Welcome to today's blurb!
Every time I get into pixel art, I forget how fun it is to play with palettes.
Regarding pixel art though, it's been almost a whole year since I've done a pixel art banner! Crazy, isn't it? Making pixel art is always an interesting experience, largely as a result of the fact that it always feels like I'm making a game! Speaking of which, it'd be pretty cool if someone made a tiny sprite-based game related to Brickadia. Yes, I know a game of a game is a bit of a weird idea, but I always like to think that fangames are a cool thing to do.
The banner for this week was made in Aseprite, using the mail24 palette. There's really not much of an explanation as to why I chose the theming of this banner, it's quite simple actually: I just think dinosaurs and a very particular film regarding dinosaurs is pretty cool.
Banner aside, I have something pretty cool to announce in the speculation column for this blurb's post regarding a new, blurb-made contest, so stick around!
Without further wait, let's see what the community has been up to:
I can imagine a dinosaur running through this city if it were let loose, sort of like a certain film!:
Credit: Dingo Ananas
The only thing that concerns me about this build are the frogs in the jars, I hope they're alright:
Credit: dakoda
Funny thing is I actually really like bowling! If someone managed to get a working bowling alley in Brickadia, I would absolutely showcase it:
Credit: crazyjaydon
Brickadia and city-building are inseparable:
Credit: Brickitect, Snabs, and TheArmyGuy
Bro's posing like he pays rent for this studio:
Credit: crazyjaydon
"They call me Bond...legally distinct James Bond..."
Credit: Macgyverthehero
Imagine if someone set up boxing matches with huge brick-made player models like Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots:
Credit: Mr.M
Seeing this actually made me get a new keyboard. I spilled my soda after a member of the community, orion, jumpscared me on voice chat. Ever since then, half my keyboard is hard to press down on cause the soda seeped into the rubber beneath the keys. This is your fault, orion:
Credit: crazyjaydon
This is awesome! Only problem is I know that if I hop onto this server with that build, my PC is turning into a nuclear weapon:
Credit: jake
We get closer and closer to mech battles in Brickadia:
Credit: Thorn for the mech, Hoogle for the video
Insane animation technique in-game for Brickadia; the way it works is that several different builds are brought in to give the illusion of movement of some fire. Awesome work!:
Credit: Hoogle
Now THIS is a tower I can be devious and grim in. That, or I can use it as a dice tower:
Credit: crazyjaydon
"The Brickadia Situation is CRAZY..." type of picture:
Credit: remanedur
Always good to see the community make wholesome, family-friendly art:
Credit: FizzyGurt
I don't even know what this is meant to convey:
Credit: orion
get real:
Credit: n1d
Now we just need an alligator or a crocodile to ride:
Credit: Mr.M
Squidward Torture Device:
Credit: LFMoth
Since the fireplace doesn't work on the Studio map, some people have taken some methods to get some warmth:
Credit: qub8dev
Now we arrive at this blurb's user column!
The question for this blurb is:
If you could add a new type of bot/NPC into Brickadia that isn't the player avatar, what would it be?
"A skeleton that could be used to incorporate common animals into Brickadia, preferably editable and not a specific animal so that there can be variation."
"Shark, or a horse. A little nod to Blockland"
"Brick Built, letting us add bot behavior to entities would allow for players to do so much."
"It might sound like low hanging fruit but I would enjoy animal NPCs, cats/dogs/birds/components to add to a model you make yourself, which would end up being pretty complicated. I do think it'd be cool to be able to add a bot 'component' to if you want to animate a brickbuilt creature."
"A bit ambitious but I'd say animals. Brickadia has day-night cycles & pretty convincing weather, humanoid NPCs and the ability to wire builds allows us to make them even livelier than we ever could before, but the lack of animals makes it feel like there's something missing. Brick-built wire animals are fine, but I think it would be pretty awesome to have stray cats roaming in alleyways, pets around houses, deer on highways & pigeons flying around city parks. I think their sounds would probably vary the soundscape of servers quite a bit as well! To add to this, animated rideable horses would be crazy."
"My Dearest Durb, The nights are cold, and the harsh longevity of EA2 still takes its toll on the weary playerbase. Your letter, however, has brought me hope: the hope for a better Brickadia on the horizon. A new type of bot/NPC? That's a great question! But I think we need to go even deeper. Imagine if you could give life to anything you build- an alligator, a robot, maybe a tree creature or a hopping mimic treasure chest? Heck, maybe even a sentient murderous vending machine. Anything. I feel Brickadia would benefit the most from having some sort of entire bot/behavior system implemented that utilizes brick-built user creations, breathing life into the game with infinite possibilities rather than relying on limited content. Start with some sort of scalable base articulated animation frames you could build onto, like a starting chassis (only viewable while holding tools) Ex: Biped, Quadruped, Flying, Swimming, etc. Maybe even joint bricks or some method that could allow you to construct your own. Add various settings to tweak, like the options the current in-game engines have (leg lengths, springiness/rigidness, angles of joint movement etc.) On top of that, add a behavior system with values that can be altered (Hostile/Docile, Approach/Flee players or entities, options along those lines with toggles and variable sliders). Bonus: Add programmable actions/routines utilizing the logic system. Imagine creating a medieval city with citizens that have routes along node bricks and certain actions they're scheduled to take or do along that route each day. You stop to talk to one and they give you a quest. Before you can complete their objective, a squadron of eldritch spider abominations crawls over the city wall, and suddenly absolute wacky chaos erupts and the villagers are at war. This is the sort of framework we need, something that's only limited by the imagination and ingenuity of the players using it. Love, Dread"
There will be no blurb comic for this blurb post. Come back to the next blurb post for a blurb comic!
As of late, there has been a distinct lack of development media and development content. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean work isn't being done behind the scenes, but it does make for a bit of a problem in terms of coming up with speculation content for myself.
That is why I am doing something a little different for this speculation column!
As a matter of fact, instead of speculation content, I'd like to announce a bit of a friendly contest for folks in the Brickadia community!
What's the premise?
Simple!
A lot of folks like to make cool recreations of LEGO sets in Brickadia, so the challenge I'm laying out is here:
Well, that sounds sick! Now, here's a question you might be wondering:
What's the reward for the top winner?
Don't think you can expect anymore, especially because I'm not really in a position to hand out crazy prizes!
This contest will end on the release of the 80th blurb, so keep your eyes out for that! The banner feature reward will be done for the 81st blurb.
Additionally, all submissions will be shown publicly, as I'm sure many people will want people to see the effort they've put into their build!
So if you're looking to get in on those awesome rewards, better start cracking away at it!
And that's all for this blurb!
If you want to see your creations, ideas, and speculations highlighted on the blurb, contact me at: durb#3215
You can also support me on my Patreon using this link here: Durb Blurb Patreon (www.patreon.com/durblurb)