog #5 - Recent Graphics Improvements Roundup.

We'll be starting off from this point:

Wow, this sounds complicated, what does this mean? What is High Dynamic Range Output (HDR)?

Simply put, it's literally just making the world look better with higher contrast values. Generally speaking, they manage to make HDR work after some tweaking, and you get this kind of output as a result (consult picture below)! Generally speaking, HDR is an option that some monitors have to make games or visual media in general look better on your PC. This is done by enabling the monitor to output darker values and brighter values than what was initially possible on dinky monitors like mine, meaning you get more detail and better looking colors as a result of what more colors there are to work with from the expanded contrast range, meaning what is dark can now be even darker, and what is bright can now be even brighter.

Technically speaking, the effect doesn't really work if you don't have an HDR-enabled monitor, so I guess this is just a nice looking picture, but a cool upgrade for fellas with presumably expensive monitors!

Keep in mind though, this is something that is available for monitors that are able to run HDR in the first place, like my monitor! My monitor is so epic, it can have HDR enabled! See?

Yeah, I think we're cooking.

In the next segment, Zeblote talks about the new upscaling plugins that were added into Brickadia that will be present in Brickadia on Early Access release. For those that are unaware, when it mentions upscaling plugins, you can basically mark that as being equivalent to plugins that make the game run better and look better.

The first plugin that is mentioned is the DLSS 3 Frame Generation plugin, which helps make the game run more seamlessly regardless of what 8.4 million brick save you loaded to bomb a server! That sounds really awesome and, if anything actually crazy, but he also makes the point to mention that this plugin requires a 40 series GPU. What does that mean? Zeblote mentions that he happens to have a RTX 4090 GPU while showcasing the plugin, and if you're like me in terms of ahving no idea how recent of a GPU I need, I got you! Based on a simple Google search, the RTX 4090 GPU released on October 12, 2022, so if you happen to have gotten a GPU that has a 40 in the name and was released after October 12th, 2022, then you can run this crazy plugin! Otherwise, you're on the same boat as me, a boat that happens to be sinking in a lagfest from that 8.4 million brick save bomb that someone loaded in. I think this would be a huge incentive for players to really upgrade their specs on their PC considering that a plugin like that would be huge for very complicated builds, I mean, it's kinda motivating me to buy a 40 series GPU just knowing there's a plugin out there like that, and as a fan of huge builds and space chaos, I mean, come on.

The next plugin that is mentioned is FSR 2 Upscaling. What does that do? Generally speaking, these particular upscaling plugins that are mentioned actually upscale the game to look very nice from how it usually looks. FSR 2 is the same in this regard, as it is compared to Brickadia's current DLSS 2 plugin. In the next section, however, the question is asked that if FSR 2 Upscaling is being added and we are getting DLSS 3 Frame Generation, why aren't we getting FSR 3 Upscaling? I didn't know it existed, and it was asked as if I knew it existed, or even what it was, and it really just goes to show how out of touch I am with these sort of technical things.

Generally speaking, the reason they don't add it is that it doesn't work. I am not joking when I say they don't really know what the problem is. No seriously, look lol:

It is pretty funny when you get reasons like this, not to say that as though I'm happy they got this kind of conundrum of a problem, but it always is a little funny when you see the issue just be "I don't even know, dude."

The next segment? Improved Level of Detail Transitions? What is that? You know how models get chunkier the farther you get from them? It saves on rendering and processing and all that technical memory jargon, it helps with that. Before (aka currently in-game), it sucks visually, I mean look at this!:

The reason this sucks? It's a literal box, it's changed in chunks, and it's a literal switcharoo-in-an-instant transition. How does it look now? Well, look!:

When I first saw this, I actually couldn't tell where the transition was, it's that smooth!

Now while this is quite the analysis, there is just ONE more segment I am leaving for special discussion on since there's quite a bit to unpack, despite the fact that it is one segment, and it specifically touches on the release date of Brickadia, the plan going forward in regard to what is being worked on in Brickadia, and the state of Brickadia's development blogs. You probably read that and thought "Okay, yeah, it's probably good we keep that on its own column", cause you probably realize there's a lot to take away from that. But don't worry, we'll get to it, and it's gonna be some good food for us fellas who want to play Brickadia as soon as possible!